salmo
Well-known member
I watch YouTube regularly for fly fishing/fly tying videos. One was posted recently where several smallies were taken in the Little Juniata. Is that bad news or is there a population of small mouths historically?
Small mouths in the Little J
- Thread starter salmo
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nymphingmaniac
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I think I know the video you refer to. It is not the Little J. It's the frankstown branch (FBJ), which I can attest has good smallmouth numbers, a few in surprising sizes. There was some discussion on Facebook where a guy was under the impression that the little J passed through Alexandria. That is the FBJ. Apparently there are some older maps that gives that impression. The little J starts in Altoona and ends at the confluence with the FBJ, where the Juniata (Big J) begins.
salmo
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salmo
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is this the video?
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
no. this is one I did not see. Will watch later
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
I am super confused. Did you link the wrong video? I had to suffer through that (skipping a little). I did not see a SMB caught. Anyway, I fish those areas a **** ton and know people who have. I have never caught a SMB in over 15 years. Some of those locations get warm and I lay off them about early June. I can't rule out there is a rare one in the area. Gees, a caught a 12-13 in SMB in the lower bald eagle about a mile or two downstream of spring creek last fall, so there are unicorns out there. But that same area has a good number of redbreast too. The areas of LJ fished in that video have neither to my knowledge
At what point in the video do the smallmouth bass show up?
salmo
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Fairly early
nymphingmaniac
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time?
blitzinstripes
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About three springs ago, I stood on the Irish Flats bridge and watched three absolute chunker SM bass (20"+) chase bait fish around the hole. There are absolutely some hefty small mouth in the little J.
Roofin' Trouter
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4:45-5:03
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
It will be interesting to see what the long term effects of invasive flatheads downstream that eat smallmouth and a warming climate do to smallmouth bass presence in the Little J. I don’t know if there is an answer for if they are increasing or decreasing? Only a PFBC regional biologist would possibly know quantifiably what, if anything at all, has changed.
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
wow!
I guess it took me 16 years to catch that one on the LBE, so not catching them (or hearing others doing so) on the J means little
I couldn't tell what section they were fishing on. But smallmouth bass in the lower part of the river wouldn't surprise me at all. The Little J meets the Frankstown Branch to form the Juniata River. Both of those have plenty of smallmouth bass.
The lower part of the Little J frequently hits 74F in the summer and sometimes warmer. So it wouldn't be a surprise that smallmouth move up when the Little J warms.
I've caught smallmouth in Bald Eagle Creek below Milesburg, and in Kettle Creek in the special regs area. I've caught smallmouth in Penns Creek near the PFBC access above Cherry Run and have seen them as far up as the old rr bridge at Poe Paddy. In all these cases they appear to move up as the water temperatures rise. I don't think they are there year around.
The lower part of the Little J frequently hits 74F in the summer and sometimes warmer. So it wouldn't be a surprise that smallmouth move up when the Little J warms.
I've caught smallmouth in Bald Eagle Creek below Milesburg, and in Kettle Creek in the special regs area. I've caught smallmouth in Penns Creek near the PFBC access above Cherry Run and have seen them as far up as the old rr bridge at Poe Paddy. In all these cases they appear to move up as the water temperatures rise. I don't think they are there year around.
blitzinstripes
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IMO, trout fishermen don't often catch them because we are usually trying to match a hatch. Not saying SM won't eat caddis and mayflies obviously, but if you really wanted to see what was out there for bass, maybe throw more streamers, esp crayfish patterns and fish on into summer. Aside from true limestoners and mountain brookie streams, most of the other streams I fish have healthy bass populations. But as primarily a nymph guy, I don't encounter many of them unless I switch tactics and fish in to the warmer months.
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
the area where blitzenstripes saw them and these guys caught one are close and get quite warm in the summer. Its above the springs. I never fish those areas from mid June-October and would be afraid to throw streams in the warm water and possible catch trout.
I nymph mostly and the SMB I caught on LBE was on a size 14 prince nymph. I fished the same section for years using streamers, but a negative result is not definitive. Lower down on the LBE towards the lake has a decent number of WW fish. I was more surprised by how close to Spring creek I caught one of that size.
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Bald Eagle Creek ABOVE Spring Creek gets very warm and has loads of smallmouth bass. So it could have drifted down from there, or it could have swam up from the lake. I've caught smallmouth and panfish a short distance below Milesburg in the summer.
sixfootfenwick
Well-known member
In these sections smallmouth are abundant (greater than 40 individuals collected in PFBC survey from 2000)
Little Juniata River approximately 500 meters downstream from the SR 1014 bridge. Snyder Township, Blair County
Lat: 40 39 25 Long: 78 13 05 RMI: 13.7
Little Juniata River approximately 20 meters upstream from the RR bridge (#9) located 0.8 mile upstream from the T 506 bridge. Warriors Mark Township, Huntingdon County
Lat: 40 38 20 Long: 78 11 41 RMI: 11.6
In this section smallmouth are present 4-15 individuals captured by the PFBC in 2000:
Little Juniata River approximately 350 meters downstream from the T 506 bridge. Tyrone Township, Blair County
Lat: 40 37 46 Long: 78 10 59 RMI: 10.6
In this section smallmouth are rare with less than 4 individuals captured from 2000 survey:
Little Juniata River approximately 350 meters downstream from the SR 1013 bridge. Spruce Creek Township, Huntingdon County
Lat: 40 37 03 Long: 78 09 54 RMI: 9.1
Knowing this I'd say there isn't much to worry about.
You're welcome
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