Friday's Fishing report

I fished Henrys Lake on Friday and had fairly good luck.  The weather was calm and mostly clear in the early morning with elk dotting the meadows west of the lake.

I first fished the A-Frame Bay and only got one small cutthroat before I moved on the Duck Creek.  In seven feet of water I landed a 19 inch cutthroat and a 19 inch brook trout.  Both were taken on a Beadhead Electric Black.

 

I then decided to try the deep part of the lake as a slight breezy made drift-fishing about right.  In the Wild Rose Hybrid Hole in 20 feet of water, I started getting hits and a few fish.  I landed four cutts and another large brook trout.  Most of them were taken on a Canadian Red Leech with red tinsel in the black tail.

 

I heard reports of bait fishermen doing well along the Cliffs and also catching some large hybrids there.  I will have to try it in the next week to see what happens.  The lake is still too cold to cause the fish to school up much.

 

 

Brook Trout on Henrys Lake

Two of my sons-in-law and my grandson joined me for a great day on Henrys Lake.  We caught one hybrid, seven cutthroats and 15 brook trout for a great day.  Most of the fish were taken in 20 feet of water on a #4 Light Olive and Black Woolly Bugger.

Here a son-in-law shows off a large brook trout taken in the Wild Rose Hybrid Hole.

Just the first day of a three-day fishing experience.

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.

Ice fishing Henrys Lake

With only five more days of open fishing on Henrys Lake, we finally made it up there.  The recent cold weather had put five inches of ice near the Hatchery and two friends and I had a great time.

Moose caught three large brook trout like this one.  We were fishing east of the Hatchery with a variety of lures and bait and caught about 30 fish between us.

Here Gary is landing a nice cutthroat.  We missed a lot of bites and a nearby fisherman lost a huge fish that we could not get up through the 8-inch hole. 

With fish like these, I am headed back up there tomorrow morning.  A great way to spend a wild but cold day in Idaho.

Fishing with Jesse

Last night my son-in-law, Jesse, decided he wanted to fish Henrys Lake this morning.  It turned out to be a great day.  After a few fish, Jesse landed the largest brook trout he has ever caught.  It was 20 1/4 inches and weighed about five pounds.  It was one of the most colorful brook I have seen this year.

It is one of those "enuf" fish.  I will in the future run my essay on "enuf" fish.  But we continued to catch fish.
here is a female brook trout Jesse caught.

But 15 of the 18 fish we caught were cutthroats between 16 to 22 inches.  All were caught on the Light Olive Crystal at Howard Creek near Henrys Lake State Park.

Great way to spend a Saturday morning in the wilds of Idaho.

Fishing heating up on Henrys Lake

I drove up to Henrys Lake to exercise the fish that wanted to lose a little weight.  Fishing was slow to start off, but I was joined by seven Common Loons just as the sun tried sneaking through the fog.

As the fog lifted this loon worked close to me, but both of us were not successful.

Even the coots were very busy, but they were after veggies not meat.

About 10, the fish started hitting the Light Olive Crystal with most of them between 18 to 22 inches.

My sixth fish was a 21 inch brook trout.  The only one of the trip.

I did not get a hybrid, but caught 14 fish by noon. 

With wind, rain, birds and fish, it was another wild day in Idaho.  I am glad that I do not stay home when the weather appears to be bad.



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.

Henrys Lake - Damsels are starting to hatch

I fished Henrys Lake on Friday monring with good success.  Once again I caught more brook trout than I did cutthroats.

Several of the brook trout were over 18 inches with one over 20.  The best fishing for me happened off Targhee Creek in 18 to 15 feet of water.  Garth, from Rupert, Idaho, fished close to me and had a good morning also.

When I came back to the boat launch, I saw several damsel flies hatching on the boat docks.  That means the hatch should happen this next week and we should have great fishing on the west side of the lake in the County Boat Dock and A-Frame Bay areas.  Any of the damsel patterns should work well as soon as the fish start feeding on them.  It is great timing for the July Fourth Holiday.

Best of Luck.  See you on the water; or in the bushes with my camera in hand.

Henrys Lake - Finally

I went fishing on Henrys Lake Monday and today (Wednesday) and had two great days of fishing.  Monday I went by myself looking for fish and found three pockets of them.  The water temperature is at 54 degrees, cold for the fish to bunch up, but found some scattered groups.  I never report numbers or size of fish while I am alone, but had a great time.

Today I fished with two neighbors, Josh and Jeff, and we trolled flies in water about 19 feet deep.  We caught in Hybrid Hole #1 and #2.  Here is Josh with a 20 inch brook trout.

Those holes slowed down, so we went out to the Middle Hole and the "L" Hole where the fishing got really fast and hot.  We caught a total of 30 fish, most of them small two-year old cutts, but got another 20 inch brook trout.  Here is Jeff with a nice cutthroat.

The lightning and storms drove us off the lake about 11:30 a.m.  But we had a great time chasing wild fish in the wilds of Idaho.

Ririe is iced over and fishing well

Today I fished Ririe Reservoir with about four to five inches of ice. I didn't get there until the afternoon, but at 3 the kokanee came through and I limited out quickly. One kokanee was 15 inches, but most are around 10 to 12 inches. The kokanee came through between 10 to 20 feet under the ice.

I also saw perch, trout and suckers caught near the rock pile.


Yesterday I traveled to Carey and fished Fish Creek Reservoir for two hours. I caught 11 brook trout between 10 and 14 inches and two rainbows about 17 inches.

But with Ririe Reservoir now frozen over, I will fish it about twice each week.