1st time fishin' Jenks Lake

Originally I was invited to fish this beautiful lake called Jenks Lake that isn't too far from home that's almost up to Eastern Sierra trout fishing action. I'm very skeptical about that but they did say it's closer to home so I bit (oh yeah, pun intended). Dated for Saturday (5/10/14) and it's a go. As the days led closer, I was reminded of a "save the date" from my wife for Mothers Day luncheon. Doh!! It's for the in-law and I dared NOT to even mention ANYTHING to her about previous plans on going fishing so I called up my buddy and broke the news. Of course I get hazed with the "c'mon bruh, u wear the pants in the family" and the "rrriiiight... You're just whooped". Regardless of that I ain't risking crap cause this ain't something I want to have to live through. So off they went and they had a blast.
There were warnings of a Gator found in the lake so that was on my mind the entire time they were there as some posts I have mentioned on another thread before. I get this texted to me:
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Turns out, this was a fake. They had a souvenir gator head they brought over to the lake to get that picture. I have to admit. That got me   

I was off Monday anyways so I said screw it, I love doing solo trips anyways and off I went. Hit the road at 5:30am and get to the gate at 6:40am:
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Was the second vehicle there and was stoked. Met two old dudes there (jack and randy). Chit chatted for a ill bit then the ranger opened up the gate (7:00am). :
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Parked the car, inflated the tube and carried my gear down the stairs to the sandy beach launch. Very easy launch. Beautiful lake indeed:
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Started off on the right side of the pier and kicked until I was about hallways through the lake and bam! Got one on the mini jig on 2 lb test. Cool. Skunk off:
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Then bam, got one on the mice tail:
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I started to work towards the grass on the furthest left side where my homie told me of a "hole" that held fish at almost every cast with the mini jig. Guess he fished it out cause all I got was a few small dink Bass:
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Started back towards the middle and bam... Bam....bam...  Consistently get them on both mice tails and mini jig. Oh boy. That was fun. I even changed it up to trout worms and they hit that too. I think them mofos be hittin' anything that flutters with color. All in all my final count was 36. Not a bad day:
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It was tough taking a picture of every fish I caught but I was on a mission to post up a report. This is for the site Jeff  

That is cool bro thanks very much that looked like a wicked trip buddy. Nice report I would like to try that place out some day.

jeffcpr wrote:That is cool bro thanks very much that looked like a wicked trip buddy.  Nice report I would like to try that place out some day.

You should. It's a very family friendly place with pic nic tables, restrooms and BBQ grille. Looks like they have kayak rentals available but nobody did that when I was there. It might be for summer camp or something.

Gator in the lake... is that like the shark sighting in Newport to keep people away for the holiday?   

That place looks really nice.  And good goin's on the fish.



p.s. until recently I've always fished flies for trout. Going with my cousin and his in-laws, it was hard to fly fish from a pontoon boat full of people.  Those mouse tails always cracked me up until a month ago at the Conway Ranch closer when the big fish of the day, a 10.2 lb Alpers was caught on one. I still don't have any in the bag but that may change soon.  BTW, there's a fly pattern that is similar if not the same (egg sucking leech.)

Great report and pics Yellowrock!
36 fish would be a record for me in a day.

nice wtg out there

WFO for sure.

chipmcd wrote:Gator in the lake... is that like the shark sighting in Newport to keep people away for the holiday?   

That place looks really nice.  And good goin's on the fish.



p.s. until recently I've always fished flies for trout. Going with my cousin and his in-laws, it was hard to fly fish from a pontoon boat full of people.  Those mouse tails always cracked me up until a month ago at the Conway Ranch closer when the big fish of the day, a 10.2 lb Alpers was caught on one. I still don't have any in the bag but that may change soon.  BTW, there's a fly pattern that is similar if not the same (egg sucking leech.)

At first, like you, I wasn't a big fan of mice tails but you can't argue the fact that they do get bit. Like the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them. Haha

Great report and way to kill it out there

Great report. Looks like a beautiful spot also.

Great Report and the lake brings back memories of the great fishing I once had there from the tube .. 36 fish seems about right and the patterns did not matter to much , just stay towards the middle like you did and slay away .. great job

WES

Wtg bro u effn mashed it........good job!

Nice work, that is a nice little lake and there a lot of dink bass hiding under that grass on the far left. Could pull dinks all day from there.

Nice color on the fist pic and sound like you killed it out there

right on. looks fun. water level low?

there WAS a live Cayman in that lake for a while though I doubt it survived the winters, was only a couple feet long last I heard.

I went again about a week after this last report and as I was kicking back to shore and through the weeds I saw a large brown object breeze by and my heart stopped for just a moment. Turned out to be a large carp. Whew.

Yellowrock wrote:I went again about a week after this last report and as I was kicking back to shore and through the weeds I saw a large brown object breeze by and my heart stopped for just a moment. Turned out to be a large carp. Whew.

hahaha I went yesterday. It was a Pretty good day of fishing. Water temp was 66F. That 5-7Lb Carp was still hanging out in far corner of the lake. On our way out a couple guys caught a baby trout to go and try to snag it.

I DID SEE THOSE SIGNS LAST TIME I WENT UP TO JENKS.
I HEARD IT WAS A CAIMAN CROCODILE. SO I WOULDNT WORRY AS THEYRE MAINLY A FISH AND DUCK EATER LOL
LAST TIME I WAS THERE I ENCOUNTERED A SMALL BLACK BEAR THO. WHICH WAS AMAZING. HE WAS SO CLOSE U CAN SMELL THE EARTH ON HIS FUR.
BUT HE WASNT HERE TO BUG...HE WANTED SOME FOOD.
FIRST HE STOLE A LUNCH BAG. NOT A BIG DEAL.
THEN TO MY DISMAY SOMEONE HAD THROWN HIM A HUGE TROUT.
I KNEW THAT BEAR WAS USED TO THAT ATTENTION AND I KNEW THERE WOULD BE CONSEQUENCES.
LATER ON THAT DAY I HEARD ON THE NEWS A PROBLEMATIC BEAR WAS BEING A NUISANCE AND HAD TO BE REHOMED...HOPEFULLY IT WASNT EUTHANIZED...

ALSO THE 2 RESIDENT BALD EAGLES R A SIGHT TOO SEE WHEN THE FLY OVER THE LAKE...AMAZING

Now I want to go to Jenks lake, great report thanks for sharing.