Redfish Lake

Redfish Lake in Idaho's Sawtooth National Recreation Area is one of the most visually spectacular fishing destinations in the Rocky Mountain West — a deep alpine lake reflecting the jagged Sawtooth Range peaks rising over 8,000 feet directly above the western shore. The lake takes its name from the Sockeye Salmon that once turned its waters red during massive spawning runs from the Pacific Ocean — a 900-mile migration that made Redfish Lake's sockeye the world's most inland-running anadromous fish. The Sockeye restoration at Redfish Lake is one of Idaho's most dramatic conservation stories. By the early 1990s, only one sockeye returned to Redfish Lake — a fish the Idaho Fish & Game biologists nicknamed "Lonesome Larry" whose sperm was used to begin the captive breeding program that has since brought returning numbers from single digits to hundreds annually. Catching a returning Redfish Lake Sockeye on a fly is still an extremely rare privilege — but each September, a small number of jack salmon and adult sockeye that have survived the 900-mile upstream migration enter the lake, and encountering one is genuinely extraordinary. Wild Sockeye Lake Kokanee, Snake River Cutthroat, and Bull Trout provide the primary fly fishing, with the cutthroat averaging 14–18 inches in the lake's cold, clear water. The dramatic setting — the Sawtooth peaks reflected in glassy water at dawn — makes every cast feel significant.