Fishing Cub Lake in Idaho County, Idaho

• Overview

  Cub Lake lies in Idaho County, in Idaho. The bank is 6,404 feet above sea level. At about 42 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. With about 1.0 miles of edge, you can try several depths in one session. On our Idaho County list it sits near the top for size. You are 23 miles from Hamilton. After that come Stevensville at 40 miles and Lolo at 56 miles. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Cub Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. County-wide records name rainbow trout, Chinook salmon, cutthroat trout, bull trout and brook trout. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. At Cub Lake the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 17°F to 55°F. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from mid May. The open-water window runs from around mid May to about mid November in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. The season on Cub Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Lake Capitan at 1.9 miles is the sensible second choice. None of that is settled for Cub Lake in what we hold.