My brother and I just got back from a 3-day trip to the lake. The fishing was okay, not hot and not poor. We caught 16 fish over the 3 days. For those of you who don't know, Manzanita lake is at the entrance to Lassen Park. Several years ago it used to produce some quality fishing. The average fish was 15 to 17 inches, with a good opportunity to catch fish to 19 inches. Unfortunately, the lake has been on a downward slide. Two years ago I caught a lot of fish (25 or 30), but the biggest was only 14 inches and the average was 11 or 12. This year the fish were mostly 12 or 13 inches, with an occasional 14 or 15 incher. Thus, hopefully, the lake is starting to recover. The lake is a difficult dry fly lake, VERY technical, where you have to use long leaders and tippets. My brother and I love dry fly fishing so we doggedly tried dries even when few fish were rising. As far an nymphing goes, the lake can be fairly easy. A callibaetis nymph dangled 5 feet under an indicator can produce good numbers of fish. Just fish the deep water adjacent to the weedy water. The lake is VERY scenic, with Mt. Lassen clearly visible (when the smoke clears!), so it can be a really enjoyable experience. Some type of water craft is highly recommended.
I fished it last October, there were fish rising but they were very selective. We float tubed and cast toward the shore and stripped black bunny leeches. There were 3 of us and we each caught over 15 fish. At the end of the day at just about dark, we were floating at the mouth of the creek and casting up into the moving water and stripped back out, caught lost of fish in a short time. They were all an average of 15 inches or so with a couple to 20.
I also fished Manzanita during the first weekend in October and landed 14 fish on a wiggle tail. I just returned from a non-productive day of fishing on June 21st and in addition to lack of skill, the thunderstorms probably contributed to the poor fishing.
I have fished Manzanita for the last 5 years in the fall and also noticed a decline in the size of the fish. Some regulars at the Lake spoke about the huge numbers of fish in Manzanita and mentioned the slight POSSIBILITY of allowing a two fish limit in the next few years to help increase the overall size of the fish. However, they also spoke about scuba divers doing a fish survey and were impressed by the size of the fish in the deeper waters.
Also, there are certain parts of Manzanita Lake that are restricted to all types of fishing. The lake is indeed a magical place to fish.
the biggest Rainbow ive caught to date came out of manzanita, it was about 10 years ago, and It was holding in really deep water, like the previous post mentioned. I actually used to take a raft over the deeper holes and sighfish to the fish below me, or within a 10-15 yard radius, as the water is crystal clear in some spots. Havnt fished the lake in some time, too bad about the recent decline, but im sure, like the scuba divers mentioned, their are still stom HUGE fish in that lake. All i remember is seeing monster bows and browns
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all of a man's addictions end and begin when he learns to fly fish
Packrat, I assume that the stream you are referring to is the inlet stream to the lake. If so, this stream is a spawning stream. There used to be a sign stating that it is illegal to fish within 150 feet of the spawning stream. Evidently, the sign has been missing for a few years. I sent a note to The Fly Shop in Redding asking them if it is still illegal to fish near the spawning stream, and this is their response:
Thank you for your email. I spoke with several of the staff here in the shop that fish Manzanita and they also say that it is illegal to fish the spawning creek. The sign is no longer up, but it is an illegal fishery as these are spawning grounds for the fish. You can also contact the park as they will give you or the person that posted the message the regulations on the fishing at Manzanita. One of the guys here said that the park ranger usually tells people about the restriction.
Of course, with the sign missing, you couldn't be expected to know about the restriction. However, if they ever do put the sign back up, I wouldn't want you to be caught off guard.
