glenrockonthefly
Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2011
- Messages
- 107
Hey all
So first off I am not sure what county I was in...so any help would be appreciated. Myself and a friend floated the J from Thompsontown m22 to Millerstown m12 on the eve of 7/26 and morning/afternoon of 7/27
Some specifics...
7/26 was sunny and around 78-80 dgrees air temp, little to no breeze
7/27 started sunny, became mostly cloudy by 11:00am and heavy rain by 4:30pm ( we pulled out at 4:00!)
Water was warm, not hot and very very clear visisbility at least 6 feet
Ok so this was my third time on the Juniata (first time was 2 weeks ago) I am really liking this river! This streatch is a nice 6 mile section with a lot of variety and at least half very fishable with the fly rod. Many sections were low and to shallow, a few areas very deep hard to get fly that deep. Current varies from swift to very slow. Almost all of this area has a nice rocky bottom, some nice big grassy areas and some nice really big rocks. We had are best luck in the middle section of the run with first 1/4 and last 1/4 being OK. All fish caught were smallmouth bass, with 2 fallfish and 1 redbrest being the exceptions
Friday eve, set float at 5:00 pm or so, pulled out at 10:30pm, fished until about 9:20. Poppers,poppers,poppers! Chartruse poppers were the key the last hour and 1/2 we fished were really good popper action. My buddy landed 3 monsters...2 - 18 inch , 1 - 19+, all 3 on Chartruse popper big feathers and rubber legs. I landed quite a few but not so big 16 inch was my biggest that eve. Caught a few on a clouser(size 8 chart.) and had the spinning rod and caught quite a few on 1/8 ounch chart spinnerbait. Our last hour was just paddling and trying to avoid the dobsonfly hatch! Just as it started to get really dark the skies came alive with dobsonflies and if you have never been in one of those hatches you are in for a treat. Those things are huge! It's like being in a sci-fi movie. Harmless but still a little un-nerving at first. There were lots of fish feeding as we paddled in the dark, I am surprised we had any luck the next day, these bugs have to be a feast! So last hour + on the river was in the dark, paddling hard, running onto rocks and hearing banjo's playing near by.
Saturday:Got on the river by 6:30 am, the moon overnight was bright starting around 11:00pm, and with all the dobsonflys I did not expect real hungry bass in the morning and I was right. Very little action until 8:00am or so when I caught my first on a size 1 clouser white and chartruse. This would be my best fly of the day producing maybe 10-12 smb with the biggest being 16 inches. The surprise fish catcher of the day was a clear Zara Spook Puppy. I was getting fish from 10:00am till 4:00 pm with this. Finnally got my big one...18incher at 12:15 on the zara spook. Action was not as fasr Saturday we pulled out around 4:15 and I had caought 20 + fish, compared to the same number Friday night in about half the time.
You may not catch a lot of fish on this float but there are some big SMB to be caught. This whole section is catch and release so i look forward to catching some of these fish again!!
So first off I am not sure what county I was in...so any help would be appreciated. Myself and a friend floated the J from Thompsontown m22 to Millerstown m12 on the eve of 7/26 and morning/afternoon of 7/27
Some specifics...
7/26 was sunny and around 78-80 dgrees air temp, little to no breeze
7/27 started sunny, became mostly cloudy by 11:00am and heavy rain by 4:30pm ( we pulled out at 4:00!)
Water was warm, not hot and very very clear visisbility at least 6 feet
Ok so this was my third time on the Juniata (first time was 2 weeks ago) I am really liking this river! This streatch is a nice 6 mile section with a lot of variety and at least half very fishable with the fly rod. Many sections were low and to shallow, a few areas very deep hard to get fly that deep. Current varies from swift to very slow. Almost all of this area has a nice rocky bottom, some nice big grassy areas and some nice really big rocks. We had are best luck in the middle section of the run with first 1/4 and last 1/4 being OK. All fish caught were smallmouth bass, with 2 fallfish and 1 redbrest being the exceptions
Friday eve, set float at 5:00 pm or so, pulled out at 10:30pm, fished until about 9:20. Poppers,poppers,poppers! Chartruse poppers were the key the last hour and 1/2 we fished were really good popper action. My buddy landed 3 monsters...2 - 18 inch , 1 - 19+, all 3 on Chartruse popper big feathers and rubber legs. I landed quite a few but not so big 16 inch was my biggest that eve. Caught a few on a clouser(size 8 chart.) and had the spinning rod and caught quite a few on 1/8 ounch chart spinnerbait. Our last hour was just paddling and trying to avoid the dobsonfly hatch! Just as it started to get really dark the skies came alive with dobsonflies and if you have never been in one of those hatches you are in for a treat. Those things are huge! It's like being in a sci-fi movie. Harmless but still a little un-nerving at first. There were lots of fish feeding as we paddled in the dark, I am surprised we had any luck the next day, these bugs have to be a feast! So last hour + on the river was in the dark, paddling hard, running onto rocks and hearing banjo's playing near by.
Saturday:Got on the river by 6:30 am, the moon overnight was bright starting around 11:00pm, and with all the dobsonflys I did not expect real hungry bass in the morning and I was right. Very little action until 8:00am or so when I caught my first on a size 1 clouser white and chartruse. This would be my best fly of the day producing maybe 10-12 smb with the biggest being 16 inches. The surprise fish catcher of the day was a clear Zara Spook Puppy. I was getting fish from 10:00am till 4:00 pm with this. Finnally got my big one...18incher at 12:15 on the zara spook. Action was not as fasr Saturday we pulled out around 4:15 and I had caought 20 + fish, compared to the same number Friday night in about half the time.
You may not catch a lot of fish on this float but there are some big SMB to be caught. This whole section is catch and release so i look forward to catching some of these fish again!!
