Henry’s questions

[Dmax]

Hello everyone, been a long time lurker. I have a few questions about Henry’s. My nephew and I are finally going to be able to make the trip up and spend a few days the week of Christmas. If anyone is willing to share any advice to a first timer to the lake it would be much appreciated. Not sure where to even go in and park at. I wouldn’t turn down bait/lures that anyone likes to use either, but I’m less worried about that as I am a general area to set up. Thank you in advance to anyone willing to help out.

[fast_randy]

Hi Dmax, glad to see you are joining as an active member. So I'll try to help. First thing to know is no matter where you go, when you are going out on the ice, ask and talk to people. If you see some fish on the ice, ask them what they caught it on. The State marina is probably the best place for first timers. But go on Google Earth and check out the road that goes all the way around Henry's. You will see all the access points. White tube jigs tipped with worm has probably been the hottest thing this year. But anything tipped with meal worm works. Me and Obifishkinobi will be out this weekend for a few days and we will post results on the Idaho site. Later i will list all the access that I know of.

[Dmax]

Thank you for the info. I will be sure to check out google earth and try and pick a few spots to try. That’s good to hear about the tubes with meal worms as that is usually my go to most of the time as is.

[fast_randy]

You are very welcome. That's what we do here. So where will you be staying? Access that I know of: If you are coming from the South, before the State marina road way after Island Park you will see a left turn to Rock Creek road. Keep this in mind! So then you come to State marina road. Good access there like I said. Keep going and you come to the Eniss, Montana turn off. Turn here and you come to the State Hatchery and the Wild Rose area. There is parking and access there. But keep going and there is a left turn you need to make to the Staley Springs area, and on to the County marina, and on past that, on the for mentioned Rock Creek road to the South access point and the Cliff area. Or past that turn off to the main road again full circle.

[SkunkedAgain]

Welcome to the site, I know a new pond is intimidating and I may recommend some other areas because I don't like to fish with the crowd... I'm also assuming that the current cold snap will make the ice safe... I like the north half of the lake from Wild Rose (will cost $20 to park) to the county Dock (Frome) ramps, including Pintail (both of the latter are free parking this time of year I think)... Early ice the fish are near shore and fishing shallow (less than 6 feet) isn't a bad thing, but get out of the weeds, actually if you can find a spot on the edge of the weeds is best, the fish use that as a highway to travel through... (I would recommend getting away from the crowds if possible, the fish are really noise sensitive.) (Also good idea not to be near gas augers they scare fish way away from you in shallow water.) By Christmas the fish may be moving out deeper, if so find open areas around weed patches, we fished a few underwater mounds in the middle before and found good fish numbers, and usually no one else gets out that far, so the fish aren't scared to feast... If you have electronics watch for fish, if you don't see any in half an hour move to a new spot... (if you don't have a sonar, then lay on your belly and put a cover over your head and look down the ice hole, in shallow water you can see if fish are there.) I did really well with a Manic Cut'r bug in natural glow color... They look white, but glow green... tipped it with a smashed meal worm and caught 15-16 fish in an hour and a half, so they will definitely take that lure, now you just need to find the fish... Good luck... Jeff

[Dmax]

You are very welcome. That's what we do here. So where will you be staying? Access that I know of:  If you are coming from the South, before the State marina road way after Island Park you will see a left turn to Rock Creek road. Keep this in mind! So then you come to State marina road. Good access there like I said. Keep going and you come to the Eniss, Montana turn off. Turn here and you come to the State Hatchery and the Wild Rose area. There is parking and access there. But keep going and there is a left turn you need to make to the Staley Springs area, and on to the County marina, and on past that, on the for mentioned Rock Creek road to the South access point and the Cliff area. Or past that turn off to the main road again full circle.

We will be staying at a rental cabin between island park and Henry’s. Thanks a ton, it sounds like there are plenty of options as far as access points. I will be sure to check out a couple of the ones you mentioned. Unless of course the first spot we end up at is productive enough we don’t go anywhere else. We can hope so anyway.

---

Welcome to the site, I know a new pond is intimidating and I may recommend some other areas because I don't like to fish with the crowd...  I'm also assuming that the current cold snap will make the ice safe... I like the north half of the lake from Wild Rose (will cost $20 to park) to the county Dock (Frome) ramps, including Pintail (both of the latter are free parking this time of year I think)... Early ice the fish are near shore and fishing shallow (less than 6 feet) isn't a bad thing, but get out of the weeds, actually if you can find a spot on the edge of the weeds is best, the fish use that as a highway to travel through... (I would recommend getting away from the crowds if possible, the fish are really noise sensitive.)  (Also good idea not to be near gas augers they scare fish way away from you in shallow water.)  By Christmas the fish may be moving out deeper, if so find open areas around weed patches, we fished a few underwater mounds in the middle before and found good fish numbers, and usually no one else gets out that far, so the fish aren't scared to feast...  If you have electronics watch for fish, if you don't see any in half an hour move to a new spot... (if you don't have a sonar, then lay on your belly and put a cover over your head and look down the ice hole, in shallow water you can see if fish are there.)  I did really well with a Manic Cut'r bug in natural glow color... They look white, but glow green... tipped it with a smashed meal worm and caught 15-16 fish in an hour and a half, so they will definitely take that lure, now you just need to find the fish... Good luck... Jeff

We will definitely get away from people as much as possible. I don’t love fishing in the crowds either. Fishing in 6 FOW seems so shallow. At least compared to where we are usually finding fish. But we will start shallow but out of the weeds and work around until we figure out where they want to be. Yes we have electronics, so that should help find them for sure. I might not catch any more but at least I will know they are there. Thanks

[SkunkedAgain]

If you haven't fished Henrys before, you may not know it's a pretty shallow lake overall... I think the deepest spots are maybe 18 feet deep, so 6 fow is not as shallow on Henrys as other places... However, it will get to 10 feet deep fairly quickly as you leave shore.. so the 6' range isn't very far out from shore.. Good luck... J

[fast_randy]

I just had to correct myself. It is Red Rock road. Not Rock Creek road.

[SkunkedAgain]

So Randy, has the ice gotten safe out in the middle of Henry's by now? I was hearing stories of fishing further out, but they were still on thinish ice, like 3".... Didn't hear of very good catching rate either... After this next week, we'll probably have ice all over to fish, but at this point Henry's is still the most interesting to me.. Thanks Jeff

[fast_randy]

So Randy, has the ice gotten safe out in the middle of Henry's by now?  I was hearing stories of fishing further out, but they were still on thinish ice, like 3".... Didn't hear of very good catching rate either... After this next week, we'll probably have ice all over to fish, but at this point Henry's is still the most interesting to me.. Thanks Jeff

At Stayley there was one atv pulling a train of sleds on the ice. But no one going way out yet.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the update Randy... are you catching any fish up there lately? Hope so, good luck... Jeff

[fast_randy]

Thanks for the update Randy... are you catching any fish up there lately?  Hope so, good luck... Jeff

Jeff. Check out my Idaho post from Saturday.

[SkunkedAgain]

Will do thanks Randy, Later Jeff