Finger Lake, Montana: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  You will find Finger Lake in Flathead County, Montana. The surface lies 3,310 feet up. The water covers some 28 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Whitefish lies 21 miles from the water. It is 113 miles to Lethbridge, the nearest city. You are close to a county edge here; who manages the access can change within a short drive.

• Where to Fish on Finger Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Survey and observation records for Flathead County include rainbow trout, sockeye salmon, largemouth bass, brook trout and yellow perch. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Finger Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give August about 61°F and January about 19°F. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough early April. Averages place the thaw at early April and the freeze at late November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Anyone fishing Finger Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. A made slipway is half a mile from here, which settles the boat question. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Hole in the Wall Lake, 0.4 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Signs at Finger Lake carry more weight than any list.