Henry's Lake info from F&G

[BrianID]

[black][size 5]Conditions At Henrys Lake Still Looking Good For Trout[/size][/black]

HENRYS LAKE - When you're responsible for managing a world class fishery like Henrys Lake, you can't afford to turn your back on things even though the fishing season is closed. Because Henrys Lake Hatchery Manager Damon Keen lives on-site at the Henrys Lake Hatchery, he is able to keep his hand on the pulse of the lake on a daily basis. So far this year, Keen says both the lake and fish are doing well.
Some of the very same factors that have made Henrys such a productive place for trophy trout can also lead to major problems when a variety of negative factors coincide. Henrys Lake is shallow and full of aquatic vegetation, but when the lake freezes over and sunlight cannot penetrate, the vegetation can use up much of the dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water.
According to Keen, "Oxygen levels are holding up nicely this year compared to last year. In the areas of the lake we've checked so far we basically have three times the oxygen we had at the same time last year." Keen is also watching the behavior of the fish themselves, "Last year the fish started crowding at the fish ladder at Hatchery Creek in mid-December, so far this year we've seen little activity so far. This means spawning should be right on schedule for next month."
According to Upper Snake Regional Fish Manager Jim Fredericks, "While we didn't see a significant winter kill last year, we did notice a drop in the quality of the eggs taken due to the stress caused by reduced oxygen levels." IDFG will continue to monitor DO levels at various locations across the lake until the ice melts.
Anyone wishing to learn more about conditions at Henrys Lake can contact the Upper Snake Regional Office at 525-7290 or the Henrys Lake Hatchery at 558-7202.
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[tybugs1]

I would agree with your report. I would add that in talking with Damen we should be in good shape for 2's & 3's this year. Should have some decent 4's with some big hold over 5's. There is a good chance we will have a better than average fishing year on Henry's. There may be more fish caught but they will generally be smaller overall. Although if you know where the big ones hang out you will still be able to catch the "Hogs". Damen has done a great job in getting Henry's back on track. It's just going to get better and better. Look to have a great year on Henry's.
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[BrianID]

Just to clarify so others don't get the report was put out by the F&G not me. I just thought I would post it here to share some info that others might not have heard about.

tybugs1,
If you wouldn't mind being a little more specific about the length(average or range) of what 1's, 2's,...and 5' are that would be great. I'm assuming that your talking about the age of the fish. Are 2's the fish that were planted the previous September?
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[tybugs1]

The 1's would be year old fish and 2's two year old and so on. It's really hard to give inches exactly to the year age as thier is alot of diversity. I would guess most 1's would be 7 to 9 inches, 2's would be 10 to 15 inches, 3's around 16 to 18 inches. It would be hard to give you measurements from there on the 4 and 5 year old fish. I've heard several different size measurements for 1's, 2's etc. They really put on the feed bag and get big quick during all the stages. All species of fish will grow different as well. Hybrids being the Hogs of the lake will grow more quickly than the others do. Brook trout at the top end will only get about 8lbs and the Hybrids approaching 17 lbs and 34-35 inches. The Cutts are not going to get as big as the Hybrids. I will be putting out a Spring Newsletter that will have all the information about Henry's. I will have all the latest and greatest in another Month.
Hope that helps.
Lynn
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[bsflies]

In discussing Henrys Lake fish, one must split the species up to get an accurate picture.

Cutts should be the most numerous, but the that has not been the case according to the catch rate. There are very few cutts that live to be four years old in Henrys Lake. This comes from several studies in the 1970's and 1980's by Bob Spatholtz of the F & G.
Lynn has the lengths about right but most of the 3 year olds will be from 18 to 22 inches. I really do not believe that there are many pure cutts in the lake because of the cross breeding with the hybrids.

Hybrids are truely the hogs of the lake. I believe that the sterile hybrids are the ones that get very large as they use the food to develope size instead of sex organs. This causes the large fish to look like footballs. The Fish and Game are trying to sterilize all of the hybrids now to protect the cutt strain - which once again is not pure. Look closly at the head of the cutts that you catch - many will have a spot in front of the gill plate which will indicate rainbow blood in that fish.

Brook trout is another story. After not planting them for five or six years, they almost disappeared. But the last two seasons the Fish and Game have started planting them again. This season they actually purchased eggs from Canada to get the needed eggs for stocking. Rarely will a brook trout get over six pounds and the largest recorded brook trout taken from the lake was 7 pounds 1 ounce. In the 50+ years I have fished the lake, the largest brook trout that I have taken was 6-15. They are my preferred fish and I stock them whenever possible.

These are my observations over the years and I have been involved in many of the studies with the Fish and Game. I have also collected and read as many of the studies from that lake that I can get my hands on.

Bill
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