Clear Creek originates in eastern Chautauqua County, just west of Boutwell Hill State Forest, and flows for about 15 miles before joining Conewango Creek in western Cattaraugus County. The first 4 miles of the stream are rather small, but by the time it reaches the Cockaigne ski area, it has developed into one of the best trout streams in western New York. All of the stream from Cockaigne down to its junction with Conewango Creek is classified as wild-premier.

This jewel of a stream ranges from 10 to 20 feet in width and has a cobble, gravel, and sand bottom. Flowing primarily through farmland, the stream's narrow riparian corridor provides a good amount of large woody debris (LWD), which is ideal protective habitat for adult trout. Bank cover is generally intermittent due to the poor stability of the stream banks (due to the stream's generally high gradient upstream of Route 62 and occasional high flows), but despite this problem, Clear Creek flows cool and clear, making it fishable for wild trout all year. Even in July and August, water temperatures in this stream seldom exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's usually much cooler.

Anglers should be aware of two "problems" with this stream. While many anglers considers these to be problems, I think they just make the stream more interesting. The first is the tendency of its pools to be reconfigured or relocated because of occasional high flows coupled with the stream's generally high gradient and bottom of loose gravel and sand. Because of this, you can't count on last year's honey holes to be productive locations.

The second "problem" is the fact that a long section of the stream between Ellington and the county line goes almost dry during a dry summer; the extent of this section depends on how droughty the summer is. The stream doesn’t go completely dry, but the surface flow becomes very thin, and often only the deeper depressions in the stream bed have some water in them, forming large, deep pools (see photos). Obviously, this section doesn't hold the numbers of fish the rest of the stream does, but some trout manage to survive here. Because the flow between the pools is subsurface, the water in the pools is quite cold, enabling a few fish to survive until the surface flow returns later in the year. As for where this drier section is, it is not a dramatic situation where the creek completely disappears by a certain point and then reappears at a single spot further downstream, such as occurs on Oatka Creek in Genesee County. DEC biologist Scott Cornett informed me that the stream begins to lose flow just below the town of Ellington. During dry summers, the flow becomes intermittent by about a quarter mile downstream of the Route 62 crossing just east of Ellington. The flow remains intermittent until a short distance downstream of Leach Hill Road, where its volume begins to increase, and the stream is fully flowing again by about halfway between Leach Hill Road and the Waterboro Hill Road crossing at the county line. 

Trout stocking in Clear Creek was discontinued in 2006 after surveys in 2000 and 2005 showed that the stream had an abundant population of wild brown trout, which are present in high numbers throughout Clear Creek (see DEC Technical Brief under Links). Based on the results of trout population surveys of Clear Creek performed by the DEC in 2021, the wild brown trout population ranged from 737 fish per mile at the Chautauqua County/Cattaraugus County line to an amazing 1,494 fish per mile near Wade Hill Road. Of course, many of these were small fish, but a good number of fish measuring 12 to 21 inches were captured during the surveys (see photos).  

In addition to harboring wild brown trout, Clear Creek is also one of only two streams in New York's portion of the Allegheny River watershed that harbor wild rainbow trout (the other stream is Fenton Brook). The DEC first encountered rainbows in Clear Creek in 2005, and their numbers have remained low but consistent. The origin of these fish is unknown, but the DEC, which has never stocked rainbows here, suspects that anglers illegally put rainbow trout in the stream. 

The whole stream, including the lower end, is categorized as wild-premier because in a wet summer there probably is flow through the whole section, along with more trout. In addition, as Scott Cornett explained to me, it is simpler to include the lower section under the wild-premier designation and set of rules than having several different categorizations and regulations for various parts of the stream. 

To facilitate public access to Clear Creek, the DEC has purchased 10.4 miles of public fishing right easements and three angler parking areas on this stream, meaning that the public has access to fish virtually all of the wild-premier section of Clear Creek. (The map pin is located on the most downstream DEC parking area.)

For additional information on this remarkable stream, see Scott Cornett's article under Links. Scott is DEC Region 9's coldwater fisheries biologist and a very skilled fly fisherman.

Note: Some maps, including USGS topographic maps (Kennedy quadrangle) and Google Maps (but oddly, not Bing Maps), identify much of Clear Creek as Twentyeighth Creek. However, the DEC considers Twentyeighth Creek to be a tributary of Clear Creek, not the other way around, as can be seen on Maps 1 and 2 of the DEC brochure under Links. Twentyeighth Creek is the stream that joins with Clear Creek about 550 feet west of Wade Hill Road (see PFR Map 2).

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Links to associated resources (the Allegheny River, Boutwell Hill State Forest, Conewango Creek - Dredged Ditch Section, and the Lower Section of Oatka Creek) will be added soon.