clarion river

[fishhead]

Have a few days off this week and was thinking about making the drive up to the clarion.Any one from that area have any insight as to what a good starting point would be?I will have at least 2 days and may bring one of my yaks to cover more water.Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[jifigz]

Where are you going to be and what are you planning on fishing for? I went to college at Clarion University and fished the Clarion River quite a bit. The river offers quite a bit of diversity. I never fished it for trout, but the lake created by Piney Dam offers good walleye, largemouth, musky, perch, etc. Up near Cook Forest it is a beautiful medium sized smallmouth river with a healthy population of bronzebacks. I never went up to where the river is trout water, however, so I can't speak of that part of the fishery.

 

[RLeep2]

Better check the USGS gauges and factor them into your plans before you go. As of this morning, the Clarion at Cooksburg was carrying slightly less than 300% of its normal flow for this date, well over 1300 cfs. That's quite a bit of water.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv/?site_no=03029500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00010

 

[dryflyguy]

If you're after trout, the main river will also likely be too warm this week.
The Johnsonburg gauge, which is at the beginning of the trophy trout stretch, has been getting above 70 every day recently.

The east branch should have cooler temps. But you'd have a tough time floating it now

 

[fishhead]

This trip I was planning on targeting SMB,I have been keeping an eye on the flows the past few days.I do quite a bit of grouse hunting in this general area of the state and this trip is as much about getting a feel for the river for a return fall trip as much as anything else,as I usually fish other water in the fall.River has been on my radar for quite some time.Looking forward to making myself a little more familiar with another of our state's waters.