North fork of Elkhorn Creek.
I had to take the GF to visit her parents, who live near Georgetown, the other day. I was curious about Elkhorn Creek as I've heard and read so much about the great fishing to be had in it. So, we decided to go to her parents' house via Newtown Pike, which crosses over the North Fork of the creek. There's a spot to pull off near the bridge. We stopped and I grabbed my minnow trap and headed under the bridge. I put the trap in the pool there and kind of investigated the creek for a few minutes. I took the GF to her parents' house and pretty much dropped her off after the obligatory fraternizing with her Dad. I went back to the creek to check it out.
This portion of the creek is pretty shallow with few deep pools. About 50 yards above the bridge is a dam which apparently backs the creek up for half a mile or so. I don't know if there is access above the dam, but I bet there is somewhere. And I bet there is good fishing to be had in that impoundment.
Anyhow, I started fishing the pools below the bridge, just to see what's there. In probably an hour of fishing, I caught a couple of rock bass, numerous green sunfish, 3 smallmouths, a couple of bluegills, and a couple of long eared sunfish. None of the fish were very large, but they're certainly fun to catch. Easy to catch, too! It didn't seem like they had ever seen a lure because they were so willing to bite.
After fishing for a while, I decided to just observe the creek for a bit. After having investigated it more thoroughly, I came to the conclusion that it's the healthiest creek I've ever seen (and I've been knee deep in creeks for most of my life). There were tons of different species of minnows, and at least a couple of species of darters, which were abundant in the shallower riffles. The presence of darters, especially in such large quantities, is a definite sign of a healthy creek, especially since it has been so hot and dry lately.
In the deeper pools, there were gobs, wads and scads of mussel shells. They literally covered to bottom in some places. Most of them were Asiatic clams ([URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbicula_fluminea[/URL]), but there were a number of larger native mussel shells, too. After having noticed this, I started looking for some live native mussels. I was greatly successful in this endeavor! In about 15 minutes, I had found at least 20 live, large, native mussels of at least 3 different species! Of course, I didn't keep any of them or disturb them more than just picking them up out of the water and checking them out for a minute. (Note that most native mussels are highly endangered and protected by law from harvest. NEVER keep or harm any native mussels!) Large numbers of native mussels are another indicator of the health of a creek, and this portion of the creek was loaded with them!
I finally had suffered enough mosquito bites and gravel in my sneakers and decided it was time to call it quits. I checked my minnow trap--it was empty! I don't understand why, though. There were LOTS of minnows in the pool where I put it and I had put two slices of bread in it. Maybe they're just wise to the ways of minnow traps.
After having had a look at that part of the creek, with its tremendous biodiversity and having seen how healthy and clean it is, I can understand why the lower reaches are so productive and why there are so many good fish in it. Truly a beautiful and healthy creek!
Here's a link to the mussels in Kentucky if anybody is interested: [url]http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/kfwis/speciesInfo/speciesList.asp?strGroup=16&strSort1=Class&strSort2=CommonName[/url]
Still trying to figure out
Still trying to figure out if I missed a dam. I just Google mapped this. There is a dam at the end of Robinson Lane which is now called Elkview Road off of US 460 west of Great Crossings. There is a dam on 227N towards Stamping Ground. There is a dam off of US 25N across from Cardome.
Where is 4th dam to which you referred? I thought it was upstream from the 460/Arbys' ramp and one could travel from there downstream to the Cardome ramp with no dams. I have a childhood memory of a dam slightly upstream from the Arbys. They used to rent row boats from there.
I finally danced through all the hoops and got my registration so God willing and the creek don't rise I am going to put in there and find out first hand.
