It’s been over five years since I last fished Manzanita Lake and I was itching to get back out to one of the most beautiful trout lakes in California. This trip was planned as a family camping trip so I had to play around finding time to get out on the lake. I was able to get about 8 hours of fishing in and every hour spent was filled with both frustration and excitement.
Manzanita Lake can be a difficult lake to figure out; fish can be seen rising all day and you have to have exactly what they’re looking for plus an accurate and subtle presentation or else they’ll ignore you. There are times when the fish are aggressive, hungry, and willing to chase making the fishing relatively easy but more often than not they are spooky and selective.
My starting presentation when fly fishing a lake is always a pleasant tail nymph and zebra midge under an indicator. These two patterns imitate callibeatis and chironomids which are two of the most common insects in stillwater fisheries. On Manzanita Lake the height of the weed beds can vary throughout the year therefore adjusting your indicator so that your flies are about a foot above them is absolutely critical. There are a lot of fish in the lake and they cruise around all day looking for an easy meal. I found that when using an indicator as long as you are patient you will get bit at some point. During this trip nymphing seemed to work best around mid-morning to afternoon. I didn’t have a lot of time to fish during this time period but I managed to land 2 out of 5 fish when I was out on the water. The 3 fish that I lost broke me off in the weed beds which is something I’ve ever experienced out there before. This visit was more about the quality of the fish rather than the quantity as I caught some of the biggest fish I’ve ever caught out there with the average being about 16″.
From what I observed stripping in streamers was the most popular technique used out on the lake. I only saw one fish hooked stripping streamers and although I tried it a bit for myself it didn’t seem to be what the fish were wanting.
The evening views are magical out on Manzanita Lake but the fishing can be extremely difficult. The first evening I was able to get out at around 7pm and was lucky enough to be fishing a glassy lake. It was amazing to see the amount of fish rising all over the lake. Dry fly fishing a lake is a completely different ballgame compared to a stream and I try not waste too much time chasing after the sporadic risers as it’s difficult to pinpoint which direction they’re swimming. I need a target or at least an area where fish are concentrated to feel confident enough to tie on a dry fly. Thankfully this evening I found a good spot near the inlet and started going to work trying to figure out what they were rising for. My initial thought were duns as I saw a few callibeatis pop up here and there but no dice. I figured if they didn’t want the dun they would want the emerger as I saw several shucks just below the film of the water. I tied on a size 16 Quigley cripple and with a couple of good casts and a bit of gentle twitching I was able to rise 4 nice trout.
The following evening, I found fish rising all throughout the lake but not to extent of the previous night. The weather that day was overcast with on and off rain which may have hampered down the evening hatch. I was able to rise one smaller fish that broke me off in the weeds but other than that it was super tough fishing.
Although the fishing was pretty difficult this trip all the fish I caught on Manzanita Lake were exceptional. After doing a bit of research it seems like Manzanita Lake goes through cycles of medium 14″ fish and larger +16″ fish. It looks like the big ones were out this time around and I had a fantastic time catching them.
