I picked up a copy of Northwest Fly Fishing in the grocery store a few weeks ago and ran across an article about Lake Lenore. It’s a lake I’ve fished before, although it’s been a dozen years and I don’t think we had a great deal of success last time. None the less it’s a unique enough lake to tempt me to take a chance on the weather and maybe work a little harder to get across the pass than I’d like (without the prospect of skiing some good powder). Lenore is next in the chain above Soap Lake in the central part of the state. Because of th
e alkaline nature of the lake; WA dept of F&W stocks the lake with Lahontan Cutthroat. Lahontan’s are native to Pyramid Lake in Nevada and are uniquely capable of tolerating the alkalinity and grow to large sizes, 10 lb fish are not uncommon and the largest caught is something like 41 lbs.
I met my brother Mike and we drove over early Saturday morning and got on the lake about 11:00. All in all this is a very strange fishery and Saturday was a generally nasty day. The lake was slow waking up from winter this year and the few fish active were concentrated in the north end over small patches of marl bottom. The weather was cold, the wind was cold, the water was cold, and then it started to rain. The dozen or so people fishing lined up opposing each other (like a gauntlet) and fished small chironomids below strike indicators. Although our success was slow, we did see fish caught and watched a guy across from us land a fish easily over 10 lbs. Mike caught two nice cut’s 18” & 19” and when I was finally about to admit defeat, I hooked and landed a 22.5” / 5 lb. Lahontan cut. That was it for Satu
rday.
Next day we went south to look at another desert lake I’d heard about but never fished before. New day, 10 degrees warmer, blue sky, a little too much wind but a jewel of a lake. We packed up our float tubes and hiked into the far end of the lake. The water was clear, the bottom beautiful and sunlight sparkled against the cat tails and Russian olive on the shoreline. My first fish was 20.5”, thick and beautifully proportioned. Mikes next fish was 22” and of the dozen or so for the rest of the day, I don’t think we saw anything under 19”. In the words of the terminator, “I’ll be back”.
Preferably yet this spring.
e alkaline nature of the lake; WA dept of F&W stocks the lake with Lahontan Cutthroat. Lahontan’s are native to Pyramid Lake in Nevada and are uniquely capable of tolerating the alkalinity and grow to large sizes, 10 lb fish are not uncommon and the largest caught is something like 41 lbs.I met my brother Mike and we drove over early Saturday morning and got on the lake about 11:00. All in all this is a very strange fishery and Saturday was a generally nasty day. The lake was slow waking up from winter this year and the few fish active were concentrated in the north end over small patches of marl bottom. The weather was cold, the wind was cold, the water was cold, and then it started to rain. The dozen or so people fishing lined up opposing each other (like a gauntlet) and fished small chironomids below strike indicators. Although our success was slow, we did see fish caught and watched a guy across from us land a fish easily over 10 lbs. Mike caught two nice cut’s 18” & 19” and when I was finally about to admit defeat, I hooked and landed a 22.5” / 5 lb. Lahontan cut. That was it for Satu
rday.Next day we went south to look at another desert lake I’d heard about but never fished before. New day, 10 degrees warmer, blue sky, a little too much wind but a jewel of a lake. We packed up our float tubes and hiked into the far end of the lake. The water was clear, the bottom beautiful and sunlight sparkled against the cat tails and Russian olive on the shoreline. My first fish was 20.5”, thick and beautifully proportioned. Mikes next fish was 22” and of the dozen or so for the rest of the day, I don’t think we saw anything under 19”. In the words of the terminator, “I’ll be back”.
Preferably yet this spring.
No comments:
Post a Comment