# Little Bear River



## dunn_gary (Sep 11, 2007)

Sorry, no pics, but the fish we have caught just haven't been pic worthy.

Now for the report. There is a spot on the Little Bear, North of Wellsville that I like to fish early in the season. The problem with it is that when the water level goes down the fish are mushy and taste like moss. So it isn't going to be good much longer, unless you are soley a C & R person, or like to catch carp for fun (or food, if that's your bag). 

Between my son and I we have fished it four times this year. Me twice alone, and twice with my son. We go for dinner, and besides, I have never had luck on that stretch of river using spinners, and it's extremely tough to fly fish because of all the trees lining the river, I mean tons of trees practically shading the entire river. So, 1/2 of a night crawler below a split shot is the weapon of choice!

The two times my son and I went, we caught 25-35 fish. Browns mostly, with a rainbow or two and some carp in the mix. The carp range from about 3-8 pounds, the trout have been mostly on the small size between 8-12 inches. The largest have been maybe 15, and that's been only one or two. One time by myself, I only caught three, but the last time, last Friday, I caught 19 fish: 16 browns (the smallest, and I don't know how I caught it, was 4"), one perch, one blue gill, and one carp (4-5 pounds). I hardly ever bring a scale or tape with me when I fish the river, so I can only guesstimate on size. But having fished for over 50 years, I think I can judge fairly close. :mrgreen: You know, 18" in the water, 14" in the net, 12 inches next to the tape!  

All in all, some good fishing. Especially since the ice fishing was mostly a bust this winter, and the three times I've been out in my boat, twice on Hyrum and once on Willard, have been a bust as well. :evil: 

I may try and go out Wed. morning for a little while on Hyrum, but Thurs-through Sat, I'll be camping with the Young Women, as my wife roped me into being the priesthood leader for the camp (she's in the YM presidency). We are headed up to Oneida. I'm not sure if it's the dam, or the narrows. They want me to bring my boat, but if it's the narrows, hmmmmm.

Tight lines ya'll!


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Hit that same area come the Bird hunt time and tell me what you catch. You probably already have. Amazing what lives in the upper reaches of Cutler that you don't see until that 2 weeks or so time frame.


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

My grandfather taught me how to river fish in general, and spinner fish in particular, on the Oneida Narrows. I love that place. One of these days I am going to have to make a trip up that way and see if I can still catch fish out of there like he taught me. It is also where I taught myself to fly fish and my grandfather used to tease me about my "fairy wand". :mrgreen: 

I only fished the reservoir a few times and it seems like the only thing I could catch were broomstick walleye on red and white streamer flies from the shore. Never tried it in a boat.

Good luck whichever way you go, and if you don't already know it, that dam is a hydro-electric and the water fluctuates 6-10 feet between high and low release. So make sure the girls know about it and keep an eye on it and each other. I got caught in a bad place fighting a HUGE brown trout in there one time and ended up having to swim for it as the gravel bar I was on had a three foot channel either side of it, and by the time I landed the fish, the water was thigh deep on the bar, which made it over 5 feet each side. :shock: 
Happily I was not wearing waders so all it meant was getting my shorts and tanktop a bit wetter that I had originally planned. :wink:

On the plus side, that river is great for tubing and rafting when the level is up. Just got to watch out for those rocks when you are kneeling on the thin fabric of the bottom of the raft, MAN THAT HURTS! :wink:


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