Little J help

[SanMan]

Hi there...I'm new to the group but have been fishing the Little Juniata for about 15 - 20 years since I started fly fishing in my early 40's. I like to high-stick nymph (tight line?) about 95% of the time and I do pretty well with that style. Over the years I believe I've found pretty much all of the good "nymphing" water on the LJR...at least the nymphing water with reasonable access...but there is so much of the river that consists of deep slow pools that I just never bother fishing unless there is a ton of surface activity that warrants a dry fly or terrestrial.
In the past I've tried nymphing some of these deep pools using a strike indicator but have just never had much success with that strategy.
I'm looking for some advice on what to use and how to use it in these deep slow water situations...I've never really tried streamers...so maybe somebody will fill me in on how that would work.
I just feel like it's time to expand my horizons beyond high-stick nymphing all day and get into some area's of the river I just pass up due to the deep pools.
Any advice will certainly be appreciated.

P.S. I only occasionally fish other streams so if there is info specific to the LJR that would be helpful as well.

 

[jifigz]

Slow deep pool and no dry fly activity....fish STREAMERS

 

[Lkyboots]

I've had some luck catching nice Trout in slow deep water. I usually use a small brown bugger and put enough weight on to get me down bouncing off the bottom. I mostly dead drift keeping a tight line and raise the tip of my rod to give the bugger a little movement. Go deep or forget about it.

 

[timbow]

Personally, I don’t spend much time on the heart of those deep dark pools. While there may be some fish in them, typically those fish will move up to the head or drop back to the tail out to feed. Not really much bug life in the bottom of those dark holes and they are often silt covered. If I really want to get to the bottom I’ll usually tie on a Marvin the Martian (Rich Strolis pattern).

 

[Dave_W]

SanMan wrote:
I only occasionally fish other streams so if there is info specific to the LJR that would be helpful as well.

Hi SanMan,
Welcome to our online FFing discussion.

Speaking generally, FFing methods that work on the LJ will likely work in other trout streams. High stick or Euro nymphing, the methods you're familiar with, do indeed work best in current. One of the reasons they are so deadly is they get the fly down on the bottom, which is where trout spend most of their time in fast water, and where they get most of their food.

In slower pools, trout will feed more in mid and upper water column. And keep in mind that many nymphs are swimmers and active from stream bottom to surface. Try a "dry-dropper" rig which utilizes a small lightly weighted nymph under a large, bushy and buoyant dry fly. I usually fish the nymph about 12-20" below the fly. This would be my preferred approach to these big, slow pools.

 

[klingy]

You can also try drifting a really long dropper along the edges or near rocks in-stream. Not super exciting, but can be effective sometimes.

 

[SanMan]

Thanks for the tips guys...I'm going to fish the J in the morning tomorrow and then probably try my luck on some smallies for the remainder of the summer. I'll give these tips a try when I get back to the LJR in the fall

 

[WILDBROOKIE]

STORMS GOING THROUGH ALL DAY ON THE J WATCH WATER GAUGES FOR SUNDAY