Lenore Lake Weekend

[Pathfinder101]

With a rare weekend off last week I decided to take PathfinderJR (now in college) and Little Pathfinder (11 about to turn 12) to Lenore Lake for a little fly fishing during spring break.  I've avoided Lenore for a few years, since after the big paching disaster a few years ago, we had visited and had some bad luck and I wasn't seeing any reports contradicting our experience there.  I think a lot of people have considered the lake "ruined" for a while (whether it was poachers or perhaps some other factors), and I was one of them.
We arrived on March 30th, just a couple of hours before dark and I dropped the boys off at the north end to try their luck while I checked into the cabin at Sun Lakes for the night.  I returned about an hour later to find them casting nymphs to sporadically rising fish, but having no luck.  I waded out and tried to figure out what the fish were rising to.  Looked like really tiny midges.  Instead of trying to match that, I tied a black sparkle leach onto a sink tip line and started casting towards the rises (which were a ways out, about as far as I could wade and cast).  Before long we started picking up fish.

[Pathfinder101]

The bite shut off at dark, so we packed up and headed to the cabin.  The next morning we were on the water by 9 am.  No surface activity, so we tried leaches again.  No luck this time.  There was an older gentleman who had taken up a position on the rocky shore to our right (we were at the north end again) and we noticed he had started picking up fish.  there was now an occasional rise, so we switched to chironomids.  After about an hour he was hooking up more regularly, and we were yet to have a strike.  I think he sensed Little Pathfinder's frustration because he called out that he was using a #14 black chironomid.  Well, that was awfully nice of him, but not a ton of help, since we were using #14 black chironomids as well.
After he caught 4 or 5 more fish he actually invited us over, and gave us a couple of flies (I had tried every chironomid pattern in my box at this point).  His were a little "sparkly-er" than ours, so we excitedly tied them on and gave them a go.

Now, if you do any fishing at all you have probably had this happen to you, but it's still maddening and unexplainable.  By 1 pm we had reached that bizzar-o plane of existence where you are fishing on either side of a guy, with the same fly, rigged the same way and he is catching fish hand over fist, and none of the 3 of us could buy a strike.  PathfinderJR just kind of gave up and started photographing stuff (one of his passions) and Little Pathfinder was almost ready to chew through his rod handle in frustration.  I have not way to explain why or how it was happening, but we watched that guy catch over a dozen fish (the biggest one being a beautiful, fat 23 incher) and we went 5 hours without so much as a strike.
by 2 pm we decided to take a lunch break and do some hiking up to the Lenore caves.

[Pathfinder101]

We got back to Lenore about 5pm and found our friend in the parking lot, packing up.  He told us that the bite had "shut off" right about the time that we left and he had only caught another 1 or 2 fish all afternoon.  Despite the report, the lake looked like there was quite a bit of surface activity, so we geared up and hoofed it down to the water for the evening bite.  We found the same situation we had encountered the night prior.  Fish rising to tiny midges almost too small to match.  So again we tied leaches onto sink tip lines and started picking up strikes almost immediately.

[Pathfinder101]

We fished until dark, picking up a few fish, the best one being a 20 inch female, bright and healthy, but long and thin.  Around dark the midge rise continued, but the fish stopped taking leaches, so we packed up and headed home. 

[Pathfinder101]

All in all, it was definitely worth the drive.  While we got our butts kicked for most of the day, there were plenty of fish, they were feeding, and it looks to me like fishery has recovered.  The only negative was all the weeds and algae that seemed to congregate at the north end after a day of the breeze blowing it at us. 
It was Little Pathfinder's first visit to Lenore and he was astounded at being able to fish in a lake where you "know" every time you hook a fish it's going to be 16 inches or bigger.

[Dan-o]

Great trip.

Great pics.

Great report.

Thanks for sharing.

[trophyhunt]

Yes, heck of a weekend with the kids!

[hunthard]

Great write up, I have driven past this lake so many times without ever fishing it.

[Gobble Doc]

Excellent


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[Alchase]

They sure are pretty fish!

Thanks for sharing

[3dvapor]

thats awesome id love to fish that lake again.  theres some great fish in there.

[Tree Killer]

Dang, think it's been about 25 years since I fished Lenore.  Used to catch some beasts back in the day.  Peacock bodied Carey Special and large chartruese chironimids were deadly at times.

[grundy53]

Looks like a great weekend with your boys!

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[Pathfinder101]

thats awesome id love to fish that lake again.  theres some great fish in there.

I posted this because the lake is only usually good for a month or two in the spring, then in the fall for a bit after the weeds die.  Short season.  Now's the time 

[rasbo]

That's so cool,great post... 

[Pathfinder101]

They sure are pretty fish!

Thanks for sharing

Yes, they are in full spawning colors right now.  I'll have to get PathfinderJR to give me some pics off his good camera.  All of these are just off my phone. 

[Alchase]

They sure are pretty fish!

Thanks for sharing

Yes, they are in full spawning colors right now.  I'll have to get PathfinderJR to give me some pics off his good camera.  All of these are just off my phone. 

That is stunning!

[boneaddict]

I haven’t fished it’s either since the big bust.   It’s good to hear there are some fish again.   My go to fly was always a black or peacock Carey As well.   Chan’s chironimids always worked better for me with lahontans than blacks.

[206]

Lots of ice fishing memories at Lenore.  Those were the days.

[Pathfinder101]

I haven’t fished it’s either since the big bust.   It’s good to hear there are some fish again.   My go to fly was always a black or peacock Carey As well.   Chan’s chironimids always worked better for me with lahontans than blacks.

Like I said, I tried every chironomid in my box.  The one we were given was black-ish.  Black bead head and a krystal flash wound body tied and ribbed with black thread.  It had a black appearance unless you looked close in the sun.  I came home and tied up a dozen of them.  Sure worked for that other guy....

[boneaddict]

I've been the guy catching and Ive been the guy not catching.   Its really funny.  Ive also had ten of the same flies in my box.....fish after fish on one fly until the thing just gets down to the last thread, put a freshie on of the exact fly and not touch another fish.
Dang fishing is fun!

[jackelope]

Were you guys retrieving the chiro’s ultra slow or were you just letting them sit? It sounds like you guys know what you’re doing but I always feel like I have to try and solve the mystery of the other guy catching all the fish. Awesome pics. I love fishing that lake but it has been a long time.

[Pathfinder101]

Were you guys retrieving the chiro’s ultra slow or were you just letting them sit? It sounds like you guys know what you’re doing but I always feel like I have to try and solve the mystery of the other guy catching all the fish. Awesome pics. I love fishing that lake but it has been a long time.

There was a head wind, so really we were just throwing it out and keeping the slack out of the line.  The wind was blowing the strike indicator along faster than you would retrieve a chironomid anyway, and if I were fishing by myself I'd have blamed it on that...
But the same thing was happening to the guy next to us.... and he was catching fish....

[boneaddict]

Did you see that little can of wd40 sticking out of his pocket

[Pathfinder101]

Did you see that little can of wd40 sticking out of his pocket

 

[Axle]

Quote the raven - Lake Lenore! 
 

[huntnphool]

 Those were some great days 20-30 years ago, I'd sure like to see that lake get back to that.

 My go to pattern was a black filoplume with a 4 weight intermediate line. It wasn't fishing, it was "catching"

 I've still got some of the flies but would have to dig them out......like this in black.

 When we had lunch we would take our ultralight spinning rods with 4lb test, tie on a chironomid and hook a bobber to it about 3 feet up, then cast it out there and let the ripples from the wind move the bobber up and down, that was deadly too. Those little bobbers just disappeared.

[Pathfinder101]

Finally got the pics off PathfinderJR's camera. 

[Pathfinder101]

A few more..

[Pathfinder101]

A couple more..

[huntnphool]

 Outstanding

[pygmy1985]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Persistence pays off! Really nice story of a good time with your kids. I’m not familiar with Lenore. Some of the fish look like browns. What were you catching?

[Birdgetter]

As far as I know all the fish in Lenore are Lahontan cutthroat. They were originally from Pyramid lake in Nevada.

[Sandberm]

Great pictures Pathfinder.

Didnt they plant the Lahontans because of the alkaline  water of the lake and their ability to survive in it?

[pygmy1985]

They’re a beautiful fish.

[Pathfinder101]

Great pictures Pathfinder.

Didnt they plant the Lahontans because of the alkaline  water of the lake and their ability to survive in it?

That's correct.  It was a barren water until the late 70s (I think) when they planted Lahontan Cutthroats from Pyramid Lake, NV.  The water is too alkaline for anything else to survive in it (you can see the residue on the rocks in some of my photographs), so the fish don't have any competition and grow pretty quickly.  I don't think I've ever caught a fish in the lake under 14 or 15 inches.

[CoryTDF]

Man, I miss that place. Had some great times at that lake.

[boneaddict]

Those are great photos!   Your photographer has a good eye.

[Pathfinder101]

Those are great photos!   Your photographer has a good eye.

I will let him know that.  Coming from you, that will mean more to him than you know.   

[Pathfinder101]

Man, I miss that place. Had some great times at that lake.

Yeah, me too.  That's why I decided to give her a shot.  Been years since I went.

[Pathfinder101]

I was at my mom's place over the weekend and came across these pics... I figured I'd post them, since some of you commented that this was about the last time you fished Lenore.  This was back in the mid-80's, during the lake's heyday. 

[Pathfinder101]

couple more.