Did some camping/fishing in Joe's Valley this weekend. Fished the reservoir and caught some fun Splake. Right now they are in close to the shore. Fly of choice - wooly bugger.
Fun to do some lake fishing with the fly rod, and just did it from shore with my wife. With water levels I found plenty of places with room to back cast. Seemed both afternoons the wind picked up, so morning was the best time to fish. Did have to move a couple times to find fish. Hardly saw any people. Beautiful weekend.
[signature]
Thanks for the report and photo. Colorful splake.
Joe's is a pretty place and the fish aren't bad looking either.
Most of the time there are not many people up there but with the tiger muskies growing up it is starting to get more popular. There are some large splake in there also but they are hard to find. Spring and fall are about the only time that you can pick up splake fishing from shore. Later on you need some type of watercraft to get after them.
[signature]
Beautiful splake! I have some great memories of fishing Joe's Valley over the years. Are they still operating the store up there?
[signature]
Joe's is definitely beautiful. Is the campground open or did you stay somewhere else? The reason I ask is that one year we reserved a campsite in May on reserveamerica.com, got there and the campground wasn't open.
Thanks - we didn't catch anything very big, but still a lot of fun. That was actually my first time to Joe's Valley.
On the side by the damn it looked like there was what used to be an old store of some sort, but wasn't open. There was a sign with a number out for ATV rentals.
The marina and store was not open at all. I actually noticed there was a for sale sign on it. Didn't seem like things have gotten going yet, although I don't know if they even plan on opening it.
[signature]
There were about 7 spots open, right when you first drove into the campground and to the left. There was a road to the right with more camping spots, but the gate was closed and locked. No indication of when it would re-open.
[signature]
Is there primitive camping down there at all?
[signature]
There is primitive camping in several areas , but not right at the lake. If you take the upper joes valley road (sign will say millers flat, Cleveland res, upper joes valley) There is several areas you can camp along the way. The gate about 5 miles up will probably be locked until may however. There is also some excellent primitive camping up by grassy lake and surrounding areas. (continue up the road instead of turning toward the marina and head up the switch backs) There is also several small lakes and streams in the area that can be fun to fish. I would imagine snow drifts will be gone in the next couple weeks. Very scenic area
[signature]