Fly Fishing Ohio's Clear Fork of the Mohican River

The state of Ohio has only two major trout-rich watersheds. Some of you may be familiar with the Mad River, a well-regarded tailwater stream located in the center-west of the state. I, however, chose to fish the Clear Fork of the Mohican River during my time out in the land of the Buckeyes. My family relocated to Ohio a few years ago, leaving the rolling mountains of eastern Pennsylvania for the flat farmland of south-central Ohio. Luckily, the Clear Fork maintains a decent trout fishery. So I took advantage of the proximity, and drove the 8o miles with my sister Jenna.

Jenna and I spent a considerable amount of time searching for a spot not overrun with people. These visitors weren't fishermen, however. Instead, they were tourists from Cleveland and Columbus (Mohican State Park sits conveniently between the two cities). In almost every river pool, children splashed and dogs swam. Because the river is overrun with campgrounds, canoes, tubes, and kayaks drifted by at a constant pace. Eventually, we ended up at a stretch of the river dotted with tall sycamore trees and teasel flowers. At this spot, a tributary stream dumped cool water into the main river. Situated at the confluence of the tributary was a small whirlpool. It took a few minutes, but I noticed a number of trout feeding in this pool. I drifted them some inch worms and wet ants. Three stocked browns pounced on the terrestrials. Two of them were around 15 inches. Solid fish. These Ohio fish brought my yearly state total up to 7.

Both my sister and I forgot our digital cameras. We had to use my BlackBerry, but I think the images Jenna took came out relatively well.

Image #1 - Clear Fork of the Mohican River
Image #2 - Nice brown trout

Overall Total: 104

River Breakdown:

Teetertown Brook - 18 (18 Wild Brook)
Raritan River, South Branch - 12 (8 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Brown)
Marshalls Creek - 8 (8 Wild Brook)
Swift River - 6 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Brook)
Elk Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Elk River - 5 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Penns Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Spring Creek - 5 (4 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 4 (4 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (2 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Rockaway Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 3 (2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brown)
Clear Fork of the Mohican River - 3 (3 Stocked Brown Trout)
Fishing Creek - 3 (3 Wild Brown)
Lost Cove Creek - 3 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook)
Brodhead Creek - 2 (1 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Brown)
Hickory Run - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Little Brook - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Roaring Run - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Big Gunpowder Falls River - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Little Glade Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mud Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Poplar Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Schooley's Mountain Brook - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Trout Brook - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
White Deer Creek - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)


Species Breakdown:

Brook Trout - 43
Wild - 38
Stocked - 5

Brown Trout - 34
Wild - 23
Stocked - 11

Rainbow Trout - 27
Stocked - 21
Wild - 6


Wild Trout - 67
Stocked Trout - 37


Trout 15+ Inches: 10


Fly Breakdown:
Olive Wooly Bugger, size 14 - 23 (22 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bead-head Pheasant Tail Nymph, size 14 - 10 (8 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown)
Green Weenie, size 12 - 6 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Brook)
Tan Caddis, size 14 - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Green Weenie, size 14 - 4 (2 Stocked Brown, 2 Wild Rainbow)
Sulphur dun, size 16 - 4 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Copper John Nymph, size 16 - 3 (3 Wild Brook)
Black Caddis, size 14 - 3 (2 Wild Brown, 1 Stocked Brown)
Gummy Stonefly, size 14 - 3 (2 Wild Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Black Stonefly Nymph, size 10 - 2 (1 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Brown Stonefly nymph, size 10 - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Green Weenie, size 14 - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Bead-head Hare's Ear Nymph, size 14 - 1 (1 Stocked Rainbow)
Brown Wooly Bugger, size 14 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Blue Quill, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Blue Winged Olive, size 18 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Golden Stonefly, size 8 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Light Cahill, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Scud, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Sulphur dun, size 14 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Wet Ant, size 14 - 1 (1 Stockes Brown)


Angling Breakdown:

Fly Fishing Rod - 75 (26 Wild Brook, 16 Stocked Rainbow, 15 Wild Brown, 9 Stocked Brown, 6 Wild Rainbow, 3 Stocked Brook)
Spinning Rod - 29 (12 Wild Brook, 8 Wild Brown, 5 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Brown)


State Breakdown:
New Jersey - 48
Pennsylvania - 35
North Carolina - 9
Massachusetts - 6
Ohio - 3
Virginia - 2
Maryland - 1