Location: Cline Ranch State Wildlife Area

Time: 2:45PM – 3:30PM

I abandoned my efforts on the Arkansas River and decided to visit the Cline Ranch State Wildlife Area on my return trip. The area is right off of US 285 and along my return drive, and I pass it quite often. I was curious to scout out the area. I pulled into the tight two-track lane and after a short drive arrived at a parking area. There were four designated parking spaces, and each displayed a sign assigning a fishing beat. I was the only car there, so I’m sure I could have parked in any space and fished in any beat, but I chose to park in the beat 2 space.

I was still wearing my waders, so it did not take long to prepare to fish, although I packed away my five weight, and this caused me to have to assemble my Sage four weight. I used the narrow opening to circumnavigate the gate that blocked the continuation of the two-track lane, and I was confronted with a sign pointing to the left for beat one and right for beats 2-4. I chose right, since I was parked in the beat 2 slot, and I was new to the Cline Ranch experience.

I hiked down the lane for .4 mile or so, and I began to wonder how far it was to beat 2. After all, I was only planning an hour or so to sample the new area. Another sign pointed me farther along the two-track to beats 2-4, so I decided to just cut across to the stream. Shortly after beginning my unsigned detour, I found a fisherman access sign and followed a trench-like path to the creek. Actually I first hit a braid off the main steam, and I followed that for a bit, until I realized that it was not the main branch.

Eventually I arrived at an area littered with small beaver ponds. I do not like beaver ponds. Some beaver ponds contain large fish and some contain stunted fish and some are barren of fish altogether. I had no knowledge regarding these ponds, so I decided to skip around them in search of a moving creek.

Before long I found such a segment, and I prospected it with a Chernobyl ant trailing a beadhead hares ear nymph. I managed to momentarily hook a tiny brown trout, but that was the only fish I saw. The moving water section was very short, and then I encountered another series of beaver ponds. The other reasons I hate beaver ponds is because of all the trenches, holes and tunnels along with the mucky bottoms. These features make fishing beaver ponds very dangerous for a 75 year old angler.

I was not impressed with the Cline Ranch area, so I bushwhacked my way back to the lane and returned to the parking lot. The lane was littered with deer and elk waste, so apparently the local herds love Cline Ranch.

As I was removing my waders, a Tesla arrived on the other side of the gate. An older gentleman emerged and opened the gate and drove through and then closed the gate again. I chatted briefly with him, and he said beats 2-4 were 1.5 miles up the two-track lane. He also said that the entire area is filled with beaver ponds, although in normal years snow melt breaks things and converts the area into more normal stream fishing. Because of the low snowpack that is unlikely to happen in 2026. I crossed Cline Ranch off my list of small streams to try on future trips.

Fish Landed: 0