Looking for a challenge? This place will certainly
challenge you. If you're taking a trip to Montauk
or the Current River and are looking for a side
trip, run over and check this place out. It's a charming little creek that just may cause you
to pull your hair out!
Take Highway 19 South from Salem, turn left on Hwy A and keep left. You'll drive
into, then out of, and then back into the Sunklands Conservation Area. You'll cross
Barren Fork once before you reach the fishable water. If you peek down into the creek
as you drive over it, you might just turn around before you get there, because it is
just a bit above a trickle -- if there's any water there at all. Keep going until you
see the turn off for Twin Springs. Pull in and park. The trout-holding portion of the
creek extends all the way to Sinking Creek, but the accessible area of the trout waters
only extend downstream from the springs for about a mile -- the boundary of the Sunklands
Conservation Area. If you can make it through the brush, walk down the to the boundary
and work your way back up to the spring.
These trout are very spooky, and there are not a huge number of them. But, if you
can approach quietly and make a good presentation without hooking a tree or a
bush or yourself, you'll find that these fish are not too picky about the fly. The
only rule of thumb is to fish fairly small on nymphs and fairly large on dries. At
times, ant patterns can also tear them up.
FYI: Sinking Creek is an outstanding smallmouth bass creek, so you might bring some
big wooly buggers, just in case you get bored looking for that wild rainbow.
