Mohican State Park lures visitors with fishing, natural beauty

        Wading into Ohio streams is a pretty standard and much-anticipated endeavor for eager Ohio anglers in spring.
        Walleye occupies most of the attention around here, drawing fishing enthusiasts from most of the 50 states in any given year. Yep, fishing the spring walleye spawn in the Maumee River is that good.
        Then there’s the steelhead that come up northeast Ohio streams this time of year. The Chagrin River and Conneaut Creek are among the favored destinations.
        If you want to get away from the crowds – literally thousands of anglers can line up in the Maumee between Jerome Road at Side Cut Metropark in Maumee, and Perrysburg’s Orleans Park – there’s a beautiful trout stream, one of precious few in Ohio, that flows clear, cold, and clean through one of Ohio’s most scenic areas.
        Or maybe you’re not an angler and just want to enjoy a streamside weekend in a beautiful spot. Picture a beautiful stream gurgling as it rushes over rocks while a morning mist hangs, as it often does, adding a wild, mysterious feel to the setting. It will surely bring out the photographer in you.
        Angler or not, the entire region is a popular tourism destination throughout the year. Walkers, bikers, hikers, campers, skiers, canoeists, kayakers all love the region.
        It’s centered on the Clear Fork of the Mohican River, which flows through a magnificent gorge so beautiful it’s a National Natural Landmark.
        To take full advantage of a stay in the area, consider a stay in the resort lodge in Mohican State Park, or better yet, to get the full streamside experience, rent one of the 25 remodeled state park cabins nestled at the base of the gorge right on one of the best stretches of the river to fish.
        You can rise at the break of day, put on your waders, and pick up your fly rod. You can hear the stream inside the cabin, but it’s louder when you open the door, luring you irresistibly to walk the dozen or so yards into the shallow rushing waters.
        You feel the cold water through the waders, pause to breathe the clean, heavy air and drink in the moment. And then you start casting into the cold, transparent waters, the stream’s bottom of well-worn stones dappled in the refracted light of the morning.
        For a fly-fisherman it really doesn’t get much better than that. Not too shabby for a photographer or birder either, or even just someone interested in a quiet streamside walk.
        Above the stream are the forested walls of the gorge. Three-hundred feet deep and a thousand feet wide, it’s easy to understand its landmark status. Any doubt will be erased if you take the time – and you should -- to go up to the rim and look over and into the gorge. Wildlife loves the spot. Birds of prey – mostly red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures -- ride the thermals created by the gorge, giant ancient hemlocks crowd the stream’s shores at the base of the gorge, relics
of the much colder times that prevailed after the last glacier. In their cool shade at least five species of warblers thrive.
        The focus for best fishing is a half-mile stretch of briskly flowing stream stocked by the Ohio Division of Wildlife with brown trout that drops a full five feet over that short distance. Those who know the stream best will tell you the good fishing starts when water levels drop in March, with the best fishing in April through June, and then again in fall.
        Just the Facts
        Located near Loudonville, Ohio, Mohican State Park is 1,294 acres in the heart of Mohican Memorial State Forest, adjacent to the Muskingum Conservancy’s Pleasant Hill Park. and near Malabar Farm State Park. For park information, camping and cabin information call 419-994-4290 or visit the website at parks.ohiodnr.gov/Mohican. For the Mohican Resort Lodge, call 800-ATAPARK. The region is about a two-and-one-half hour drive from Northwest Ohio.