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Fly Fishing Newsletter
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Guess this season ender got a little close to the start of a new season. Just don't mention that a new season has started to my wife. Actually she is a pretty good sport about the whole deal, most days. Since the season officially closed I have been taking time to catch up on paper work, getting pictures organized, pictures out to folks, getting some flies tied and attending to family duties. If we have taken any pictures of trips and you haven't received any please contact us.
Henrys Lake
Henrys Lake over all had just a plain weird year. The lake had a great opener and then really not much after that until the water cooled in September. The Caddis and Damsel hatches were minimal. The water from early June became warm early and stayed warm throughout September. The wind kept the lake churned up and turning the water over and over. This kept the lake water warm top to bottom the whole summer. The weather during the summer was awesome for fishing but the fish were not having any of it and did not bite well. They were pretty lethargic and fed sporadically throughout the summer. We would have stretches of 4 or 5 days here and there that were, “okay” but again not like a typical Henrys summer. It was a real hit and miss adventure this summer. It was mostly a miss until fall.
Henrys in the fall was as good as it gets on those days you could fish. Some of the days were absolutely gorgeous and the fish were on fire. However, like most fall fishing you had the sunshine, wind, rain, snow and a mixture of all four on some days. To plan any trips around the weather sometimes was impossible and you just about had to be at the right place at the right time. But that's the fall fishing just about anywhere. For those of you who did make it to the lake this Fall, when the fish were on the bite it was a real treat. There were some days this fall that the fish were not active and not on the bite in spite of conditions looking good. All summer long we knew the fish were there but just not active until fall. I know some of you wanted to come this way later in the fall but it was hard to schedule trips with the weather/wind coming and raising havoc. With gas prices the way they were it would have been tough to predict a good weather/fishing day.
We did see several significant algae blooms or at least one long one later September and into early October. Really not sure if it was two or just one long one but it was nasty stuff. People still fished it and caught fish but it's as nasty as I have seen. In and around this time we did have a slight fish kill but nothing significant in numbers. The Fish & Game estimated about a 1000 fish perished. I know when I say “nothing significant” I only mean in relation to total numbers of fish in the lake. I never like seeing fish die but it is sometimes the reality.
Overall, we still see the lake full of fish with good numbers in all age brackets. We look to next season for the lake to get back on track and fish well through the whole summer not just the fall. If we can get Mother Nature to throw a normal spring and summer at us we should have a terrific year in 2008. The current snow fall is looking good but we need a lot more.
In regards to flies used this year on the lake. When we did find active fish during the summer months the fish liked the smaller flies such as the Mity mouse, Henrys Lake Renegade and the Half Assed Renegade. The fish that we did catch were healthy and fought well. We did see a good number of fish being taken on the Electric Black and other leech patterns that were similar in color early on and in the during early Fall to late Fall. In fact one of the biggest fish taken this year was off a Black Leech pattern called the Black Pearl we use a lot down on Sheridan. It took a 14lb hybrid in early June. In the fall it shifted to big flies. Most the fish wanted the bigger leech patterns with some smaller flies mixed in. The Electric Black, California Leech, Blood Red Leech were among the hot flies. The Bill Schiess patterns are still the mainstay as flies go for Henrys. We just have a few to start adding to the mix. As you all know we have been using and testing some new fly patterns like the Black Pearl on both Henrys and Sheridan. When I can get to the project of getting pictures of flies on the website we can introduce them. I'm hoping to get some of this done this winter.
Note of interest: check out the new web-site look. Glade Gunther from the Brigham City area was instrumental in creating the new look. I think he has done a great job. My son-in-law Todd Barton got us started and would thank him a bunch for getting us off the ground. Both guys have really helped us out.
Also, this fall we did a show with KUTV2 Roughin It Outdoors on Henrys Lake. It was about the fall fishing and Brook trout. Had a great show but the Brookies this time didn't show up. Just like kids when it's time to get the work done and they come up missing. Just follow the link if you haven't seen the show. We had a lot of fun doing the show and a great time had by all. Jason Sims of Channel 2 is awesome to work with.
http://www.kutv.com/content/outdoors/story.aspx?content_id=8a32be5e-20a5-40ae-a854-7b25466ca4f7
Sheridan Lake
It saved the summer for us and for some of you that came to fish with us know the fun we had. As many of you know we had to make some last minute changes from fishing Henrys to fishing Sheridan Lake. I appreciate the flexibility on your part. Sheridan held up nicely all summer and produced many great moments for many of you that came to fish with us.
The year started out with Chronomids and some early top water midge activity. It then moved into more Chronomid/Midge activity mixed with some down deep leech activity. Then the Damsels started off along with some good Caddis hatches. The Damsel hatch the last couple of years has lasted about 6 weeks. It is a lot of fun! Then we had some great Damsel and Callibaetis activity combined that I don't think can be found anywhere else. There was about a three week period they both were coming off together and boy did that provide a lot of fun. I almost forgot to mention the Grasshopper action can be a lot of fun too. Did I mention the late evening Caddis hatch has its reward too? It can be alot of fun on those late summer nights. Although this year it wasn't as pronounced as last year's hatch. At times there can be a lot of site casting to these fish and you have to be a little stealthy but it can be done with some great rewards. If you want a challenge come when the water is glassy calm, no ripple, two feet of clear gin water and lots of fish to throw too. It's not for the weak of heart but it's so fun! We also had days where you could have thrown out anything—well almost anything. We like wise had a few days where things were slow but we always caught fish. We then moved on into fall where we stripped a lot of leech patterns. The fall fishing finished out great.
This year we had a little different twist to the lake for some of you who don't know, Mike Smith, the lake manager had planted some Cutthroat trout in the lake. They started showing up and knocking on a few flies this year. Most of those that were caught were in the 12 inch range and should really factor in this next year. Mike also planted some Brookies that should be in that same range. They did not show up as much as the little cutt's did but they are there. This last fall Mike put in some Hybrids. Give them a few years and they are going to factor in a very big way.
The flies on Sheridan Lake where a mixed bag and not really sure were to start. There is so much diversity to the lake it requires more types of flies than on Henrys. You don't really need top water patterns for Henrys for instance but Sheridan Lake you do. The Black Pearl, California Leech, Pumpkin were all good consistent flies. We are using some of Denny Rickard's patterns and have enjoyed some good success with them. The standard Pheasant Tails, Chronomid patterns, Grasshopper, Caddis all factored into the success. Some folks did well on their own patterns . Again, I'm hoping to have time this winter to get some fly pattern pictures on the web site.
Island Park Reservoir
There were several of us that got out on the water with thoughts in mind of getting serious about using IP again for upcoming guide trips. The Fish & Game department put an all out effort to get the fishery back on track. Those folks that gave IP a try did well and did well with some 20” to 25” fish. I know there are some who are not going to want me to share that but there it is. It was good and if the water holds we should be taking some trips out on the Reservoir this upcoming year. Didn't really get after the fish on IP until the fall so it is hard to predict how the fishing will be throughout a summer of fishing. The flies were basically what we would use on Henrys and Sheridan Lake with leeches being the best over all this fall.
Season Ender
Just some extra housekeeping items:
Bill is going to spend more time with family and he is going to cut back on trips this coming year. If you want time with Bill you need to call in early. He would prefer staying with Tuesdays thru Thursdays from June thru Mid July. His time is shortened on the water from about 6am to 11am due to health reason. Call now to get your dates set!
Again, check out the new web site. It's not complete and we have a lot more to put on there. We will be adding fish pictures, flies and a shopping cart system. Keep checking in as we will be adding stuff almost weekly through the winter months.
If you have any suggestions about the site or business related things please feel free to send a note and let us know what you think or what you would like to see. We are a work in progress and always welcome input.
Lynn Scott
For the latest and greatest information on fishing conditions check out the fishing report and our newletters.