Outdoors: Clarks Creek a tranquil place to fish
Ask any angler where his favorite fishing hole is and he or she may balk, as though it is some big secret. If it is some private farm pond or stream, I can understand, but if it is a stream or lake open to public fishing – come on!
The Pennsylvania Fish Commission goes far to advertise and provide information on fishing spots all across the state. If you are a trout fisherman, like me, the places to find fish are well-known.
There is one place I think of as one of my “secret” places. Only problem is that it is a well-known trout stream that is only a few miles from a spreading metropolis – Harrisburg.
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Clarks Creek, located in Dauphin County, is an absolute beauty of a stream tucked between Second Mountain and Peters Mountain, just north of the town of Dauphin. The stretch our gang always fished is a 2.4-mile stretch for catch and release, fly-fishing-only, at runs through State Game Lands 211.
Clarks has its beginnings in the norther part of Clarks Valley and flows approximately 24 miles southwest emptying into the Susquehanna River at Dauphin. The fly stretch begins some distance below the DeHart Reservoir, part of Harrisburg’s water system. A bottom release from the DeHart dam helps supply a large portion of the lower creek with cold water making it a good trout fishery.
I say “good” because, as some experts say, acid rain has taken its toll. We have found that when fished in early season, fishing can be pretty good. Tuesday morning, a buddy and I tried some late summer fishing on Clarks. There were still fish available, but a rain storm kept them safe from our flies.
The past spring we caught some beautiful brook trout, bright in color and of 12 to 14 inches and full of fight. The stream, both open and regulated water, gets some heavy stocking in-season and there are always known to be a few holdover fish. My friend can attest to a 20-inch brown he caught there earlier this year.
On our Tuesday venture, I caught a 12-13 inch brookie, but was not able to raise another fish, even though we could see them in the stream. There are all kinds of theories about fishing in the rain. But if you ask us, it doesn’t work.
That one fish allowed me to christen a new graphite fly rod. My friend was trying to catch the first fish in a neat little seven-foot bamboo he recently assembled from some blanks he said he bought years ago. He will have to try another day.
Even though fishing was not that great, Clarks Creek’s setting is ideal. Articles I have read about the pressure on the stream, may be true. But, the times I fished Clarks it was the place to be – a mountain stream that winds through a mature hemlock forest – tranquil and silent.
Clarks is reached taking Rt. 322 to Rt. 225 through Dauphin to Rt.325. The creek runs along 325 for most of its length. A short distance upstream from 225 is a stretch of creek that is a fishing area reserved for children and the disabled.
Elk euthanized
The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced last week a “trophy” bull elk that wandered into a chronic-wasting management disease area south of Interstate 80 was euthanized by wildlife conservation officers to ensure that the animal would not carry the disease back I to the elk range.
The 8-by-9 point bull elk was submitted for disease testing the PGC is awaiting the results.
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The PGC says, elk normally stay north of Interstate 80, which has historically been the southern boundary of the Commonwealth’s Elk Management Area. This elk drifted south across Interstate 80 and had been seen on several occasions less than 10 miles from where the wild, free-ranging CWD-positive antlered deer was euthanized June 7 on State Game Lands 87 in Clearfield County.
This raised concern that the elk might be exposed to CWD within DMA 3 and carry it back to the elk range, where cows soon will be attracting bulls as the breeding season begins.
Bob Marchio is outdoor writer for The (Hanover) Evening Sun. He may be reached at: bmarchio@embarqmail.com.