Perkins Lake in Blaine County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Perkins Lake falls in Blaine County, part of Idaho. It sits at 7,018 feet above sea level. With some 52 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. Roughly 1.0 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. The nearest town is Sun Valley, 29 miles away. Boise sits 71 miles out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Perkins Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Public occurrence data for Blaine County names rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, Arctic grayling, sockeye salmon and brook trout. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. On Perkins Lake a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 16°F in December to roughly 55°F in July. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. The lid usually goes in mid May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Climate figures give an open season running mid May to mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. That is the shape of the year on Perkins Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is recorded parking some half a mile off. A campsite lies half a mile away for anyone staying over. Mapping records toilets within half a mile. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Should this one be busy, Alturas Lake is 1.4 miles off. Ask locally about Perkins Lake if anything is unclear.