Brook Trout in Horsethief.

[iwantabuggy]

I've recently been told there are Brook trout in Horsethief. I've fished there for years and never caught one. Can anyone validate or refute their presence, or lack thereof? I'd be interested to know for sure.
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[blastncast]

I have caught alot of fish out of Horsethief and never caught a Brook, I would assume someone caught a Brown and mistook it for a Brook.
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[Untangler]

I can't remember ever catching a brookie out of Horsethief.
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[TeenFishermanID]

What kind of fish does Horsetheif have? I know about the Rainbows and Browns, but I didn't know there was a ton?
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[iwantabuggy]

Rainbows, Browns, and Brooks. They killed it off a few years ago and they've supposedly cleaned out all the perch.
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[TeenFishermanID]

So we have confirmed that there are brookies? I've never caught one in a lake before, only streams way up there. I'd like to fish horsethief this summer, but I heard there was a lot of fishing pressure. Can you drive right up to it?

What would some other alternatives to that be, with multiple species of trout I mean?
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[kokesmoker]

been fishing it for years, so has my dad.....and grandpa. back in the day, there used to be hog bows in there, according to gramps. not a one of us has ever caught, or heard of a brook being caught out of there. my vote is rumor, but a quick call to idfg would solve the mystery.
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[BorntoFish01]

Check out histoic fish stocking records at

[url "http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/stocking/"]http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/stocking/[/url]

No indication of brookies ever being stocked since record keeping started in 1968. What they have stocked in this reservoir has included:- various strains of rainbow including kamloops; cutthroat, browns, and splake.
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[cpierce]

I think it was poisoned a couple of times for a perch problem. So unless there are brookies way high up in a tributary it is unlikely that they would be in the reservoir. That is excluding bucket buddies, which are always a possibility.
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[iwantabuggy]

Okay, so now I've had a chance to go up again, I can let the cat out of the bag. There is fishable ice in the narrow arm on the north east side of HT res. I believe it is called HorseThief creek. I caught 4 brookies there on Tuesday, and my buddy caught 2 more yesterday. In addition to that, I also caught upwards of 50 rainbows on Tuesday and around 40 yesterday. Puzzling, but not a single Brown.

Tuesday I looked over the whole lake and the thier was open water on the south end a ways beyond the dam. I didn't make it over there to look at it yesterday, but as cold as it was it probably has ice, but not safe. All the ice I tried yesterday was 4.5-5 inches thick or better. Plus is was really cold there last night (7 deg, I believe). Anyway, ice should be fishable, but exercise caution, please. Fishing is good for smaller rainbows up to about 13 inches. If you go over into the head waters of the HT creek arm, you can also pick up a brookie or 2.

Yes, they are brookies and not browns. I never knew there were brookies in there and it came as quite a surprise to me.

Sorry for the poor picture quality. When I took the picture of the brook all I had was my phone and on the rainbow I learned that I need to leave my shanty when taking pictures.

Incidentally, I drove past Cascade and much of the lake had a think crust of ice on it. Shouldn't be too much longer now, I'm thinking. Maybe the week before Christmas? If temps hold?
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[iwantabuggy]

Here is a short video from our trip. Enjoy.

[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btWY-rApWwE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btWY-rApWwE[/url]
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[nijimasu]

right on! I'll take my daughter up there as soon as I'm sure the ice is safe. looks like it was pretty shallow where you guys were fishing, no?
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[iwantabuggy]

About 14 FOW.
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