1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. Needed: Yellowstone's Henry's Lake Fishing Advice

Hi there! My husband and I recently purchased a waterfront property on Henry's Lake in Idaho which is about 15 minutes outside Yellowstone National Park just over the border from Montana on the Western side of the Park. I haven't done much lake fishing since I was very young and I hear from many locals that we basically just won the fishing lottery with our prime location on this lake. I even heard that this lake is on a "20 Best Places to Fish Before You Die" type list. We are nearly neighbors with the hatchery on the lake and when we arrived for our winter stay in December I saw that there was a ton of ice fishing on the lake. I am hearing that from Memorial Day to Labor Day the fishing here is pretty booming but I keep hearing conflicting stories about when and how to fish this lake. The previous owners of our beautiful log cabin were avid fishers and said they cast off from our shoreline. I don't pretend to know anything about fishing. I haven't done it since I was a kid and any fishing as an adult has been done in either the ocean or with a guide but I really love it. I would really enjoy getting to fish my lakefront and as we are renting out our cabin during the seeming "prime" fishing months of late April to October (although we will be sprinkling in stays ourselves between guests so we can fish too), I would really like to be able to give my guests useful advice about fishing the lake so that they have an amazing vacation. We also completely overhauled the cabin as a luxury property and have been attempting to think of all the amenities a fisherman would love to have at their disposal during their stay. We got a fish cleaning station, but we are wondering if there is anything else that we could add that would please our fishing guests and make them feel extra welcome. I have photos of our property on our website if you need to see our layout and location on the lake to better advise me. Any advice that you could give me would be greatly welcome! Sarah Thompson Life of Riley Lodge

Many fly fishers angle Henry's Lake from what are often called "belly boats". A belly boat is a sophisticated inner tube with a covering where the angler steps into the donut (today there are many more elaborate and much safer and more comfortable belly boats) with swim fins on and gets locomotion via kicking his feet. Henry's Lake is famous for "gulpers" and I believe that is term related to how the trout rise to natural flies resting on the surface of the lake. I've never fished it but have seen it many times. I think if you Google "fly fishing Henry's Lake Montana" you will get tons of information. The water craft I am alluding to can be found at the Cabela web site.

I would post you questions here... http://classicflyrodforum.com/forum/. I know several guys who live in that area on the CLR forum.

I've stayed at the Slash E Ranch two years in a row...It's on the Lake. I would stop in the fly shops in Last Chance Idaho or Blue Ribbon Flies in West Yellowstone...

I'd remove the fish cleaning station...

The Red Rock NWA is wonderful just to your west. The whole area is great...Caught my first Grayling up there last year...

If you don't fish was this just an investment? Did you not research this before you bought?

Is this an attempt to advertise your cabins? :)

Wonderful Sandhill Crane nesting area along the lake and on a clear day you can see the Tetons.

Spence

:)

Dear LOR,



I didn't read your entire post when I provided my answer to your inquiry. I'd venture to say that every member of this fly fishing forum practices catch & release (C&R) fishing 99% of the time. None of us are going to be pleased to read about your fish cleaning station as I'm quite sure the trout in Henry's Lake are wild and self propagating and are too valuable a resource to be enjoyed only once and then killed to put in a frying pan.