Gardner Lake Fishing in Park County, Wyoming

• Overview

  Gardner Lake lies in Park County, in Wyoming. The bank gives way to mixed forest. The water covers some 29 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Red Lodge lies 18 miles from the water. Billings is the closest city, 73 miles away. Within a short drive: Black Stone Lake sits 0.8 miles out, Daphnia Lake at about 1.2 miles, Christmas Lake sits 1.2 miles out, Losekamp Lake at about 1.5 miles and Mirror Lake sits 1.6 miles out. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Gardner Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Fish documented in Park County include brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat trout and black-spotted cutthroat trout. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. At Gardner Lake light and wind decide more than tackle does.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 49°F at the top of summer and 15°F at the bottom of winter. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. Ice-out usually falls in early June, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The season between ice runs from about early June to early November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. At Gardner Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. The closest car park is half a mile away, so pack accordingly. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, Black Stone Lake is 0.8 miles distant. What applies at Gardner Lake may have changed since it was mapped.