I'm an ice fisherman. Seldom fish any other time of the year. Got my wife into it a couple of years ago and now she is "hooked". We are looking forward to a few trips this winter. We have heard about a lake there in Idaho that produces some big fish and freezes up quite early. Hebcon or something like that I think is its name. Anywho, My wife and I would like to plan a trip up that way for a weekend and do some early season ice fishing if we can find out where to go and can fit it into our schedule. I have been told this particular lake is only open for a short time and then closes. Don't know if it gets too thick of ice or if it is the season. We would be traveling up from Salt Lake City. I've heard a few people talk about it on the Utah site in years past. Can anyone offer some info? We both are in our late 50's, really getting close to 60, so we aren't into hiking much. I have a couple of ATV's we use here until the snow gets too deep. Thanks for any info or tips.
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Never heard of that one are you sure its not Hebgen in Montana ?
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Could be... that name is familiar. Isn't that the lake by West Yellowstone? I am pretty sure the individual who posted said it was Idaho. Do you know of any lakes in Idaho that freeze early (early november) and produce large fish, then gets shut down about December or so?
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Trolling? If not you're talking about Henry's, Hebgen is over the hill into montana and is right next to west yellowstone. Both have some big fish and tend to freeze up fairly early but henry's is the one you hear about the most.
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Henrys freezes around Thanksgiving and is open until January 1 . There is a 2 fish limit. I was fishing next to a guy last year that caught an 11 pound Hybrid. There are also some large Brookies caught.
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Where is Henrys? Around the Max's Inn area? Is there a site I can get current water conditions of these two lakes? It may have been one of those fluke years, but the person who posted about this lake had been a couple of times prior to thanksgiving that year. There are a couple of lakes here in Utah that generally have some really sketchy ice at thanksgiving. I have gone a few times over that weekend and fished, but the thin ice scares my wife away from accompanying me. She has never caught anything over 2 lbs and would really like to get something in the 4 to 5 lb range.
She has gotten so "gung ho" about it that she planned a trip to Oregon to fish the Rouge River for salmon back in May. We went, and the night before our scheduled trip, it rained heavy and the river mudded up and rose a few feet. We got skunked. She still "stews" about how expensive it was to hire a guide to sit in a boat and watch drift wood float by all day.
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Henry's Lake is about 15-20 minutes past Macs Inn. I don't know where you'd find info on Hebgen, but this site is one of the best places I know of to get info about the Henry's Lake area.
Thanksgiving week/weekend can be scary ice at Henry's. I almost went through a few years ago. Since then they have extened the season by a month, so now I prefer to wait and go in December.
That being said, a few years ago I saw 3 guys on 1 ATV buzzing across the lake on about 3 inches of ice. That was the day after Thankgiving. I was soooo nervous for them. I fully expected them to go through the ice at any minute. Some nice fish can be caught there any time of the year (when it's open). We've never caught any really big ones, I'd say 4-5 lbs has been our best, but fish in excess of 10 lbs are possible. We've caught a few Brook Trout that were in excess of 4 lbs.
If you want to plan a trip and be certain to have good ice, I'd say you'd be in great shape if you planned it for any time after the first week of December. I can't think of a single year when there wasn't good ice by then.
One of the more popular places to fish is near the county boat dock and it is easy to find.
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Im with ^^^^^^ on Henrys and thanksgiving especially with it being early this year. With it open a month later why not wait a little until the ice is safer.
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Henry's can be wonderful. If your wife wants "safer" ice wait until the 1st of Dec. or so. The fishing can be fast and furious at early ice but it is in no way, shape, or form "safe."
Windriver
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Thanks to all of you for your replys and help. My wife is excited about the prospect of going there this winter. We will keep our fingers crossed for Thanksgiving weekend as it appears she has time off from work as well as me. We will keep an eye on things as it gets closer.
Thanks again
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