Heart Lake, Seep Lakes


My fishing partner Terri and I headed over Sat. morn to enjoy the great weather and try out some early fishing in the Potholes. On the road into the seep lakes area we could see hundreds of campers, motorhomes etc. parked off in the distance. Turns out that there was some kind of horse club, endurance race going on all weekend. Thinking that it was going to be impossible to find a decent camp spot we drove into Heart Lake with low expectations. We were very surprised to see only one other car at the lake and the good camping spots unused. It was about 75 and the lake was glass when we set up camp. We shore fished 3 hrs there using marshmallow and nightcrawler without a bite. Numerous people came in and fished for a hour or two and I only heard of one fish caught. We decided to walk in to N. Windmill and give that a try for the evening. Fish were jumping every where when we arrived. We fished for about a hour and a half and had numerous bites but only small 5-6 inch bows. I fished with a s The following morn. we walked into Virgin Lk and gave that a try. Same results. Only small 5-6 inch bows. 2 guys across from us were fishing for a few hours and I didn't see them catch anything. On the hike out a fly fisherman with a float tube said he had fished Marco Polo, and June without any luck and wasn't too happy we told him about our poor luck. It was about 80 degrees and he had walked about 1.5 miles with waders on, so I hope he caught something! Arriving back at Heart Lk. there were 6-8 fishing the shore and no one had any fish. On the drive back out, I drove into Susan and Katey Lakes. There was a family of 6 that were fishing Susan and they had caught 5, 8-10 inch bows in 3 hrs. Although the fishing was a disappointment the great weather and beautiful scenery was worth the trip. It's easy to get lost around there, so take a map if you plan to get out and wander. There are over a hundred lakes in the area and after 30 years I'm still finding new places to explore. Wind can be a problem.

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