Weather was clear, sunny and temperature got up to probably around 85 or 90 during the afternoon, but it wasn't too bad as there was generally a light breeze. Surface water temperature was 71 at 8:30 am and rose to 77 by mid-afternoon, which means the water has warmed up considerably over the last several days (a friend said it was 64 on Sunday), and is maybe putting the fish down in the afternoon. This has apparently affected the timing or daily cycle of the hatches. John, another friend, was out there overnight and started fishing at 6 am; he said that the trout were splashing in the shallows at that time, telling me that there was probably a damselfly hatch going on. When I arrived at 8:30 am, there was a baetis hatch going on (mix of small gray and cream colored mayflies). This ended by about 9:30 or 10 am. It was dead from then for the rest of the day.

There were seven cars in the Lenice parking lot when I arrived. John said that he fished the day before from noon, but it was so windy, he just fished from shore. No mosquitoes on the lake or shore, but I was eaten alive in the parking lot at the end of the day.

There were a zillion damselfly adults flying around, but I only saw two damselfly nymphs on my float tube the entire day. The trout didn't seem interested in damselfly nymph imitations, even though I tried everything I knew to entice them. There was an occasional splash in the shallows, but I don't think they were going after damselfly nymphs.

It was impossible to match the mayfly hatch. I'm convinced the trout were taking the emergers, but didn't have an exact match. The Lady McConnell (looks like a Lasher Emerger, but larger and doesn't have the barred tail) was the closest match, but maybe it was a little too large. I could see trout attracted to it, come up close and then back away. The only trout I had on was with this fly; I cast to a splash, and the trout must have missed what it was hitting and then came back; it took my fly instantly without looking too closely; unfortunately, I lost it in the weeds. The weed growth is getting bad -- summer conditions.

There were a few chironomid shucks (size 16), but I couldn't get a trout to hit any chironomid imitations no matter how I fished it. I'd see a solitary swallow once in a while, but I suspect most of the swallows have migrated northward by now. I also tried a San Juan worm, hare's ears of various sizes, a Martinez, pheasant tails, a halfback, a Nyerges nymph, hopper patterns, Lasher emergers, baetis adults of various sizes and colors, and a Zug Bug. I should have tried scuds, but never got around to it.

The water flow at the inlet seems to have slowed down somewhat, or the lake level has risen, or maybe a combination of both. There only seemed to be a few trout at the inlet, and the other fishermen all seemed to know about the inlet, so the few trout that were there received a lot of pressure. The only trout I had on was in this area. I didn't find trout holding near the edges of the cattails, like I had the last time I was there a couple of weeks ago. They also seemed more skittish when I spotted them in the shallows. Another fisherman had one on with a sparkle dun, but he felt his fly was too large. Maybe I just need to have more patience with the dries and let them sit there for a long time.

I also explored over to the other inlet (more towards the islands), and found a couple of trout lying there, but it was too shallow and weedy for fishing.

There were a couple of guys who were wading the shallows sight fishing for trout and having some success, but I don't know what they were using. Otherwise, it was about as tough as I've seen it out there, consistent with the way Lenice and all the Eastern Washington lakes have been fishing this year.

I also noticed that hiding in the weeds are schools of bluegills. This is the first time I've seen bluegills at the lake. They are all very small, but this is not a good indication, unless you want to fish for bluegills. Probably means that Lenice will have to be purged in the next year or two and restocked. Maybe the osprey accidentally dropped one into the lake?

Lessons learned: 1) When the weather and water get warm, start fishing as early in the day as possible to pick up the earlier than normal hatches; 2) Use fine tippets (I was using 6X all day), but try to keep the trout out of the weeds, if possible; and 3) Need to tie up a greater variety (size and color) of baetis imitations to better match the hatch.

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