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.

Saturday at Henrys Lake

Went ice fishing at Henrys Lake again.  Twice in two days - But then it will have to satisfy me for two months before it opens again.  On January 1st, it will open for only one day and then will close until Memorial Day weekend.

I fished with my neighbors and we caught some nice fish.  Here is Jared with a big cutthroat.  His smile is bigger than the fish.

We were fishing off the mouth of Pittsburg Creek just east of the Hatchery.  The Hatchery area was loaded with people by 10 a.m.  The best fishing is usually about 7:30 to 8 in the mornings.  Jigs tipped with a piece of nightcrawler worked best for me.

A great way to spend a morning or day in the wilds of Idaho.

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.



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.

Fishing Beula Lake in Yellowstone

Had a great time hiking in 2 1/2 miles to Beula Lake on Saturday and fishing for three hours.  The birds, animals, flowers and sounds were a great solitary experience. 

Here is a picture of a faint rainbow I took just before I got rained on.

The fish were willing as I got hits on almost every cast with Yellowstone Cutthroats running from 12 to 16 inches.

A loon interrupted my fishing as it came in to fish the same area I was and it spooked the fish.

But the fish soon returned and continued feeding until 32 people showed up to fish the lake.  Here an 8 year old son of a friend of mine with a cutt that he caught.

With dogs running uncontrolled and swimming through the fishing holes it was time to head home and pick raspberries and peas.

Anything with red or peacock bodies worked for me until all the activity started.  It was a great day for fishing, hiking and photos.

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 - 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.

Henrys Lake fishing

Weather - 10  Fishermen -1.  Opening Day on Henrys Lake is a crap-shoot at best and this year the weather beat the heck out of the fishermen.  Most fishermen became campers as the rain, snow and wind kept many off the water.  Campgrounds were full, but the lake had only a few boats on it.  Bank fishermen seemed to do the best by casting lures and a few flies like the Red Naked Lady, Beadhead Electric Black and the Mity Mouse.

Monday I made it up, but did not make it on the water due to the wind.  So I did a little bank casting flies to the few fish that were next to the shore.  I did manage to catch a few.  Here a nice cutthroad is landed that fell victom to the Red Naked Lady.

On the way home, I captured this mature Bald eagle who had been feeding on a road-killed elk just east of Henrys Lake.

He should have been out fishing, but the road-kill was easier to get and closer to cover as the rain started once again.  Just another wild day in 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.