Heenan Lake

First Time Out on Heenan Lake

Heenan Lake is a small 130 acre lake that is well-known for it’s population of Lahonton cutthroat trout. Established primarily as a place to host Lahonton cutthroat broodstock for spawning, Heenan Lake also allows anglers to catch these fish in the fall from the beginning of September to the end of October. I’ve read a lot about Heenan Lake and as one of the few stillwaters in California that offers an opportunity to catch a heritage trout qualifying stillwater Lahonton cutthroat I was excited to finally be able to check it out and hopefully catch a few.

I planned my visit as a Sunday day trip which meant I had to be out on the road by 6am to hopefully get there by 9am. Heenan Lake is notorious for being crowded at times and I had my fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be this weekend. After a long drive I arrived at the lake and saw the parking lot nearly full with more people rolling in. The most watercrafts on the lake that I counted this visit was a little over twenty at its peak. Although it sounds like a ton of people on the water there was plenty of room for everyone. Most anglers were set up in one area for most of the day which allowed those covering water to get around without an issue.

Fly patterns that are said to work on Heenan Lake were simple: buggers, prince nymphs, midges, and scuds. Retrieve technique was also said to be important and from what I gathered slow retrieves and twitches were the game changers. The fishing was really slow despite ideal conditions. The water temperature read at 54.6 degrees at 10am and gradually rose to 55.5 degrees when I left around 5pm. There was some good chop on the water around noon and the barometric pressure was dropping due to an incoming cold front the following day.

Pyramid Lake was where I first experienced fishing for Lahonton cutthroat trout and over the years of visiting the big pond I’ve learned a lot about these fish behave and how to catch them. With this experience under my wading belt the fish in Heenan felt more similar to me than different. Lahonton cutthroat are notorious for turning on and off throughout the day. The grabs will usually come in waves and it’s not uncommon to see someone hook up and the person next to them hooking up simultaneously. Although that’s the good side of Lahonton cutthroats the bad is that when the bite is off the day can be super slow. This visit was one of those slow days.

I was on the water by 10am and started stripping buggers and nymphs on an intermediate line. It seemed as if 80% of the folks on the water had the same technique in mind and after an hour with no one bringing in any fish including me I decided to switch to an indicator rig. The set-up I used was a 4x level line with olive balance leech and blood midge on a tag end. I set my depth at around 6ft and would twitch and slowly retrieve my patterns to give it some action. As the day progressed I watched as a few anglers using indicators started hooking fish and was ready for my turn.

At around 12pm I watched a fellow angler a few dozen yards away hook up and net a decent size trout. I observed around me to see if I could spot any fish. Within a few minutes of searching my eyes followed three different fish as they cruised around me within 4-6ft of depth. I got my first grab and missed the hook up. This would follow three more times until I finally hooked my first fish. I netted the beauty and was relieved to have finally beaten the skunk. The bite time was between 10am to 2pm.

I throat pumped the fish for some intel and found a ton of baby damsel flies about size 16. I tied on a similar pattern to match the hatch but by then the bite had turned off. The drive home was long and tiring and I stayed awake rocking out to some classic rock at full volume. My first visit to Heenan Lake was an okay experience. It’s a fishery that I would definitely visit if I was in the area but not a place I would wake up before first light to get to to fish again.

Manzanita Lake

Manzanita Lake Summer

Manzanita Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve ever had the pleasure of fishing. The lake is full of wild brown and rainbow trout that cruise throughout the lake looking for food both above and below the surface. The ratio of browns to rainbows is pretty even and though the majority of the fish don’t reach trophy size the average fish is about 12” – 16”. Manzanita Lake is one of the few lakes in California that hosts perfect conditions for a fantastic wild stillwater trout fishery and should be on every fly anglers list of places to visit and fish.

The last time I fished Manzanita Lake was back in June 2017. Most of Lassen Volcanic National Park was closed that year due to the heavy snowpack from the crazy storms in early winter that caused floods reminiscent of the massive floods in 1997-1998. The lake was in optimal condition as the water temperatures were still low and the weather had just warmed enough to get the bugs hatching. Manzanita Lake was the first time I ever tried to fly fish for trout in stillwater conditions. I had the opportunity to fish the lake pretty hard that visit and had a lot of fun figuring things out while catching a few fish along the way.

This visit to Manzanita Lake was a bit different and not so much focused on fishing due to the addition of my 16 month old. I was able to get out and fish a bit in the evenings but aside from that most of the time spent was chasing down a toddler that wanted to play in dirt and climb on rocks. I planned our visit mid-week from Tuesday to Thursday to try to avoid the crowds and though there were still quite a few people out I’m sure our experience was nothing like it would have been closer to the weekend.

Lake conditions were significantly different this visit. The water was warmer and the underwater vegetation looked about twice as high as the previous time I fished it. I logged the water surface temperature at 73°F and marked an average of 3-4ft between the surface and the water vegetation. The wind picked up in the afternoon and was blowing a consistent +10MPH. The fish were surprisingly still active despite the warmer water temperature and heavy winds. As I scanned the lake every few seconds I could see fish jumping and rising. I kept my eye on the fly anglers out on the water and saw very few hookups. All of my instincts were telling me that this was going to be a tough visit.

I was able to get some fishing time on Manzanita Lake from 7pm to sunset. Although I wish I was able to fish Manzanita Lake in the morning, the evening was definitely the best other option. Mid-day seemed a bit too busy on the water with kayakers and canoers all throughout the lake. Swimmers were concentrated near the boat launch leaving the northern end of the lake quieter and less pressured.

Once I was finally able to get on the water I found the fish to be concentrated in the middle section of the lake near the iconic Mt. Lassen Manzanita photo spot. I observed fish rising throughout the evening and I managed to get two rises with my Manzanita go-to dry fly the Sheep Creek Special. I’m not quite sure what the Sheep Creek Special is imitating and I don’t think the trout know either. I throat pumped the trout that was able to net and found mostly callibaetis nymph. Naturally I switched to a callibaetis nymph but the fish didn’t seem interested. Once the wind calmed and the water turned to glass the trout activity really started getting wild. Fish were rising all around me but I couldn’t see what they were eating. I kicked around saw a ton of different bugs on the surface mostly midges and what appeared to be a cream colored trico mayfly spinner in a size 22. I figured it had to be the spinner they were rising for and of course I didn’t have anything in my fly box that looked like it. I ended the first night 2/3 with one brown and one rainbow in the net.

The following day I was able to get an hour mid-day on Manzanita Lake. I started this session with a balanced damsel and callibaetis on an indicator. The afternoon wind was moving the water surface pretty good and I figured I’d have it work for me rather than try to fight it. After about 20 minutes with no grabs I switched to a Sheep Creek Special to see if I could get one of the many trout I saw jumping to rise. As I worked my way around the lake I noticed that the fish that were rising and jumping were chasing adult damselflies that were teasing them just above the surface. Knowing this I didn’t think the trout were going to interested in my dry flies so I ended this short session with no takes.

I went back out in the evening this time prepared with a few new dry flies, a size 18 PMD comparadun, that resembled the small cream trico that I saw the night before. I initially started out with a damsel nymph on a long leader and got two strikes with one bow into the net. As the sun started to set the wind died down the fish were eating on top again prompting me to switch to the small comparadun. I kept an eye out for targets and found a fish just below the surface sipping invisible bugs in a predictable direction. I cast about a foot in front of it and waited anxiously for it to suck it down. As it inched closer and closer to my fly I held my breath until I finally watched my fly disappear into the suction that was the fishes mouth.

I managed to land one more fish that night going 3/4. Throat samples revealed a lot of different insects primarily callibaetis but mostly light green daphnia. The fish were rising all night despite little to no light and I suspect they were raking in daphnia since they didn’t need to see them to eat them.

I caught fish this trip but overall it was a bit slow. As always I learned a few new things and will need to add some new flies to my stillwater box.

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