The West Fork of Clear Creek

If circumstances ever find you in the vicinity of Buffalo, WY, and you’ve got a hankerin’ for some trout fishin’, you may want to drive west a dozen miles or so to the Middle Fork of Clear Creek. About a quarter mile off Hwy 16 there is a campground next to the creek, where one can, with a little effort, catch some nice 10-12 inch trout. The fly of choice on this expedition was the famous Bead Head Prince Nymph. A strike indicator on a 5x tippet, made fly-fishing much like bait fishing, every time I presented the nymph, I caught a fish. But like other small streams, only one fish per pool, after that, the pool would have to rest until the fish forgot one of their buddies had just splashed around crazy out of control. Before long, the challenge was gone, so I looked for some other water. Now, here is a secret, Across the highway from the campground is a private lodge known as “ The Pines”; this property is on Forest Service land, and one can drive past the buildings to the corrals, park and walk a short distance to trail number 107. The trail parallels the creek through some willows and meadows for a ways before dropping through a boulder-lined canyon. A piece of advice, the best fishing is on the first half-mile. I hiked a couple miles through the canyon and into more meadows, but the water was moving much to fast to be easy fishing. Back at the upstream willows there are a couple nice pools that each produced a half-dozen or so 12-14 inch rainbows in a couple hours of fishing on a fine June morning.