Kelly Lake, Idaho: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Kelly Lake is listed under Clearwater County, Idaho. The bank is 6,171 feet above sea level. Surface area runs to about 5 acres — small enough to read in one session. Some 34 miles away sits Frenchtown, the nearest settlement. Further out sit Lolo (36 miles) and Orchard Homes (38 miles). It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Kelly Lake

  Depth went unrecorded, which puts the reading back on you. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Across Clearwater County, recorded fish include rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, Chinook salmon and Arctic grayling. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. On Kelly Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 20°F to 57°F. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough early May. In an average year the thaw lands around early May and the freeze near mid November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. At Kelly Lake the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. The nearest alternative is Kid Lake, 1.5 miles out. Nothing on Kelly Lake should be assumed from this page alone.