Cooler Lenore A Hot Spot

How many times have you heard a fisherman brag that he knows a secret lake where trout are “as long as your arm?” Likely, many times. And you probably didn’t believe what you heard.

Well, there is a lake filled with trout as long as your arm. Some of them may be longer.

In fact, it’s nearly impossible to catch one less than 20 inches long. Most will be 22 to 26 inches long. We’re talking 3 to 6 pounds. Many are as big or bigger, than the steelhead now running up the Snake River system.

The lake is Lenore, a narrow, 7-mile-long lake southwest of Coulee City. It’s been several years since the Fish and Wildlife Department began releasing the trout into the lake. Now, big, colorful Lahontan cutthroat are attracting fly fishers, spin fishermen and trollers from throughout the Northwest.

The lake was practically deserted during the hot weather a few weeks ago. As waters cooled, however, leeches and scuds became active and water boatmen started laying eggs. Then Callibaetis mayflies started hatching in good numbers. The activity stirred the cutthroat, which had been lethargic, into action; they resumed feeding with a vengeance.

The water was about 70 degrees in August. Now it’s a comfortable - for Lahontans - 56 to 58 degrees.

If you decide to fish the lake during the next few weeks, consider that Lenore is a “selective fishery” lake. That means you can’t use bait. Only unscented artificial flies or lures with a barbless single hook are allowed. The limit is one a day. You can hook and release Lahontans until you decide to keep one. Then you’ve got to stop fishing. Furthermore, if you use a boat, you can’t use a gas motor; only electric motors are legal.

And don’t expect to catch one big Lahontan after another. Maybe you will, but you’ll be lucky to hook three or four. To most anglers, three or four fish more than 2 feet long is a great day. After all, there’s more meat, if it’s meat you want, on one Lahontan than a limit of five rainbows in nearly all other eastern Washington lakes.

When I fished Lenore with a couple of friends a few days ago, Callibaetis mayflies popped up on the surface from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The big cutthroat ignored delicate mayflies with sail boat wings. But they ate the nymphs.

Typically, the Lahontans, unlike their cousins, the westslope cutthroat, aren’t surface feeders. They prefer to fill their big guts with water boatmen, nymphs, chironomid pupae, leeches and scuds.

Most fly fishers who have fished extensively for Lahontans know that the cutthroat seldom take floating insects. Once in a while, a Lahontan will take an insect on the surface. But that’s unusual. Experienced fly fishers don’t waste time casting dry flies. They use flies that suggest underwater insects.

My friends and I cast small bead head nymphs. Most other fly fishers used variations of the Woolly Bugger, a pattern that probably suggests leeches. Anglers who aren’t fly fishers troll big flies, including the Woolly Bugger, and cast or troll small lures, such as Mepps spinners. Some fly fishers are more proficient than others.

While we fished the lake, a couple of fly fishers hooked and released at least a dozen Lahontans each. One fly fisher told another who hadn’t been hooking fish that he was using a leech-like pattern. Because aquatic weeds are just beneath the surface in the shallow areas of the lake and the Lahontans are so powerful, it’s necessary for anglers to use heavier tippets on their leaders than they’d ordinarily use.

When hooked, Lahontans frequently dive into the weeds. Once they’re tangled in the weeds, pulling them out is difficult, often impossible, on fine diameter tippets. They usually break off.

My friends and I used 4X tippets, rated at about 6 pounds. Usually, I use 5X tippets in waters where there are good numbers of big fish. The 5X tippets are rated at about 5 pounds. Lahontans don’t seem to be leader conscious; consequently, some anglers even use 2X and 3X tippets in order to “horse” them out of weeds.

Lahontans, unlike rainbows, are underwater fighters, and they rarely take out much line. They may thrash around on the surface, but for the most part, they fight for their lives as deep as they can go and within a few yards of where they are hooked.

Lahontans are among the most photogenic of all the trouts. Their dark yellowish-orange bodies are covered with large black spots and red slash marks are located under their jaws.

They’re not spectacular jumpers like rainbows, but they’ve got power in their firm bodies. They don’t give up easily.

They’re also a gourmet’s delight. Bake them or fry them. You’ll want more.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review