It was great opener for Henrys Lake

“The fishing was typical for opening weekend for keeping fish on Henrys Lake,” commented Alton Hansen of Rexburg. “It was a little slow but produced quality fish for us. I took a neighbor, Beto Avila and his father-in-law, Antonio Flores, fishing and both caught memorable fish for their first time fishing the famed lake. Antonio caught a huge five-pound cutthroat while Benito caught a fantastic Brook trout. They had a ball for their first trip on Henrys.”

On Monday, Hansen was joined by a friend, Mike Bruton, and Mike ended up with a hybrid just under six pounds. Hansen and his guests were not the only fishermen that found the fishing on Henrys Lake enjoyable over Memorial Day weekend.

“We had a lot of fishermen come into the shop that were very pleased with Henrys Lake producing not only a lot of fish for some, but some great fish stories,” commented Brent, a worker at the Drift Lodge Fly Shop. “One guy brought in one hybrid over 11 pounds and bank fishermen near the Henrys Lake State Park reported catching a lot of fish from the shore.”

Also on social media, there were reports of large fish up to 14 pounds that were reportedly caught. Bruton reported that after they had limited out on Monday, they were interviewed by Idaho Department of Fish and Game personnel who told them that over the weekend it was much better fishing than it has been for the last two or three years.

The weather was perfect for the opening weekend and the snowfly hatch that usually coincides with the opening weekend had not started yet. There were a few bugs hatching, but they were not thick enough to make wearing a mask a necessity. But during the last few days, temperatures have warmed up the water enough for them to hatch, making fishing on Henrys a little of a trial.

Hansen and his friends were fishing along the cliffs with sucker meat for bait in nine to 10 feet of water. He reported that the fish started hitting about mid-morning. He also reports that it was good enough that they will be fishing Henrys again this weekend.

Personnel working at the Drift Lodge reported that the top flies for the fly fishermen were the Naked Lady and the Tan and Light Olive Crystals fished in the shallow water near the shore. Traditionally, the late spawning cutthroats will hang along the shore for the first week or two of the season but then will move off to deeper water.

By mid-June they will stage in water depth of from 13 to 15 feet of water next to the large banks of weeds where they can find both food and cover.

With the early reports of the big fish being taken, it looks like this year will be a great year to catch one of them. Hopefully we will get some cooler weather so they will stay available for all types of fishermen.