# clearfork reservoir



## flippin fool (Apr 3, 2006)

anyone been to clearfork reservoir lately?


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Yup. Been there about 5 times over the past two weeks (I like less than 15 minutes away).

Muskie are hitting fairly well. We've caught about a dozen on shallow diving minnow lures and jerkbaits. This is in 3-6ft of water, shore casting. Smallest was 30", largest 46.5".

Couple small white bass too, but nothing too exciting.

We don't have a boat so no boat fishing there. We'll be trying for cats possibly Monday (unless it rains like crazy).

Sorry I can't be of more help.


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## awal51 (Jun 28, 2011)

I live within 15 minutes of Clearfork also and I have been up there a decent amount in the past 2 weeks. I have only been fishing for bass up there and been doing well lately. Been catching the majority of the fish around the small islands out in the middle of the lake, but anywhere around the weed beds and you will find them. Anywhere from 12"-18"ers, mainly on a 4" crazy leg cigger crawl, but my old man has caught a few on spinners...Heading out tomorrow to find the :B if the weather is permitting...


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Just got back less than a hour ago from some muskie fishing (again, from shore).

Landed a nice 34" and then a 40" that weighed in at 22lbs. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Both were caught on a $15 Dick's Sporting Goods special (Samurai rod/reel, light/medium), 14lb Spiderwire (over a 10 year old spool).Darn good fight on lighter tackle.


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

That's pretty sweet for muskie that big.
I would be surprised if your gear held up to much bigger fish though.

Congrats on the nice catch!


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## OhioAngler614 (Feb 18, 2011)

Hey Burks, if you don't mind could you PM me good shoreline fishing access at clearfork. I have been looking into going there to do some muskie fishing and don't have a boat either. It would kind of be a drive for me but that doesn't bother me. Thanks in advance.

Ben


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## fishingredhawk (Apr 14, 2004)

Scott, haven't been there recently, but I know it is taking a LOT of weight to win the tournaments. Get out there with a deep crank and hit those humps.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

MDBuckeye said:


> That's pretty sweet for muskie that big.
> I would be surprised if your gear held up to much bigger fish though.
> 
> Congrats on the nice catch!


It honestly probably is, but I also like a little bit more of a challenge. Pulling in fish with equipment big enough to handle marlin is just boring to me. Yes, it's a challenge to get a fish to bite but then what fun is it when you can simply man handle them in? The combo held up much better than I had thought. Only once did it get iffy but that's because I was slipping down the embankment! Maybe when the rod or reel goes I'll upgrade, but for now I'm happy with it.  Forgot to mention I am running a steel leader, 45 or 60lb, can't remember exactly. It's nice, to me, to run a longer one so I have something to hold on to if needed. A friend runs a 3 or 4" one, such a pain!

As for where we fish, it is toward the dam on the south side, but still about 200 yards away. Prefer not to give more information because we already have people down there with huge treble hooks snagging them in the day time and keeping them.....


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## OhioAngler614 (Feb 18, 2011)

Burks said:


> It honestly probably is, but I also like a little bit more of a challenge. Pulling in fish with equipment big enough to handle marlin is just boring to me. Yes, it's a challenge to get a fish to bite but then what fun is it when you can simply man handle them in? The combo held up much better than I had thought. Only once did it get iffy but that's because I was slipping down the embankment! Maybe when the rod or reel goes I'll upgrade, but for now I'm happy with it.  Forgot to mention I am running a steel leader, 45 or 60lb, can't remember exactly. It's nice, to me, to run a longer one so I have something to hold on to if needed. A friend runs a 3 or 4" one, such a pain!
> 
> As for where we fish, it is toward the dam on the south side, but still about 200 yards away. Prefer not to give more information because we already have people down there with huge treble hooks snagging them in the day time and keeping them.....


Can't say I blame you. Have seen the same thing going down at Alum.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Absolutely horrible picture taken by a friend on his camera phone. I'm bringing a real camera next time.

40", 22lbs. 2nd muskie ever.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Blanked tonight. No bites at ALL.

We're afraid in the area we fished the muskie have been fished out. We saw one during a day time scouting trip, that's it. Normally you could see a dozen or so just cruising. We still suspect the guys snagging them are around, heard reports of many of them being kept as well. 

Oh well. Time to find a new spot and hope that one "recovers". Might just go for cats for a couple weeks too.


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

I was there Thursday morning and caught 3 Decent Large mouths,4 crappie's(1 was really big) all on a jointed crankbait.I was fishing from the shore and my friend who was with me was using a bobber and worm and caught 2 perch,and a small catfish right by the shore.

Evenings seem to be better for us at Clearfork...


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

Went again around 1 o'clock this afternoon and we caught 14 crappie all together.All on smaller crankbaits.Not to bad since we were there only a hour and a half cause of the heat.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Nice job!

We're heading out tonight again for muskie. If we blank by 2am we'll switch to cats from another location. Have yet to catch a crappie there.


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

We were fishing from the shore using silver colored jointed shad raps.
Slow retrieve and slight jerk motion and they would hit almost every time
but we had to cast far to get them.They were out there 25+ yards from shore

Any tips for muskie there(what baits,style of fishing)?I have never caught one


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

Went out this morning for about an hour and caught 2 decent bass and had a couple fall off as I was reeling them in.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

We were only out tonight for about 3.5-4 hours. I had two on and my buddy had three on, all five of them threw the hook . We did land one, 45", 30lbs. He's muddy because the area we fish is very shallow near the landing and he rolled in it a bit (me in the photo, they didn't want to handle it). We switched up to different colored jerkbaits and it paid off. Not bad for fishing from shore, about 6-8' above the water line!


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## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

Uh that ain't bad no matter what angle you look at it. That's some nice work right there. Looks like a heck of a time. Nice


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## Michael Parsons (Jul 8, 2011)

Thats a big one!


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

Thanks. Wish I had caught it but oh well. Still a thrill to handle a fish like that. No record breaker, or close to it......but still a thrill. 

Curious. Has anyone caught or heard reports of any Tiger Muskie in Clear Fork? Just curious is all. Been browsing some forums and ran across some nice pics of them. I've never seen one in person but when you do, is it a pretty obvious difference between a Tiger Muskie and a Muskie?


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## Michael Parsons (Jul 8, 2011)

I've heard of one caught out of there, but never seen one in real life so... I couldn't tell ya if there's a difference or not. Never seen one.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

We had another good night.

I landed a 44", 22lb slender muskie. He hit my Fire Tiger jerkbait like a freight train. I'm also loving my larger spinning rod/reel combo from Dicks ($45 Daiwa combo on sale for $20) with 65lb braided line. The braided line is a bit "different" to fish with, but I'm getting used to it. I have more confidence in moving the fish around to land it, where before with my light action rod/reel it was more of "hoping" they didn't do something goofy.

We had multiple fish on but they threw the hook, one of which hit the bait so hard he came completely out of the water (we estimate a low 40's). Another which hit the bait and immediately broke the line (that'll teach people to not use a heavy leader!). 

I can't wait until next year when we have a boat to hit the open water of Clear Fork.......and a new assortment of homemade lures.


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## Michael Parsons (Jul 8, 2011)

Yeah. Never used braided line... But i heard it's good. Heavier line is probably a better choice for muskie anyways because they fight so hard. Even a small muskie (about 10" to 15") could easily break line that's around 20 to 30 pound test. They're good fighters from what i hear. And... If you get the boat, Good luck! Hope you catch some bigger ones than the 44" you had mentioned!


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

Are you allowed to night fish at Clearfork from the shore?I thought I seen a sign where it said no one after dark or something like that.I really want to try it if I can....
Hopefully someone can answer this quick cause I was gonna go at 7 tonight and fish till 11 if it is legal to do so.


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## Burks (Jun 22, 2011)

I *think* the picnic areas you cannot. There are a lot of spots that you can just park on the side of the road and walk to a fishing spot. We've had the warden come out a few times and just chit chat with us, so I'm just assuming it's the picnic areas.


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## mossboss (Aug 3, 2005)

Whats the boat traffic like on a weekend? Crazy like alum or a little more laid back?


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## Michael Parsons (Jul 8, 2011)

I don't fish at Clearfork a lot but usually it's pretty moderate. It's not loaded but there's always boats out.


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## Michael Parsons (Jul 8, 2011)

Yeah. Picnic Areas lock up at around 7 or 8.


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## Excal (Jul 3, 2011)

Ya you are right.Closed at dark,only the picnic areas.
We didn't catch squat the other day there...Well we did catch weeds alot.
It seemed they were everywhere we casted.Even the weedless lures had a really rough time.


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

Very impressive on those shore muskie! Good luck finding some more.


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