Lake Heenan

[kokomoslow]

30 years ago I was fishing Lake Heenan in Markleyville Are you still alowed to fish it and how is it now? Thinking about comming out next year for another trip
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[theangler]

I've heard it's still decent fishing and was curious so did a bit of digging, this is what I came up with:
[ul][li]ONLY open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, CLOSED Monday-Thursday[/li][li]Fishing only allowed from Sunrise to Sunset[/li][li]A caretaker checks for licenses, but you can't buy a license there[/li][li]You can fish from the bank, but most people use float tubes, canoes, or rowboats[/li][li]No services available here, other than chemical toilets. Bring food and water[/li][li]For flies, black or olive Wooly Buggers, Prince nymphs, Callibaetis, and midges are good patterns[/li][li]Lures, spinners, and plugs are allowed here too (with only a single barbless hook!)[/li][li]The end near the dam, and the side opposite the launch area are most productive
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[kokomoslow]

Thanks Mike, Back in the day it was not unusual to catch 15 to 20 a day in the 18"o 24" range. And the far end away from the parking lot was the place.
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[Dryrod]

Hi koko - while I have never fished Heenan Lake it is apparently known for it's Lahontan cutthroat trout. ie:
Heenan Lake is renowned among catch-and-release trout anglers for its abundant Lahontan cutthroat trout, a native species of the east side of the Sierra Nevada that it is listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act as a Threatened species. The Lahontan cutthroat trout has been eliminated from over 95 percent of its historic range. Cutthroat trout in the lake are a strain originating from Independence Lake north of Lake Tahoe. The excellent fishing for large Lahontan cutthroat trout warrants the selection of Heenan Lake as one of the state's first Heritage Trout waters. Heenan Lake is also used by the Department as an egg source for stocking waters in California and Nevada with Lahontan cutthroat trout. The Department takes up to 2 million eggs annually from the cutthroat in Heenan Lake. A few thousand yearling cutthroats, reared from these eggs, are stocked back into the lake each year.
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[kokomoslow]

Your info was the same as it was 30 yr's. ago. We made a trip every year, at that time if I remember we could only fish a two week period of time. Catch & release, single barbles hook. I started out by myself and every year we added people and before we knew it we had twenty going every year. Staying at Markleyville at the cutthrought saloon. Very Wild Times !!!!! The fish would swim around in circles, around the float tubes and by the end of the day you could hardly lift your arms. It should be a lake on everyone's bucket list. Thanks again Kokomoslow
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