Finally A Good Day At Crane

[TroutBum4wt]

I finally landed "A!" McCloud trout at Crane Creek, right underneath the city's park walking bridge. I drifted my line downstream and stripped in my pumpkin-colored crackleback. It was an eight-inch, give or take, colorful rainbow trout.

It wasn't an epic battle by any means, but it's my first Mcloud after several visits, lost flies, leaky waders and wounds from the landscape's thorns and rocks.

Before the city park, I fished the public area near the dairy farm. I was just upstream from the parking lot. The wind wasn't too bad down there. The water was clear and fishable. The last flash flood really did a number on the area, clearing small trees and brush away from the creek's banks.

I used a 6'6" Eagle Claw fiberglass rod and a Bass Pro Hobbs Creek reel with double taper 5 weight floating line. The outfit did really well in the windy conditions.

Cheers!

[duckydoty]

Pretty exciting feat! Congradulations!

I can't wait to go back and try it again

duckydoty

[Danoinark]

Great day for you troutbum....thanks for the report....

I am getting excited now....Dano

[MarkinKC]

Concur, nice job! My first time to write - though I joined the list a year ago. Unfortunately I haven't had much to report. With a 3-hour drive one way, trips are few and far between. Friday 1/25 marked my 2nd fishing trip to Crane. Similar experiences as TroutBum (without the fish). I spent most of the time tying on flies and trying to get my line out of the trees. I guess I need practice on close-quarters casting! Nevertheless an enjoyable experience even though I got skunked.

Shifting from skunks to otters now. As I was fishing at the CA near the dairy farm, I notice two men wading up the middle of the stream carrying buckets. It certainly appeared very strange until Kent introduced himself to me. I apologize if this has already been covered here, but Kent is aggressively trapping otters at Crane on behalf of the MDC, and gets an assist from his pal Jason. Otters consume large amounts of trout and crawfish and can decimate populations in a small stream. He takes all trapped otters by the local MDC agent's home for measuring, etc. Kent tells me he has trapped several otters at Crane already, including animals of 48 and 42lbs. Big critters. He's the nicest guy you'd ever meet, and it seems he is doing fisherpersons a big favor. Buy him a beer if you have a chance.

Thanks to all for the many tips on flies, tippet size, and strategies for fishing Crane and other area streams. I really enjoy reading about your exploits. I've only been flyfishing about 2 years or so, but I'm confident I'll break through and catch one or two. Maybe next time. Not wanting to return without a single fish on, I stopped by Hickory late afternoon and caught and released several before heading north on 71 Hwy.

[roundtrout]

Mark,

Glad to hear you got down to Crane. I've only been once and also was skunked. Sounds like some of us KC guys need to get organized and share some travel costs. That is, if work allows me the time to go. I only got out twice last year, once to BSSP and once to Hickory/Capps/Taney.

[MarkinKC]

Sounds like a great idea. I hope the folks living in the southern part of the state know how fortunate they are to be able to slip away for a couple of hours and fish. A trip requires significant planning for us.

Mark