January 1st began a new year and an end to the 7 month fishing season on Henrys Lake. We’ll summarize our creel data and have that information available later this spring. Certainly the summer season was exceptionally slow. But the fall brought improved results and Henrys fished well. The ice angling season was short. Pretty decent catch rates early on gave way to a slow final two weeks. Experienced ice anglers know that catch rates usually drop on Henrys as the season progresses. 2016 mirrored those thoughts.
Although the season is over, the fisheries work will continue. In the next month, we’ll be on snowmobiles 5 or 6 days taking dissolved oxygen readings. In 6 short weeks, we’ll be working 7 days a week trapping Cutthroat, spawning and taking care of eggs. The trap will be open for about 75 days. Neoprene waders will become a second skin. As May rolls around, we’ll spend 8-10 days collecting our annual gill net data while taking care of the last of the eggs. May is also the time we start surveying the tributaries for natural spawning production, start the fish screens and maintain riparian fencing. Late winter and spring roll by fast here. The opener will be here in no time. I don’t know about you, but we can’t wait.
