Heenan is in Alpine County, eight miles east of Markleeville, on Highway 89 as it leads toward Monitor Pass. The lake is reached by a short, unmarked dirt road- it's easy to miss, so check your odometer and look to the right at 4 miles past the junction of Highways 89 and 4. It's a small lake, just 129 surface acres, with average depth less than 20 feet, with a few holes over 30 feet deep when the lake is full.

Maintained as a breeder lake for the threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, Heenan is surrounded by dry, sage covered hills dotted with groves of pine and aspen. Every spring, trout that run up the inlet stream are stripped of eggs and sperm, and the resulting fry are raised in a hatchery. These fish are eventually distributed to a number of area waters, but 5,000 are grown to "subcatchable" size each year (five to eight inches) and stocked back in Heenan. Amazingly, fishing is allowed in this breeder pond, albeit under highly restricted regulations. The season is Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays only, from the Friday before Labor Day to the Last Sunday in October. Fishing is permitted from sunrise to sunset, with only barbless artificial lures permitted, and all fish must be released.

So what's the big deal about opening day if nobody takes these fish home anyway? Stupidity. On opening day, they haven't seen a lure or fly for ten months. They attack your offerings with gusto, and action can be fast and furious. Any Friday seems to be a bit better than the weekend though, as the fish have been rested for four days since the previous Sunday. It's also a little less crowded- this is a "destination lake" for visiting anglers, especially fly-fishers, and on a fair-weather Saturday, the lake can get so full of float tubes that it looks like a sparse bowl of Cheerios.

Tubes are so popular because they work well here, but I prefer my canoe and trolling motor. Only electric motors are permitted. If you're stuck on shore, move around- fish off the main points and where steep banks indicate a similar steep drop-off in the lake. The fishing pressure is heaviest closest to the gravel parking lot (due to laziness) and the inlet creek (it's the most obvious fish-attracting feature), but I've found trout throughout the lake, with as many in the far end as near the dam and parking lot.

There are a fair number of fish from 8 to 16 inches long, but there seem to be even more in the two to three pound, 18 to 21 inch class. More rare, yet quite possible, are fish from 22 to 25 inches and five pounds. There seem to be few of the 27 to 30 inch fish that made this lake famous in the 1980's, but a fish approaching 10 pounds is not out of the question. My best trout here was a 26.5 inch fish I estimated to be between 6 and 7 pounds, caught in 1996.

How do you fish Heenan? Pick your method. Just remember that although this is a hatchery pond, the fish can be surprisingly particular at times, exploding on the surface often enough to fray your nerves, while ignoring the most professionally presented offerings.

Spinning: "Gold and silver spoons and spinners." This was the advice offered by a more successful lure angler back when I was first learning the lake, and it has held true each year since. Panther Martins are a favorite of mine, with a Blue Fox Vibrax spinner a good second choice. Kastmaster and Pheobe spoons also produce. Remember to change to a barbless hook or at least pinch your barbs flat with pliers. Cast these lures and let them sink a bit, then retrieve slowly. The fish will often just nip at the lure, sometimes following it all the way in. Try a lift and drop retrieve, allowing the lure to flutter down every few feet. This will produce vicious strikes from the same fish that were teasing you on a steady retrieve. Slow trolling with the same lures works too- pass the main points and even try the middle of the lake. If you find fish this way, stop and cast in the same area.

Fly Fishing: Most anglers use sinking line, dragging flies on or near the bottom, fishing from a float tube. Woolly buggers take some of the biggest fish, but at times a tiny nymph will get more bites. Try a small (#16 - 20) Prince Nymph or Pheasant Tail, retrieved slowly, with twitches. I've never done well with dry flies here, but I've heard that a grasshopper pattern on top, or a Pheasant Tail nymph drifted unweighted in the surface film will draw an airborne attack. Scuds (freshwater shrimp) are abundant in the lake, and they come out of the weeds in low-light conditions, becoming vulnerable to predation by trout and imitation by anglers. Try an olive scud with a touch of pink or red.

Expect to see the game warden watching the entire lake with binoculars. You will also be asked to fill out a survey on the size and quantity of trout caught. This would not be a good time to show the the stringer full of fish you caught on nightcrawlers.

Please try to use sensible release techniques. Keep the fish in the water as much as possible, and if you lift it out to take a photo or remove a hook, handle it gently, with wet hands, exposing it to the air for the least time possible, no more than a few seconds. Some of these cutthroat seem to go into shock at being caught, and even if handled correctly will float, belly up, at the surface. Hold such a fish gently by the tail and underside and turn him right-side up, keeping him completely submerged and angling his nose downward. Move him slowly back and forth, which will flare his gills open, and loosen your grip until he squirms and shoots out of your hands under his own power.

Okay, so the hook was in his gill, and after the cloud of blood that plumed off of him, the chances of the "rock-a-bye-baby" technique reviving him look pretty slim. Don't worry, the warden doesn't mind if you kill a fish or two as long as it's with a barbless hook and you don't try to take the carcass home. "But what a waste of fish meat!" you're thinking- think again. See the bald eagle up in that tree? And all the bear tracks along the shore? The warden isn't the only one watching that floating cutthroat to see if it swims off. These predators seem to key in on the "hatch" of dying trout, at times making for a spectacular wildlife show. Once I watched a full-grown, cinnamon colored bear jump from bushes, barrel downhill, belly flop into the water with a tremendous splash, then swim, with speed and grace, to clamp a floating, three pound trout in its jaws and return to shore.

Fishing slows down a bit after opening weekend, especially if the weather stays warm and algae blooms are prevalent.

The chill of October turns the bite back on, though, and the last couple weeks of the season, when the aspen turn golden and the eyes of your rod guides freeze up, can be the best of the year.