Henry’s Lake is frozen as of today 11/9/18. The ice is not thick enough to ice fish and most likely wont be for a few more days depending on air temps and wind. There is always a chance a big wind storm may open the lake back up, but its probably best to plan to hit stillwaters to the south for the year.
Water temp on the lake is now in the mid 30’s. If the forecast holds, all its going to take is a couple of calm nights to freeze over. Planning a trip up there is going to be a real gamble at this point. If you do get up to the lake and it is still open, fish your flies VERY slowly in all the areas mentioned in prior reports. For now though, its time to tie flies and get ready for the opener. If you didn’t fish Henry’s this year because of reports of slow fishing you really missed out, there were a lot of really big hybrids landed and many folks caught their personal bests. Here’s to hoping for a good winter with plenty of snow and a good 2019 season on Henry’s!
Fishing at Henry’s is winding down for the season. If the forecast hold true, you could see people ice fishing the lake very soon. There is always a chance we get another warm spell, but its not looking likely. Its been an up and down fall on the lake and as the weather continues to get colder, the good fishing is going to be tougher and tougher to come by. For the next week or so I’d concentrate on fishing during the warmest part of the day and fishing areas with some warmer water pumping in like Staley Springs, Wild Rose, the Hatchery, Hope Creek, etc… The State park continues to fish well for numbers of cutthroats, although hardly any bigger hybrids have been landed in this area. Continue to fish the standard henry’s fare (darker leech patterns size 4-8) and experiment with your retrieve speed. When the water temps reach the low forties and mid to upper thirties, it doesn’t seem to be as critical to be near the bottom. This is one time of year where you could just take up an intermediate line and fish it effectively from 3-12ft of water. We will try to have updated water conditions as it gets closer to icing up, so be sure to check with us before you make the drive.
Henry’s is finally starting to show some signs of life the last week or so. Although there aren’t a lot of the bigger fish being caught right now, a fair amount of fish have moved into the shallows and are providing decent action. Most of the good fishing has been from the pintail point area south all the way to hope creek. The wind has been mostly out of the southwest this fall, so the western shoreline is a little more protected and has cleaner water. The fish have been relatively shallow 3-8ft so a type 1 or an intermediate line is really all you need. Fly choice doesn’t seem to be critical, darker leeches in size 6-8 have been best (Black Crystal Bugger, Brown Crystal Bugger, Canadian Brown). Hopefully the lake continues to pick up and we have a good October, stay tuned for more reports.
At Icast this summer in Orlando Sage released two new rods the Igniter and Dart. The Igniter replaces the popular Method and is what I’d like to tell you guys about today! The Method was a great seller in our shop and the ultra fast action is very popular in our area to deal with the sometimes difficult conditions we fish. The Igniter promises to be everything the method was and more and is ideal for windy conditions, long casts, and throwing large flies. The Igniter has a “chipotle” colored blank and black rod tube. To myself, its a more subtle colored method, its not as loud of a red and looks really nice. The components matched with the rod are top notch, I think its the best looking Sage rod in years. Using Sage’s Konnetic HD technology, the Igniter is lighter, thinner, and stronger than the method. The Igniter will be perfect for fishing big bugs to the bank, either out of a driftboat or wading. The rod has a really powerful butt section, but a light enough tip you can still get great accuracy when trying to place big bugs tight to the bank. For streamers I can’t imagine a better rod than this. The powerful butt section will be able to deliver any of the popular streamers from the sparkle minnow up to the triple articulated Kelly Galloup patterns. Any condition we encounter in the area I am very confident you can do it with the Igniter, easily! If you are a Sage fan, or even if you haven’t been. I would HIGHLY recommend coming down to the shop and casting one for yourself. We are fully stocked with almost every model so come and down and give it a try!
( I included a photo of the Method and Igniter side by side so you can see the differences)
Most the stillwater fishing in the area would be classified as “Fair”. The best stillwater fishing the last couple weeks has been at Hebgen. We are still hearing of some gulper fishing, but the indicator and slow sinking lines have been taking a fair amount of fish too. Smaller leeches and Callibaetis nymphs would be what I would start with. Folks are having decent fishing on Daniels, Chesterfield, and Springfield Reservoirs, but nothing crazy yet. I think all three are ready to open up and start fishing very well as soon as we get some colder weather. We have heard Chesterfield has a mild algae bloom, but it should totally dissipate as the weather starts to cool. When it does chironomids and leech patterns should be very effective in the shallows all around the lake. Like our Henry’s Lake report mentioned, I would strongly recommend having at least 3 different lines with you to fish our area stillwaters. On the reservoirs outside of Henry’s Lake, I would recommend having a floating line set up for indicator fishing and dry & dry dropper set ups. The Rio Gold has been our best selling floating line and performs perfect for the tasks mentioned. Second, I would have an intermediate sinking line for fishing the 3-8ft depth range that we commonly fish on the southern reservoirs. We have a few different options for intermediates in the shop, but the SA frequency and Cortland Clear Camo line seem to be the best performers. Last, I would have either a type 3 or type 4 for those days where things just aren’t happening in the shallows and you really need to get down to the fish. Here I would recommend either the SA wet cell type 4 or the In touch Deep 3 from Rio. The intouch deep 3 from rio has the new “non stretch” core that really transmits feel and strikes better than any full sinking line I’ve used before.
If you wait all season to hear a report of Henry’s Lake picking up, you may miss the fall season completely. Numbers appear to be down considerably on the lake, but the size of the fish is more than making up for it. There have been many large hybrids caught this season by folks paying their dues and if you want to have your shot at one, I’d go sooner rather than later. There hasn’t been any one area that has been on fire, I’d pick a spot on the west or south shore in 6-10ft of water and fish hard. Fly choice doesn’t seem to be too important, I’d stick with all the traditional mohair leeches and crystal buggers in sizes 6 & 8. This fall, its going to be about putting your time in at the lake. Make sure you have an assortment of fly lines with you as depths your fishing and depths the fish cruise can vary throughout the day. We’ve been having success with the new SA frequency type 1 line for the shallows, the cortland clear camo intermediate for the 5-8ft range, and the revamped SA wet cell lines for the deeper water. We get folks in all the time asking for the best “do all” line for Henry’s and the honest answer is none. You really need 3 lines minimum to effectively cover your bases on the lake, any less and you leave yourself the chance of being unprepared for certain situations. We have all the lines above in stock at the store and would be happy to help answer any questions and get you set up for your trip. We have a few guys fishing it weekly in the shop here, so check back with us for updated reports.
We have a ton of marked down Simms Boots (G4 boa, G3, Rivertek Boa, Freestone) and a few G3 Stockingfoot and Bootfoots on closeout here at the shop. The discounts are significant! This is a great time to pick up some quality gear as Simms products do not go on sale very often. Call us (208-524-7160) or stop in at the shop before they are all gone!
Henry’s is frozen and done for the year for open water fishing! Hopefully another good year of snow will keep water in the lake and the big fish 8-10lbs, will be true monsters next year!
As Flows on the south fork drop to around 2,500 cfs out of Palisades dam, we are starting to see what the wade options are going to look like during the first part of the fall and winter months. Talk is that the river flows will be re-evaluated after the 1st of December, in which case will most likely be increased. This can mean some good news for the boat fisherman, as float will take less time to complete, and you will be able to cover more water. For the wade fisherman these changes will have more effect than in winters past where we are use to seeing the flow around 1,200.
As for the current conditions, the South Fork streamer fishing has been pretty good on cloudy days, and even on some random sunny days as well.. Color is the name of the game her, so bring your sparkle, white, yellow, tans, and olives. Some days the darker colors really do well, but overall this river seems to respond best to brighter, and flashier patterns.
Dry fly fishing is good, but as per usual, the cloudy days reign supreme. Fish size 18-20 BWO patterns, and 18-20 midge patterns. Back eddies are a great option for finding fish feeding on the surface.
Try fishing nymphs from the boat set at 5-6 feet for floating. I generally run much deeper when standing on a riffle, and in most cases would recommend the same. Use a small rubberlegs, a san juan work, or a big caddis pattern, trailed by a small beadhead mayfly nymph in the size 14-18 range. If in doubt, a red Zebra midge will usually get the job done as a trailer fly.
As for fishing on the main (Idaho Falls to American Falls), the streamer is the main game here, as browns are in their pre spawn, and are on the streamer bite pretty well. Patterns I usually do best on are Tan or natural peanut envys, and sex dungeons, but like anywhere changing pattern and color can sometimes make the difference.
American Falls is running at 2,100 cfs, and the wade fishing is much tougher than usual. The water had changed colors the last time I was there a couple days ago, leaving the visibility at roughly 2′ tops. I would recommend that anybody planning on wading there to bring a wading staff so they can poke around before they step. Flies that are fishing well is pretty much any beadhead nymph in a size 12-18, and dead drifted streamer patterns. If your into dry fly fishing, you can fish blue winged olives and find success.