Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 09, 2019, 03:58:35 PM
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.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 09, 2019, 04:18:06 PM
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.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 09, 2019, 04:21:56 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 09, 2019, 04:23:54 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 09, 2019, 04:28:22 PM
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.
Post by: Dan-o on April 09, 2019, 04:57:54 PM
Great pics.
Great report.
Thanks for sharing.
Post by: trophyhunt on April 09, 2019, 06:26:20 PM
Post by: hunthard on April 09, 2019, 06:35:41 PM
Post by: Gobble Doc on April 09, 2019, 06:43:40 PM
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Post by: Alchase on April 09, 2019, 06:45:33 PM
Thanks for sharing
Post by: 3dvapor on April 09, 2019, 07:04:27 PM
Post by: Tree Killer on April 09, 2019, 07:04:49 PM
Post by: grundy53 on April 09, 2019, 07:47:08 PM
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Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 10, 2019, 07:20:04 AM
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 :tup:
Post by: rasbo on April 10, 2019, 08:08:02 AM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 10, 2019, 08:47:45 AM
They sure are pretty fish!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.
Thanks for sharing
Post by: Alchase on April 10, 2019, 10:28:38 AM
They sure are pretty fish!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.
Thanks for sharing
That is stunning!
Post by: boneaddict on April 10, 2019, 12:35:49 PM
Post by: 206 on April 10, 2019, 01:07:30 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 12, 2019, 08:35:47 AM
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.... :rolleyes:
Post by: boneaddict on April 12, 2019, 08:40:05 AM
Dang fishing is fun!
Post by: jackelope on April 12, 2019, 08:41:59 AM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 12, 2019, 12:49:57 PM
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.... :bash:
Post by: boneaddict on April 12, 2019, 01:32:15 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 12, 2019, 03:38:06 PM
Did you see that little can of wd40 sticking out of his pocket :chuckle:
:chuckle:
Post by: Axle on April 12, 2019, 05:46:51 PM
:tup:
Post by: huntnphool on April 12, 2019, 06:51:02 PM
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. :chuckle:
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 13, 2019, 02:51:23 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 13, 2019, 02:53:02 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 13, 2019, 02:55:00 PM
Post by: huntnphool on April 14, 2019, 12:26:25 AM
Post by: pygmy1985 on April 14, 2019, 08:55:30 AM
Post by: Birdgetter on April 14, 2019, 08:59:38 AM
Post by: Sandberm on April 14, 2019, 11:18:12 AM
Didnt they plant the Lahontans because of the alkaline water of the lake and their ability to survive in it?
Post by: pygmy1985 on April 14, 2019, 02:39:48 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 15, 2019, 09:08:17 AM
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.
Post by: CoryTDF on April 15, 2019, 09:41:38 AM
Post by: boneaddict on April 15, 2019, 09:50:09 AM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 15, 2019, 12:33:17 PM
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. ;)
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 15, 2019, 12:34:45 PM
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.
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 29, 2019, 04:28:54 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on April 29, 2019, 04:29:45 PM