Lake Williams Fishing in Kidder County, North Dakota

• Overview

  North Dakota holds Lake Williams, in Kidder County. Around the bank it is rolling bush. It measures about 178 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. The full circuit measures close to 1.8 miles on foot. It is a small entry by Kidder County standards. Start from Carrington, 32 miles down the road. Fargo sits 134 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Lake Williams

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Reported across Kidder County: bluegill and northern pike. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Treat Lake Williams as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 70°F and January near 5°F. Hard water is a season in its own right here. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from mid April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around mid April and starts locking again about late November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Anyone fishing Lake Williams regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Public data records a boat ramp half a mile out. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. The nearest alternative is Kunkel Lake, 6.2 miles out. What applies at Lake Williams may have changed since it was mapped.