Cook's Forest Area

[Boomer]

Next week I will be going to the Cook's Forest area and would like to get some quality trout fishing in either the Clarion or some of the smaller streams. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to fish and also what to use? Is there a hatch chart I could reference? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[azjackstraw]

Watch the USGS gauges, the EB Clarion river dam is being repaired so they are releasing odd amounts of water. The river has been high from rain, and stained from the dam discharge.
Cathers run may be fishable, but is probably at the upper temp limits. There are plenty of great streams in the Cathers run basin, just plan on doing some walking. There are a ton of people in that area this time of year, and fishing can be crowded in the easy access spots.
Not sure on hatches this time of year, probably a little early for white flies.
I've done well in the river with steamers in black and brown. Minnow patterns have worked as well.

 

[Boomer]

thanks for the advice? Since this is my first summer fly fishing for trout, does the trico hatch happen up near the Clarion?

 

[Fishidiot]

Boomer wrote:
thanks for the advice? Since this is my first summer fly fishing for trout, does the trico hatch happen up near the Clarion?

Not being a Clarion regular, I can't say whether tricos occur there. Considering the characteristics of that river, I doubt it.

A better bet would be to use terrestrials (ants, beetles, crickets, etc) if you see rising trout. With the higher than normal flows this summer, streamer fishing might be good. There are bass in that section as well and they should respond well to streamer flies if the trout aren't around or the water temps are warm.

 

[dryflyguy]

I've never seen tricos on the clarion.

I considered going up there last weekend - I like to fish the trophy trout area between ridgway and johnsonburg.
But the flows were still kinda high for dry fly fishing, and I nixed the trip.
The river temps can get pretty warm this time of year also - and is another factor to be concerned with for trout fishing there.

However, there are lots of smaller streams through out the ANF that can offer better trout fishing conditions now

 

[Boomer]

thanks again guys for the heads up and the ideas. I think I will definitely try to hit the other streams up there and I will be filling up my terrestrial box with a few extras before I head out. (I always have streamers from flyfishing for bass on the Allegheny) I can't wait to see what I catch.

 

[pcray1231]

For the other streams in the area, go north my friend.

I'm not gonna name streams. The Clarion drainage has some decent ones but I'm not as familiar, and I know it can be hit or miss. The Tionesta tribs - generally the ones that flow north to south are better. Most of them hold brookies and a few browns. The Tionesta itself is biggish water and at this time of year, no trout, but decent smallmouth fishing.

A lot of the direct Allegheny tribs are pretty good, though take a temp. The bigger streams get too warm, so go upstream to find cool enough water (and you'll find the wild fish, as well as stockies coming up from below).

Oil Creek is a large stocked stream, but stays cool a lot longer than Tionesta. Still, in late July, you'd expect to mostly find smallmouths, but this year with the wet weather I wouldn't at all be shocked if you caught a number of trout. It has some tribs that are mostly brown trout water and could be a good option.

 

[Boomer]

Thanks for the input guys! I fished Cathers Run and caught a few small brookies. I definitely want to fish some of the other streams near oil creek too.

 

[dryflyguy]

FWIW -

Since your initial post, the clarion river has come down to near normal summertime levels. And I considered going up there - for trout - this past weekend.
However, water temps are still climbing above 70 at the Johnsonburg gauge. And I didn't go

 

[steveo27]

Subscribing to this because I just found out my friends rented a cabin in Cooksburg next weekend and invited us along.

Ive never fished that area this late in summer for trout, but we usually fish it all spring long with success over stocked fish.

Cather's run is a favorite of mine along with Mill Creek. Im not sure how the trout population holds up this late in the summer in either stream though.

I plan on splitting my time between the river around the cabin for bass and trying to find a few trout.