Wild Bill Lake near Red Lodge Great for Kids

[playnpray]

I was up at Wild Bill last week with my 3 yr old son.  It was a great time for him.  There was a solid 6" of ice. All small rainbows with an occasional brookie all less than 9".  But it is fast paced and easy to access.  Fish are much more willing to bite under the hardwater than in the summer.  The road is closed about a mile from the lake but easy walking on the closed road from there...About a 20 minute walk pulling my son and gear in two sleds.  I will probably be up there again this Saturday taking a friend and his 3yr old up for their first ice fishing experience.
Take a Kid fishing, just don't let 'em freeze.

[lingslayer]

Wild bill is a great little lake i was just wondering what end you fished and if you have ever caught any thing bigger in the lake I occasionally see some bigger ones swim by but they never seem to be hungry.

[playnpray]

I usually fish somewhat close to where the little stream comes in on the south side of the lake.  Haven't really explored a lot of other areas as their are plenty of fish that are more than willing to bite.  It is funny that you mention the bigger fish.  For the first time this last trip I something in the 3lb range swim right through the hole.  It didn't slow down or even look at the bait but that was the first and only time I've seen anything that size in Wild Bill.  I even started second guessing myself if that is really what I saw.

[lingslayer]

Dont second guess yourself, there are some real big fish in there , i caught a three pound brook trout in there several years ago that i released , I am not sure how i got lucky on that big one because I have never caught anything even close to that size in there since.I think that there are so many little fish in there that bite so often it is hard to keep your bait out of the little guys' mouth long enough to get the bigger fishes attention.I have never ice fished ther but I plan on taking my kids up there this winter so they can get some action, they are getting bored with cooney.

[playnpray]

I was up there last weekend with my son who is 3 and a buddy of mine and his two boys who are 4 and 2.  We were busy helping the two younger ones get small rainbows off their hooks when the 4 year old yelled that he had one on.  When I looked over his ultralight rod was bent in half.  I figured he was stuck on the bottom of the ice.  When I looked in the hole, I was amazed to see a big brookie filling it up.  He landed it and it was fat and measured 17 inches.  We never saw him prior to that and didn't see anything close to that size any other time even though we pretty much stare down the hole and see strait to the bottom for several hours.  None of them had been ice fishing before, so it was a perfect way to introduce them to the sport.  Now I am a believer that there really are a few bigger fish in Wild Bill.

[chucknduck]

Where is this lake?  I have never heard of it.

[rezeye]

Where is this lake?  I have never heard of it.

yea what you said    I have a five year old that i would like to take to an easy producing lake      you can pm me with its location in order to keep the lurkers at bay  )

[lingslayer]

I am not sure of the exact distances , so I hope my directions won't get anyone lost ,but here goes.If you drive through the town of Red Lodge and take a right on ski run road head about four miles until you come to the fork in the road where you can either turn towards the ski run or continue towards the girl scout camp, stay straight and head towards the girl scout camp where I believe the road is closed then it is about a mile long hike to wild Bill lake, there are signs and it should be fairly easy to find, it is on the right hand side of the road.Good luck

[rezeye]

 8)thanks

[rdp]

For those GPS types like myself. Wild Bill Lake can be found at 45*09'22.86" N and 109*22'07.55" W.