Hello,
I live in Phoenix Arizona but am planning a fishing/camping trip to Idaho in the middle of June. I will be traveling with a small group of guys with varied fishing experience.
From the research that I've done, there are so many beautiful and scenic areas in Idaho, that I'm having difficulty choosing a place. I'm leaning toward somewhere in the Sawtooths, but would like to get some local input.
We're looking for somewhat isolated tent camping (no big crowds), beautiful scenery, and decent trout fishing. Can someone please help a guy that has been living in the desert for too long?
Thanks in advance.
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the sawtooths can certainly get you away from the crowds. I'm not too sure how the fishing is though. I'm sure others can help you out there. I'm more familiar w/ the Island Park area in South East Idaho. More crowds, but you can get away from them too if you want to. And the fishing there can be stellar! Plus it's close to Yellowstone (minutes) if you want to check it out one day instead of fish. Either way, you'd have to work to go wrong with there or the sawtooths!
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Crowds might be a little tuff but the stanley area might be a good choice you have alturus lake, redfish and stanley lake as well as the salmon river. plus there are some smaller high mountain lakes that you have to pack into. but its a beautiful area with lots to see and do. oh and welcome aboard
[url "http://www.stanleycc.org/do/fishing/"]http://www.stanleycc.org/do/fishing/[/url]
[url "http://www.onroute.com/destinations/idaho/stanley.html"]http://www.onroute.com/destinations/idaho/stanley.html[/url]
[url "http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/sc/yankeefork/pointsofinterest.shtml"]http://www.fs.fed.us/r4/sc/yankeefork/pointsofinterest.shtml[/url]
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I just moved to idaho from scottsdale last summer. And although i love that i can fish and hunt minutes from my house i don't think it is possible to be in the desert too long. Glad to hear you are coming in the summer. I am freezing. With that said after alot of exploring last summer i think the sawtooths is a great area. Some of the most buetiful country i've seen. what type of fishing are you interested in getting into up here.
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Thank you all for the quick responses. Looks like I've come to the right place.
As far as the type of fishing, we're looking to walk and wade along a beautiful river. We're open to both packing in somewhere, or car camping somewhere. I tend to lean more towards packing in somewhere just to get a bit more isolated, but there's something to be said for the conveniences of car camping. We're really just looking for any fish that will bite on a fly (hopefully some nice sized trout).
I love the desert, and certainly love that it's in the 70's right now. Just looking forward to some lush mountains, and quiet streams.
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Oh well then forget it! There is just little planters up in the Sawtooth area...[
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The Stanley area is indeed beautiful but it is too crowded for me during the summer and many of the fish in the accessible areas are planters. The McCall/Cascade area is another place to consider as it offers less crowded camping, accessible fishing opportunities, a ton of backcountry lakes and some good river opportunities for cutthroats if you don't mind driving for an hour or so on dirt roads. Plus, they have golf courses which is something you folks in Arizona probably don't see much.
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You have been given a lot of good answers. But be aware that if you are coming in the middle of June much of the high country will still be under snow and ice. Also many of the rivers and streams may be swollen with snow melt.
Be flexible and watch the reports for the area you want. If it looks like a lot of run off then plan on some spring creeks or lakes that are open.
You might get a good idea of the conditions by looking at the reports from places like :
http://www.silver-creek.com/den/
or even look at the web cam in Stanley and you can see how much of the snow is melted and guesstimate how high you can hike
http://www.sawtoothcamera.com/
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The Highway 75/93 loop provides some awesome fishing opportunities. The Wood River Valley (Highway 75/20) will give you access to Silver Creek and the Big Wood River. Both great areas with good fish (Rainbows and Browns 12-20). Highway 75 will take you through Hailey and Ketchum and into the Sawtooth National Forest. (Google Silver Creek Outfitters). 75 takes you North over Galena Summit, and into the Stanley Basin. Here you will find access to alot of high mountain lakes with lots of smaller brooke trout. Redfish Lake is full of tourist during the summer but it is worth a stop over the locals can put you on the fish. Stop in at the rod and Gun Club in Stanley for a drink and some info. From Stanley you can follow 75 down the Salmon River to Sunbeam, Clayton. Hook up with Highway 93 south of Challis and drive South to Trail Creek and the Big Lost River Valley North of Mackay. Keep going South on 93 until you reach Arco. Link up with Highway 20 for a drive West across the Carters of the Moon to Carey and the Little Wood River (Bear Track Williams) and a Return to silver Creek. What a great loop with all kinds of fish and fishing access.
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Its been a long time since I fished it but the Trinity Lakes area is nice as you can hike in and get away from people. There is a main lake at the general parking/camping area, but you can hike to several more lakes that are higher and more isolated than the main lake. Cutthroat, big ones as I remember and anything in an Adams or royal coachman worked nice. Then, if you want some river/stream fishing, you can head down the canyon and hit the Boise River, even in June you can fish without too much of a crowd during the weekday. Then from there you could go up to the wood river and silver creek, but they are fished a little more heavy.
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cpierce has a good point. So far the winter hasn't been to bad and not that much snow but you will want to keep up to date on what is clear enough to fish. The henrys fork all though busy with people clears pretty quickly from runoff and could be a good option.
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I've hiked from alturas to red fish acouple of times now and hit different lakes on different routes. As a rule the further you get off a trail the better the fishing. If you do it get some really good maps a GPS and get yourselves good and lost the fishing can be amazing if you do. June how ever is much too early for this, too much snow, July is also too early, too many mosquiteos, August is nice.
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