Henry's Lake Chub Report

Wetswinger

Wetswinger

Beneath the surface of the mud, there’s more mud.
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Just got back from 10 day trip to my brother-in - laws cabin on Henry's Lake Outlet. Man, it's nice up there. We only took the boat out one morning over to Targee creek area.
Got a couple but nothing to talk about. I've been to the cabin before but never fished and was surprised how shallow and weedy the lake is. Definitely need some local knowledge to succeed there. Anyway, out on the boat deck I was surprised to see clouds of Chubs swimming all around the place. Like watching I-5 at rush hour all day long. If they stocked Browns or Latonas in there, they'd be huge. My brother and I put on some size 20 nymphs and had a Chub Master contest. He got 45 in a half hour to my 37. Oh, what sport. All and all a great time. Other highlights: Firehouse BBQ in W. Yellowstone and the Beartooth Plateau drive. Think I'll head over to Island Lake with my pram, for a dream trip...
 
fatbillybob said:
The lake fishes good at many places with easy access like the county boat dock or staley springs.
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Henry's is but a shell of its former self. You can still have good days (infrequently) but by and large its pretty lousy anymore. The last two times I have been out I got 3 one day and one the other. Now there are some good fish coming out of there but overall its poor.
 
ifsteve said:
Henry's is but a shell of its former self. You can still have good days (infrequently) but by and large its pretty lousy anymore. The last two times I have been out I got 3 one day and one the other. Now there are some good fish coming out of there but overall its poor.
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That's too bad. Many years back I remember fishing henrys and the id dfg boat came buy while we were in our tubes. They did not want to check licenses but asked us how was fishing and thanked us for showing up! There was a big change in the lake that year and got everyone spooked including the DFG. It was like the fish disappeared from prior years and no one knew why. I figured by now that would have reversed itself. By then I was transitioning to GYE moving waters from still and never really fished it much after that plus is was way easier gear wise to wade fish vs. still fish when all your gear had to fly with you. That time was around the last time Staley springs lodges were still in business. We loved staying there and tubing the springs. I remember stellar years fishing henrys really big fish and the tastiest slot of brooks in the 16-18" class. Henry's was my favorite stillwater fishery. So there is still no theory as to why the fishery at henry's collapsed and it never came back?
 
fatbillybob said:
That's too bad. Many years back I remember fishing henrys and the id dfg boat came buy while we were in our tubes. They did not want to check licenses but asked us how was fishing and thanked us for showing up! There was a big change in the lake that year and got everyone spooked including the DFG. It was like the fish disappeared from prior years and no one knew why. I figured by now that would have reversed itself. By then I was transitioning to GYE moving waters from still and never really fished it much after that plus is was way easier gear wise to wade fish vs. still fish when all your gear had to fly with you. That time was around the last time Staley springs lodges were still in business. We loved staying there and tubing the springs. I remember stellar years fishing henrys really big fish and the tastiest slot of brooks in the 16-18" class. Henry's was my favorite stillwater fishery. So there is still no theory as to why the fishery at henry's collapsed and it never came back?
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There are several thoughts being tossed around as to why the fishery is struggling.
1. The stocking of fish in the fall is poor timing. If a freeze occurs right after stocking tons of the small fish die as they are trapped along the shoreline. This can lead to an almost total loss of an age class. Since the average fish in Henry's lives to be about 4 years old if you lose an entire age class then its a big loss. Right now they think they have lost 2 of the last 4 age classes. Net surveys this spring were 25% of average!
2. Ice fishing has a significant impact. Fish congregate around certain spots and are subject to much higher mortality than when caught during the regular season.
3. Water quality is always a suggested culprit. But I haven't seen any data that supports this.

Personally I think #1 is a big problem. Its just makes sense to me. Stocking already puts a fish in a stressful environment. Hold them over to ice out in the spring before release. Sure that costs more to raise the fish but losing entire age classes by fall stocking is pretty dang pricey in my book.

I'd get rid of ice fishing.
I'd get rid of bait and make all fishing single hook artificials.
AND if I was King for a Day I'd make the lake catch and release!
Ok rant over. Sorry but been fishing there since the summer of 1973 and it makes me ill to see how bad it is.
 
ifsteve said:
There are several thoughts being tossed around as to why the fishery is struggling.
1. The stocking of fish in the fall is poor timing. If a freeze occurs right after stocking tons of the small fish die as they are trapped along the shoreline. This can lead to an almost total loss of an age class. Since the average fish in Henry's lives to be about 4 years old if you lose an entire age class then its a big loss. Right now they think they have lost 2 of the last 4 age classes. Net surveys this spring were 25% of average!
2. Ice fishing has a significant impact. Fish congregate around certain spots and are subject to much higher mortality than when caught during the regular season.
3. Water quality is always a suggested culprit. But I haven't seen any data that supports this.

Personally I think #1 is a big problem. Its just makes sense to me. Stocking already puts a fish in a stressful environment. Hold them over to ice out in the spring before release. Sure that costs more to raise the fish but losing entire age classes by fall stocking is pretty dang pricey in my book.

I'd get rid of ice fishing.
I'd get rid of bait and make all fishing single hook artificials.
AND if I was King for a Day I'd make the lake catch and release!
Ok rant over. Sorry but been fishing there since the summer of 1973 and it makes me ill to see how bad it is.
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Wow! I was lucky to fish Henry's at a time when fishing was fantastic! I loved strip setting streamers from a float tube.
 
fatbillybob said:
How was your spring there and how do you fish?
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I fish out of a pontoon boat with a trolling motor. Basically dragging flies around. The weeds were down this year. More so than I've seen in the last five years. Arrived on a Sunday to bad weather. Bad weather on Monday. Woke up to snow on the ground Tuesday but the weather was clearing. Cleaned off the boat and got out to a 50+ fish day. Fishing was good for the next four days before I packed up and headed for the Madison.
 
You can still have terrific days especially right after ice out and then late fall when the fish are congregated. If you know where that happens (it aint no secret) its easy to have big number days. Is fun. Its stupid combat fishing and one of these days there's going to be some serious problems. Saw several times this spring where I thought idiots were going to have at it.
 
ifsteve said:
Saw several times this spring where I thought idiots were going to have at it.
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It is amazing! Since covid-19 and political division people have lost their minds. There is even road rage where the participants shoot each other and both end up dead! Maybe as fishermen we can all think before we act and treat each other a little better.
 
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