Fly Fishing Newsletter
2004 Season Ender

Henry's Lake at the first of the season was predicted to have no water and no fish. In fact one statement was made " fish Henry's while you can because there won't be any water or fish by the end of June." The Fish & Game Department did some Gill netting in early May. My partner Soup Jessop accompanied Damon Keen of the F&G department. They found a lot more fish than last year. What was really exciting was that the one and two year old fish were being recorded in great numbers. According to the gill net counts both the numbers and size will be available for next years fishing. The next couple of years will really produce some good numbers. Damon Keen is continuing to plant each year and in good numbers to help the lake really rebound over the years to come. He has been great to work with and has a great interest in making Henry's a great fishery. The Brookies will also start making more of a presence in the lake over the years as they continue stocking the Brookies. They should be back as well in good numbers. Look for good increases with Hybrids, Cutt's and Brookies in the coming years. The planting's for Henry's this year is as follows: 921,000 Cutthroat which most were fish 3.75-4.5 inches; 38,000 hybrids were fry size; 117,000 Brookies were also released early in the year. The prognosis looks just dandy for the 2005 fishing year and the years to follow. I'm sure the lake will throw a few curve balls here and there but overall should be a great one.

In the month of June we received a lot of moisture and basically saved the water year for Henry's Lake. We had some rain on and off thru the rest of the summer which helped as well. The water level came down to about 60% and held there until some early snows which then brought the level back up. The lake as of December 3 rd the lake is at 69%. The fish are in great shape and should hold over well.

The fishing over all stayed pretty consistent through out the year. Those that stuck with the lake and found the fish did well. One bright spot was that most of the year you didn't have to fight any crowds. With the news that there actually were fish and huge ones this year I'm sure there will be more people fishing next year. Both Bill and the rest of us at BS Flies were very pleased with the year in spite of the nay sayers.

At the first part of the fishing season was consistent with some really good days. The Damsel hatch was awesome and a lot of big fish were caught during this period. The rest of the summer remained pretty consistent. Finding the fish was the big key. When you found fish you did well. The fall picked up some with numbers increasing and the numbers of big fish remained consistent. Bill of course out did the majority but then that isn't that unusual. Bill caught good numbers of fish and large fish all year long. On a number of occasions Bill had outstanding days with 25 fish plus days. Some of those days included 3 or 4 fish in that 26 to 30 plus inch 14 lb range. He also caught 4 fish over 30"inches with the largest being 33 ½" fish. This summer Bill caught over 80 fish over 8 lbs. He also lost 81 fish with 11 lb tippet. Bill told me this has been his best fishing that he has had in the last three years. He was very excited about the overall fishing and the numbers of large fish caught. Here are just a few that Bill hooked into this year. Some were caught early and some later in the summer.

This next year should be a great year. As we mentioned in are first letter of the year we are opening up several new waters this 2005 fishing year. We are in the final stages of getting arrangements made and approval from the Guide Board. One body of water will be for those who want a little different experience catching Kokanee Salmon, Cutthroats, and some Small Mouth bass mixed in for good measure. The other two bodies of water will be for catching of Rainbows and Small Mouth Bass. We fished it many times this year and just had a blast.

I took my kids several times along with my father. Everyone caught fish and a lot of them. My one daughter had the life scared right out of her this year on the lake. She was bored and had caught some fish and was more in to just playing as most 9 year olds will do. Some of which could drive a person crazy. Anyway, during this moment of messing around she was dangling her line in the water just to watch the fly bob up and down in the water. She was just enjoying watching it I guess! I kept watching her watching her fly. I looked over one time and in a split second a huge Rainbow 22 inches long came up out of the deep and grabbed her fly and almost yanked her arm off he hit so hard. She was excited to say the least. She first stated " you bring him in dad". I said "no no you caught him you bring him in". We were able to land the fish and had a great time laughing about the whole experience. She has talked about that one through the whole season along with catching the biggest Small Mouth at 16 inches.

Which isn't to shabby for a Small Mouth. We have had a ball fishing for Rainbows and Bass on this lake. Even thought the kids are just learning to fly fish most of the fish they caught were on "Rubber Wiggley Swiggley Flies"!!

The other lake we will be fishing on for the 2005 season will be for Rainbows. It's a private lake with large Rainbows in it. I had an opportunity to fish it this year with Mike Smith and let me tell you it was totally awesome. Here are a few fish from this lake.

The fish hit hard and often. Talk about acrobatics wow!! We had several fish jump so high they almost landed in the boat. If you like high octane, high jumping fish this will be the place. The fish range from 16 inches up to about 8lbs. I will be letting everyone know sometime in March the official news for what we will have to offer for the 2005 fishing year. Be looking for some upcoming news on our fly fishing summer weekends. We will be holding these for fathers and sons, husbands and wife's, mother's and daughters. We want to create an experience where those that are less skilled can get some fly fishing lessons along with casting lessons while those partners that are more skilled can fish. Then having some time where both can fish together. We will let you know more at the first of the year. If you are interested please let us know early.

We will be at the Utah Boat and Fishing Show February 3 rd through the 6 th . We hope to have all our guides their to answer any questions about the upcoming fishing season. We will have fly tying supplies, rods, lines and will have a great assortment of flies. Hope to see some of you at the show.

I'm very excited about next year to begin. I think the fishing we are going to offer is going to be just dandy. We look forward to hearing from you and being able to share some time on the water with you. If you have any questions or would like to see something become available please feel free to contact us at 208-390-2177. We would love to hear from you. Thanks again for your continued support and we hope to bring you great fishing in the years to come.

Thanks again and tight lines and maybe a few into your backing :)

Lynn Scott

Soup Jessop

Bill Schiess