Heenan Lake opener plus Red Lake info

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Email report from Dell Clark of the CFFU:
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For all those that decided not to fish the opening day at Heenan Lake,
don't be sorry, be comforted by the fact that you didn't miss a heck of
a lot! It was very crowded. When I arrived at about 6:00 am the gates
were not yet open and vehicles lined the highway, waiting. I finally
got in and got one of the last parking places in the lot. Lots of
people had to park outside the gate and even on the highway. The lake
is still pretty warm, 60 -63 degrees. There is a lot of algae, lots of
big clumps. There was the usual wind, though not too bad. But the
catching was the pits! Most people I talked to got skunked or only had
a few hits and landed none or only one or two. One guy claimed he
landed 10. I had 5 on and landed 3. All small ( 9", 17", 18"). I did
not see any big fish caught. It appears that the fish are very deep
and tight lipped. I don't think it would be worthwhile to go back
until the weather and water cools. The full moon probably didn't help
any.

However, Bill Ozawa and I fished Red Lake on Thursday and it was very
productive. Double digits for both of us. All brookies and 2
cutthroats. No algae but a bit of wind in the afternoon. I caught a
bigger cutthroat here than in Heenan.

Dell Clark - CFFU

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Personally, I would hit it hard in October after it cools off.

[SHigSpeed]

Good to know. I wanted to but the family camping trip took precedence.

Hope to be there in a couple of weeks!

_SHig

[Big Al]

My take on the opener. Well the lake level is up, the weeds are down, and you are at the mercy of the wind and algae. A 15 MPH wind out of the South West mixed up all of the algae. The surface water temp was 64.5 degrees and most of the fish were DEEP 15-23 feet. My best combo was a size 16 Prince Nymph fished about 18 inches above a size 18 Red Copper john on a type six line. Cast it out and let it sink on a tight line to the bottom then do a slow hand retrieve all the way too the surface. Wind drifting and stripping a size 10 Black leech with red flash and a Prince Nymph dropper on a type three line was also taking fish. Vary your speed and strip to find what fish want that day. Six cutthroat to hand and 3 farmed ranged in size form 18-22 inches but I did see a 25 in hog landed!

[kokaneejr]

Bill and Big Al,

Thanks for the reports I will be up in the area this weekend and I am still up in the air as to what lake to fish but these reports are helping a lot...

[leemar]

I also fished the opener. I landed 7 fish ranging from 18 inches to about 22 inches and spent 10 hours in my tube to do it. Saturday afternoon after the wind died the bite really turned on and everyone was catching fish like it was the opener. A lot of the algae got blown out and the fish were on the chew. As I was putting stuff away after the sun went down the wind completely died and the fish started to dine on top. I have a feeling the full moon might have had the fish eating all night. I will return late October to seek ou my 10 pounder.