It's pretty tough to fish in that area right now, lots of activity from swimmers, tubers, yakkers...

Spring and fall are your best bets if you are fishing in the areas down by the bridge.

This time of year, I'd be looking at throwing buggers and streamers for smallies - which can be found in some of the deeper pools upstream from the bridge.

Check your PMs for more

 

Whats good on this stream now? I wanna go soon probably in the next couple weekends for browns. Using spinfishing gear.

 

Whats good on this stream now? I wanna go soon probably in the next couple weekends for browns. Using spinfishing gear.

from what i have heard the brown trout fishing there is extremely difficult. few and far between

 

The fishing is definitely off for trout, considering that it's October, which has been in the past, one of the best times to hit nice browns down at Mohican.

I don't know whether they've reduced stocking numbers , or maybe they haven't stocked at all - I'm hoping that this is 'yet" statement, and that they have plans to do so.

I've had several outings down there in the last few weeks - both above the lake and below it by the bridge and while I've hooked some nice smallies (below the dam), as of this writing, no trout...I haven't even seen any.

from what i have heard the brown trout fishing there is extremely difficult. few and far between

Read more: http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?p=1304902#post1304902#ixzz1bKV2MNCs

Generally, the trout fishing at Mohican is not difficult and can be very productive for 7-11" browns; last year this time I had an afternoon where I hit over 20 ...and missed that many as well. The water was pretty much boiling with rises from browns taking various caddis and other top water patterns...But this year the trout bite is most certainly not where it should be.

Usually this time of year they are hitting on both dries and nymphs depending on the time of day, but I'm not seeing any holding under trees, structure or banks, and haven't seen even one rise.

I'm really hoping this will change.

 

Spent a rainy afternoon downstream of the covered bridge a few weeks ago. Drowned lots of nymphs; no takers, by trout that is. Managed to find a hungry little bluegill. The woods were beautiful that day but smelled of skunk.

 

Managed to bring this 27" toothy critter in just past the campgrounds. He went sideways & made the reel sing! My first pike on the fly & Surprised to say the least. Perhaps he's been dinning on the Browns!

 

from what i have heard the brown trout fishing there is extremely difficult. few and far between

I was down there in december with 4in of ice on the sides, for the first time fising clearfork by the covered bridge, We cought 5 and 1 was around 17". Thought wasnt bad a first trip to there and in the snow,

Went down there a month ago, didnt get 1 trout , but I cought 10 saugeye and a 5ibs largemouth? was pretty weird.

 

Mohican is way off for trout this year, (although pretty good for smallies!) and apparently it's going to stay that way until next season -unless a privately funded group would come in and stock.

Stocking on the Clearfork usually happens in October, but to my knowledge, no stocking has been done this year and here's why:

After researching, I did find an ODNR press release stating that the overall numbers of stocking trout were going to be greatly reduced this year due to improvements at the hatchery in Castalia.

The numbers are WAY off, down from around 20,000 to around 4,000 statewide.

Your best bet for flyfishing for trout in that area right now is probably Apple Creek in Wooster, which was stocked with over 1000 trout in mid October.

I went last weekend and caught and released two nice sized rainbows,
(11" and 16" ) using nymphs in faster water.

Please practice C&R on this stream whenever possible, as the funding for this stocking project is largely privately donated and not state endorsed.

Your best bet for access is at Grosjean Park; If heading West on Rt 30, take the Madison St. exit, make a right at the bottom of the ramp, and then an immediate right at the pond/skateboard park.

Follow this road down until it dead ends at Grosjean Park.

Lots of shore access, although as you head upstream, there are a few private sections posted, so you may want to cross over to the other side before you get to this section and fish from the opposite bank. Tree cover is heavy on that side though, so warm up on your roll cast!

While I have seen some afternoon caddis hatches, I haven't seen any trout rising to them, (although there are rises, but these are little shiners and minnows).

Your best bet is various #14/#16 nymphs/beadheads - copperjohns, princes, scuds, etc., and I'd look to brighter colors as opposed to more organic hues of olives and browns. The two I picked up were caught on bright reds and greens, although i did hook and then lose one 12 incher on a black body/gold bead head with gold wire.

Look at sections of water just below faster moving riffles for your best action.

Hope ths helps.

 

Mohican is way off for trout this year, (although pretty good for smallies!) and apparently it's going to stay that way until next season -unless a privately funded group would come in and stock.

Stocking on the Clearfork usually happens in October, but to my knowledge, no stocking has been done this year and here's why:

After researching, I did find an ODNR press release stating that the overall numbers of stocking trout were going to be greatly reduced this year due to improvements at the hatchery in Castalia.

The numbers are WAY off, down from around 20,000 to around 4,000 statewide.

Your best bet for flyfishing for trout in that area right now is probably Apple Creek in Wooster, which was stocked with over 1000 trout in mid October.

I went last weekend and caught and released two nice sized rainbows,
(11" and 16" ) using nymphs in faster water.

Please practice C&R on this stream whenever possible, as the funding for this stocking project is largely privately donated and not state endorsed.

Your best bet for access is at Grosjean Park; If heading West on Rt 30, take the Madison St. exit, make a right at the bottom of the ramp, and then an immediate right at the pond/skateboard park.

Follow this road down until it dead ends at Grosjean Park.

Lots of shore access, although as you head upstream, there are a few private sections posted, so you may want to cross over to the other side before you get to this section and fish from the opposite bank. Tree cover is heavy on that side though, so warm up on your roll cast!

While I have seen some afternoon caddis hatches, I haven't seen any trout rising to them, (although there are rises, but these are little shiners and minnows).

Your best bet is various #14/#16 nymphs/beadheads - copperjohns, princes, scuds, etc., and I'd look to brighter colors as opposed to more organic hues of olives and browns. The two I picked up were caught on bright reds and greens, although i did hook and then lose one 12 incher on a black body/gold bead head with gold wire.

Look at sections of water just below faster moving riffles for your best action.

Hope ths helps.

ok .. lol.. I thought I was going crazy! thanks you saved my sanity!..lol..

 

Clear Fork was stocked about 2 weeks ago by the Division of Wildlife. They stocked 10,000 fish which is the same as previous years. They are doing a 4 year study to determine what, if any movement these trout exhibit. They tagged the fish and will electofish for them next year to determine growth rates, movements, etc... The fish stocked were mostly 4-8 inches with some upwards of 11 inches in the mix. I was down there this past week and a 18 caddis dry worked on some of the bigger fish. The trout refered to in the news release are the catchable rainbow trout that come from Castalia. The brown trout stocked in Cleafork, Mad and Clear Creek come from the London fish hatchery. Hope this helps.

 

Clear Fork was stocked about 2 weeks ago by the Division of Wildlife. They stocked 10,000 fish which is the same as previous years. They are doing a 4 year study to determine what, if any movement these trout exhibit. They tagged the fish and will electofish for them next year to determine growth rates, movements, etc... The fish stocked were mostly 4-8 inches with some upwards of 11 inches in the mix. I was down there this past week and a 18 caddis dry worked on some of the bigger fish. The trout refered to in the news release are the catchable rainbow trout that come from Castalia. The brown trout stocked in Cleafork, Mad and Clear Creek come from the London fish hatchery. Hope this helps.

I used to hook at least once nice hold over a trip between 14-18 inches a trip! That was a long time ago, and I know that the fishign has fallen off the last few years! I dont know why, but I do know that I'm not going back for a few years! I know its more about the journey than the fishing but even I have my limits!...lol... Well I do know one that that last flood ripped her a new ( ) . ( )

 

Clear Fork was stocked about 2 weeks ago by the Division of Wildlife. They stocked 10,000 fish which is the same as previous years. They are doing a 4 year study to determine what, if any movement these trout exhibit. They tagged the fish and will electofish for them next year to determine growth rates, movements, etc... The fish stocked were mostly 4-8 inches with some upwards of 11 inches in the mix. I was down there this past week and a 18 caddis dry worked on some of the bigger fish. The trout refered to in the news release are the catchable rainbow trout that come from Castalia. The brown trout stocked in Cleafork, Mad and Clear Creek come from the London fish hatchery. Hope this helps.

I stand corrected and apologize for my post. It was not my intention to mislead anyone.

 

No need to apologize...if you read the news release it could lead you to believe that total trout numbers are down this year. I agree that the brown trout fishing at Clear fork seems less than previous years...don't know why really except that the flood 007 wrote about may have displaced them. I am going to a meeting this Saturday sponsered by the Division of Wildlfe. This meeting is based on the 4 year study the DOW is conducting on the Mad, Clearfork and Clear Creek. Hopefully we can discuss ideas on how these streams could hold fish longer and fish better. There are still some good midge fishing days left in November, so don't give up quite yet.
Take care,

 

I went up in April of last year and my first fish was a 20" brown. That set the bar pretty high for that stream. I caught a bunch of smaller browns and a few hard-fighting smallies as well. The scenery was amazing. Hopefully the quality of fishing returns next year.

 

I went up in April of last year and my first fish was a 20" brown. That set the bar pretty high for that stream. I caught a bunch of smaller browns and a few hard-fighting smallies as well. The scenery was amazing. Hopefully the quality of fishing returns next year.

That's a great size for that stream - and rare, although they are in there.
Most of the trout range in size between 8" - 12".

You got lucky with the twenty incher.

 

A friend and I hit the stream for some late afternoon fishing at Clearfork yesterday - 3:30 - 5:30, near the covered bridge.

She caught 4 browns, ranging in size from 9" to 12", all caught on nymphs... Prince and Coppers, as far as I know.

I picked up one 7" on an elk hair caddis, then switched over to nymphs and got skunked.

Water level was a little low, clarity was a bit stained. Nice midge hatch around 4pm, but of course I didn't have any midge patterns with me, because why would I when this is probably the most popular pattern to have this time of year? Why? Because I'm an idiot, that's why. LOL - although to be honest, I saw only two rises to the midges, so who knows? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

I'm pretty sure the trout took my elk hair because he was mad - and not because I was matching a hatch. LOL

Going back this weekend, will report.

 

A friend and I hit the stream for some late afternoon fishing at Clearfork yesterday - 3:30 - 5:30, near the covered bridge.
.

Thanks for the report! I was going to play hookey and go up yesterday, but responsibility got the better of me and I ran the brush hog all afternoon. Maybe tomorrow...

 

We're going to go camping at the park this weekend.

Copperdon, when you were fishing nymphs, were you using indicators?

Also, I'm not too familiar with using midges. How do you fish those? Are they fished like nymphs under indicators? Could I use an elk hair caddis as an indicator?

I've only been fly fishing for about a year and a half and I'm still learning a lot so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

We're going to go camping at the park this weekend.

Copperdon, when you were fishing nymphs, were you using indicators?

Also, I'm not too familiar with using midges. How do you fish those? Are they fished like nymphs under indicators? Could I use an elk hair caddis as an indicator?

I've only been fly fishing for about a year and a half and I'm still learning a lot so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I was using all kinds of patterns, both nymph and dry.

Depending on time of day and the presence (or lack of) hatches, I'd start with nymph patterns; bead heads, princes, copperjohns, and other scud patterns. You could use an indicator, although most of the time, if I need an indicator, I opt for a dry pattern up top to use as an indicator, figuring that there's always the possibility that a trout might be interested in that top pattern as well - in this case I generally choose something a bit beefy, like a #12 or #14 elk hair caddis, although I've used other dry patterns in the past as well.

Here's another thing to consider... and I've found this to occasionaly be the case at the Clearfork... and that is that the fish are taking stuff not on the surface, and not deep, but right below the surface.... say, 1" to 5" below.

In that scenario, I generally use a wet fly, a pattern that isn't designed to float but also that doesn't sink fast - like bead heads do. Wet flies are generally nothing more than a dry fly pattern without a bulk of material to keep them afloat, and because they have no other weight attached, other than the weight of the hook itself, they sink very slowly.

Another method that has been productive for me is to use a dry fly, like an elk hair caddis, for example, but don't dress it with floatant. After a few casts, the fly will saturate with water and start to sink on its own.

Also, watch your retrieve on your down stream side... this is the point where you'd normally retrieve and recast. Instead of quickly retrieving to recast, bring it in slowly instead. Sometimes you'll pick a few up this way, and sometimes skating the fly across the surface on your retrieve will also spark fish to strike.

The Clearfork has a very nice variety of water - riffle, slow water, holes, structure, splits, etc.

My advice is to go to this site:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/oh/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&format=gif_stats&period=7&site_no=03133500


It will tell you the level of the water below the dam. Levels that are good for fishing will fall between the 1' and 2' mark. Anything below or above these measurements, and you may want to consider waiting for another day.


As of this morning, water level was low. I'm not saying to not go fishing, I'm just saying that you'd probably have a bit more luck if the water level measured in the range described above. If I had to choose, I'd rather fish when stream levels were a bit low as opposed to high.

 

I appreciate the info!

How else do you fish nymphs without an indicator? How do you know when a fish strikes wet flies?

 

I appreciate the info!

How else do you fish nymphs without an indicator? How do you know when a fish strikes wet flies?

Feel. Or, watching your line... if the line starts to head back up stream you've either got a fish ...or a snag. LOL

Also, looking for the tell-tail quick jerks, focusing visually on where your fly line meets your leader, helps as well.

If I'm using a pattern like a wooly or a clouser, or another streamer type, it generally involves the angler to be retrieving, as opposed to a dead drift, and in that case, you can feel the strike.

But, an indicator certainly helps, although as mentioned in my previous post, much of the time, I opt for a dry fly up top to act as the strike indicator, figuring that there's always the possibility of a top water strike on that fly.

It depends on the water as well. If the water is faster, an actual indicator, brightly colored, is probably the way to go - at least for me, because as I get older, I can't see a dry fly as well in faster moving water as I can in slower current.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll give those methods a try. We're going to camp there on Friday night so I'll have plenty of oppurtunity to try some different things. Hopefully I'll hook one or two! Even if the water is low, the fish will be there somewhere. It's just like fishing high and fast water. I can still catch fish but it's just a little more difficult!

 

Thanks a lot. I'll give those methods a try. We're going to camp there on Friday night so I'll have plenty of oppurtunity to try some different things. Hopefully I'll hook one or two! Even if the water is low, the fish will be there somewhere. It's just like fishing high and fast water. I can still catch fish but it's just a little more difficult!

Look to the faster water just downstream from the bridge, this seems to be fairly productive right now using various nymphs.

I've thrown several dries in the last few weeks without any action, and have seen very few rises, so I'd look at your wet flies and beadhead or streamer patterns first, unless you see an afternoon hatch with obvious rises as a result.

Also, don't discount the possibility of a few nice smallmouth taking streamer/bugger patterns in some of the holes up stream from the bridge... they are in there, hugging structure.
Good luck

 

Is that river wide and deep enough for sinking line for streamers or should I just use floating line?

 

Is that river wide and deep enough for sinking line for streamers or should I just use floating line?

well, I suppose that depends on whom you ask, but I use sinking line with streamers all the time on the Clearfork with productive results.

One other thing I would suggest is to brush up on your sidearm cast... you'll find it useful in getting up under tree overhangs to get to where the trout (and smallies!) may be hiding (depending on the time of day).

here's on other hint...
If you are entering the stream from the campground/ parking lot side, and fishing towards the opposite bank, and you find you aren't getting any action, don't rule out turning around and fishing the bank side that you entered from. Sometimes, depending on where the sun hits (and that whole covered bridge stretch of stream area doesn't get a whole lot of direct sun light this time of year for very long) you may find that you'll see more action by fishing the bank you came in on originally.

Right now, or at least in my own experiences recently, I've had the most action on the CF fishing the areas just below riffles and just below faster water - where the water starts to calm out a llittle. Most action for me has been on patterns like Princes and Copperjohns, sizes 14 and 16 in natural colors like greens, olives, browns and blacks.

OTOH, a friend of mine who went with me last week caught a nice 12" on a black stone fly... so go figure. LOL.. it only supports my belief that trout are moodly little buggers who take what they want, when they want it and trying to stay one step ahead of them is futile.

For smallies, look at Wooly Buggers in green, olive, brown or black with a lighter colored hackle. Also, patterns like Clousers, Black Ghosts and even Mickie Finns have all worked for me in the slower water and holes up stream from the bridge. Look for timber or rock structure, cast upstream from a downstream position, and mix your retrieve method using a combination of quick jerks and dead-drifting, and you should be able to get a few nice smallies as well. Use a small strike indicator if you're not familiar with this method, it won't spook them.

If you find you're not getting the strikes to your liking, try adding a tiny little split shot to the head of your pattern to drop it down deeper, quicker... but ...if you do this you may want to increase your retrieval rate so that you don't hang up on the rap on the bottom by pulling back in too slowly.

Personally, I use a sinking line with a 3.4lb leader, and I also carry a small spool of 2.5 lb tippet if I want to scale-down further in size to accomodate the various flies, fishing styles and water conditions.

Just a few suggestions.