Afternoon At McClellan's by John Berry Yesterday it was sunny and 51 degrees with no wind. I called the dam and learned that the White was off and the Norfork had been shut down for two minutes. I invited Lori to go fishing with me but she had a sinus infection and was not up to it. I called George Peters and reached him in an Orange County California courtroom waiting for a judge. He said he would love to go but it would be a while. I decided to go to by myself. I loaded the mighty Volvo and headed for McClellan’s. This is not Lori’s favorite spot, but it is mine.  Over the years, I have caught more good fish here than any where else. I stopped by the office to put my three bucks in the box and headed over to the pasture. There was a father and son there that had spent the morning at Dry Run Creek. It was Dad’s turn now and they were going to fish the water above Otter creek from a canoe. I hurriedly donned my waders and grabbed my rod. As I started walking into the catch and release area, I stopped to light a cigar and noted that I was the only person there. I walked down to one of my favorite runs and began nymphing. I started with a Y2K because that was the fly I still had on from my last fishing excursion. On the third cast I caught a seventeen inch rainbow. It put up a great fight. In fact, I had to move into quieter water in order to land it. I caught a couple of nice fish before the Y2K stopped working. I tried several different flies and pumped the stomachs of several fish before I zeroed in on a size eighteen olive scud. It started producing immediately and over the next couple of hours I caught and released several nice fish. I wanted to catch something a little bigger. I decided to walk further down stream to try another spot where I had caught a number of large trout over the years. I was concerned because this hole was pretty far from the access. If the water came up, there was no one to warn me.  I would not detect the rising water until it reached me. Since I had gone down stream, I would have to fight the current all the way out. I hooked and landed a fat fifteen inch rainbow on the first cast. I quickly released it and cast again this time catching an eighteen inch rainbow. I stayed there for an hour and caught maybe a dozen fine fish. I looked at my watch and figured I had thirty minutes of daylight left. I decided it was time to start fishing my way out. I walked up to my original run. It had been thoroughly rested. I caught a couple of nice fish and then I hooked a monster. This bad boy took off and put me into the backing immediately. I came out of the run and started following him down stream quickly cranking in line as I went. He took several long runs before I finally landed him. It was a stout twenty-two inch male rainbow that was vividly colored and had full fins. As I was gently lifting him from the water, I noticed he had a tag. I was trying to read it when he struggled free and escaped to the river taking my fly with him. I walked back up to the run and as I was preparing to tie on a new tippet and fly, I detected a difference in the sound of the water. It was coming up! I cranked in my line as fast as I could. I pulled out my folstaff and started wading across. The water was coming up fast but I carefully made it to the bank (the one my car was on) and started working my way up to the access. I picked up the pace. I knew that I had to get to Otter Creek quickly or it would be impassable and I would have to detour far out of my way to safely cross. When I arrived, the creek looked pretty deep but I thought I could make it. I zipped up all the pockets on my vest and started carefully wading across to the pasture. When I was about two thirds across, I realized that the water was a little deeper than I thought. I started wading on my tip toes. I held the lower pockets of my vest as high as I could in an attempt to keep my fly boxes dry. I looked down and saw that I only had one inch of freeboard on my waders. I kept plodding across. I finally reached shallower water. I walked out and breathed a sigh of relief. The only thing that got wet was the pair of gloves in my wader hand warmer pockets. I stowed my gear and loaded my car. On the way home, I reviewed the days fishing, the fish I landed, and the wade at the end. It was an exciting and productive day. I remembered why McClellan’s is my favorite place to fish   Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.