jhguster23
Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 71
Was in the area on other business and had a few hours to kill so I decided to give this stream a try. What a beautiful location to fish. The FFO section where I fished is two miles long, runs through state game lands, and is accessible via numerous parking areas throughout. Driving up through the valley to get to the FFO section, I noticed numerous other vehicles parked in the various lots, but only saw one other fisherman on the water that morning.
Most of the stream is heavily canopied with trees which makes casting a bit of a challenge. The water, despite the rain, was low and gin clear. Often, by the time I saw the fish (and there were a ton of them spread out through the section I fished), they had already seen me. Noticed some surface activity (which, based on the early hour I assumed were tricos) and tried my hand with no success. Switched to a tan caddis which I repeatedly drifted over fish with a 7x tippet, and got no takers. During this time I was fishing mostly flat, slow runs, which made my presence all the more obvious to the fish.
Finally, I had had enough of it, tied on a Copper John nymph, and walked upstream to find some faster riffle sections which would make it easier to approach the fish. On my very first cast in one of these sections, I picked up a beautiful 10" wild brookie. And a few minutes later caught a second, about the same size. Shortly thereafter, I had to depart, but enjoyed my time there.
I will definitely be going back in the future. It's pretty enough that if I never caught a thing, I would be perfectly happy fishing there. Will be sure to focus on the faster pockets in the future, too. Thankfully, I did not see any sign of the snakes that people so frequently talk about at Clarks.
Most of the stream is heavily canopied with trees which makes casting a bit of a challenge. The water, despite the rain, was low and gin clear. Often, by the time I saw the fish (and there were a ton of them spread out through the section I fished), they had already seen me. Noticed some surface activity (which, based on the early hour I assumed were tricos) and tried my hand with no success. Switched to a tan caddis which I repeatedly drifted over fish with a 7x tippet, and got no takers. During this time I was fishing mostly flat, slow runs, which made my presence all the more obvious to the fish.
Finally, I had had enough of it, tied on a Copper John nymph, and walked upstream to find some faster riffle sections which would make it easier to approach the fish. On my very first cast in one of these sections, I picked up a beautiful 10" wild brookie. And a few minutes later caught a second, about the same size. Shortly thereafter, I had to depart, but enjoyed my time there.
I will definitely be going back in the future. It's pretty enough that if I never caught a thing, I would be perfectly happy fishing there. Will be sure to focus on the faster pockets in the future, too. Thankfully, I did not see any sign of the snakes that people so frequently talk about at Clarks.
