Cove Lake in Custer County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Cove Lake is set in Custer County, Idaho. The water sits 9,856 feet up. Small at around 19 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Compared with other Idaho water on our list, it sits high. The nearest place of any size is Sun Valley, 31 miles away. Boise sits 86 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Cove Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Survey and observation records for Custer County include rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, Chinook salmon and sockeye salmon. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Work Cove Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 50°F for July and 16°F for December. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. Winter locks it down, and early June brings it back. Open water usually runs from early June until about early November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. That is the shape of the year on Cove Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. For a change of water, Hook Lake is 0.2 miles distant. Check the position on Cove Lake before loading the car.