Forget football, the real fun is at Henrys Lake this fall

With the recent cold nights, mud puddles around Henrys Lake are freezing over but the fish being caught are warming the fishermen braving the cold, rain and even some snow. Every fall after the water temperatures drop, the fish in Henrys start eating to put on weight for the winter.

“We saw the water temperatures drop into the 50s in mid September and the fish started feeding,” Mike Wilson, owner of the Drift Lodge near Henrys, said. “Mike Tubbs, who has a cabin near Staley Springs, recently caught a 15 pound six ounce hybrid one morning and then a 16 pounder the next morning.”

After a very slow season for most fishermen, what fish are in the lake seem to be congregating near the Henrys Lake State Park near Howard Creek, the Hatchery, Pintail Point, Hope Creek in the southwest corner, the Frome County boat dock and Staley Springs.

Lucas Ingram, a teacher in Rexburg, reported catching seven fish each of two mornings during the recent harvest vacation for area schools.

“We got some nice ones but lost several very large fish. One of which got wrapped around the boat motor and broke off,” Ingram said. “Maybe I will not go to the BYU game on Saturday and go to Henrys instead.”

The fears of an early hot summer of the Idaho State Department of Fish and Game was that the water quality would take a hit and they would see another crop of blue/green algae this summer, but it did not develop. The Fish and Game have partnered with the Henrys Fork Foundation and the Henrys Lake Foundation to monitor the water quality of the lake during the winter to try to find out what has caused the fish population to fall.

“Last spring during our gill netting, we caught less than half the fish that we wanted to and knew that we don’t have the population that we want there,” Jon Flinders, a Regional Fisheries biologist said this week. “Both the water quality and the water clarity are excellent this fall compared to last fall. Recently, I was at the lake working with our stocked fish and met a fisherman that said he had caught 17 fish in just a few hours.”

Fishermen are reporting that they are catching yearling fish between eight to 12 inches, indicating good survival rates of the fish planted last season. This year’s stocking of over 1.5 million trout has already been done and in a study being done by Flinders. This year’s plant also appears to be a great success.

While the small fish indicates a better future for the famed lake, the big fish are what is drawing fishermen to the lake now.

“Alton Hansen and I went to Henrys and fished two days last week,” said Mike Bruton of Rexburg. “On the first day we only caught two, but one was an eight pounder so we went back and caught four. One was five pounds and one was a real hog – a 12 pound hybrid.”

Those fishermen targeting brook trout are fishing near the Hatchery, at the Stump Hole and near Pittsburg Creek. Howard Creek should start producing some of the large Brook Trout and hybrids with cutthroats up to three pounds.

The lake generally freezes over by November 20 each year, so for those fishermen looking for an open water trophy, you have about four weeks before the ice fishermen get a chance at the big ones. The top bait for the large fish is sucker meat while fly fishermen are finding Bead Mity Mouse, Canadian Red Leeches and Electric Black Leeches producing them.

For up-to-date information on conditions and reports, Wilson at the Drift Lodge can be a very valuable resource. He also carries equipment and flies. He can be reached at (208) 558-0152.

“It looks like the lake will produce some great fish as well as some stories of those that got away,” said Wilson.