Tip Top Lake in Lemhi County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Tip Top Lake lies in Lemhi County, Idaho. The country round it is mixed forest from end to end. Surface area runs to about 3 acres — small enough to read in one session. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Lemhi County. The closest town, Salmon, is 35 miles distant. Challis follows at 45 miles, then McCall at 74 miles. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Tip Top Lake

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Survey and observation records for Lemhi County include rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, Chinook salmon, brook trout and Arctic grayling. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. On Tip Top Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 52°F and December near 17°F on the long-run figures. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late May. The water is typically free of ice between late May and early November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. The season on Tip Top Lake rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. Public data shows nothing built here, so treat the whole approach as informal. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Should this one be busy, Ramshorn Lake is 0.4 miles off. Ask locally about Tip Top Lake if anything is unclear.