Pick of the Week
Published 12:50 pm Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Top spring trout fishing has started at Lake Lenice, according to state Fish and Wildlife Department biologist Chad Jackson at the agency’s Ephrata office. The Grant County water, part of the trio of “quality” lakes under selective-gear regulations that also includes Nunnally and Merry, lies on lower Crab Creek, south of Vantage and east of the Columbia River.
Some anglers have experienced 20- or 25-fish days recently on the walk-in lake, Jackson said, with most fish running 13 to 15 inches but with a fair percentage pushing 20 inches. The bulk of the take has been rainbows, but Jackson said a few browns and tiger trout also are starting to enter the catch.
Fly fishermen are using chironomids (green is popular) with floats, or fishing leech patterns or black/brown woolly buggers low and slow. A wide range of small spoons, plugs and spinners also will catch fish if rigged with a single, barbless hook. No bait is allowed.
A boat is essential to fish Lenice, inflatable, kayak or canoe, rigged with a wheel or backpack straps for the quarter-mile walk down a well-graded trail.
Jackson said the eastern half of Lake Nunnally also is fishing well.
Wayne Kruse
