East Branch Clarion River DHALO, Elk Co, 8-4-19

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Jul 7, 2015
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Butler Co home, Forest Co camp
Time Fished: 10am - 2pm
Weather Conditions: Partly Sunny, 65 degrees rising to 73 degrees
Water Conditions: 63 degrees, Clear, 185 cfs which is slightly more than average for this date
Insects: saw a handful of sz 16-18 Caddis flying upstream during cloudy periods but also saw them in steamside pines anytime I was passing through; quite a few midges there too

When we arrived about 930am there was one vehicle at the bridge and another just below the canoe/kayak/tube launch off the west side access road. When we walked to a hole to check the stream before getting our gear, another angler said he had caught one on a nymph but he did see a few rising. I went upstream, my father went downstream and when I caught up to him about noon I had caught a brookie on a wooly bugger and had one other strike.

My father had fished a good hole but never had a strike. I fished that same hole twice before we left and I also had no strikes and never saw a rise there either. This is odd because that hole always has active fish. I took him to another hole and I caught a nice looking rainbow on a larva type pattern and later caught another rainbow on a terrestrial. My father ended up missing 5 on a few different terrestrials.

We saw quite a few fish rising despite a lack of visible insects. But they were not rising steady for obvious reasons. The rises were aggressive enough to suggest their meal was a decent size. They did not appear to be sipping midges. I’d guess ants but I didn’t have any floating ants with me to confirm that. The rises were both under trees and in the main current away from overhanging branches. So it was a bit of a mystery.

The kayakers and tubers started today (Sunday) about 1pm. We heard on Saturday they started at 11am. The fish are only mildly disrupted and they will start rising again about 5 minutes after the flotilla passes.

I have not fished this stretch without seeing rising fish. If only someday I can hit a hatch here, I think the stream would really come alive.

After fishing we ate on the outside patio of the Dam Inn. There were 2 spin fisherman at the slash dam along the deck and we watched them catch 3 on bait. By the way I’d recommend the BBQ Pork Nachos appetizer (although it’s probably sized for 5 people not 2) and the Waldorf Salad (which I ate for the first time, so I don’t know how they are supposed to taste but it was good with the fruit in it and yogurt based dressing). My father also liked his salad that had shrimp and fries in it.



 

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I'd been wondering how that tailwater fished late summer since I've only been up there early season. Glad to hear it was a decent time. Also glad to hear the food was good, I'll have to stop there sometime to eat!
 
The 10am to 2pm time slot was not an ideal fish catching time but we enjoyed it. My box is stocked pretty well on the terrestrial side but after running through it I needed another trick to pull out. However being old school, there are some newer techniques that I haven’t adopted that I think may be the ticket for another half dozen fish. I need to tie a few new flies and try some things that many people mention on this site. Hopefully I’ll get one more trip in before my Saturdays are consumed with college football.
 
Last weekend (July 27) size 22 grifths nats were the ticket for me on the risers, Also small 20 caddis emergers worked well. Lots of fish checking out my offerings too, swim up and fallow my fly down stream.
 
CRB wrote:
Last weekend (July 27) size 22 grifths nats were the ticket for me on the risers, Also small 20 caddis emergers worked well. Lots of fish checking out my offerings too, swim up and fallow my fly down stream.
Sounds like you cracked the code. I had midges with me but never broke them out since the size of the dimples seem to indicate bigger offering. As in your case, if you get them to look, good things will happen.
 
The Dam Inn has live music on sunday evenings in summer
And you can hear - and even see - the band while you're fishing.
Not many places around to do that!
 
I fish the DHALO section quite a bit, my camp is about 25-30 mins away, not much insect life , I usually do good using a carpenter ant, a beetle, or a caterpillar, .....the stream looks so good, but it can be frustrating, its hard to understand the fish comm, here you have a stream that has good flow , bottom release, cold water through out the summer, good access, if they would just put some effort to improve it , what stream it could be...years ago I talked to a guy at the Dam Inn about it ,, not sure if he was the owner, but I told him if the quality of fishing was to improve , so would his business, I told him one thing fly fisherman do is spend money on a good meal and drink...he just shrugged his shoulders , no intrest
 
jrcll wrote:
I fish the DHALO section quite a bit, my camp is about 25-30 mins away, not much insect life , I usually do good using a carpenter ant, a beetle, or a caterpillar, .....the stream looks so good, but it can be frustrating, its hard to understand the fish comm, here you have a stream that has good flow , bottom release, cold water through out the summer, good access, if they would just put some effort to improve it , what stream it could be...years ago I talked to a guy at the Dam Inn about it ,, not sure if he was the owner, but I told him if the quality of fishing was to improve , so would his business, I told him one thing fly fisherman do is spend money on a good meal and drink...he just shrugged his shoulders , no intrest

What's the proprietor of a bar/restaurant supposed to do anything more than anyone else to improve the stream. Maybe he's tried to talk to someone about it. There is no guarantees that we can make anything happen and if the guy has zero interest in fishing or whatever I can see why he wouldn't care. You are right though, build a famous destination type stream and the businesses around will do much better.
 
jrcll wrote:
I fish the DHALO section quite a bit, my camp is about 25-30 mins away, not much insect life , I usually do good using a carpenter ant, a beetle, or a caterpillar, .....the stream looks so good, but it can be frustrating, its hard to understand the fish comm, here you have a stream that has good flow , bottom release, cold water through out the summer, good access, if they would just put some effort to improve it , what stream it could be...years ago I talked to a guy at the Dam Inn about it ,, not sure if he was the owner, but I told him if the quality of fishing was to improve , so would his business, I told him one thing fly fisherman do is spend money on a good meal and drink...he just shrugged his shoulders , no intrest

What would you do to improve this section or in your opinion what is lacking or is holding it back? If it is lacking insect diversity, there could very well be water quality issues at play. Depending on the source of impairment, improvement could be much more involved than a few simple habitat structures. I do not have experience on the East Branch, but as a whole water quality in the Clarion River has improved significantly overtime.
 
Although it is far, far better than it once was (it holds fish, after all..), I think there may be some remaining but still improving water quality issues with the EB. There were some significant AMD problems in the watershed above and directly tributary to the reservoir. In addition, I don't think we are talking about waters that were ever all that fertile to begin with.

While it is most of the way back to normal, I think it could be said that the EB is still in recovery.

Given this, "stream improvement" work aimed at increasing invertebrate populations, etc. might turn out to be more of an exercise in fellowship than something that would actually benefit the fishery.
 
There are good numbers of trout and most are very nice. That rainbow picture above is a good example. Very thick fish. I don’t know what makes up the bulk of their diet.

I don’t fish any other streams near Johnsonburg (like the West Branch) to know if it has insects that the EB does not. I suspect the EB & WB have already cross pollenated the insects that are compatible in their respective ecosystems. I have heard some success stories of transplanting insects to new streams but it seems to be rare.
 
If I had to guess on the primary forage for EB Clarion trout (and it would be only a guess..), I'd bet on crayfish. They are generally pretty hardy and are probably the largest single food item for both wild and acclimated stocked trout in the NW quarter of the state.

I've only fished it a couple times. I never really liked the looks of the water. It has the same tailwaters look as the river below Kinzua and some other similar stream sections. Kind of a pale dishwater gray that I always found a little off putting. I'm sure this is a personal bias with little or nothing to do with the fishery.

I may have to wander down and give it another try later this year once I get past all the social/family stuff I'm committed to over the next couple months. This cuts inot my fishing time and I'm starting to develop a resentment..🙂
 
In low water summers the East Branch looks like paradise with a nice volume of cool clear water. Only fished it a couple times without much luck though. But I need to learn the stream better. Trout survive in it but I don't know about invertebrates.

If you've ever driven Straight Creek Road which follows Straight Creek, a trib that comes in from the east, you'll cross Shawmut Grade road. I don't recommend driving it. Its wide and dusty and full of trucks about the size of brontosauruses. There is an unbelievable amount of traffic and activity on that remote mountaintop, drilling, logging and who knows what else. Revolting to look at. Straight Creek headwaters run alongside it, and I'd guess some nasty chemicals flow down into the reservoir.
 
I fished it for the first time last year in August. Fished from the park up to the dam. It is nice water, generally fast in volume, rushing through riffs, sloughs, runs and pocket water with few flatwater sections. I tried dries in pockets, buggers, but ended up nymphing. Had my best luck in faster holding water using a bobber type indicator. Strong, healthly fish--rainbows and browns. I saw some insect life but very sparse, mainly caddis, but also some slate drakes. Very nice water. I'd like to know it better. I hear stories of monsters in the fall. I'm going back soon. 🙂
 
I fish the EB pretty often when I’m at camp. It’s definitely a weird stream to fish at times. I do best during the summer on terrestrials and nymphs. I’ve caught some really nice fish there though. This rainbow is from last September.
 

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Mote: that's a real hog. Just curious - did you get him on a dry?
I've never caught anything close to that size on the east branch.

As for aquatic insect emergences:
The only thing I've really come across, is a sparse sulpher hatch.
And even sparser caddis's. Both in June

 
mote1977 wrote:
I fish the EB pretty often when I’m at camp. It’s definitely a weird stream to fish at times. I do best during the summer on terrestrials and nymphs. I’ve caught some really nice fish there though. This rainbow is from last September.
Mote,

That’s an amazing fish. Been in there a long time, but probably trades back and forth a bit too. Not sure I mentioned it before but I’m sorry to hear your June week was a washout. Might end up being highest flows of all time near your camp.
 
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