Looking for a cheap fly fishing cabin. Where?

You can go on a lot, and I mean a lot, of guided trips for what it’s going to cost you to build a cabin with access.

Stanley ID

Son worked four summers in Island Park. They fished at least a part of every day. The variety of streams, rivers, and lakes is amazing. Great fishing in YNP, as well.

Island Park. Beautiful and you will be within a 1.5 hour drive of many great places to fly fish.

Go fish the Little Red River in Arkansas, just north of Conway. They have trout hatcheries there so never have to worry about fish. World record brown trout was caught there.

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Go fish the Little Red River in Arkansas, just north of Conway. They have trout hatcheries there so never have to worry about fish. World record brown trout was caught there.

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And you can still get a lot/cabin with a dock on that river relatively cheap.

Fun, but only drawback is that the Little Red isn't the picturesque trout river people typically picture in their head.

I don't have any input on those specific locations, but I'd check the river access laws in whatever states you're looking in. If I'm not mistaken, in CO the river bottom is privately owned so wading up and down river from your property is a no-go, but floating is fine as long as you don't touch bottom.

If I were building or buying long term, I'd want to be in a state that allowed me to access the river and then have public access up and down it. Just a thought.

I am admittedly completely unaware of the ID river access laws.

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You can go on a lot, and I mean a lot, of guided trips for what it’s going to cost you to build a cabin with access.

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I want a place where I can go for 3-4 months a year.

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I am admittedly completely unaware of the ID river access laws.

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Idaho (particularly around Island Park) has amazing access. It's all National Forest, Harriman State Park, and BLM land so you have walk up access to hundreds of miles of the best fishing in the US. Imagine rivers 200 yards wide but never deeper than waist deep with a lazy 1 mph flow.

Also, you can pull off almost anywhere in the area and shoot. It is like heaven. Also, since Island Park's economy is all fly fishing half the year the bars are awesome. It's a really fun place if you like to fly fish.

Will you be driving or flying in most of the time? Either way I would look at Colorado over Idaho because its far more affordable to fly into Denver than anywhere in Idaho....but if that is not a consideration Idaho every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Colorado is California without the charm in my opinion.

You also might want to consider northern New Mexico...New Mexico is Colorado without any of the bullshite outside of Santa Fe and Albuquerque and there is some world class trout fishing that is almost untapped in New Mexico....plus summer temps in the area will be lower than Idaho normally and even Colorado most of the time. It gets really hot in Idaho in the summer...even at elevations it can be hot...unusual in New Mexico or Colorado.

In my opinion the fishing is best in Idaho and it is still kind of just a farming state where Colorado has been discovered....too many people in Colorado. New Mexico will never be discovered....it is fantastic but for whatever reason it ain't ever going to be Jackson Wy or Coeur d'Alene, ID...and in my book thats what makes New Mexico the place to be....

I have a friend in Swan Valley Idaho and it is an outdoorsman's paradise....and you can buy land in the area for a reasonable price but it is being discovered as we speak. My friend has about 1000 acres he owns and another couple of thousand that he has leased for about 40 years and farms and he is not happy with the number of people moving into the area.....although he helps them with anything they need LOL. His friends in the area tell him he is the reason they stay and he bitches about them being there but let one of them call him at 5 am with a problem at the cabin and he is there by 6 free of charge LOL...its a great area and you can, at times, fly into Idaho Falls for a reasonable amount of money.....I usually fly into Salt Lake city and make the 4 hour drive cause I am a cheap bastard....