Travis and Brenda Bullock, owners of Mile High Outfitters in Challis, Idaho, offer both guided and unguided drop camps to high mountain lakes and streams fishing for Native Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Bull Trout and White Fish. We can fish over twenty high mountain lakes or stream fish along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Big Creek, Camas Creek, West Fork of the Yankee Fork or Cottonwood Creek. Our high mountain lakes are usually accessible after the 4th of July and our stream fishing is usually best in August and early September.
Mile High Outfitters has over twenty lakes in its area that we can ride horses and hike to. Some of these lakes have not seen a fisherman in years and some lakes are right on the trail. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game stocks these lakes by helicopter on average every three or four years. The lakes are stocked with Cutthroat, Rainbow and Golden Trout. We have one lake stocked with Grayling. We keep tabs on where the big fish are. Most of these lakes are over 8000 feet in elevation and the view is priceless. If you like to fish as much as we do, you will have nightmares after catching these hard fighting, cold water, Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout. Since the lakes are so high in elevation, we very seldom get to them before the 4th of July. Winter comes early at 10,000 feet in Idaho so we are usually done by the beginning of September. The closest lake is a 4 hour horseback ride from the trailhead. We ride the stock uphill but we hike downhill and to other lakes so get in shape! We love catering to groups of 4-6 people on these high altitude treks but we have accommodated as many as 8.
A typical day on a guided trip is to wake up about 7am, eat a hearty breakfast that the guides cook and either hike to a different lake each day or fish the lake we are camped on. We take a sack lunch with us each day and eat a hearty dinner at night. We usually eat trout at least once during this trip. We have some mosquitos on this trip during the evenings but they are not bad. This camp is a roving camp so we use small backpack tents with a large tarp over the kitchen. Most high mountain lake trips start at a trailhead and do not require you to fly into the middle of the wilderness. Whether you book a drop camp fishing trip or guided trip, a high mountain lake fishing trip with Mile High Outfitters should be on your bucket list.
If a roving wilderness lake trip is what you desire, we have a 5-night, 6-day loop that allows you to fish a different lake each evening. We ride horses and mules between 2 and 4 hours each day. This loop is one of my favorites but requires us to prepare in advance to make sure trails are cleared. This is a labor-intensive trip thus the reason for the extra cost. You will ride on the divide between the second and third deepest gorges in North America and the views on this trip are awesome. Because of the high elevation, it is typically August before we can access this loop.
