Widj22, greetings from Southeastern NY. welcome to Ice Shanty. Lots of information to be found among the different forums/boards on this website have fun exploring and hopefully learning a few things. I see you have received welcome greeting from a few other Montana members possibly try to meet up with some of them this season to learn a little on the lakes in your state and get their opinions on what gear works best for the fish species and conditions regularly found in Montana during ice fishing season .
Steve