Don’t let the name fool you Rat Lake is a beautiful area with amazing views. At the Castle Rock turnoff at the beginning of Gallatin Canyon you can make it to the trailhead in 30 minutes from Bozeman. Then from there its a quick 1/2 mile hike up a backcountry road.
I got up to the lake around noon and came up on the southeast side. The south side of the lake is all covered in trees and the north side is wide open grass banks. So I headed over to the north side of the lake and found a nice spot to start fishing.
I fished there for about 30 minutes till it started raining. I sat on a log under some large trees while I waited for the rain to clear.
Once the rain cleared I kept moving around the lake and fished a couple more spots on the north and west sides of the lake. There was no sign of fish but the view was beautiful and I had the lake all to myself.
Once I made it around the lake back to the south side it started raining again. Luckily I was back in the tree cover so I just waited till it cleared up once again. I continued down the lakeside till I came to a fallen tree jutting out into the lake. So i decided to sit there and make a few more casts.
It looked like the rain was about to start up again so I finished up there and started my way back. The only bad part was the trail was quite muddy and one part is a little steep. Besides that its an easy hike to and from the lake. I wasn’t there at the optimal fishing times but there is definitely plenty of good spots to fish. Regardless I would go up there just for the scenery and peaceful atmosphere its a beautiful spot. Check out the full length video at tmtfish on youtube and highlight clip at reeltmtfish on Instagram and TIkTok thanks for reading.
Travis