A Crappie Day - Eventually

November 4, 2018
Updated Jan, 2023

Location: Clouds Creek, South Carolina.

    This out of the way spot was once the location for Hares Mill; the marker seen above notes the spot.
    This was a grain grinding mill, or a "grist mill" as they're called, where locals would bring their grain to be ground into meal or flour. 

    They were very common in these parts at one time, and wherever you go you see roads and ponds named after them.

    Local farmers would pay a small fee to have their family's meal ground for them. Or, if they had a surplus, they kept what grain they needed and sold the rest to the miller, himself a jobber for larger commercial mills.

    These grist mills were always on creeks, with a dam built to create a mill pond which in turn supplied the waterwheel that made the whole thing work.

    In a time when most people lived and died within 25 miles of their birthplace, the local mill was a landmark for those who lived nearby, or for those passing through. 

The Dam Remnants
In the next two fotos you can see the remains of the Hares Mill dam that once spanned the creek. 

Foto # 1

    The foto above shows what local anglers today call, "The Wall."

Today, Clouds Creek is just a flooded, sleepy backwater arm of the massive Lake Murray reservoir. A bridge crosses the water where the creek once ran, with nothing to indicate that a creek ever flowed here.
    But each year the water is drawn down in winter, and if it is taken down far enough, you can see portions of the Mill dam wall jutting out from the bridge embankment.
    The wall heads across toward the opposite shore, with an abrupt cut to the left out at the end.
This is the area you see covered by water.

    The yellow floats are part of a retaining enclosure installed while bridge work was being done.

Foto #2

    Here, we are on the other side, looking at the dams base footing as it extends back across towards the bridge embankment and the far side of The Wall.
The footing was once a natural rock outcropping, with a stone and concrete extension added to support the water wheel.
    If you look closely in the middle of the foto, youll see a rectangular slot in the dam wall. This is where the water wheel was placed.

    The lake water level shown is about 5 feet down, exposing both sides of The Wall. When water levels return to normal, this will all be under murky lake water. 

    These submerged portions of the dam are normally a few feet underwater. For boaters wanting to go further up the creek, this section is the safest way to pass through when the water comes back up. 

    Unfortunately, many unwary boaters have piled up on this old dam footing, because they didn't know the Wall was there.... or where to safely pass.  

    Looking back up the creek beyond The Wall, we see what would have been the mill pond back in the day.
    You can see how low the water is - all the area to the left is normally submerged. It has had several months to grow some green ground cover, which will soon be back under water.
    Further on, beyond the bend in the distance, is an area that widens out into a shallow bog lake when the water is high. Known as "Lost Lake," this is where the bass guys want to go... if they don't run aground on The Wall, first!

    Standing on the bridge and looking "downstream" beyond The Wall, we see the upper end of Clouds Creek.
    In the pic, you see The Wall jutting out from the left shore, with a small outcropping just beyond the end. Here again, we see the angular raceway between them where the waterwheel once turned.
    
Fishing At The Wall
    When I first moved up here, this was my primary fishing ground. It was about 10 minutes from my front door, and I've fished here many times. I've since moved from that home, but I still come here often. 
    This spot even offers a primitive launch site for kayaks or canoes, which I used a lot back in the day. 
    Did I say, "primitive?"
    It's really just a sloping rock-and-dirt bank; don't back too far down it, or you might not make it back up. It is deceptive in that it looks like you can make it - but I've seen vehicles slide into the lake here, after making that mistake.
    If you want to get to the waters edge with a boat, I suggest a kayak on a dolly, or a portaged canoe.
WORD OF WARNING: Dont try to launch anything bigger here! 

 
    The fishing this day was troublesome. The entire time I was at Hares Mill, *something* was tearing up the pond's surface around the The Wall. I could tell baitfish were the quarry, as they were leaping from the water all around, with some sort of predatory fish in hot pursuit.
    But what were these fish?
    Sometimes they were rightnear the shore, chasing almost onto the muddy bank. At other times, they were "kersplooshing" and "wholloping" out in the middle. 

    It was exciting - and exasperating... because nothing I did tempted them into biting. I didn't know what they were, and I couldn't find out! 

    I was spin fishing, because I left the house without my fly fishing kit. I keep a fly rod in the truck, along with my fly wallet, but I discovered everything else was back at home.
    So I was fishing my ultra light spin rig, and getting nowhere, when it hit me:

    "Hey, dummy! You can use the 6# line from the U/L rig as tippet! And because the water is low, all the shoreline is wide open, and ideal for fly casting. Yeah that'll work!" 
(Usually, the woods along the shore make fly casting at this site a pain in the butt. 
You'd think I woulda figured this out right away, right? 
I'm a pretty nice guy, but sometimes I'm a little slow...)  

    Anyway, once I got rigged up, I started with a floating bug... not a baitfish imitator. As you might expect, the surface bug was ignored by the fish. Like I said, I'm a little slow at times.
    So without much further ado, I went straight to my trusty, "Super Fat Nymph." When all else fails, the Super Fat is my go-to.

    And finally I discovered what was causing all the ruckus at the mill - CRAPPIE!
    This time of year they leave the main lake and come way up in these creek arms to feed on baitfish staging in these backwaters.
The water is somewhat warmer here, and they can feed up in preparation for the breeding that will soon commence.
    After just a couple casts, I hooked up with one of these white crappie, and the mystery was solved.

    I should also say that this is the first crappie I've ever caught on the fly rod, and one of only 5 I've caught in my entire life.
    This backwater pattern will be prevalent right through winter, as far as I know, provided you are able to fish after 3 or 4 warm days have come through.  

    Things ended up not-too-bad, in the end. I would have liked to catch a few more crappie, but I lost the Super Fat Nymph to a rock, and couldn't get another bite on any other offering.
    Regardless, Hares Mill pond still makes me glad to visit, every time.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed it, and learned something.
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Tight Lines,

David

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