We saw a post on Instagram and decided it was worth driving over and taking a look at. It’s a curious thing how one picture can get your mind turning, maps pulled out and plans laid.
With this being a fishing blog, and a stream fishing blog in particular, we wanted to see if the creek was viable for us to fish over a week long camping trip. So that also entails checking out the camping opportinities, which we did. There are approximately 16 campsites at this Recreation Area and a few more scattered out on the drive in. There is no water other than the creek and a single vault toilet, so the accomodations are pretty Spartan.
Once camp was set up and we were satisfied, we donned our wading gear and headed to the creek.
We fished for about an hour with nothing to show for it. The water temperature was 51F according to my thermometer, and we were glad we decided to bring the waders. It’s probably still just a bit early.
Later in the afternoon after lunch, we decided to explore further upstream. The trail we followed was sparse at best so we opted to bushwhack down hill and just follow the creek. If I was a betting man, I’d say this was prime Copperhead territory so our eyes were peeled and we left Zip back at camp. Boulder hopping quickly became the norm as we made progress along the creek bank.
We ended up only catching 3 fingerling Ouachita-strain Smallmouth Bass so we didn’t get skunked. I do wonder about the viability of this stream in the summer months. I don’t know enough about it yet to determine if it’s spring fed or relies on a rainwater runoff or a combination of the two. We had A LOT of fun and the scenery was spectacular. The 500 mile drive was worth it!
Jeeps of all sorts seemed wildly popular and we received some strange looks in our Subaru, but there were some similar vehicles to ours and we didn’t encounter anything that required 4WD. Not knocking Jeeps so calm down lol. The Subi is capable, within limits of course, but it has a 400-425 mile range which is what we like the most and it hauls everything we need.
Richland Creek is definitely going in the fishing journal. Hopefully we can make it back that way come summer. It certainly has potential.
Thanks for reading and we’ll see you again soon!
Velox Seeker 