SCHIESS: Henrys producing few, but huge fish during opening week

Henrys Lake opened last Saturday and has already produced fish that have fulfilled dreams of the “big one” for several fishermen who have harvested hybrids more than 10 pounds. Monday morning 12-year-old, Bryce Hansen of Rexburg caught a 10.8 pound hog while bait fishing near the Cliffs with his father, Alton, and Mike Bruton.

“I caught it on Velveeta cheese with some secret ingredients mixed with it,” said a smiling Bryce. “But it was the only fish we caught all day and we only had one other bite.”

On Saturday the same three fishermen fished all day with Alton catching the only two fish of the day, but both were big, a 7.7 and an 8.8 pounder. Those were the only two bites they had all day.

“I was pleased with the success for the fishermen on Saturday as most boats we checked had at least one fish,” Damon Keen, manager of the Henrys Lake Hatchery said. “But then on Sunday only about half the boats were successful catching a fish, but many of them were large fish.”

Monday morning I visited with six boats containing 17 fishermen that came into the Bill Frome County Park boat dock between 11 a.m. and noon. Five of the boats had not caught a fish and the other one had only two fish, one about 14 inches and one that weighted nine pounds.

“It is kind of what we saw in the gill netting,” said Keen. “We are seeing a strong age class of two year old fish with some very large fish mixed in. So I am pleased with the large fish but unhappy with the catch rate on the lake.”

As with all fishing on every body of water, some people are very happy with the results while others are very disappointed. The Department of Idaho Fish and Game spent the weekend trying to check as many fishermen as they could on the lake to gauge the fishing success. Keen reported that people trolling flies and lures were having more success than the fly or bait fishermen, but the bait fishermen were catching larger fish.

The brook trout that were so abundant three years ago were almost nonexistent over the opening weekend as Keen reported that they had only seen six or seven caught Saturday and Sunday.

There are about as many reasons voiced by the anglers why the fishing is slow as there are fishermen on the lake. Most common reason from summer-only fishermen was the blaming of the ice fishing while others blame the fish gorging themselves during the recent snowfly hatch that was extremely heavy. Others argue that the lack of cutthroats is because they are still spawning up the creeks.

Many of the disappointed fishermen I talked to felt there were just not enough fish in the lake. The recent gill netting showed there are only about half the trout in the lake that the Fish and Game would like to see there. So this year they will be planting one million cutthroat, 200,000 hybrids and 200,000 brook trout.

In the meantime the “never come here for the opening again” fisherman or the “I will see you in the fall” or “the two fish cost us about $500 each” or “one nine pounder is not worth three fishing days” anglers are looking for more successful waters. They should know and understand that some of the most knowledgeable fishermen on Henrys Lake did land over 10 fish each day over the weekend.

But for those looking for a wall-hanger, you should head for Henrys Lake. There are big fish there and a hookup can be a thrill of a lifetime, but you may have to spend a lot of time. As Mike Bruton said, “Find a place by the Cliffs, put on your bait, cast it out, put some bells on your rod and take a nap. When the ringing of the bells wakes you up, you probably have a big one. But tomorrow I am heading for Ririe for some kokanee.”