Merrell Lake is our private lake. It is 85 acres of spring fed water right on the front steps of the lodge. You can spend your days on the lake, or it can be your after dinner dessert, also.

Damsel flies provide some dry fly action early in the season, but the majority of the fish are caught on nymphs and streamers. Trailing a small nymph behind something large like a woolly bugger or streamer is a deadly combination, as are San Juan worms. Varying your retrieve is important, these trout seem to like something different depending on what day of the week it is. You can also dangle nymphs under strike indicators and let the waves impart a little action to the nymph. Not traditional fly fishing, but a deadly lake technique.

When fishing Merrell Lake, bring your stout tackle. Our fish are large and strong. A 20" fish on this lake can push four pounds! We recommend six weights with strong tippets, often in the 2X - 3X range at least. The water can get cloudy, and the weeds are strong. So heavy tippet does not bother the fish, and lets you pull these footballs out of the heavy weeds.

There are browns and rainbows over 20", and large cutthroat in the lake as well. And you will find a few cutbows scattered around, also.

Yellowstone Park | Yellowstone River | Merrell Lake | Tom Miner Creek | Spring Creeks | Ramshorn Lake | Other Water