Three Days of Fishing Bliss @ Henry's Lake

Three days of fishing bliss!

We headed out Friday afternoon and arrived at the cabin that evening about 10:30.  The earliest they had arrived in the many years.  Background, this trip has been happening for more than 20 years.  Gary Daniels and his brothers own a cabin on Henry's Lake, just outside of West Yellowstone.  I asked for a couple years if I could join in on the adventure.  The answer was always a disappointing no not enough boat space.  This year I was given permission by my wife and they said okay to me.  I took the Fish Steeler to Henry's Lake.  First real road trip for the new rig, Mule and Fish Steeler traveled well.  Okay so we made it to the cabin and set up camp in the basement, Craig and I both can saw logs so we got the bottom level, I brought my head phones.  Saturday morning came early, after an evening of waiting for all the party members to arrive. 

Day 1 We woke and got on the water around 8 a little late for most outings but we were literally on the water's edge with a private dock to launch from.  We fished the morning until lunch time and went in had a bite to eat and quick power nap for most.  Matt Norman was the hot hand on the boat this morning landing well over 10 fish all cutthroats.  Craig got on the board with a few nice Cutthroats as well.  I finally put one in the boat before the morning session came to a close.  After our rest and recharge of the batteries we went back out for the evening session.  Henry’s Lake has a fishing season that opens the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.  The fish were ready to eat and proved it.  The evening session wasn't much different than the morning, Matt was slaying them with a ¾ oz. Jakes lure, silver and red dots.  Craig coaxed a few more to bite and landed 8 fish for the evening session, using KO Wobbler’s and Jakes.  We pulled out of the marina under the night sky.  It was Bluebird day!  The group said they had not had many days like that one in the time they had been fishing opening day, most of the time it was rain or snow.  We had fish for dinner that night on the Cedar planks that Craig manufactures and sales.  The cedar planks we used were margarita lime flavored.  Can you say delicious!  You can check out the planks at Wasatch Planks, click here. 

Day 2; Morning came a little earlier on Sunday and after a quick breakfast we were on the water by 7 and catching fish.  Today we tried a new area of the lake to see if they were more productive.  On the cliffs we had a few hits and caught a couple but not fast and furious.  Craig had one that would have won our tourney for the largest fish but the big cutthroat seen the boat and made a hard fast turn releasing itself on a LDR but we had a good look at it and it was very nice.  We still had not landed Brookie.  We finished the morning off with Craig putting together a string of catches.  Craig was running a KO wobbler.  I ran various types, colors and shapes to entice the fish more.  I ended the morning session with few more then yesterday.  Again we pulled the boat up to the cabin for a recharge.  I put in a parallel set up of 2 batteries to run the trolling motor.  The extra and bigger batteries made for a long trolling session each day.  The evening session started around 3 that afternoon and we fished in a set pattern that had been productive for us.  Jaxon joined the Fish Steeler crew today and he got the first fish on the boat and he didn't slow.  He caught 8 or 9 fish from 3:30 until dusk.  Craig found the right lure and was bringing them as well.  Tonight we found a few Brook trout and they had excellent colors to them, they were big and healthy.  We kept a couple for dinner.  I managed a couple more but still had not figured out what they really wanted from me.  I did notice that each time I put the lure away from the boat I got more hits and catches.  So that is one to remember when fishing the front of the boat.  The others fishing form the back of the boat didn't have the same pattern.  I switched to a Jakes, truly not my favorite lure to go to, however tonight it proved to be the ticket.  I landed over 10 fish in a matter of an hour.  I also noticed another pattern that gave me hits, I would jig the lure as we trolled.  The motion of speeding up the lure and letting drop for a second really gave them the itch to strike my lure on the release of the lure.  We had another Bluebird day but with a little wind and rain in the evening session and yes lightning.  We got back to the cabin and plugged in the batteries for a charge.  We had slow cooked BBQ chicken sandwiches for dinner. 

Day 3; Earlier to bed tonight and earlier to rise on Monday morning our last session for the weekend it came upon us way to fast.  Myself, Craig and Gary were fishing on the Fish Steeler.  I started with the Jakes and the same pattern of jigging and distance from the boat.  Within a couple minutes I had my first fish on the line.  It was a nice Brook, big shoulder and nice girth to it.  I had five more fish within minutes.  Had 2 large fish snap my line on the first strikes.  Both of my Jakes were gone, Craig was kind enough to let me use his and his lure got broke off as well by a one hitter.  I was bummed no more Jakes, but Gary had one left and graciously let me use it for the remainder of the morning session.  I got another 7 fish before we loaded and headed for home.  Gary ended up with a couple and Craig the same.  Again KO Wobblers with orange, blue and red were the hot tickets as well.  We loaded and cleaned the cabin and left for home around noon the day was gorgeous again, in the years the party had been attending opening they said this had to be one of the best weather trips ever recorded.

As a party we caught over 500 fish total and kept a couple for dinner.  The Brook Trout were very healthy as were the Colorado Cutthroat trout.  I did not realize how shallow that lake truly is.  The deepest point was 18’ and the fish were not in deep water.  I could not troll with my usual lead core line or we would have been hung up all weekend, as it was we still had to clear off the grass at times with shallow running gear and lost a couple lures to the lake grass.  I had a great time and hope to return next year with a better knowledge of the gear needed.  From the trip I decided to reset the tool harness for the back of the boat, decided not to put in storage lockers under the seat deck.  With the dual battery set up we have a lot more time on the water.