Clarion river

[Kyle]

wife and i use to camp out that way not far from the clarion river. i never fished it because we were doing other things. but we may go camping out that way again and would like to get some fishing in. i am by no means looking for spots. im curious about the clarion river in general. trout? bass? holdovers? does the river get stocked?

 

[FarmerDave]

Yes. 😁

 

[FarmerDave]

Seriously though. I haven't fished it in about 40 years, but used to fish it a lot. The answer to all 4 questions is, yes. The reason I liked the Clarion River is there was no telling what you might catch. Well, that and it was close to home. I even had a couple spots where yellow perch were fairly common.

Your odds of catching trout depends on where you intend to fish. My stomping grounds were in Cook Forest, all the way down to the headwaters of Clarion Resevoir.

Although I have caught trout in those areas, to increase odds of catching trout, I'd go quite a bit further upstream.

Where will you be camping?

 

[Kyle]

cook forest is where we camped. we always rented a cabin at black bear cabins

 

[FarmerDave]

First let me say that I never fished that area this late in the year.

There are no class A trout streams close by, but most, if not all of them do have some trout. The "larger" streams do get stocked. I used quotes because none of them are very big.

I also checked to see if any of them have fall stocking, and it appears that they do not. I am pretty sure that they used to stock Tom's run in the fall, but according to the fall stocking schedule, there is no fall stocking in Clarion, Forest, or Jefferson Counties. That is hard for me to believe, so you may want to double check that.

If I was targeting trout in the river in that area, I would normally fish near the mouths of some of the stocked streams, but by this time, the trout would either be spread out, or up the creeks. Then again, they could be dropping back. Not bad smallmouth fishing.

Cathers Run is close to those cabins. It stays pretty cold all year, so it could have some holdovers. It also has some natural reproduction.

Tom's Run is across the river and dumps into the river by the park office. It probably gets stocked the most and can also support holdovers. It also has some natural reproduction.

My battery is dying, so I will end it there. If I think of anything else, I will add it later.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I fished one of the branches of the Clarion further upstream over the last couple of days. The water looked very nice, but I only landed one small wild Brown and missed a very large holdover rainbow. Other than that, frankly, I didn't see very many fish.

 

[RLeep2]

The main stem of the Clarion roughly from Portland Mills to Piney Dam is probably, for numbers anyway, one of the 10 best flowing water smallmouth fisheries in the state, at least for rivers in its size class. While there have been relatively regular fingerling (browns) stockings at least as far downstream as Hallton (mouth of Spring Creek), the farther downriver you go, the more the trout fishery becomes incidental rather than primary. The best trout water on the main stem is probably from the forks at Johnsonburg down to roughly Portland Mills and centers on Ridgeway. I've not fished most of this upper water, but my understanding is that fish size is very good, density is low and access is kinda spotty.

But for smallmouth, the section from Portland Mills to Cooksburg anyway (and below if you can find put-ins and take-outs) is hard to beat. Expect a lot of company, the river is very popular with a pile of access points. Most of these people won't be fishing though, at least not seriously. You do have to put up with socializing though; again and again and again and yet again which I can find irritating when I'm trying to fish...

 

[tomgamber]

Mill creek north of Strattenville at the southern edge of the gamelands, is a very popular and easily accessible trout stream. If you head up stream you may find some natives. Downstream will take you to more heavily stocked sections. It eventually flows into the clarion River and is a short drive from Clarion itself. Any section of the Clarion River that gets heavily floated in the summer should hold smallies and such in the fall. The East branch of the Clarion above Johnsonburg, is a tailwater that many find difficult but can provide good fishing under the right conditions. None of these are secrets. Good luck!

 

[Wetfly01]

Not to hijack the thread. But would like to float the Clarion River in the future for smallmouths. A couple of questions for some of the Clarion regulars. I have been looking at some of the maps of the Clarion River and was wondering about the launch areas. Are you able to get a trailer down these ramps to the water as my raft is on a trailer? Or are they made for canoes & kayaks where you only have enough of room to carry them in and out. My other question, is there a launch area somewhere between Ridgeway and Portland Mills besides the Lazy River Canoe Rental in Ridgeway? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cuboodle]

Not to hijack the thread. But would like to float the Clarion River in the future for smallmouths. A couple of questions for some of the Clarion regulars. I have been looking at some of the maps of the Clarion River and was wondering about the launch areas. Are you able to get a trailer down these ramps to the water as my raft is on a trailer? Or are they made for canoes & kayaks where you only have enough of room to carry them in and out. My other question, is there a launch area somewhere between Ridgeway and Portland Mills besides the Lazy River Canoe Rental in Ridgeway? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes you can launch behind the brickyard gas station. There is a side road that is pretty obscure looking it crosses the RR tracks and takes you right down to an unimproved launch its off of 219 south of the papermill. Google earth or maps will help you see it.

 

[albatross]

Clarion Water Trail

 

[Wetfly01]

I see the launch behind the brickyard off 219 below Johnsonburg using Goggle Maps. Asking if there is a launch below the W Main St bridge in Ridgeway on either side of the river? I can't see anything on Goggle Maps in that area. Thought someone told me there was a launch somewhere below the bridge that was being used.

 

[Kyle]

all great posts. thanks for sharing the info.

 

[pcray1231]

I have floated the Clarion around Cooksburg/Cook Forest for smallies. I wouldn't call myself an expert by any stretch, most of the area I know well is north and west of there in the Allegheny/Tionesta/Oil/Brokenstraw drainages.

But I will say, DO NOT FLOAT it in summertime near Cooksburg and expect to fish. DO NOT. lol. In Cooksburg, there's 2 kayak/raft/canoe/intertube rental places. They rent em out, shuttle em up about about 4 miles, and let em float back to Cooksburg. The vans come nonstop, waiting in line up the road, unloading them as fast as they can. There are hundreds of people on the river there, it's a complete zoo, I've never seen anything like this. It's not like groups with breaks in between, it's a steady stream of them, no breaks. You can't even make a cast and, in a kayak, just getting around is dodging people nonstopn. It's not a fishing crowd, it's a party boat crowd, people joining up to make big ole tube rafts with smells of smoke (not tobacco) and lots of beer, swimmers, etc. Avoid like the plague.

From Clarington down to where those places put in was pretty nice though, and I caught some smallies. And they all take out at Cooksburg, below is fine....

 

[tomgamber]

Very true, Pat. But these are exactly the places you may want to fish in the fall when the bikini hatch is off. There are fish in there all year but they could not care less about the summer tubers. They are ripe for the picking now.

 

[LongWader]

I have fished for trout in the upper main stem of the Clarion for about 20 years mostly in the Fall. The Locals seem to like fishing it more in the Spring when the tributary creeks and East and West branches are stocked. Access is very limited in the CR section between Johnsonburg and Ridgway, so be prepared to wade long distances if you are on foot. The river has holdover rainbows, wild browns, some brook trout,. and when the water is on the warm side some smallmouth in the upper mainstem. The upper mainstem is fertile and has lots of food, so it can be tough especially when the water is low and relatively clear. When the water is high it is very challenging to wade with its steep banks and boulders, especially in the gorge section. My buds and I used to kid each other about it being a dead river because you can spend many hours fishing and not see anything and then for short periods of time there seem to be good numbers of trout only to shut down again after an hour or so. In recent years the number of big wild brown trout has been significantly lower. I don't know why, but I think it has to do with the Army Corp of Engineers reducing the dam releases on the East Branch Dam at the same time the brown trout are trying to get to the upper branches to spawn. The trophy sized browns are especially difficult to catch because they like soft pocket water with cover and are the best escape artists I have ever seen. I fished it this late fall and for the first time I did not see any trophy sized browns and I have to cover a lot of water fishing 12 hours a day over four days to get 4 trout in the 18" to 21" range. That might sound like a good trip, but there were few if any mid and small sized fish. and I did not see a single trophy sized fish which was not the case years ago. My toughest trip in 20 years. and 15 years ago we use to get 4 times as many large trout with a shot at a few giants with lots of medium and small trout mixed in. Most of the trophy sized wild browns seem to be gone, and it looks like a number of years classes of smaller wild brown trout are missing. If you don't mind catching stocked trout and don't want to only catch a only few wild browns in four days of tough fishing I would go in the Spring.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I fished the East Branch last week and thankfully, the flow is very good for this time of year when you consider how low the other area creeks are. Saw very few fish and caught very few fish, but it's a nice looking stream.

 

[troutbert]

When the water is high it is very challenging to wade with its steep banks and boulders, especially in the gorge section.

Where is the gorge section?

 

[Wetfly01]

Guys,

All great info on the Clarion River. And I'll definitely NOT be getting anywhere close to Cooksburg, the traffic there would drive me over the edge. My plain is to float some different sections from Ridgway down to Clear Creek State Park. I would like to target mostly smallmouths in those areas. I've been finding some different maps on the launch areas, and I am just not sure if I can get my raft off the trailer and into the water and back out of the water onto the trailer at the end of the day. So, I am going to jump in the vehicle possibly this weekend and make a trip up that way and put an eyeball on the launches from Ridgway to Clear Creek State Park.

 

[FarmerDave]

I have floated the Clarion around Cooksburg/Cook Forest for smallies. I wouldn't call myself an expert by any stretch, most of the area I know well is north and west of there in the Allegheny/Tionesta/Oil/Brokenstraw drainages.

But I will say, DO NOT FLOAT it in summertime near Cooksburg and expect to fish. DO NOT. lol. In Cooksburg, there's 2 kayak/raft/canoe/intertube rental places. They rent em out, shuttle em up about about 4 miles, and let em float back to Cooksburg. The vans come nonstop, waiting in line up the road, unloading them as fast as they can. There are hundreds of people on the river there, it's a complete zoo, I've never seen anything like this. It's not like groups with breaks in between, it's a steady stream of them, no breaks. You can't even make a cast and, in a kayak, just getting around is dodging people nonstopn. It's not a fishing crowd, it's a party boat crowd, people joining up to make big ole tube rafts with smells of smoke (not tobacco) and lots of beer, swimmers, etc. Avoid like the plague.

From Clarington down to where those places put in was pretty nice though, and I caught some smallies. And they all take out at Cooksburg, below is fine....

View attachment 1641227598

Pat, I agree with the text part, but as far as the picture goes, it could be on the Clarion River, but it does not like the stretch that flows through Cook Forest. The river is quite a bit wider than that through Cook Forest.

Lots of smallmouth in the Cook Forest part of the Clarion River back in the day, but catching one over a pound was rare.