Fewer fish, but larger ones at Henrys Lake

On the glassy smooth water of Henrys Lake a lone boat was just off the cliffs as I glassed the lake at 6:43 a.m. on May 14. The Department of Idaho Fish and Game personnel were gathering in the gill nets put out the night before, capturing fish to help them determine the population of fish before the season opens next Saturday.

When I pulled into the Hatchery parking lot, the information sign showed dismal numbers of trout:

• 24 net/nights
• Brooks: 38
• Hybrids: 21
• Yellowstone cutthroats: 42
• Utah chubs: 568
• Total fish: 669

“Not what we were hoping for,” Dan Garren, the Upper Snake River regional fisheries manager, said later. “We were hoping that the nets would show a balance of large fish and more numbers but the nets are not showing that. We have lower density of trout, but larger fish; it is numbers verses size and it looks like it will be similar to last year’s catch rate.”

After Thursday’s gill netting, a total of 68 brooks, 68 cutts, 42 hybrids and 1088 chubs had been captured making an average of 4.26 trout and 25.9 chubs per net/night for the 42 nets. Garren is hoping for a lot more trout to show up in the next eight nets.

The two previous seasons of gill-netting had an average of eight trout per net in 2016 and 5.5 average last year. It is unknown why the gill nets, designed to predict fish population in the lake, are producing less trout in each of the last three seasons. The goal of the Department of Fish and Game are to have an average of 11 per net/night.

After a very slow fishing early in the season last year, the famed lake produced well for a few fishermen late in the season as the water cooled. Fishermen who fished the lake throughout the season reported catching some very large fish with a few nearing 15 pounds. In one trip Gary Owens took an eight pounder with his fishing partner, Wayne Clayton, catching one over 12 pounds.

This past winter Garren and his crew held public hearings on changes that the public would like implemented on Henrys Lake. Popular with fishermen was to have the lake open year around to fishing and some suggestions to have new species introduced to the fishery.

“We have recommended to the (Fish and Game) Commission to have a year around fishery, but only allow “catch and release fishing” from January 2 until the traditional opening date which has been the Saturday before Memorial Day,” said Garren. “But it will be Commission dependent if that will happen and there is no recommendation to introduce a new species of fish like the Tiger trout.”

Fishermen who regularly fish Henrys will find a few changes as Damon Keen, manager of the Henrys Lake Hatchery has retired and moved to northern Idaho. Working the Hatchery and projects around the lake will be Jenn Vincent. Vincent has worked with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for two years, grew up in Canada and earned her master’s degree in Environmental Toxicology from Trent University.

“I love it here at Henrys and it is a beautiful place,” said Vincent the first time I met her. “I will be full time at Henrys and I will enjoy it as I am used to this kind of living where I grew up.”

“We will be having a “Meet and greet” activity on the Friday evening before the opener at the Hatchery,” Garren said. “We want the people to meet Jenn so we will serve hot dogs and hamburgers from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. next Friday night.”

My predictions for fishing Henrys Lake? I don’t have any – but I know this, you cannot catch one of those trophies roaming the lake unless you go fishing for them Hopefully the trout are hiding from the gill nets and the catch rate will be great.