Little J, Huntington Co, 4/4/2026

[dudemanspecial]

The trout are onto us.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

FWIW, no egg layers tonight. There were a handful of fish occasionally rising. Fish weren't even rising to the midges at near dark. This is very strange

 

[tjsingle]

Maybe they are still full from cicada's 🤣

 

[Steelhead_JESUS]

Is the water still too cold for consistent risers?

i fished sunday.. had 52 degrees water at 11 am lower on the river that seemed high.. a lot of grannoms and sparse risers.. i did manage some on top but i moved a lot and made each cast count — i saw another comment on this about just careful watching and that’s what i had to do to really pick up on the eats some splashy eats & some soft eats

 

[dudemanspecial]

Bill Anderson said the water was 64 degrees today.....

 

[Mikey2006]

Go out and get em. No fish on top for me either but I’ve turned up some really nice ones the past few days nymphing later in the day after the hatch slows down

 

[tjsingle]

View attachment 1641250388
Go out and get em. No fish on top for me either but I’ve turned up some really nice ones Nymphing later in the day after the hatch slows down

She's a beaut, Clark

 

[nymphingmaniac]

another morning with no emergence on the middle river. Just bugs flying up from the drownstream. I had to leave at 10:30, but the lows were in the 60s last night and the sun hit the water, and that usually means an emergence before 10AM after evening lows like that. Caught some underneath and one on top.
Am I crazy to think they have not started yet on the middle river?

 

[Tups]

The last 3 days I have been doing well with a Black Mallard soft Hackle on two central PA limestone streams.

 

[tjsingle]

Headed up to Central PA on to camp Sat/Sun. Will report back

 

[JimNovo]

Interesting theory from a well known Delaware blogger....

"Degree days matter and this winter, the iced over river did not provide enough degree days to allow nymphs to mature."

Is this why dry fly fishing is late with our current air/water temps?

 

[nymphingmaniac]

Interesting theory from a well known Delaware blogger....

"Degree days matter and this winter, the iced over river did not provide enough degree days to allow nymphs to mature."

Is this why dry fly fishing is late with our current air/water temps?

that's my theory too. The upper and middle J iced up much more than Spring creek. SC was warmer and had more degree days

BTW the low Sunday night 31 degrees and monday night 27 degrees in central PA

 

[nymphingmaniac]

grannoms are hatching since they are in the air. Just not in the numbers and not uniform across the J (or the bald eagle for that matter) like usual. It is likely the emergence is localized. For example, Spring Creek. Right below Bellefonte and especially near the water treatment plant, the emergence was "normal" or close to it at the end of March/beginning of April. Above it, they did not appear as predicted- the lag between that location and upstream was way off (I never went back since that time).
I can imagine localized or stochastic emergence can occur because short stretches experienced more degree days due to springs, tributaries, discharges and sun penetration. It may be that we won't get a stronger emergence and they will come off less and longer. This does not bring as many fish to the surface.
I've been out numerous times. I should have flipped some rocks to examine the status of the pupae and cases in the areas I was fishing. Maybe next time.