Another Ohio trout stream is one of its oldest, though few anglers know about it. The Mad River, a spring creek, flows from north of West Liberty down through Springfield in eastern Ohio. It has provided excellent trout fishing for many years.

It received its first stocking of brook trout in the late-1800s and was stocked with rainbows beginning in 1884. The Division of Wildlife started its own program in 1931 and continued adding rainbows until 1984, when it turned to stocking only brown trout. The Division annually stocks 10,000 to 15,000 browns in the 6- to 8-inch range. Some of the Mad River browns have grown huge. Such fish don't come easy, though.

Like the Clear Fork, the Mad starts as a shallow, brawling stream. Its beginning north of the town of West Liberty, is a fine place to fish. Fly shops carry maps of the river and can pinpoint places to drift a fly. As usual, gaining landowner permission is the best way to access the water. The fishing can be good in this stretch of winding, swirling, pool-and-riffle broken water.

The Mad River has sustained trout for 100 years, but the Clear Fork of the Mohican River (above) is one of Ohio's newest trout waters with healthy populations of stocked brown and rainbow trout and predictable hatches.

During one visit to this northern section of the Mad, I landed nearly 30 brown trout in an afternoon. Most of them were 6- to 8-inch fish that chased a Hare's Ear like half-starved puppies, but a streamer produced several 10- to 11-inch trout, which made for a good day by Ohio standards.

Below West Liberty, the Mad runs straight in many areas, often with high banks and some evidence of channelization. Those banks are often brushy, with farm fields reaching almost to the shoreline brush. The stream there averages about 30 to 40 feet in width and has a modest number of pools and riffles, but many more of the long, smooth runs that browns favor for feeding. Like the Clear Fork, there's plenty for the trout to eat.

Farm runoff also makes the Mad fertile. Veteran anglers like Ron Thompson of Shelby, who's fished the river since the late 1960s, favors caddis imitations over other offerings. "The Mad is full of caddisflies," he says, "so many that I seldom use anything else. Anything that matches a caddis, or for that matter, any small brown nondescript fly, will take fish."

The river's primary mayfly hatches include Hendricksons and Blue-winged Olives in early spring (BWOs reappear in September and continue into November); Sulphurs, Light Cahills, March Browns, Little Dark Olives, and Brown Drakes in summer; and Tricos starting in July and continuing into winter. There are also terrestrials, minnows, and a few crayfish. Streamers work well, especially for large browns.

Some of the best places to try this river are along Pimtown Road south of West Liberty and where Route 29 crosses the river near Urbana. Both areas have public access. Otherwise, choose any road that crosses the river and ask the landowners for permission to fish.

Fishing at night provides an opportunity to catch trophy browns. As in other places, the large fish tend to feed after dark, and any pool that's deep and has a little brush or a downed log for a hiding place could hold a lunker. Night fishing is tough and tricky. Work the water during the day until you become familiar with it before trying an after-dark venture. A large (#10 to #12) surface offering or a #10 or #12 streamer worked in the gloaming can produce serious browns. It's worth trying.

Brian Flechsig of Mad River Outfitters has written a book, Fly Fisher's Guide to the Mad River, that incudes stream information, maps, hatch charts, and more. His shop is located between the Clear Fork and the Mad in Columbus, and he can help you get started on both rivers.

OTHER WATERS
The Clear Fork and the Mad are Ohio's two major trout streams, but it's worth mentioning that a few Lake Erie tributaries produce dandy steelhead from late fall to mid-March. Big trout of six to over ten pounds turn up in the Chagrin River, Rocky Fork, Conneaut Creek, Vermilion River, and other streams on both sides of Cleveland. Fly fishers do well with yarn flies and other standard steelhead patterns.

For information on Ohio's streams or stream maps, write to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Fish Management Section, 912 Portage Lakes Drive, Akron, OH 44319. Ask for Publication 34, Trout Fishing in Lake Erie. Its pages have more than enough information to get you started.