Mills Lake Fishing near Stevensville, Montana

• Overview

  Mills Lake sits in Ravalli County, out in Montana. What surrounds it is lake country bush. At 6 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Stevensville is the closest town at 12 miles. After that come Lolo at 12 miles and Orchard Homes at 19 miles. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Mills Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Ravalli County records list rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, brook trout and brown trout among the fish reported. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Mills Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 18°F to 55°F. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Look for the thaw near mid May; the fishing lifts straight after. Break-up near mid May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. On Mills Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. The map shows no ramp or car park nearby, so this is a walk-in water. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Holloway Lake, 0.2 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. For Mills Lake, the notice at the access point is the final word.