Little Juniata, Huntington Co., 02/24/2017

[3wt7X]

Time Fished: 0800 am-0400 pm

Weather: Mostly sunny with clouds coming and going throughout the day. Temps rising from low 50s in the morning to mid 70s as the day progressed. On and off breeze, but very pleasant for late February.

Stream Conditions: The stream was running strong at 350 CFS. The water was pretty clear with a small amount of off coloration.

Hatches: Steady midges size 20-28, mostly black or gray colored. Black and brown stoneflies in small numbers, size 14-18, I only saw about a half dozen on the water, and you had to search for them on the banks. Very sparse olives in the afternoon... I only saw a couple duns. I did not see a rise all day.

Results: I had a nice day. The fish are still in winter time mode, but are slowly transitioning to spring holding patterns. I worked very hard in the morning to bring 6 to hand on tandem nymph rigs. The larger fish preferred a size 22 red midge, but I also had a couple take a size 14 cress bug. They were holding along the edge of deeper runs coming off of riffles. I only took two small Browns from the shallow riffle water. In the afternoon my arm got tired from line management, so I covered some deeper pools with small sculpin zonker style patterns and picked up a few more small Browns. Highlights of the day were a thin 17 inch female on the red midge and a tank 15 incher on the cress bug.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Sounds like a good way to end a tough day!

 

[3wt7X]

Yeah, I enjoy slowly working down a slow pool with streamers, much like swinging wet flies. It is nice being able to zone out a little and not have to dedicate all your focus on getting perfect drift and throwing multiple mends in heavy water. I much prefer to high stick nymphing, but it just is not as effective when the fish are holding in the deeper runs that encompass 50' feet or so of stream coming off the riffles in streams like the Little J, Penns and the North Branch.

Here are some pics to go with the report.

 

[albud1962]

Which route do you use to get to the Little J from Hagerstown?

 

[3wt7X]

I take 81 to Buchanan trail (rt 16) out to Fort lounden. Then pick up 522 near Cowens Gap and take that up to Mount Union, where I pick up William Penn Highway (rt. 22) right into Huntington. It is only a 70 mile drive, but it takes a little under 2 hours, due to the back roads.

 

[ryansheehan]

Those are some beautiful browns, love those big fins!

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Great looking fish. Heading out there next week!

 

[turkey]

3wt7X wrote:
...much like swinging wet flies. It is nice being able to zone out a little and not have to dedicate all your focus on getting perfect drift and throwing multiple mends in heavy water.

Amen.

Nice pics.

 

[NewSal]

Just a small little update on the little j if anyone is interested, fished on Sunday - 25-40 degree air temps throughout my fishing time, didn't get a water temp, sunny.
Witnessed a few olives come off for the first time this year.
Also seen midges, as well as what I believed to be some sort of small stonefly, but only seen 3 rises from 9am-2pm.
Caught a good amount of fish on pheasant tails, one on hares ear, and 2 on walts worms.

 

[724flyfishing]

I'm going to try to make it out to Barree (or is it Alexander at the bottom of the gorge?) in the next couple weeks. That's the closest section to my house (1hr 45min) for a day trip. I've never fished it before. What's a good/ideal CFS number to look for there for this time of the year?

 

[NewSal]

724flyfishing wrote:
I'm going to try to make it out to Barree (or is it Alexander at the bottom of the gorge?) in the next couple weeks. That's the closest section to my house (1hr 45min) for a day trip. I've never fished it before. What's a good/ideal CFS number to look for there for this time of the year?

The gorge is the section that I referenced fishing Sunday.. It was at 370 cfs. Which is perfect in my eyes, if you are a strong wader you can access pretty much any area you want at that flow. From 300-400 is ideal. Above 400 is fish able but depending on how high it can get wading gets sketchy. Watch for spikes in the chart, when the river blows out from a storm or a lot of rain it usually takes 3-4 days to clear.

edit: and yes your correct it is technically barree


edit: Here is a good reference from the LJRA page:

FLOW RATES ON THE J
The flow rates on the Little Juniata river at Spruce creek can be accessed by clicking the link below. Here are some subjective opinions for different flows:

90 to 150 CFS = Low Flow. Wade anywhere, no floating possible unless you want to drag a lot.

150 to 250 CFS = Low to Moderate Flow. Wade with a little caution Kayaks and canoes with some dragging.

250 to 350 CFS = Moderate and very fishable flows. Wade with great caution and take a staff. Floating with only a couple of short drags.

350 to 550 CFS = Medium/high flows. Still fishable if clear enough. Wadeable in certain well chosen places only. Easy floating of light crafts. No drift boats.

550 to 750 CFS = Fishable if clear from shore or boat. No wading (unless you enjoy a good swim in ice water)! Some class 2.5 water. Any watercraft will do. Watch for strainers under limbs.

Over 750 CFS Forget it ! Throw Streamers from the rocks if you must do something.