Heading West

By the time anyone reads this I’ll already be in the truck heading west. We should be in Colorado next to the Arkansas river by Thursday afternoon and I’ll be fishing by Friday.

Pictured left is a view of Brown’s Canyon on the Arkansas river. If you look closely you can see me fishing in the center of the image. We were camped in the canyon during an overnight trip to fish and enjoy the whitewater. It’s a special place that I cannot wait to experience again. Next week I’ll be in Crested Butte, CO taking a five day Wilderness EMT course but the following week the plan is to be back on the river and spend at least a couple of nights in the canyon.

Check back for updates.

Summertime Trout Fishing

Yesterday I broke my own rule about not fishing Ohio’s Clear Fork during the summer. I know the river becomes overrun with people swimming and tubing when the weather is good and in the past I’ve let them have their fun and come back to fish in the fall. In fact fall fishing on the Clear Fork is one of my favorite angling destinations.

Sunday morning it was raining and the forecast was uncertain. I had the urge to fish for trout and figured the poor weather might give us a window to fish the river without tubers etc. I talked my buddy Noble into heading out with me. He couldn’t cut the grass in the rain anyway. On the short drive the sun came out, the sky turned blue and I knew we were in trouble.

When we first arrived in the park the place as almost empty. There were no other anglers and as I’d hoped, no swimmers. We rigged up and began to fish some riffles where I’ve usually picked up a fish or two. We caught fish alright. We both landed a dozen chub in the first hour. I decided to move down to the next spot. I was showing Noble the flow and a possible fish location when I made a lazy cast to a shaded hole. I was fishing a small prince nymph below an indicator. My indicator hesitated, I set the hook and believed for a second I was snagged. The snag moved and quickly threw the hook just as the large brown trout porpoised beneath the tree in front of us. I’d missed what was certainly my best chance for the day.

By that time the families and kids had started to arrive. I moved quickly to fish holes before I was overrun with tubers. We picked up and moved downstream again. Noble caught the brown trout pictured on a copper john and I landed one about the same size on the prince nymph before we were again crowded out by floaters.

All in all it was a good day and the Clear Fork Gorge is always worth a visit. I’d broken a rule and I’d learnt some lessons and I’ll be back in the gorge before fall.

Wednesday Float Club

Wednesday last I met up with the Kokosing Wednesday Float club and kayaked the river for a few hours. It was a beautiful day and the river was up a little from recent rains which made the going easy.

The Float club meets every Wednesday morning 9:30 am at the Millwood Kokosing river access (on your map where US Route 62 crosses the river.) There were five paddlers this day, about average. Everyone is welcome. Bring your own boat and a desire to explore the river. You’ll likely learn a fair bit too. The day I was out we saw some fantastic wildlife, especially birds.

On the trip was Doug McLarnan (Pictured Right.) Doug likely knows the Kokosing better than anyone. At one time he ran a commercial canoe livery on the river. Today he’s instrumental in maintaining the river and also area parks. If you see a log in the river that’s been cut so that you may pass you can probably thank Doug.

Check out the Kokosing River Wednesday float club and learn to appreciate the wonderful resource here in Knox county.