Juniata River Report

[jifigz]

I fished the Juniata right below my house on April 17, 18, and 19. I'm very familiar with the river and this stretch in particular. I knew the bass would be moving in to the shallow protected waters anytime and on the 17 and 18 I struck out but noticed over 20 fish over 18" and many, many more fish that were probably around 15". They were in some skinny water and wanted nothing to do with a fly. On 4/19 when I was out I noticed the first bed and a few of these fish engaging in spawning behaviors. Seems a bit early for that, but at least two fish were showing those characteristics. I moved down a little on 4/19 and began fishing a channel that holds fish most of the year, excluding winter. Well, a clouser with an added split shot paid off today. It netted me 7 smallies in about an hour and a half. All fish were right around 14". Prespawn stagers no doubt waiting just down from a lot of ideal spawning ground. It felt good to feel the pull of some smallies and I am in love with hooking them on my CGR 7/8. Has anyone else been getting any fly rod bass?

 

[Dave_W]

I've mostly struck out this spring with bass, although, to be sure, I've hit the bass spots less than I would normally do.
Yesterday (Tues) I did get out for about an hour on what will likely be my last bass excursion until summer and managed a nice fish, but conditions were tough. With the low clear water, I could see fish in mid channel, but most of the bass I saw seemed uninterested in my flies, just as you've been seeing on the J. Water temp where I was fishing was 65 degrees. Generally speaking, pre-spawn bass fishing is usually an easy time to catch good numbers of big fish. Not this year - at least not for me.
Hhmmm. . . .

I did see a couple males on redds. While early, in my experience it is not uncommon to see male SMBs in rivers cutting redds by mid April if water levels are stable and low as they have been this year.

 

[villeman]

Fished a tributary to the Juniata on an afternoon last week and caught 6 nice smallies. All were over 12" with two over 15. Spooked one that was upwards of 20". I wasn't expecting it to be where it was. Clouser minnow was all I threw. On a side note, my spin fishing buddies didn't catch a thing! It was a good day!

 

[Bogey]

HeyJif, just curious, what line do you use on the cgr 7/8? I just bought that rod this week on sale for targeting smallies from my yak and am thinking what wt line would perform best. Thanks,

 

[jifigz]

I've got the rod paired with a Rio Mainstream Bass line and an L.L. Bean Streamlight reel. Great setup and I'm loving it. I generally just fish Air-Cel on all of my rods, though.

 

[jifigz]

I fished twice today for about an hour each outing on 4/21. I caught two fallfish from about 12:30-1:30 and from about 6:30-7 I nabbed 6 smallies all in the 14" range. The smallies were in the main channel on shallow flats. They crushed my clouser.....what a blast.

 

[jifigz]

I've been out every day for the past 10 days or so, sometimes twice a day, and have been consistently catching some nice fish. Last night I got my largest of the spring so far, but it won't be for long, at about 18". There were mayflies, caddis, and midges popping off of the water which had the bass looking up. Poppers and gurglers were getting crushed with some vicious strikes. It was also the first day of the year that I've wet waded and the water was barely tolerable. All fish were caught off a shallow shelf which extends nearly halfway across the river at this point. I waded no deeper than my knees.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I've been fishing smallies all spring with mixed results. I've been hitting them behind rock ledges and at the end of current were it tails out into calm water.

Everything else has seemed dead.
I'll agree though, bass on a 6/7 wt fiberglass is a blast

 

[flyfisherkshcrk]

What combination of colors were you using on the closer minnow?

 

[jifigz]

flyfisherkshcrk wrote:
What combination of colors were you using on the closer minnow?

A tan/olive like color over white. I'd post some pictures of the flies and fish but the extremely small file size always seems to be a deterrent on this site.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Love that rod !

 

[jifigz]

River has been fishing great. I've got several fish over 20 inches so far. This is probably my best one of the year thus far. In the 5 lb range, probably slightly larger.

 

[HopBack]

Be careful. Your not even supposed to target smallmouth in the susky juniata River sheds right now. People have gotten fined for posting pictures like this. I would probably do the same just not post pictures.

 

[Dave_W]

HopBack wrote:
Be careful. Your not even supposed to target smallmouth in the susky juniata River sheds right now. People have gotten fined for posting pictures like this. I would probably do the same just not post pictures.

True, but I believe he is fishing upriver of the sections under C&R and special regulations.

 

[HopBack]

True, but I believe he is fishing upriver of the sections under C&R and special regulations.

Got it sorry I thought it was the entire river but I see it's just a 31 mile section. I'm just jealous because all the water around me is closed right now!

 

[Dave_W]

I'm just jealous because all the water around me is closed right now!

Actually, there are plenty of bass opportunities in central PA. The entire Susky watershed isn't closed, just the main stem river below Sunbury and a half mile up the tribs.

Personally, I usually lay off bass until mid June, but in all likelyhood most spawning is probably finishing up or over and you can certainly get out and hit the many warm water rivers in the area. In my experience, it is still a bit early for bass and sunfish in small creeks, however, in another week or two you should be able to find plenty of bass in small local creeks.

 

[HopBack]

Dave I do pretty well in some of the warm water tribs in my area but I agree on waiting to fish them until the summer. Aside from letting the bass have their spawning time, water temps and flow are far from ideal at this time of year. This impending storm comming up the east coast is not going to do us any favors. Can't wait to get out there and start my warm water season.

 

[jifigz]

Yes fishing is allowed in my part of the Juniata year round. No closed sections until you hit just below of Mifflintown.

 

[jifigz]

This bass was caught mid river in the main current. Certainly wasn't spawning. I fish the river 5 days a week or so and monitor them a lot. Spawning started a while back and most fish are done I'd say.