The Little J

[MD_Gene]

Does anyone know if there are places on The Little J that stay cool enough to fish into the summer?

 

[dryflyguy]

Gene,

I just fished the J on Tuesday.
Water temp upstream by Tyrone, was already 68 at 9 AM.
I moved downstream, below where the roadsprings come in by Grier school.
and read 64.

I fished there til about 2 pm, called it a day, and started for home

 

[dudemanspecial]

There definitely are, but you have to be willing to move around to find them.

 

[Nocktavius]

Your bigger enemy will be the bright sun. Fishing below the big limestone springs might buy you a few hours in the morning but by ~9 am or so the bite will be off. If you’re local it might be worth it though.

 

[rrt]

Not worth it. With the spate of hot weather since Tuesday, it is likely that the LJR is over 70 degrees by now. The fish you do manage to catch will probably die. It would be better to head for the big river below Huntingdon and target smallies, IMO.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

the LOWEST temperature on the LJ at Tipton (above major springs) over the weekend was 68-72. The high temps were 74-76. Even after yesterday's cool temps the high was 74 and only got down to 68 last night. More hot weather coming.
Of course, springs will cool it a bit, but still low water and thermal stress is not worth a few smaller fish- big guys, if feeding have likely turned nocturnal.

 

[rrt]

Same with smaller streams in the area. On the way home from playing age-level basketball (badly) this morning, we saw a car on a local creek that was likely 70 degrees or higher -- even had a "wild trout" license plate holder. Unless it was someone new to trout fishing, he should have known better. Many (most?) of the trout he caught and released, if he was a c/r fisherman, will likely die sometime soon.

Probably better to go bass fishing or head north to find streams there with decent flows and temps. But, looking at some of the USGS reports, those creeks might not be ethical to fish either.

Anyhow, you are probably better to let the LJR alone till we get a nice stretch of much cooler weather.

 

[dryflyguy]

FWIW -
The day I fished - last Tuesday - I was on my way home from fishing elsewhere.
And stopped mainly to see how the water temps were holding up.
Really didn't even know if I was gonna fish
And was kinda surprised at temps I found
Started about 10:30, with water temp 64.
Wrapped up around 1;30, when water temp hit 67

I caught ten fish - all on dry flies
Most of them were in 12 inch range.
One nice one along the bank went close to 16 inch.
All fat healthy fish, that were quickly released.