Flathead Lake, Montana

[JohnnieMo]

Well I can tolerate watersports in the 60's. However one year I got in at 55 deg.... that was paralyzing.

[Kurby]

JohnnieMo shoot me a quick PM we are from the Calgary area to and are in the Whitefish/Kalispel area quite often throught the summer and winter

[empty_boat]

Flathead Lake

Hey thought I would chime in with limited experitse. Flathead is a great lake to boat on, but not the best for water sports. It is too big and gets afternoon chop most days. However Ihave been there when the whole thing is smooth as glass all day. In the summer it can warm to low 70's for a short period in mid August. However that is just the surface temp. There is a thin surface layer that warms and then it is cold under that. We used to go and stay at Marina Cay in Big Fork and boat on the lake, we would always take a day trip to some of the small lakes in the area just for water sports. Some worth considering are, Echo Lake, very protected shallow and warm, not a lot of improvements. Lake 5, small warm and smooth but can busy with Canadians in the summer. Lake Blaine, nice smaller lake but can be busy as well on weekends. Whitefish is nice but about 20 miles further away. All are nice and clear, Flathead can sometimes be clear to 60 feet, the same with most of these other lakes, you don't need a depth finder because you can see the bottom.

Here is a great article that explains why the water stays so cold, basically it chills to near freezing the whole way to the bottom in the winter.
http://www.umt.edu/flbs/waterquality...atheadlake.pdf
The south end by Polson is shallower and a lot of people boat and do watersports ther but that could be 20+ miles away from where you are staying.
Another great area is to go to Swan lake, or the valley that runs South from there is full of clear lakes that are great for boating.

Have fun and spend lots of MOney in Montana ...we need it.

[JohnnieMo]

Thanks, that is sweet info. We are staying at Mountain Lake Lodge which is in Woods Bay on the West side. So we are in about the middle of the lake. I got a slip in a nearby marina for the week. But we could always pull the boat out for a day and find a calmer lake to do some playing in. I'll take a look at the options you recommended.

[skifreakmt]

Has anyone boated in Flathead Lake Montana? It is the largest freshwater lake in the western US.

I'm headed down there to meet up with my college buddies for a college reunion... plan to take the new RZ2. One local marina was nice enough to give me a slip for a week to store it.

I don't know anything about the lake, the water, if its busy, any good to fish, is it warm/cold? If anyone has boated here, let me know!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...32715&t=h&z=10


JohnnieMo

If you are staying up in bigfork. Head up the flathead river when it th lake is choppy. Watch the depth but there are some glassy backwaters for short passes up in there. Drive it cautiously until you have a feel for it. the other option is a short drive over to swan lake (smaller narrower and warmer)

[JohnnieMo]

If you are staying up in bigfork. Head up the flathead river when it th lake is choppy. Watch the depth but there are some glassy backwaters for short passes up in there. Drive it cautiously until you have a feel for it. the other option is a short drive over to swan lake (smaller narrower and warmer)

We are staying in Woods Bay, which is near Bigfork. I'm not sure if the bay itself is secluded, but it may be a good area on its own. Swan Lake isn't far from there, although it appears there are mountains in the direct path Maybe we'll try there too.

[Joeprunc]

We've been out there on our way to Glacier. We stayed at the Best Western on the south end a few years ago in August. This is what we woke up to out our back door.


But I could see how it would get crowded, and choppy.

[JohnnieMo]

Wow.... I can't wait!