Middle Cloud Peak Lake in Big Horn County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Middle Cloud Peak Lake sits within Big Horn County in Wyoming. Land around it is mixed forest. At about 25 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. It is high ground by Wyoming standards. Head to Buffalo, 26 miles away, for anything you forgot. For a city, Billings is 116 miles off. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Middle Cloud Peak Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Public occurrence data for Big Horn County names brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, white sucker and common carp. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. At Middle Cloud Peak Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 12°F to 48°F. Fishing here follows the temperature more than the calendar. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around mid June. In an average year the thaw lands around mid June and the freeze near late October. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. The season on Middle Cloud Peak Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Local rules can differ across the county line, so check where you stand. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. Summit Lake at 1.4 miles is the sensible second choice. Treat access at Middle Cloud Peak Lake as something to verify.