Fishing Fort Lake in Park County, Wyoming

• Overview

  Park County, Wyoming, is where Fort Lake sits. It sits at 9,672 feet above sea level. The water measures roughly 8 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. Nearest place of any size is Red Lodge, 21 miles away. Cody lies 35 miles off, Powell another 38 miles. Water in the same corner: Rainbow Lake at 0.3 miles, Hauser Lake (0.4 miles), Solar Lake at 0.4 miles, Long Lake (0.9 miles) and Dollar Lake at 1.1 miles. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Fort Lake

  We hold no depth figure for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Park County list brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout and black-spotted cutthroat trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Fort Lake fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 15°F in January to roughly 49°F in August. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Once it clears, about early June, the fishing comes on quickly. The water is typically free of ice between early June and early November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. The season on Fort Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. The closest car park is half a mile away, so pack accordingly. Facilities run to toilets half a mile from the water. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. For a change of water, Rainbow Lake is 0.3 miles distant. Signs at Fort Lake carry more weight than any list.