# Now I don't usually brag, but I took a camera fishing and...



## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Welcome to my one and only report on the fishing I experience on the Elk River down in WV. You're about to find out just why it is I go. Brian, Pat and others at MRO, listen up. Here's why I drive so far.

I tied up some little streamer things, based on a random design that sprung to mind while I was agonizing over tying midges. Keep in mind, these little streamers were some of the first flies I ever tied.

On Saturday and Sunday, my dad and I went fishing with those streamers pretty much all day, and pretty much in the mill pool and a couple of other pools on the Elk. What ensued was the single biggest trout beat-down I've ever even seen. It was _unreal_. I would guess over 100 trout for the trip, and over a dozen over 20".... and a few truly special fish, which we took pics of. Toward the end we were letting 20+" fish go without measuring because... well why bother? It was good fishing in every sense of the word. Anyhoo, the part you want.









Pre-gaming, waiting on my dad lol, so he took a pic. Nothing like reading a good book in bed... while wearing your waders... at 6:15 a.m. Isn't trout fishing strange? 









Got him on the streamer, I've been gunning for a good brookie for quite a long time and he was in spawning colors. Glorious  I love these fish.









Start a war. At this point all I know is that I sight fished to a big brown and teased him in to taking. I dunno how big tho. While I was fighting him, my dad was coming over to help me net and hooked a 20" fish of his own, which of course crossed my line. I had to jump in feet first and thankfully not slip on the bottom, and run under my dad's line so that he could land his fish behind me and I could keep fighting unobstructed. He was done and released before I could get this fish in.









Oh, that's how big.... that's my dad's new net. We bought it because we felt it was more than big enough. Oops. My new net will be quite large, I guess.









He taped out at 26". Go get a tape measure and look at 26". Just.... It's unimaginable. I had no idea what people were talking about with big trout till this.









Happy times

OK, dad's turn at glory









That net really isn't what we'd hoped it would be, you know? It's a little.... small.









Oh that's why. 24" of rainbow! Another great fight, also on the fly I tied.



OK guys, it's time... just one final catch. Is this building suspense? I doubt it, so here you go.











I'll admit, I didn't take him on the streamer I tied, I picked him up. But I caught him on a fly rod. Bout a 24" copperhead (is that a trophy?) caught and released on the road to Elk River. 

In summation, we had the best day ever. The weather was abysmal and wet and cold and dreary. My nose was running the whole time and I was shivering because I didn't bring nearly the clothes I needed for the climate, thinking that it was summer and all haha. But thankfully the fish kept the blood pumping and I was able to stay warm... well warm enough to stand it anyway.

Enjoy!


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

Great pics! Congrats on a great trip... That VERY nice Brown gets my blood cooking for Steel!


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Great pictures and story! Those are truly trophy fish. Thanks for sharing.


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

BaddFish said:


> Great pics! Congrats on a great trip... That VERY nice Brown gets my blood cooking for Steel!


Yeah, I can't wait for steelhead this season! I've never caught one, but after a few big rainbows and browns I'm soooo excited... I want to see what it's like to hook some chrome bullet and have to go running after it haha.


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## WhoolyBugger (Aug 25, 2008)

Great report! Loved the pics.....

One trip like that and you easily forget about all the broken leaders, wind knots, tangles, snags, wader leaks, bug bites, etc......

Man I love fishing.


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Ah, of course ya do... until the broken and snagged up leaders start happening  I tied a blood knot about 25 times this weekend putting tippet on leader, and at least 3/4 of them broke on testing so I had to re-tie 

I've gotta get better at that knot haha. Thankfully, I had tied a good one when Mr. Brown came to visit.


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## Patricio (Feb 2, 2007)

brook trout are my favorite fish.


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## Fishaholic69 (Apr 6, 2007)

nice fish man! those are some beasts! I have never got me a brookie yet but then again never tried. will have to add it to my fish list! also got to get me a brown trout


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

FA69, you've been on all rainbows? Maaan you don't know what you're missing. Browns fight rather differently from rainbows... bows are kind of showy and jumpy, but browns run harder and definitely dig more in my opinion. Plus... they've got lots of spots on em, bigger than rainbows do, and that's cool.

They're big, too, and super aggressive 

and brook trout... well look at the color! and their mouths are black lol.


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## Fishaholic69 (Apr 6, 2007)

ya just fished my home waters for steel and tried once at clear fork for browns but i caught every other fish there except a brown! lol I love the colors and patterns on the trout. they look awesome!


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Ah man, we've definitely got to go down to WV some time then, I think. There are something like 300 trout streams in the state, and a lot of them rock 

And I'm getting almost good at fishing the elk at this point lol.


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## crkwader (Nov 7, 2008)

nice fish, but holy crud you guys carry alot of gear. too much gear.


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## Flyfish Dog (Nov 6, 2007)

Nice fish! I fish it just about every week, that is what is typical coming from in the Mill Pool. But go away from that and fishing is tougher. What with the waders? Leave them home! As low as the water levels is and if you are in the water much then you just spooking the hell out of most of them. Another thing NO the Browns dont fight harder than the bows!! The bows will kick your ass more so than the brown cause I know! Until you get enough under your belt you will know what I am taking about! Although Browns are prettier most of time.


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Flyfish Dog said:


> Nice fish! I fish it just about every week, that is what is typical coming from in the Mill Pool. But go away from that and fishing is tougher. What with the waders? Leave them home! As low as the water levels is and if you are in the water much then you just spooking the hell out of most of them. Another thing NO the Browns dont fight harder than the bows!! The bows will kick your ass more so than the brown cause I know! Until you get enough under your belt you will know what I am taking about! Although Browns are prettier most of time.


Psht, you know a day of 50 fish, dozens over 20", and several pushing 2 ft is _not_ "typical" on the mill pool  they're in there, but it's not very often you take em, especially on 3x and 4x 

I agree, the bows are downright ugly when they get big. The ones that come from alaska stay beautiful in largeness, but it seems like a lot of the elk river fish didn't.

And as far as leaving the mill pool, we did  We got about a dozen fish over 18 inches that weren't caught in the mill pool, but there had been a lot of trout unlimited fingerling stockings in the pools below the mill pool. While I'm all about the future, it was kind of a pain because the little fish wouldn't stay off your line, and the big fish didn't seem all that hungry... hmm, I wonder why? hehe.

And we do carry a lot of gear, but I use probably 95% of it every time I go out. My fishing style is a little weird... I'll nymph if I think they'll take that, I fish dries if I can find rising fish or dry caddises if I see fish rocketing out of the water, and streamers if I'm confused because I'm good at streamers  then there's the matter of deep fast water vs slow water, my taste in rivers is eclectic so I need my shot and xink and stuff... I refuse to be held to one tactic, I wanna experiment with everything at once 

Also, half the bulk in my vest, especially the breast pockets, is food 

Wore the waders because I <3 my boots, and my boots don't fit right without my waders on haha. Plus the water was pretty cold, and the air was too, and I was under-dressed. They kept me warm-ish.

edit: also, about the gear... If I take things out of my vest that I don't think I'll need, I'll invariably need these things... every damn time  It has never failed, I swear. Though now I'm tying flies and soon my collection is going to expand beyond the confines of my fly box, so.... that's a shame, eventually I'll have to get organized lol. My dad tends to use a little more gear than me, which is OK  IMO there's no "too much gear". If you want to keep your vest ready that you can grab it and walk out the door and fish for _anything_, then that's cool. If you're sure of what you want to fish when you go out the door, then stick a few in a hat and go. Either way


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## fishon (Apr 20, 2004)

Awesome Pics and Post....Man.. Now I want to Head down there.....

FA69.. we should go to a road Trip! Clayton... thanks for sharing!

Frank


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## fishon (Apr 20, 2004)

Clayton.. do you have a pic of that Streamer if you done mind posting that that..


Frank


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

edit: apparently I didn't so much invent it as create a mod of something that's been invented. No surprise there  

http://www.virtualflybox.com/patterns/pattern.php?id=1028

Make that smaller with a bead head and you're pretty close  Close enough, anyway, and fish it like so:


Whatever your fly is needs to get to the bottom, stay on the bottom, and creep around like a little insect, preferably with something sticking up. A lot of times, the fish won't even come over and look until it hits the bottom, at which point they'll notice (it's where they were looking for food anyway) and come looking  

A lot of people scoff at "bottom fishing" for trout lol. However, I don't care  fly fishing isn't dry fly fishing. If I can cast it with a fly rod, it's probably a valid fly lol.


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## wabi (Jun 14, 2008)

Haven't checked this forum for a few days, and now I'm sorry I did. 
Looks like I'm going to have to head to WV sometime in the future.

Very nice fish! 
Thanks for sharing the trip with us.


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Anytime wabi  Well, any time I have a sweet trip like this! haha. 

I'd hate to share how often I run down there and catch maybe a dozen trout in 3 days... sometimes the stars align though


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Seems like I saw this same post somewhere else on the Internet...

Awesome fish! If you want more consistent wild brookie fishing, you may want to get away from the bigger water. Big fish are always good, but the 3rd pic you posted is the reason why I don't go to the Elk much: I'm not a people person.  I'd rather take my 3wt to a small stream, see more deer and bears than other fishermen, and fish in peace...which is what I'll be doing this weekend!


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## fishon (Apr 20, 2004)

Thank you Clayton!


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## mayfly418 (Apr 2, 2007)

Clayton,

We have a camp 25 minutes downstream of the C&R area. Were you staying at the
Elk Springs Resort? Have you ever fished the Sulphur Hole or the Clay Bank?
You won't be catching that many fish there. But what you do catch is very rewarding.
Fussy wild fish, you got to love'em. 
mayfly418


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

I was indeed staying at the ESR, haven't fished the sulphur hole or clay bank as far as I know. I've fished below the big waterfall and cleaned house though, much to the dismay of the army of bait guys  I dunno if it makes me a bad person but I do so love catching fish and then releasing them near them 

Where's sulphur hole?


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## Coach472 (Sep 16, 2009)

Their beutiful


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

TheCream said:


> Seems like I saw this same post somewhere else on the Internet...
> 
> Awesome fish! If you want more consistent wild brookie fishing, you may want to get away from the bigger water. Big fish are always good, but the 3rd pic you posted is the reason why I don't go to the Elk much: I'm not a people person.  I'd rather take my 3wt to a small stream, see more deer and bears than other fishermen, and fish in peace...which is what I'll be doing this weekend!


Man, I'm jealous. I fish the elk because I can find it and there's room to cast. Are there any brookie streams in WV that have enough room to throw a cast fairly easily? If there are I can't find em  plus so many get poached, or at least the ones I go to... I've never seen fish so skittish. If you stand there a half hour they'll come out to play, but then all you'll have to do is cast without moving AT ALL to get them to rise on a fly haha. 

I'll be getting a 7' 3 wt for xmas hopefully  so that might change the game a little.

Oh, and one more pic of a pretty brown my dad got:


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## NorthSouthOhioFisherman (May 7, 2007)

Beautiful fish and photos

Enjoyed the report!


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## troutstalker (Apr 20, 2006)

Great pics!! I plan on heading out that way in early october and would like to camp somewhere in the area. I've never been there before so does anyone have suggestions on where to camp? I would prefer somewhere near the C&R area and somewhere away from other people. Are there pull offs along the road that provide camping? Any help would be appreciated.


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Clayton said:


> Man, I'm jealous. I fish the elk because I can find it and there's room to cast. Are there any brookie streams in WV that have enough room to throw a cast fairly easily? If there are I can't find em  plus so many get poached, or at least the ones I go to... I've never seen fish so skittish. If you stand there a half hour they'll come out to play, but then all you'll have to do is cast without moving AT ALL to get them to rise on a fly haha.
> 
> I'll be getting a 7' 3 wt for xmas hopefully  so that might change the game a little.
> 
> Oh, and one more pic of a pretty brown my dad got:



PM me sometime if you want some info, I spent the weekend down there this past weekend. The water was brutally low, fish were tough to come by. I saw many brookies, caught several, and lost a brute that would have pushed 14" easily.


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## tractor5561 (Aug 17, 2008)

amazing fish...ive been living down here in WV for about 2 months now going to Davis and elkins. Ive been doing alot of fishing on shavers fork. Man catching my first trout on a fly rod was the best experience ive ever had fishing. I love it down here the fishing is awsome.


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## Clayton (Oct 7, 2008)

Shavers Fork is such a sweet place to fish, especially the C&R area. Right about now the streamer fishing down there is probably on fire haha. When I was down there in the heat of summer the water was pretty warm (you'll have that in a freestone) and the fish were uncooperative thanks to that. However, I'm definitely gonna try to get down there for the green drake hatch... me and the rest of the world lol.


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