Heningers Reservoir - Fished out? Winter killed?

Bemoredog · #1 03-23-2016, 08:14 AM

Going to be spending a couple days at Writing on Stone Prov Park and looking to get my fish on for a bit while there. The Milk River is closed currently but there's this trout pond called Heningers nearby.

Wondering if anyone has been out lately and can report on the conditions (PM me if you like). I've heard rumours that the reservoir is either fished out or winter killed. If it is I'd like to avoid and go elsewhere since there are a few lakes within a couple hours still open during the spawn.

Thanks guys.

slough shark · #2 03-23-2016, 09:23 AM

I was out there this summer with my nephews, 0 bites, we saw 1 fish jump, we were the only ones there, this was from both shore and the boat. Something was up but I don't know what.

TROLLER · #3 03-23-2016, 06:33 PM

I have heard it was dead.

Maybe you should try Tyrell it is west of Milk River just west of Warner, nice lake but is a bit alkalye so you really need to clean the boat after. nice size rainbow but hard to catch.

pikergolf · #4 03-23-2016, 06:51 PM

I heard it was dry, but that's just hearsay.

Pudelpointer · #5 03-23-2016, 07:01 PM

Triller, when was the last time you heard of a trout being caught in Tyrell?

NUK SOO KOW · #6 03-24-2016, 10:12 AM

I try Tyrell at least once every year. Haven't caught or heard of a fish out of there for many years. Was there last week big fat 0 again. Would be nice to know if anyone has had some success there. Haven't heard much about heningers either

huntsfurfish · #7 03-24-2016, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NUK SOO KOW

I try Tyrell at least once every year. Haven't caught or heard of a fish out of there for many years. Was there last week big fat 0 again. Would be nice to know if anyone has had some success there. Haven't heard much about heningers either

Tyrell hasnt been stocked in a long time. Doubt any have survived this long.

hacman · #8 03-24-2016, 01:34 PM

Use to catch some monsters at Tyrell back in the good old days, 2009 was the last time for stocking, if there are any left they would be huge by now. As for Heninger's, it summer killed a couple summers ago and hasn't been the same since.

Bemoredog · #9 03-24-2016, 03:07 PM

I find this really sad. I guess they're small lakes but still; really unfortunate for things to go this way. I wonder if there are any plans to fix it. It seems insane to keep stocking Heninger if the fish don't survive long enough to be caught.

It would be nice if there was more official news on these two lakes in terms of what has happened. I can't seem to find anything from government sources.

slough shark · #10 03-24-2016, 08:29 PM

I would love to see what the biologists think is going on there, I saw a ton of aquatic life (bugs, shrimp, minnows) but the trout just weren't there (at least from what I saw). I didn't see dead fish but it was just weird, if I head back to writing on stone this summer in going to try and call ahead to F&W to see if they know anything.

TROLLER · #11 03-25-2016, 10:29 AM

Caught a few last October. Trolled a red wooly bugger at about 1 mph.

Fish are there but there is so much food (shrimp) it is more often you get skunked than catch anything. The ones I caught were nice and fat with very red meat. Cannot even imagine the hours I put into that lake, there is a channel about 20ft. deep that runs down the centre of the lake almost from end to end and that is where I have caught fish. Sometimes switch to a grey flat fish and use a down rigger to go to 10 to 12 fow. Very difficult lake to fish for sure. Maybe as tough as Ghost.

Again I had to clean the boat and all the rods as the alkali in the water sticks to everything.

Pudelpointer · #12 03-25-2016, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TROLLER

Caught a few last October. Trolled a red wooly bugger at about 1 mph.

Fish are there but there is so much food (shrimp) it is more often you get skunked than catch anything. The ones I caught were nice and fat with very red meat. Cannot even imagine the hours I put into that lake, there is a channel about 20ft. deep that runs down the centre of the lake almost from end to end and that is where I have caught fish. Sometimes switch to a grey flat fish and use a down rigger to go to 10 to 12 fow. Very difficult lake to fish for sure. Maybe as tough as Ghost.

Again I had to clean the boat and all the rods as the alkali in the water sticks to everything.

Thanks for posting Troller, it is nice to get some first hand information for a change.

saddleup · #13 03-25-2016, 01:21 PM

I am glad to hear that someone is catching a few. I know a lot of locals have tried, including ice fishing, to no avail. This lake was slated t be stocked with tiger trout, but after some conversations with the govt. bio and locals , decision was put off till further water studies could be done. There has been concern over polluted runoff , amongst other pollutions. I have fished that pond for over 50 years, and being a local have caught some pretty nice fish over the years. Encouraging to hear of your recent success. Thanks for posting.

TROLLER · #14 03-25-2016, 06:29 PM

50 years yikes that's longer than me I have only been off and on for the past 30 or so. Used to ice fish it in the 80's with the brother in law from Coaldale but even then it was a very tough lake to fish.

What that lake really needs is a good flushing, it would be nice if there was a canal going in and coming out to clean it up. do not think that will happen anytime soon.

R the old boys from Raymond still fishing from shore did not see anyone last fall and I got there quite early and stayed most the day.

saddleup · #15 03-25-2016, 06:36 PM

U R right... it needs a flushing, however being only a rec. pond, and no irrigation, kinda doubt it will ever happen. It really hasn't seen much fishing pressure the last 2 years, not even from the Raymond boys... lol The pond however is stocked annually.

slough shark · #16 03-25-2016, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TROLLER

50 years yikes that's longer than me I have only been off and on for the past 30 or so. Used to ice fish it in the 80's with the brother in law from Coaldale but even then it was a very tough lake to fish.

What that lake really needs is a good flushing, it would be nice if there was a canal going in and coming out to clean it up. do not think that will happen anytime soon.

R the old boys from Raymond still fishing from shore did not see anyone last fall and I got there quite early and stayed most the day.

Yeah I was out 2 different days, Canada day weekend, didn't see anyone out there on what I would think would be one of the busiest weekends of the year out there, I remember when I was younger we would always see a number of other people. One would think if barely anyone is fishing there the numbers of fish would actually be quite high...

NUK SOO KOW · #17 03-26-2016, 08:41 AM

I talked to a fish biologist awhile back and basically said that there is so much food in there (scuds) the trout can just basically swim with there mouths open and gorge themselves. This would make them hard to catch but also greatly reduce their lifespan. The lake has the potential to produce record rainbows but also winter kills easily. The last few Alberta stocking reports did not list Tyrrell on them. I heard rumours that they do dump any left over trout stock into that lake. Not sure though. Yes that lake was on the list for tiger trout but they decided to hold off for a couple years to see how they fair in the lakes they did stock. It would be nice to see the lake managed again and possible airation if needed. Fishing may be tough but to be able to hook onto a rainbow of the sizes he predicted would be something else.

TROLLER · #18 03-26-2016, 11:23 AM

Interesting that you should mention left over trout.

I was out there a few yrs back when the trout guy showed up and dumped off about 80,000 small fry. Said they had some left overs and they usually would put them in Tyrell.

When I inquired as to why he figured they were so hard to catch he reached down pulled a weed out of the water shook it and it was totally full of shrimp.

They eat that stuff and it shows in their meat colour. My brother in law who used to fish it year round caught an 8lb. a few years back but I have never got anything over 5 and I have put some serious hours on that lake.

NUK SOO KOW · #19 03-26-2016, 02:01 PM

I looked at stocking reports again. 2009 was the last time it was officially stocked with over 200 000 trout. I'm sure there has got to be some lunkers kicking around yet especially if they dump leftovers in. Maybe I'll try a few more times this year. I usually just flyfish from shore with scuds, buggers and boatmen. Maybe drag the boat out.

NUK SOO KOW · #20 03-26-2016, 02:04 PM

Sorry for high jacking your heningers thread Bemoredog. A friend said his dad was out at heningers two years ago in summer and the lake produced well. Caught many bows around the three pound mark. Last I heard myself I haven't been out there for many years.

NUK SOO KOW · #21 03-26-2016, 02:06 PM

11000 trout were stocked in heningers in 2015. The reports for this year are not out yet.