# hocking river trout



## troutcast

Are there any trout in the hocking, i keep hearing rumors about there being trout in there.


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## etheostoma

Not to my knowledge. There is a stream near hocking hills that the state stocks, but it is pretty poor. It's called clear creek. Unless you live really close, I wouldn't waste the time. I have read some reports of people having good luck, but I waded quite a bit of it and honestly did not see trout, nor have any strikes. I buddy of mine had the same experience. Maybe I was above or below where they stock it? Could have been early, it was the weekend of the Paul Bunyan festival in Nelsonville.


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## canoe carp killer

When is the Paul bunyon festival ? Been a long time 


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## troutcast

So were you fishing the hocking or clear creek


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## etheostoma

Paul B. is in Nelsonville.

Fishing clear creek.

I have never heard of trout in the Hocking.


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## gamblerman

Clear Creek used to get stocked in the Fall, but that has been a while. At least this past year, there were NO fall stockings anywhere I'm aware of. 
The Bunyon show is also a thing of the past. The school got into a weewee match with the Forestry industry association a few years back and they took the show to St. Clairsville. gm


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## troutcast

Clear creek got stocked in october with brown trout


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## etheostoma

Well it ought to be decent then. I am no stranger to trout, so I can only imagine that I was there when the state had not stocked, or I was fishing above or below the general area that they were released. I may just be ignorant in this instance. If any of you guys give Clear creek a shot, I would love to hear some reports. Please give me a reason to give the stream some more of my time. Shoot me a PM if you would. My buddy that I mentioned who had the same results as I would love to hear any info. He is commissioned by the state right now to more or less do a distributional atlas of the fishes of Ohio. So keep me in mind if you run into any oddball fish, or fish in places that they should not be. I can pass the info along and he can check it out. A for instance is that I found an area on the Little Miami that a very large population of mountain madtoms. They are a riffle dwelling catfish species that only grows to be 3-4 inches long.(I bet most of you did not even know that we have catfish that small in Ohio) Anyway they were state endangered, but due to his recent sampling data, others input, and mine as well, we can proudly say that a once endangered fish has now been down graded to threatened. 
Sorry for the rant, bottom line, if you have something to report let me know, and I can get it to the right person to look into it. Thanks, and good luck fishing.


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## Salmonid

Clear creek is only stocked in the metropark just above the Hocking so strays in the Hocking would be common. Yearling brown trout are stocked annually in October. 

Clear creek has the lowest number of holdover fish from year to year so fishing from fall through June would be best as the stream gets a lot of heavy siltation during spring rains and then gets too warm for them in the heat of summer. Some nice smallies in that area though
Salmonid


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## TheCream

It seems like there has to be a stray brown in the Hocking somewhere that would have been flushed out of Clear Creek. I would think the Hocking would have enough depth in places to maybe stay cool enough to allow a brown to live there. My guess is that number is very low, so if you catch one, go buy a lottery ticket!

Clear Creek was definitely stocked this fall. I caught double digits on my last trip there in the fall. All small, but willing eaters of nymph patterns.


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## gamblerman

Sorry for the mis-information. I keep watch on ODNR's website:
http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/fishing/trout-stocking-dates

and have not seen Fall stock dates listed in quite some time. Maybe it was a Metropark thing? That is a real pretty stream and area up there, awesome rock formations. good luck, gm


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## dipthekid

Gonna be down that way this coming weekend. I steelhead up north fall-spring and Brown trout are on the to-catch list! I plan on exploring Clear Creek Saturday morning if anyone wants to join?


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## fishinnick

gamblerman said:


> Sorry for the mis-information. I keep watch on ODNR's website:
> http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/fishing/trout-stocking-dates
> 
> and have not seen Fall stock dates listed in quite some time. Maybe it was a Metropark thing? That is a real pretty stream and area up there, awesome rock formations. good luck, gm


Clear Creek(along with the Clear Fork of the Mohican and the Mad River) is not part of the regular put and take rainbow trout program that occurs in lakes and ponds throughout the state..........so it won't show up on that list.


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## fishinnick

I'm not familiar with Clear Creek or the Hocking, but I would not be surprised one bit if browns do occasionally wander down into the river. I fish for trout a lot in PA and this occurs more often than people realize. Hatchery trout can end up in places where you'd least expect them. 

I've personally caught two hatchery trout over the past year in Ohio in places where they aren't supposed to be, but both watersheds are partially in PA.......and trout are stocked waaaay up in the headwaters of both streams. They travel.


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## RiverWader

In all My years of fishing the Hocking I've never heard of or seen a trout come from the Hocking


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## WISH IT WAS YOU

ive heard storys of them catching stray browns below whites mill but those are storys 
and the facts are i fish clear creek pretty heavy and i catch fish everytime i go that whole creek is loaded with fish and its true their is very very few holdover fish in that creek and its kind of a small stream so the few that make it to the legal 12 inch limit normally get snagged out ive seen a few fish over the years that were surprising to say the least but very very very few and far between


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## willy heft

A friend was fly fishing clear creek in Dec.He said he caught some nice browns for the size of the stream.He also said the sides are iced up.I have fished the hocking my adult life and have never caught a trout in the hocking,I live in logan.


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## TheCream

RiverWader said:


> In all My years of fishing the Hocking I've never heard of or seen a trout come from the Hocking


Fished it my whole life, too, and never have caught or seen a pike or a muskie. But I have seen pics from people I know and trust who have caught them in the same places I fish. Nothing surprise me anymore about this river! We even have two bald eagles hanging around the river right now in Athens.


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## WISH IT WAS YOU

i would believe if you fished righ down from where clear creek drops out in the hocking hard youd catch a brown their just has to be fish that drop in the river i just dnt think alot of people fish that strech hard i was at clear today caught 2 strippin a small streamer


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## etheostoma

A buddy who works for the DNR said there will be changes to Clear Creek in the near future. Since it holds so few holdover fish, and is the most marginal of the three state stocked trout streams, the current 12 inch limit is not working, and the fish are largely being wasted.

1. Stop stocking altogether.
2. Cut out the size limit. Any sized trout is legal.
3 Stock rainbows as put and take.
4 Stock only big hatchery brood stock.

They have not decided on which option, or combination is best yet, but look for some changes in the next few years.


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## percidaeben

Tell you what Etheostoma,and not being rude,but there are quite a few people on this here place that know all about the species of them thar madtoms. Please do Not ever sell anyone short on here. Many,many knowledgeable people here.


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## etheostoma

Sorry, didn't mean for it to come off that way. I am sure there are plenty of people here that know what a madtom is. But in general they are not something sought after or commonly encountered. When we do public aquarium displays, people are always amazed by the madtoms. When people think catfish, they think dinner, not something that would fit in an aquarium.


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## sd136405

I tried Clear Creek twice and have yet to land a fish. This was in the early summer so maybe the stocked fish were gone by then?. I was under the impression they were no longer stocking. Might have to get out the nymphs and hit it up this weekend. Worth a 15min drive?


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## TheCream

sd136405 said:


> I tried Clear Creek twice and have yet to land a fish. This was in the early summer so maybe the stocked fish were gone by then?. I was under the impression they were no longer stocking. Might have to get out the nymphs and hit it up this weekend. Worth a 15min drive?


I think it's worth a 5 minute drive. I have more like a 45 minute drive, and the worth in that is questionable. Make sure you fish a good ways upstream. If you're fishing way down low you may not find as many fish.


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## WISH IT WAS YOU

yea i heard they were thinking next year just having less fish larger size and i no its got a low holdover rate but i caught several fish this september i think there was some good results from last years stocking


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## etheostoma

Well they had to be holdovers then. What kind of size had they grown to?


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## WISH IT WAS YOU

not very big 11 12 inchers ive caught and seen bigger


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## etheostoma

WISH IT WAS YOU said:


> not very big 11 12 inchers ive caught and seen bigger


That is not bad sized for a stream trout in Ohio, or anywhere else for that matter. Not huge, but respectable.


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## Mushijobah

Def. have been escapee brown trout in the Hocking. There are a few streams (other than Clear Creek) in the Hocking Watershed that have or had a trout or two in them. Either from trout ponds, or illicit stocking. One of the small streams is outside of Logan.

Clear Creek is a lot of fun to fish. Browns can be found, but I have only seen a few 12". 

When the ODNR did their surveys of Clear Creek (and our other stocked brownie streams) they found that 2011 and 2012 summers were very harmful to trout survival. Basically, to my knowledge, if water temperatures exceed 76 degrees for more than a few days, more than half of trout will not survive. Even during those summers, they did catch some holdovers. Very few, though. Who knows if they survived the shocking though! There have been a decent number of holdovers during the last couple summers since they have been mild. Have seen a few, but man are they tough to target (especially on the fly).

I will also say that electroshocking will not catch all of the trout. If there are deep holes, the electricity will not reach those fish. So if a large brown is seeking refuge in a n 8 foot aquifer/spring fed hole, ODNR aint ever gonna know about it. Either are most anglers, so I guess what's the difference 

I'll get on my soapbox momentarily. The upper watershed of Clear Creek (around Amanda) is honestly in terrible shape. It is extremely channelized, choked with sediment, and still eroding soil from many agricultural fields. With that said, if that were the only issue, the trout may fare OK down in the Metro Park. Unfortunately, many of these ditched sections of creek (and tributaries) are VOID of any shade/trees. This allows the temperatures to skyrocket during the summer. If there was merely trees lining these ditches, many more trout would survive downstream (keeping the stream under the 76 degree threshold). There is science behind it, too. In short, it is proven that shade cools streams significantly, and could quite possible cool Clear Creek enough to allow for more holdovers. Not to mention the erosion control benefits trees have. More to come on that in the future hopefully...


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## troutcast

I would love if they stocked rainbows in there as a put and take. They do it with the reservoirs and those fish normally only last the season, but there are always plenty of holdovers so I'm sure clear creek probably would have holdovers.


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## TheCream

I guess I'm on the fence about places like Clear Creek. If the fish can't reproduce, or in some cases even survive there, part of me thinks what is the point in putting them there? Maybe I'm an idiot, but if I had to choose between having fingerling dink browns in there or something like smallies that can survive and thrive there, I'd choose smallies.


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## Mushijobah

TheCream said:


> I guess I'm on the fence about places like Clear Creek. If the fish can't reproduce, or in some cases even survive there, part of me thinks what is the point in putting them there? Maybe I'm an idiot, but if I had to choose between having fingerling dink browns in there or something like smallies that can survive and thrive there, I'd choose smallies.


Because catching them is fun and some do survive, you just have to be good enough to get them 

I hope they stock the 12"ers. Catch and keep some, any that survive the next summer is just a bonus.


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## etheostoma

Mushijobah said:


> I hope they stock the 12"ers. Catch and keep some, any that survive the next summer is just a bonus.


I think the idea of stocking it with used brood fish, and keeping it catch and release only until April would be a nice way to handle it. Either way they are planning on changing it.

I wonder if there is enough forage to support the brood fish?


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## Mushijobah

etheostoma said:


> I think the idea of stocking it with used brood fish, and keeping it catch and release only until April would be a nice way to handle it. Either way they are planning on changing it.
> 
> I wonder if there is enough forage to support the brood fish?


Plenty of darters, shiners, suckers, and minnows every time I've been. Not sure about the macroinvertebrates but have read about some pretty good hatches. I look forward to the change for sure! Just glad it sounds like they are going to continue to stock it.


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## etheostoma

Well if you are seeing what you believe are high numbers of forage fish, that should indicate that the bugs are doing pretty well also. 

I am not a fan of putting fish where they don't belong, but put and take trout are fairly harmless, since they will not live long enough to do any damage. I would like to see the state put some of the catchable sized rainbows into streams rather than dumping them all in lakes. It would provide a bit more of a wild feel.


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## troutcast

Clear creek has a great population of midge, caddis, and mayflies. I find them all the time just by flipping rocks. I also see some stoneflies, not as abundant as the others though. Put and take rainbows would be good I think because I've only ever caught 2 browns that met the 12 inch length requirement and I released them. I've heard that those fish are too often kept by people though. I'd personally rather catch larger keepable rainbows that the undersized browns that I mistake for creek chubs while reeling them in sometimes because they're so tiny.


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## TheCream

Mushijobah said:


> Because catching them is fun and some do survive, you just have to be good enough to get them
> 
> I hope they stock the 12"ers. Catch and keep some, any that survive the next summer is just a bonus.


No trouble catching them. But hey, if we're going to put fish in there that won't hold over well, let's throw some peacock bass in there.


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## Mushijobah

troutcast said:


> Clear creek has a great population of midge, caddis, and mayflies. I find them all the time just by flipping rocks. I also see some stoneflies, not as abundant as the others though. Put and take rainbows would be good I think because I've only ever caught 2 browns that met the 12 inch length requirement and I released them. I've heard that those fish are too often kept by people though. I'd personally rather catch larger keepable rainbows that the undersized browns that I mistake for creek chubs while reeling them in sometimes because they're so tiny.


What if they just stock larger browns?


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## troutcast

Honestly id be fine with that too !


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## etheostoma

I imagine if they end up going the brood fish route, you may end up with a combination of browns and rainbows.


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## Mushijobah

etheostoma said:


> I imagine if they end up going the brood fish route, you may end up with a combination of browns and rainbows.


Would rock!


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## TheCream

I've heard it costs a lot more pesos to raise browns vs. rainbows. I'd imagine large browns cost a lot more pesos than the doinker browns that currently go in there.


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## Mushijobah

Stock the brooders in Clear Creek and keep some for egg stock to continue repopulating the Mad and Clear Fork. Where's Joe Conroy...I think we have a plan! lol


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## etheostoma

Mushijobah said:


> Stock the brooders in Clear Creek and keep some for egg stock to continue repopulating the Mad and Clear Fork. Where's Joe Conroy...I think we have a plan! lol


 The brood fish only have a couple of years to provide their best spawns, after that they are replaced by up and coming more productive fish, so really the brood fish, whether rainbow or brown, are not expensive. At that point, they are a byproduct. So why not put them somewhere in particular. As far as I know some are put in Clear fork, Mad river, and I have heard of a lake Erie trib. Ohio does not have a trout stamp, and that is a good thing since we don't have great trout fishing. I think if they made clear creek into a seasonal trophy trout fishery by stocking the brood fish, they could offset their costs with a Clear creek stamp. Say $5 for a stamp. I would gladly pay it. Hopefully the right person from the DNR is reading this. Putting them in the Mad is making them no additional money. It is improving the fishery with sizeable trout, but not really making it more of a "destination". Put those big fish in Clear creek. keep it catch and release artificial lures only for a short period, then open it up. I bet a lot of people would add a Clear creek stamp to their license. If it only brought the DNR $500 in revenue, that beats the blank they are getting now.


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## Mushijobah

Clear Creek stamp eh....maybe they could create an incentive with the proceeds for farmers in the headwaters to plant trees along the channelized and barren sections of the creek. We would stay under 74 degrees and problem of holdovers is solved!


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## etheostoma

Nice, solves a lot of problems, and makes entirely too much sense for the state to do anything like it.


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## sd136405

IMHO if clear creek has hold overs I am supposed, if those hold overs reproduced it would be a miracle. Too silty, wrong sized cobbles, low flow, limited macros, and it boils (from a trout perspective) in the summer. I think I am swearing of trout fishing in Ohio. I'll stick to the waters of Tn and NC. Anyone have tips for pan fly fishing?


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## troutcast

Brood stock browns and/or rainbows would be awesome. I think stocking in the fall as put and take would be a great option since those trout would easily last through spring, and theres always gonna be the bonus holdovers through summer. I also like the idea of a permit of some sort to fish clear creek. They could use that money from the permits and fines of illegal fishing for future stockings or stream improvements possibly.


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## troutcast

Plus a put and take fishery would reduce the amount of trout in the stream by summer. The water temperature is always a factor, but with less trout theres gonna be less competition for territory and food, decreasing the amount of stress on the trout and increasing summer survival rates overall most likely.


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## TheCream

troutcast said:


> Plus a put and take fishery would reduce the amount of trout in the stream by summer. The water temperature is always a factor, but with less trout theres gonna be less competition for territory and food, decreasing the amount of stress on the trout and increasing summer survival rates overall most likely.


IMHO, the fishing pressure on that little creek would go through the roof if big trout were put in there. Have you ever been to a lake in this area the day after a few thousand 10-12"ers are stocked? It's a circus, it's combat fishing, it's people trying to keep more than their limit and being busted by the UC wardens, etc... I'm talking about Dow Lake. Imagine that kind of crowd on little Clear Creek. I don't think that would be a pretty picture. Sorry to be Johnny Raincloud on the subject, but I think stocking big fish in there would cause a lot of issues.


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## etheostoma

That is why it should be done on a delayed harvest system. Catch and release artificial only up until April.


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## TheCream

Meh, we won't have to worry about it either way. Ain't happenin'.


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## Mushijobah

Man Cream is just a hater of Clear Creek....lol. Something happen to you there Cream that you want to tell us about....it's not your fault!


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## etheostoma

Really I have it on good authority that since it is such marginal trout water, that a change is in order. They may simply stop stocking it, but since we have such limited trout streams, the DNR is trying to come up with a plan to keep it around and make it worthwhile. 

The problem with putting bigger fish in there on a delayed harvest system is that by the time the stream opens up to where an angler cam keep his catch, few people will be able to catch the now stream-wise fish. They will likely no longer fall for lures, live bait, and all but the tiniest of flies. The creek is gin clear, so the fish will run for cover at the slightest unnatural movement, lure, shadow or even a cast other than a dry fly or nymph without an indicator. Slightly off color water or night time may be the only time it produces decently. May end up with a bunch of dead rotting trout come mid June. Which would be a waste. I can see why they are having a time trying to decide what direction to take.


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## Salmonid

Im on Cream's side on this one, LOL and the fact that the state was actually able to stock on Clear Creek took a whole lot of pressure from the state since its a natural scenic area and not a state park means they want less traffic there so no way no how would it ever become a delayed harvest or brood stocking place. I might mention the state is more apt to just cancel the stocking s there since the results have always been marginal at best. be careful what kind of change you wish for , you might just get something worse then what you have...LOL

Oh yeah, a separate stamp would have to go through all sorts of legislative changes to happen and trust me, NEVER is a pretty strong chance of that happening..

Salmonid,


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## TheCream

Mushijobah said:


> Man Cream is just a hater of Clear Creek....lol. Something happen to you there Cream that you want to tell us about....it's not your fault!


Not a hater of the creek, I think it's a beautiful area. I'm a hater of putting fish where they don't belong. I have less of an issue with Clear Creek than I do with places like local warmwater lakes. To me, it's a waste all around for a few weeks of put-and-take. State spends the money to raise the fish, transport the fish, shoot 'em into the lake and a few months later better than 9 of every 10 stockerbow's are dead (assumption there, correct me if it's way off). To top it off, I've always thought stockerbow's taste like crap on the dinner table. I would sooner eat crappies, bluegills, even bass and channel cats than I would a stockerbow. I'd rather see the state spend the money on those fish on improving habitat for the sport fish that can actually survive and/or improving access points for the public.


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## etheostoma

TheCream said:


> Not a hater of the creek, I think it's a beautiful area. I'm a hater of putting fish where they don't belong. I have less of an issue with Clear Creek than I do with places like local warmwater lakes. To me, it's a waste all around for a few weeks of put-and-take. State spends the money to raise the fish, transport the fish, shoot 'em into the lake and a few months later better than 9 of every 10 stockerbow's are dead (assumption there, correct me if it's way off). To top it off, I've always thought stockerbow's taste like crap on the dinner table. I would sooner eat crappies, bluegills, even bass and channel cats than I would a stockerbow. I'd rather see the state spend the money on those fish on improving habitat for the sport fish that can actually survive and/or improving access points for the public.


I really agree with you 100%. Trout do not belong there. They barely belong in the Mad.

They do not at all belong in any warm water lakes at all, but the DNR uses it as a tool to get people to get into fishing and buy a license. Those stocker trout are so stupid that corn, powerbait, wax worms, night crawlers will all catch them. When they dump them into these lakes, the guy that fishes once a year with a red and white floater the size of a cue ball can take his kid out fishing and catch a 13 inch fish. It is a recruitment tool. Yes any fish that is not caught and taken is dead in June in these lakes. 

If they are going to continue to screw with clear creek make it different. I know a lot of people claim there are holdovers. My understanding is that according to DNR data there are virtually none. It could be a nice place that cost little but fuel to get them there if they dumped the brood fish that have to be cycled out anyway. Fly fisherman could enjoy it for a few months.

I tried the stocked rainbows from a local lake a year or so ago. I believe they have changed their feed formula. They tasted pretty decent. In years prior they tasted like liver. Granted I caught them in spring and they could have been from the fall stocking, and had enough time on wild foods that they cleaned out that liver taste, but I know that there are some newer feeds that give them a wilder taste. I want to assume that the hatchery has kept up with the times and realized that crappy tasting fish does no good getting new fishermen into fishing.


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## Mushijobah

The state is making money on those once a year Antrim (rainbow stocker) anglers. Trust me. That's the biggest reason they still do that. Along with the thousands of people who enjoy just catching the fish.

Stocking Clear Creek is money well spent. I got way more than $24 worth of enjoyment driving 25 minutes and catching brown trout in a beautiful stream. I guess I'm more of an optimist and see it continuing to improve as the upstream improves. And yes, there are holdovers. May be hard to believe to a guy who fished it once or twice on the fly and only caught dinks. I've seen them (nice ones...), and caught one last year. The DNR study sampled a very small fraction of stream with gear that can barely shock a 4 foot hole. And even with that equipment and a limited length of stream sampled (maybe 1 KM total), they found a few holdovers in all years other than 2012.

And the idea of stocking larger fish into streams is not ours, it is from ODNR.
http://www.madison-press.com/news/home_top-news/50200017/Fish-hatchery-to-grow-larger-trout
http://www.thefishingwire.com/story/318657

Heck if we're talking about un-natural fish, let's not be hypocritical. Don't stock the Mad with German trout or Erie with Pacific Ocean fish. No need to stock these flood control or water supply reservoirs or stock saugeye or anything for that matter. They are unnatural! Heck let's save more money and get rid of the ODNR! I'm now $24 richer and have an even worse state to practice the sport of fishing in! Sarcasm...


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## TheCream

Mushijobah said:


> The state is making money on those once a year Antrim (rainbow stocker) anglers. Trust me. That's the biggest reason they still do that. Along with the thousands of people who enjoy just catching the fish.
> 
> Stocking Clear Creek is money well spent. I got way more than $24 worth of enjoyment driving 25 minutes and catching brown trout in a beautiful stream. I guess I'm more of an optimist and see it continuing to improve as the upstream improves. And yes, there are holdovers. May be hard to believe to a guy who fished it once or twice on the fly and only caught dinks. I've seen them (nice ones...), and caught one last year. The DNR study sampled a very small fraction of stream with gear that can barely shock a 4 foot hole. And even with that equipment and a limited length of stream sampled (maybe 1 KM total), they found a few holdovers in all years other than 2012.
> 
> And the idea of stocking larger fish into streams is not ours, it is from ODNR.
> http://www.madison-press.com/news/home_top-news/50200017/Fish-hatchery-to-grow-larger-trout
> http://www.thefishingwire.com/story/318657
> 
> Heck if we're talking about un-natural fish, let's not be hypocritical. Don't stock the Mad with German trout or Erie with Pacific Ocean fish. No need to stock these flood control or water supply reservoirs or stock saugeye or anything for that matter. They are unnatural! Heck let's save more money and get rid of the ODNR! I'm now $24 richer and have an even worse state to practice the sport of fishing in! Sarcasm...


Mushi, the difference between saugeye/Mad trout/Erie steel and Clear Creek trout is that they have a much better survival rate. Do they "belong," that is highly debatable. Clear Creek has some holdovers...I'm sure it does but that number is small, and I think you'd agree on that. Most will die. Of the rainbows that go into warmwater lakes, most will die. The saugeye in Lake Snowden that avoids the frying pan, the brown trout in the Mad, the chromers in Erie, they can live a long life because they can survive in the environment where they are stocked. I understand the state makes $$$ on the stockings and that's why they keep doing them, otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. 

You enjoy Clear Creek, that's wonderful and I have no problem with that. That's the name of this game, do what you enjoy. I guess as an angler and fly fisherman, I don't view (especially stocked) trout with the same aura and mystique as some. Why do I rarely fish Clear Creek? I don't get a lot of enjoyment out of catching small hatchlings when I can take the same drive and catch brown bass that dwarf them. Having both options right there, I choose smallmouth 9 times to Clear Creek 1 time. For me, it's different catching a little trout that was born in a controlled environment vs one that was born in that stream. I'm sure that makes no sense to some, it's just how I view it. Catching a 9" brookie in a WV stream makes me happy...catching a 9" brown in Clear Creek is not on that same level. And it's not even close. When I go to WV to trout fish, I almost never fish stocked streams there, either. I'd rather go catch a wild fish, that's just my preference.


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## Mushijobah

That makes complete sense. And we both know saugeye and chrome are different. It's just important to be specific and detailed as opposed to just saying the trout don't belong there. It comes off as combative and a little dismissive to those of us who really enjoy catching clear creek trout and hunting the mystical holdovers. The amount of money to stock the creek is probably a drop in the bucket compared to other DNR expenditures. I just can't wrap my head around why a fellow sportsman would advocate for less opportunities when the only complaint is that the habitat is marginal. Especially when there is much potential for the conditions to improve with watershed advocacy. But I digress.

Back to the original topic, I heard that someone got a 6-7 lb brown out of whites mill last year. Just a rumor.


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## TheCream

I guess I see a difference in the practice of stocking to supplement a population vs stocking to _*replace*_ the population. The state stocks channel cats in Ohio, correct? If they stopped would there be no channel cats left the following year in those bodies of water? No. If they stopped stocking Clear Creek for one year, the fishable population of brown trout in there would fall off the table. To me, it's pumping money into a fishery that can't be sustained without yearly stocking, which seems a little wasteful to me. Do I understand that it "creates an opportunity," sure. I'd prefer to see an opportunity created that doesn't rely on a stock truck to exist.


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## Sampy67

Clear Creek runs into it above Rockbridge. It's stocked! I was fishing a few years back at the falls at Falls Mill Bridge and two guys using soft craws for smallmouth said they caught a couple around the falls there fishing for small mouths.


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## JamesT

etheostoma said:


> My buddy that I mentioned who had the same results as I would love to hear any info. He is commissioned by the state right now to more or less do a distributional atlas of the fishes of Ohio. So keep me in mind if you run into any oddball fish, or fish in places that they should not be. I can pass the info along and he can check it out. A for instance is that I found an area on the Little Miami that a very large population of mountain madtoms. They are a riffle dwelling catfish species that only grows to be 3-4 inches long.(I bet most of you did not even know that we have catfish that small in Ohio) Anyway they were state endangered, but due to his recent sampling data, others input, and mine as well, we can proudly say that a once endangered fish has now been down graded to threatened.
> Sorry for the rant, bottom line, if you have something to report let me know, and I can get it to the right person to look into it. Thanks, and good luck fishing.


About 4-5 years ago I caught a yellow bass in the big darby. I am positive on the i.d. as it was clearly gold in color, I couldn't believe my eyes. When I got home I researched the fish and from what I could gather, they were not known to be found that far north. Anyways just a single data point and probably others have been caught and documented in the darby. Of course no pics.


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## etheostoma

That would not be good news. I will check into that. If there are more they will be documented, as that is probably the most sampled stream in the state, or tied with the big river at least. Thanks.


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## Perca

Etheostoma, I seined some giant greenside darters from Clear Creek years ago when I lived right near it. I used to seine the stretch by the bridge before the girl scout camp (way back before Metro Parks took over). Beautiful fish and looked like they were dripping with bright green paint. I've seined madtoms there as well. I fly fished it occasionally, but only caught striped shiners...no brownies ever.


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## etheostoma

Perca said:


> Etheostoma, I seined some giant greenside darters from Clear Creek years ago when I lived right near it. I used to seine the stretch by the bridge before the girl scout camp (way back before Metro Parks took over). Beautiful fish and looked like they were dripping with bright green paint. I've seined madtoms there as well. I fly fished it occasionally, but only caught striped shiners...no brownies ever.


Brindled madtom? The big greensides don't surprise me too much. It must be a fairly fertile stream with pretty good insect populations. That is likely to grow those greenside darters to larger sizes and brighter spawning colors than you might find in many other streams that small. I love seining. I honestly seine almost as much as I fish rod and reel. It is amazing how many fish you can see in a day. If the day ever came that I needed it, there would be a seine in my survival bag. I may not enjoy eating minnows and darters, but I guarantee that I could easily stay alive on them. Thanks.


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## Perca

Yep, brindled. And these were, by far, the largest greensides I've ever seen. I might have to head back up there and check it out again.


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## etheostoma

I might have to check them out. Thanks. Send me a PM and let me know when you plan to net some fish. I might be game.


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## Perca

I'll do that.


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