# Clear Creek



## NiceCatchAustin (Jan 20, 2013)

Today I decided to spend a day fishing Clear Creek with a friend of mine. The scenery was gorgeous as ever, and the water clarity was pretty good (much better than last weekend's chocolate milk of a creek! So much for "clear" creek!). But of course, the fishing wasn't as hot as everything else. None the less, a nice 11 inch hold-over brown trout made my day. But this one trout got me thinking: is there any way that Clear Creek could be improved to make it a trout stream that could produce decent trout fishing? I really love fly fishing. I pursue just about anything that swims with a fly. But, trout will always hold a special place in my heart. It really is the classic fish to catch on the fly. Being a teenager that has only recently got his driver's license, I can't really make long trips to a Lake Erie tributary, a West Virginia stream, or even the Mad River to go after trout. Clear Creek really is the only place that I can realistically go. I've pulled a couple decent trout out of Clear Creek, my best being a 17 inch rainbow, but in general, the fishing has always been lack-luster. I'm basically wondering whether or not there is hope for Clear Creek to become a decent trout stream

By the way, sorry for the windy first post!


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## fishmerf (Mar 28, 2008)

Austin,
I too spend a good deal of time on the creek. I have often wondered the same thing. The ODNR is currently studying all three of our brown trout fisheries. I have contacted the man in charge of the study, and I am forwarding his response via a private message due to length. It is very positive.
As you know last summer was one of the worst in years for all of the streams in Ohio. However, last spring was fantastic with wonderful hatches of caddis and a few mayflies as well. The amount of holdover fish was fantastic.
I am not sure what can be done to help the creek other than awareness. I am sure there is some poaching that goes on there, and I know that treble hooks on small browns do not help with the mortality rate. You can contact the DNR and ask more questions as well.
I for one would like to see them stock it with more rainbows rather than throw them in all of these dirty warm water lakes, but that is just my opinion. This subject has been argued quite a few times here in the past. 
Good luck and keep up the good fishing!
Merf


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

as a long time interests in Ohios trout waters, I can tell you the real reason Ohio keeps stocking Clear creek is because ther eis several miles of public access there and the water is marginal to support some holdover trout. If there were better streams with access in Ohio, they would drop Clear Creek from the program...BTW there are plenty of better water quality streams in Ohio but most are all on private property so that in itself is Ohio's biggest probl;em as far as finding streams to stock. Water temps are right on the edge of what the brown trout can live in and is probably the biggest detriment to the system with drought and hot summers.

Rainbows will never again be stocked inland into Ohio's streams as they have a very high rate of downstream migration and are not as tollerant to the warm temps we have here in ohio. Browns are territorial and will stay where you stock them and can handle slightly warmer water temps, end of discussion, the Rainbow you caught was by a private illegal stocking...

As far as making Clear Creek a better trout stream.... the easiest answer to that is to have you drive about 6-8 miles upstream and look at the stream where it is completely out in cornfields with huge erosion problems. The bottom line is in the park there are some nice springs and the senery is great and that is fine and dandy but once you get upstream, the stream is strictly a warmwater stream with a HUGE siltload and flooding is a huge problem. In the park where the stream is confined by rock, the high amount of water flushing through the system pushes a lot of the stocked fish right through the system into the Hocking. 

Long story short, to make it a better fishery for trout, the entire watershed would need about a million trees planted to protect the banks and also have large buffer strips of unfarmed areas, this would filter bad matters from the ground water, would shade the stream keeping water temps down and would inturn keep bank erosion to a minimum, all three is what this system needs.

Salmonid


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Salmonid said:


> as a long time interests in Ohios trout waters, I can tell you the real reason Ohio keeps stocking Clear creek is because ther eis several miles of public access there and the water is marginal to support some holdover trout. If there were better streams with access in Ohio, they would drop Clear Creek from the program...BTW there are plenty of better water quality streams in Ohio but most are all on private property so that in itself is Ohio's biggest probl;em as far as finding streams to stock. Water temps are right on the edge of what the brown trout can live in and is probably the biggest detriment to the system with drought and hot summers.
> 
> Rainbows will never again be stocked inland into Ohio's streams as they have a very high rate of downstream migration and are not as tollerant to the warm temps we have here in ohio. Browns are territorial and will stay where you stock them and can handle slightly warmer water temps, end of discussion, the Rainbow you caught was by a private illegal stocking...
> 
> ...


What type of odds would you give a brown to live in the Hocking? I am a little surprised with Clear Creek right there that we don't get a random "I caught a brown trout in the Hocking" post on here. Or maybe it has happened and I missed it. It seems to me that if they can survive in Clear Creek, why not the upper Hocking? I could envision someday a random kype-jawed 20" brown being caught by a bass fisherman or something. Stranger things have happened.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

early on when i was more involved with the trout side of things, I had heard of several yearling browns taken within a mile or two both up and downstream of the mouth from the Hocking. I might add that there are also several reports of browns being taken up to 10 miles above the park also from CC. Browns are teritorial so with the exception of high flushings continually pushing them down and spawning migration, Browns once stocked will typically search "upstream" for a home range to live in until they are eaten by a bigger brown or untl they become the dominant trout in a pool. 

The best fish always are in the best holes and several times in my trout career, I have fished a riffle durring a good hatch where as I moved up the riffle, every fish was an inch bigger then the previous one, Cool when you can actually make a scientific corelation with fish. 

Salmonid


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## NiceCatchAustin (Jan 20, 2013)

Thanks for the replies guys!



fishmerf said:


> Austin,
> I too spend a good deal of time on the creek. I have often wondered the same thing. The ODNR is currently studying all three of our brown trout fisheries. I have contacted the man in charge of the study, and I am forwarding his response via a private message due to length. It is very positive.
> As you know last summer was one of the worst in years for all of the streams in Ohio. However, last spring was fantastic with wonderful hatches of caddis and a few mayflies as well. The amount of holdover fish was fantastic.
> I am not sure what can be done to help the creek other than awareness. I am sure there is some poaching that goes on there, and I know that treble hooks on small browns do not help with the mortality rate. You can contact the DNR and ask more questions as well.
> ...


Thank you for the pm! I'd respond, but I can't due to the minimum post requirement here. Anyways, it's nice to see the ODNR conducting a study over Clear Creek. And I took a look at your blog: very nice read! And that was a beautiful brown you pulled from CC in April! Might I ask where your favorite fishing area at CC is? I've been having the most luck lately fishing upstream of spot #8, but I'm always looking for new spots to fish!



TheCream said:


> What type of odds would you give a brown to live in the Hocking? I am a little surprised with Clear Creek right there that we don't get a random "I caught a brown trout in the Hocking" post on here. Or maybe it has happened and I missed it. It seems to me that if they can survive in Clear Creek, why not the upper Hocking? I could envision someday a random kype-jawed 20" brown being caught by a bass fisherman or something. Stranger things have happened.


I've heard of some browns being pulled from the Hocking. Problem is is that there's still a bit of pollution in the upper Hocking. Lancaster's upstream of Clear Creek, and some of the pollution from there has to go downstream. If there's ever going to be a 20 incher in the area, my money is that it'll be in Clear Creek rather than the Hocking!


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

There's a certain stream in WV that has the nickname "The Sewer" and produces some great brown trout. I am told that wet-wading there is an infection or disease bound to happen. Depending on the type of pollution, it may not matter much!


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## fontinalis (Mar 29, 2011)

TheCream said:


> What type of odds would you give a brown to live in the Hocking? I am a little surprised with Clear Creek right there that we don't get a random "I caught a brown trout in the Hocking" post on here. Or maybe it has happened and I missed it. It seems to me that if they can survive in Clear Creek, why not the upper Hocking? I could envision someday a random kype-jawed 20" brown being caught by a bass fisherman or something. Stranger things have happened.


Saw one come out of the hocking at whites mill. Couldn't believe it.


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

fontinalis said:


> Saw one come out of the hocking at whites mill. Couldn't believe it.


Not to hijack the thread...but where the heck have you been man?


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## fishmerf (Mar 28, 2008)

Austin,
I have several places where I can always find fish. I find that the further I am from the road, the better the fishing. I have fished the entire length of the park, and there are several spots that I return to. If you would like to get together and fish some time, I would be more than willing to show you some spots.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

TheCream said:


> There's a certain stream in WV that has the nickname "The Sewer" and produces some great brown trout. I am told that wet-wading there is an infection or disease bound to happen. *Depending on the type of pollution, it may not matter much!*


Spring Creek in central PA has been greatly affected by pollution and you are still not allowed to keep fish from there because of it, yet it is arguably the best wild trout stream in the state.


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## fontinalis (Mar 29, 2011)

sbreech said:


> Not to hijack the thread...but where the heck have you been man?


Spent a month cutting trees after hurricane sandy, been living off the grid in a small cabin near my home since then. Back to reality as of yesterday. The time away was wonderful.


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

fontinalis said:


> Spent a month cutting trees after hurricane sandy, been living off the grid in a small cabin near my home since then. Back to reality as of yesterday. The time away was wonderful.


I'll bet. I need some alternate reality time one of these days, preferably in some nice spring weather near a nice stream.


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

fontinalis said:


> Saw one come out of the hocking at whites mill. Couldn't believe it.


I'd go slightly crazier...a buddy of mine caught a 27" Northern Pike close to the Mill several years back. Until I saw the pic I wasn't going to believe it.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

A few stretches in the upper watershed could use some serious tree cover and buffer strips. It wouldn't take much to make quite an improvement.


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## NiceCatchAustin (Jan 20, 2013)

While we're talking about Clear Creek, is it too iced over to fish right now? Been a stressful week and I need to get out on the water


fishmerf said:


> Austin,
> I have several places where I can always find fish. I find that the further I am from the road, the better the fishing. I have fished the entire length of the park, and there are several spots that I return to. If you would like to get together and fish some time, I would be more than willing to show you some spots.


That'd be awesome!


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