Fishing Montana Lake in Crook County, Wyoming

• Overview

  This water sits in Crook County, Wyoming. This is mixed forest ground. Small enough that any disturbance crosses the whole surface. On size it sits at the modest end of our Crook County list. Start from North Spearfish, 8.8 miles down the road. It is 232 miles to Billings, the nearest city. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Montana Lake

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. County-wide records name brown trout, common carp, white sucker, brook trout and walleye. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Montana Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 72°F and January near 24°F on the long-run figures. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late March. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late March and starts locking again about early December. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Montana Lake runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. Murray Lake, 2.2 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Montana Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.