Raystown Branch of Juniata

[AdamM]

Has anyone every fished the Raystown branch of the Juniatia for smallmouths? I have a few vacation day in about two weeks and want to do some smallie fishing. Iv driven by the river on 30 plenty of times near Bedford and Everett. It always looked good but i have never fished. it. What are some good access points that i can park and wade? i dont like just winging it and parking in some farmers field and then them getting pissed. I dont need any secret spots just looking for suggestions.

 

[Fishidiot]

The Raystown Branch has shown me some good days and I'd recommend it. It's smaller water than the main stem, with an average depth of maybe 1-2 feet. In my experience, it doesn't produce the large bass, over about 15," as consistently as the main stem but the numbers of fish are pretty good, esp if you can find a section with good cover and ledge rock and fish it under low light conditions. Based on my own rock rolling, RB seems to lack forage, at least in the areas I've fished it with very few crayfish and hellgrammites. With more forage it would be a fantastic river. It's also got a very good population of redbreast sunnies as well as some carp, rock bass, and tiger muskies. As for where to fish it, I usually fish further downstream than where you've been looking but access should be pretty good. Find a back country road with a bridge and check it out. At most of these places there is public access and the river is navigable so if you're within the high water mark you'll be fine.
Good luck.

 

[AdamM]

Thanks for the advice, what areas do you usually fish?

 

[flipnfly]

i think the smallies are from the bedford fort down through everett i cant remember how long ago but there was a write up in a magazine about the raystown branch i think it was the in- fisherman or even bass magazine goos article but ti wasnt about fly fishing


edit

i caught a 20 inch smallie above manns choice once not too far from where shawnee creek dumps in he took a sideways swimming double bunny stripped in realy slow and twitchy

 

[osprey]

From where the locals call the narrows the whole way to the lake can be great smallmouth fishing , the area around Graceville , Breezewood is my fave , the only negative thing i can think of is the current lack or dissapearence of crayfish , there is other food there so i don't think it will affect the smallmouth , the last time the crayfish suffered a downturn was when the american eel could still reach the upper part of the Raystown branch , pre Raystown dam among others like conawingo etc. flipnfly a 20" smallie that far up is a great accomplishment , you are in approved trout water there but the smallmouth are there for sure but a 20"r is a trophy Way to go!!!

 

[flipnfly]

i think it was more luck than anyhting i caught it just a little upstream from where shawnee creek dumps in there are some pretty big slwo deep holes back there with lots of structure