trout_bum

The grass is getting very tall and dense along the banks at the lower access. It’s up to my chest in some places. I noticed something very interesting while I was down there though. As I was walking through the grass, there would be spots here and there where the grass would be laid down flat forming somewhat of a circle. Some were as large as ten feet in diameter. I wonder what could be making these. Maybe the aliens have heard about Crane Creek and decided to come down to try their luck. I didn't see any snakes. I believe the temperature was too low for them to be very active. It was in the mid 50's pretty much all day. If we get a few sunny days in the 70's and 80's, I'm sure they'll be out and about wreaking havoc on any passersby. I was mainly fishing large olive woolybugers and pheasant tails.

Started the morning at the lower MDC access. The water is very swift and discolored from all the rain right now, especially at the lower access. I fished there for a couple hours and only caught 1 'bow. Grabbed a bite to eat at the local Subway, then headed to the park and worked my way upstream and picked up a few nice ones.

I made my weekly pilgrimage to Crane Creek this past Sunday. The water is in very good shape right now. The foliage is really getting thick down there as well, especially at the lower access. The grass down there is already up to my waist. I nearly stepped on a snake walking in the grass along the banks below the dairy farm. He slithered away into the grass too fast for me to tell what he was. Anyways, I had a very good day. Most trout were in the 10" to 15" inch range. There wasn't much coming off as far as hatches. I did see a few trout surface, but they were few and far between. Here's some pictures of the prettiest fish of the day.

As spooky as wild turkey gobblers. Most people complain that they never see a trout when they go to Crane. They don't stack up in open water like they do in the trout parks, and they are very well camoflaged and hold very tight to cover most of the time. They are extremely wary and will usually detect you before you see them. The water was up a little, so 7x wasn't really needed. I will mostly use 6x and 5x and occasionally 4x for bigger, heavier stuff.

All of these fish were caught on cone headed wooly buggers. The river was up a little from all the rain, sleet and snow we got the previous Saturday. It was pretty windy, so the dry fly fishing wasn't so hot.

Here's a few pictures I took below the park on Roaring River last Saturday. This is most likely a wild rainbow. None of the fins have been clipped.

These are called parr marks. As far as I know, most trout and salmon species exhibit this trait. They will eventually lose these marks as they grow larger.

Downstream from the dairy farm at the lower access.

Brutal winds, bitter cold and a few wild rainbows. I braved the elements and got out and fished Crane Creek for a few hours today. I don't normally like fishing in these conditions, but I wanted to try out a new digital camera I bought last week. Hope you enjoy.

Hey Don, That was me you ran into below the RR bridge. It was nice chatting with you. Crane Creek is definitely an enchanting little creek. I learn something new every time I go there. The fact that you caught one of these wild fish your first time there is something not too many people can say including me. I moved upstream after I ran into you and noticed some of the trout were coming up aggressively after the caddis that were skittering around in the riffles. I tied on an elk hair caddis and hooked up with a couple more and missed about three before calling it a day. Crane Creek definitely isn't a place to come to if your looking for numbers or size, but it can be rewarding if you can stand the snakes, spiders, thick vegetation and ultra spooky trout.

Mainly egg patterns. I also did well on mohair leaches and a green caddis larva fly that I conjured up. If you turn over any rock in the stream bed, you will most likely find small dark green caddis larva around size 16 or 18. They will usually be snuggled up in their cases. I would occasionally notice a few rises here and there, but for the most part the fish were holding at the bottom of the deep pools and you had to put quite a bit of weight on to get your fly down fast.

It was a gorgeous day on Crane today. I walked around the creek just below town and noticed quite a number of redds. I counted around twenty between the ball fields downstream to the trestle. I didn't see another soul all day long except for a group of kids that sent the trout darting for cover as they trampled down the bank to ask me if I had seen their lost dog. All-in-all, it was a very productive day with about 15 fish caught and sent back home. I hooked one eighteen incher that broke me off in some submerged branches. As a side note, I would just like to remind anyone reading this that it is very important to be extra careful where you step while wading in Crane Creek right now and in the next few weeks. If you see any light oval patches of gravel two to three feet wide, avoid them. These are trout nests and are likely filled with hundreds of eggs. Wading through a redd can crush trout eggs or the trout fry that remain in the gravel for weeks after they hatch. In Crane Creek, they will almost always be located in medium size gravel at the tailouts of pools just before the water starts breaking up into riffles.

Tim, Did you happen to notice any spawning activity when you were out yesterday?

I hope the trend continues and the fishery continues to get better. It's amazing how resilient these Crane creek fish are given the extreme drought and flooding we've had in recent years. Hopefully they'll have a successful spawn this winter.

Spent the whole day on Crane today. The sun was bright and the water was low and gin clear which made the fishing all the more challenging. I threw mainly conehead buggers and mohair leeches in the morning and landed 4 trout. Once the sun warmed things up a bit I switched to hoppers, beetles and ants. I had some very explosive takes on the hopper patterns. Things slowed down quite a bit as the afternoon progressed, but I did manage to land several small 'bows drifting bead head hare's ears and zebra midges. There was an incredible Lt. Cahill hatch right around dusk that brought a lot of the fish up into the riffles to feed. I tied on the appropriate fly and had a blast for about 45 minutes getting hook ups on almost every other cast.

Anything you could present to them that looks natural without spooking them. Presentation is pretty much the key on Crane. This creek doesn't get fished a whole lot so the fish aren't ultra selective. I've found out that in order to be successful on this gem of a creek, you must blend in with the environment first of all, and BE PATIENT. Stand back from the bank and use the cover to your advantage in order to conceal yourself. Study the water thoroughly and look for likely holding spots such as deep runs, undercut banks, anything that creates a break in the main current such as root wads, fallen timber, large submerged rocks, inside bends in the creek, eddies, etc. These are wild fish and they will use these spots to their advantage to conserve energy, hide from predators and at the same time be able to pick off anything tasty that washes down. Watch for any sign of movement in these spots. Its amazing how well these trout blend in with the stream bed, and usually the only time you will see them is when they come out briefly to pick off a dislodged nymph or any other vulnerable insect that is emerging from or has fallen into the water. When you have done all of this, make a plan of attack approaching your quarry from downstream in the trouts blind spot. While keeping a low profile, move very very very slowly and don't make any sudden movements while getting into position to make your presentation. This is the point in the whole process when I wish I were born as a midget because it can be pretty rough on the knees and the back. Whatever you do from this point will determine whether you bring a fish to hand or not. Hopefully your proficient at the sidearm cast because you'll need it to punch your fly underneath overhanging branches and other obstacles without getting tangled. If you land the fly as delicately as possible in the fish's feeding lane and keep the drag off of it properly to make it look natural, the rest is up to the fish. Be ready for the fish to take though, because once they realize they're hooked they go crazy as if on steroids or something. I sometimes wonder if someone is dumping crystal meth in this creek because these trout go absolutely bonkers once hooked. If you've done everything right you will hopefully be rewarded with one of these absolutely gorgeous trout. So, heres the short answer to your question. The go to fly of the day was anything I could make look as natural as possible to the fish without spooking it. Sorry for being so long winded, but I believe everything I mentioned above is very important on this stream. The fly on the end of you tippet is only as good as how you make it look to Mr. McCloud. And remember, if you love something, sometimes you just have to let it go.

I love this stream. Spent the whole day on Crane this past Saturday before we got hammered with all the rain. I arrived at about 7:00am, and didn't come off the water until 5:15pm. I lose track of time when I go down there. The fishing was decent. Didn't see any attack snakes, but I did see the resident beaver there in the city park. Most of the fish I caught were in the 10" to 14" range. This pretty much seems to be the average for this creek. Caught a couple beautiful yearlings that were about 3" to 4" long with the parr marks and vermillion stripe down his side. I noticed a fairly decent sized trout chasing one as I brought it to hand. The creek was in pretty good shape, but judging from all the flooded creeks I drove over today, I'm sure its blown out by now. It should hopefully be back to normal by next weekend if we don't get anymore rain between now and then.

Drove down to Crane Creek this morning to try my luck. I arrived at Crane at about 6:30am and drove in to the city park to see what the water level was like. Sneeked around for about 30 minutes checking out some of the deep runs to see if I could catch a hint of a trout. I went across the street and parked at the ball fields, rigged up and worked my way downstream well past the railroad tressle. I caught a total of 12 trout with the smallest at about 8 inches and the largest at around 15 inches. I hooked up with what appeared to be about an 18 inch trout, but in the blink of an eye he screamed downstream and he broke me off in a root wad. As the day got hotter, the bite got slower, so I called it a day around 3:00pm. Pictures coming soon...

Ditto on what Tim said. I fished down there last Saturday and did very well swinging buggers in the riffles. I didn't see a single soul except for a deer I walked up on. There's some very good looking water in this area. Just make sure you release them so I can catch 'em next week

I fished in the catch and release section on Saturday and was very suprised to see hardly anyone fishing in there. It was just me and another fella who was using a bamboo fly rod. I fished between 7:00am and 2:00pm and caught around 30 fish with 4 or 5 seventeen inchers and one 15 inch brown. There was a really nice trico hatch coming off between 8:00am and 9:00am that the trout were keying in on. After the tricos stopped coming off, I switched to a large size 8 foam beatle that Tim sells up at his fly shop. I also had some good luck drifting size 18 and 20 bead head pheasant tails. I actually hooked a nice fat rainbow that swam directly at me and jumped over my right shoulder (nearly took my head off).

I've been doing a lot of fishing on Big Sugar Creek and have done very well around the state park access. Unfortunately, it is very hard to avoid running into the floatilla of canoes and campers on the weekend, especially on the Elk River between Pineville and Noel. If you are floating, its best to keep the float fairly short so you have time to get out and spend time fishing some of the better looking pools. I would limit my float to 6 miles per day at most. Big Sugar is running low and clear right now, but that could change if they get some rain. I would look into floating from Cyclone down to Sugar Island or to Pineville. There is some pretty good water in there with lots of downed trees, root wads, and bluffs for smallmouth to hide. Check with some of the outfitters down there for water conditions before you go so there aren't any suprises.

Hello from Carthage. I recently moved back to my home town from Fort Worth Texas. I didn't realize how much I missed the fishing around here until I moved back. I grew up here in Carthage and have spent most of my fishing days fishing for trout down at Roaring River. I've been in love with that river ever since I first picked up a fly rod. I recently started flyfishing for smallmouth bass around the Pineville area and I must say that I wish I would have tried for smallies a lot sooner. I think my favorite smallmouth stream right now is Indian Creek. Can't wait to get back down there and maybe float it from Anderson down to the Elk River. Anyways, thanks for having me.