Henry's Lake Q's.

[One_eyed_jack]

Okay Idaho fisherpeople, I am looking for some information on Henry's Lake. I have been there once before and loved it, wonderful lake, good fishing. Any way I would like to become more familiar with this lake and learn it a bit better. I know there is a season on the lake and I know that there are certain times that the lake is almost unfishable because of veggitation growth; however I have no idea when those time are. The only way I have ever caught a fish there is either dead floating a worm or a wooley bugger patern. I see lots of people trolling it but I have no idea about depths and productive types. So what I am looking for is a place to research this or some help from some fellow anglers in my quest for the Henry lake lunkers. Dont want you secret weapon or choice spots, just some more education from some seasond Henry's fisherfolk.
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[BrianID]

Henry's has had some winter kill the last couple of years so you won't catch the numbers out of there that you could 5 years ago but there are still some big fish in there. Earlier this spring the F&G was worried about winter kill on Henry's but an early ice off may have helped prevent that from happening. I've caught fish out of Henry's on just about everything. Almost without exception every big hybrid(24"+) that I have caught, seen caught or know someone that caught has been on either bait fished on the bottom or a fly. There really isn't a bad time to fish Henry's. The weeds can get bad in places and normally trolling become difficult around the end of June and isn't very pratical until the weeds die in the fall when the temperatures get colder.
You can catch fish from the shore in a few places but for the most part you need a boat or tube to fish Henry's. The lake isn't very deep with the maximum depth that I have seen on the fish finder being 23' with places over 20' being uncommon. Most places on Henry's are less than 15'. On the fish finder in the deeper water(17'+)I normally see fish suspended 6-10 feet down or see them on the bottom. I've caught fish within a couple feet of the surface trolling, fly fish and with lures but that is normally only on cloudy/rainy days.

Here's a link to the regs. http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/fish/rules/
Check out the "Upper Snake Region Map & Exceptions" for details on the regulations at Henry's.

If you have some more specific questions about Henry's just ask. I don't really have any secrets about Henry's that I won't share.
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[One_eyed_jack]

Thank you much for the information. Bait and flies are the only thing I have ever tried up there and they have proven themselves successful for me.
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[BrianID]

Looks like plenty of people have check this post out already. If there are some of you out there that are reading this that have fished Henry’s add your 2 cents and make the Idaho board a better place.

Here’s a few more things about Henry’s. If any of you have any specific questions just ask or criticize what I have written so we can all learn something from you.

Most guys can catch more fish trolling because it is much more difficult to successfully bait fish (at least in my opinion). Like I said before all of the big ones that I have heard of are caught on bait fished on the bottom or flies even though a large percentage of guys that fish at Henry’s are trolling. I think the main reason for this is that the bigger fish are more boat shy. I think a noisy trolling motor and large boat easily scares the older fish because you are trolling in less than 20’ of water. I'm sure if you used a side planer it would increase your success trolling. I have also done fairly well on a downrigger at Henry's but I've only used the downrigger because there normally isn't room for my second pole when trolling (4 guys with 2 pole permit in the boat = 8 poles). I have caught fish on fly rod from a 19' boat and a canoe at Henry's but I've had much better luck in a float tube. If I'm going to be strictly fly fish at Henry's I like to be in a float tube because I believe the extra stealth it gives you is more than worth the extra leg work.

On the opener I have never done very well in 15'+ water or with bait. If I fish Henry's on the opener this year I will stick to the shallower water that warms up quicker and fish with reaction baits (spinners, rapalas, spoons, jigs and larger flies like crystal buggers). After the first week or two of June through the end of October I like to fish in the deeper water (15+ feet) and have had better luck with bait and nymphs but I still catch plenty of fish on reaction baits. I wouldn't fish in less than 15 feet of water at Henry's during the summer unless I was fishing damsel fly nymphs or fishing near an inlet or spring.

About 10 years ago the F&G found chubs in Henry’s and almost everyone thought that the chubs would soon become overpopulated and ruin the fishery. I haven’t heard anything about chubs in Henry’s over the last 5 years and I haven’t ever caught one or know anyone that has caught one so it looks like the big hybrids and cutts have keep the chub numbers from getting out of control (at least so far). I know that a handful of brown trout have also been caught out of Henry’s but I haven’t heard of any in recent years and I haven’t personally meet anyone that has caught a brown out of there.
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[One_eyed_jack]

Thanks again Brian for the abundance of information you have supplied. I will make sure and post more questions and a trip report.
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[c-canyon]

It's going to be real interesting as to how Henrys fishes this year. Bill Schiess (who probably knows more about that lake than just about anyone) even wrote in a paper to the IF&G-

[#ff0000]1998[/#ff0000] total fish caught by him and his clients was 4831 fish.

[#ff0000]1999[/#ff0000] total fish 5108, year 2000- 4381 fish, 2001-3116 caught

[#ff0000]2002[/#ff0000] total fish caught-541 and in [#ff0000]2003[/#ff0000] -134

134 is not a misprint.

I think theres more to it than winterkill. I don't know and I don't thing IF&G really knows, but I hope it recovers real soon.
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[BrianID]

Thanks for the numbers c-canyon. I didn't know that Bill Schiess has been doing so poorly at Henry's the last few years. Was that letter in the Post Register? The F&G have been telling everyone that the fishing at Henry's is so slow because there is so much food in there that the fish aren't hungry. The F&G have been telling everyone that the winter kill hasn't been that bad but I don't believe it. I think that it is a combination of winter kill which resulted in more food than the fish could possible eat that has made the fishing so poor the last couple of years. I have heard that the F&G have been getting good numbers of smaller cutts (under 14") in their gill nets but not many of the hybrids. The F&G should have some kind of report on Henry's condition come out some time before the opener.
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