dc410
Well-known member
I spent the late afternoon/evening on Father's Day fishing Clarks Creek. I arrived in Clarks Valley at about 2:30 PM. The amount of vehicles parked at the normal spots on the FFO area immediately shifted me to plan B. I fished about a mile stretch of stream outside of the special reg section and had the best night I ever had on Clarks.
The cicadas were buzzing everywhere as I arrived at the SGL parking area (only one other truck was there ..... perfect!) As I started fishing I opted not fish the cicada pattern at the start to wait and see how much the trout were keying on them. I started with a Green Weenie dropped off of the bend of a black foam beetle. I could see trout moving under the surface in the area of my drift but I was having trouble seeing my beetle. As was recently posted in a thread titled "Can you feel the take" I could only imagine many trout sucking in and spitting out my fly without me even knowing. I needed to make a change.
After sitting on the bank and observing for a bit I noticed some little yellow sallies coming off sporadically. I changed out the foam beetle for a size 14 yellow stimulator and that was all I needed for the rest of the night.
The water level was low and very clear and the fish were very spooky in the slow water. Most of my success was from focusing on the faster runs, riffles and pocket water. I brought 15 to hand (12 browns, 3 brooks) and missed at least that many more. Five of the fish were wild ones. It was about a 50/50 split between fish caught on each of the flies on my tandem rig.
The most negative part of the evening was when I hung a backcast in a dead hemlock limb behind me. As I was trying to retrieve my flies and salvage my tippet the limb snapped sending the entire tangle straight at me. The end result was the size 14 stimulator embedded deep in the side of my right thumb (and I mean deep!). I generally debarb many of the flies I tie but as fate would have it ... not this one! I always carry a leatherman with me when I am fishing so I managed to get it out of its sheath on my right side inside my waders with my left hand. I proved that the jaws on the pliers clamped onto the bend of the hook is an effective way to remove a fish hook. You just clamp it on good, line everything up and yank in the opposite direction as quick as you can (kind of like ripping off a band aid.... well not really). My main point on bringing this up in my report is to put a plug in for the many values of using barbless hooks.
All in all, I never saw another fisherman from 5PM until dark and spent a very memorable evening on Clarks Creek.
The cicadas were buzzing everywhere as I arrived at the SGL parking area (only one other truck was there ..... perfect!) As I started fishing I opted not fish the cicada pattern at the start to wait and see how much the trout were keying on them. I started with a Green Weenie dropped off of the bend of a black foam beetle. I could see trout moving under the surface in the area of my drift but I was having trouble seeing my beetle. As was recently posted in a thread titled "Can you feel the take" I could only imagine many trout sucking in and spitting out my fly without me even knowing. I needed to make a change.
After sitting on the bank and observing for a bit I noticed some little yellow sallies coming off sporadically. I changed out the foam beetle for a size 14 yellow stimulator and that was all I needed for the rest of the night.
The water level was low and very clear and the fish were very spooky in the slow water. Most of my success was from focusing on the faster runs, riffles and pocket water. I brought 15 to hand (12 browns, 3 brooks) and missed at least that many more. Five of the fish were wild ones. It was about a 50/50 split between fish caught on each of the flies on my tandem rig.
The most negative part of the evening was when I hung a backcast in a dead hemlock limb behind me. As I was trying to retrieve my flies and salvage my tippet the limb snapped sending the entire tangle straight at me. The end result was the size 14 stimulator embedded deep in the side of my right thumb (and I mean deep!). I generally debarb many of the flies I tie but as fate would have it ... not this one! I always carry a leatherman with me when I am fishing so I managed to get it out of its sheath on my right side inside my waders with my left hand. I proved that the jaws on the pliers clamped onto the bend of the hook is an effective way to remove a fish hook. You just clamp it on good, line everything up and yank in the opposite direction as quick as you can (kind of like ripping off a band aid.... well not really). My main point on bringing this up in my report is to put a plug in for the many values of using barbless hooks.
All in all, I never saw another fisherman from 5PM until dark and spent a very memorable evening on Clarks Creek.
