Henrys Lake Fishing #1 - 2011

Yesterday, Friday, I took my boat to Henrys Lake to park it for the season.  Grandkids are coming tomorrow from Utah and want to fish a lot, so I had to find the fish.  I found a few fish off the County Boat Dock and Staley Springs.  I caught six in about one and a half hours.  Three were brook trout, one a hybrid and two were small cutthroats.  The brook trout are still large and will get larger.

There is plenty of snow on Sawtelle to melt and the lake is 104% full.  We will have plenty of water this year.

With at least three days of fishing next week, we should have some good reports.

Hybrids at Henrys Lake

After three weeks of busy Saturdays, I finally got one off and headed to Henrys Lake for some early morning fishing.  Some fish were rising in the Staley Springs area, so I stayed there.  My first fish was a very large hybrid.

Not ten minutes later I got another hybrid, just a little smaller.  No measurements or weight - just great battles and released to fight again.

Pictures are hard to take while battling fish by yourself.  But what a joy it is to hook and wrestle them.

Four cutthroats were also caught, before I headed to help a neighbor get a load of firewood.  Just another wild day in Idaho.

Henrys Lake again

Yesterday I got some calls that businesses were running out of flies and my book, so about 4 p.m. I took some up to Ashton and Island Park.

Of course I took my fly rod and flies so I could fish for a couple of hours before it got dark.  Only caught four fish - but one was a big hybrid at Duck Creek and one was a 22 inch brook trout at Howard Creek.

It had stormed the day before and the water was still murky, so I used the Gold Glimmer fly and it was successful, but slow fishing.  Henrys Lake should really get good around Howard Creek in the next two to three weeks - if you can miss the storms and muddy water.

Targhee Creek - good fishing

When the weather gets hot so does the fishing at the mouth of Targhee Creek on Henrys Lake.  This week I fished and guided three days on the lake and had a great time.  Most of the fish we caught were brook trout from 15 to 22 inches.  Here is one of them.

Usually there are from 20 to 45 boats in a group around the mouth of the creek.

A few of the fishermen are catching a lot of fish while others are getting skunked or catching just a few.  Here are some tips to being successful there.  Start early.   Six or six-fifteen in the morning are great times to be fishing there.  You want to be in 7 to 9 feet of water, using a slow sink line like an Intermediate, Camo, Slime or a Wet Cel 1 line.  The best flies have been the Mity Mouse, Henrys Lake Renegade or a Light Olive CB.  At times a Hare's Ear or a Pheasant-tail works well.  Experment with your retrieve as two weeks ago they wanted a fast retrieve but last week they wanted a slow one.

The large cutts and a few hybrids have been hitting a little better than they were.  Here is a large cutt that hit for me.

One evening last week we did find some cutts and hybrids in nine feet of water off Duck Creek.  That could turn on this week.

Best of Luck fishing.  If you need any of those flies let me know.