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...