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Little Juniata
- PA (Page 1 of 4)
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The Little Juniata River, a 35 mile tributary of Juniata River, begins humbly in Altoona when several small streams merge. Known locally as the “Little J” or simply the “J,” the river flows northeast from Altoona through the Logan Valley. This part of the river is a freestone fishery for predominantly stocked trout, but that changes quickly when the Little J bends sharply southeast at the town of Tyrone. Below Tyrone, the Little Juniata flows against high limestone cliffs and receives in-flows from dozens of large limestone springs which cool the river and add nutrients. The river’s deep, chalky-green pools and numerous riffles create the perfect environments to grow truly large trout. The J is a beautiful river, dotted with hand-cut stone railroad arches. But it becomes particularly scenic below Spruce Creek’s convergence, as it flows through the roadless “gorge” section within Rothrock State Forest. 13.5 miles of the Little Juniata River, from the bridge at Ironville to its confluence with the Frankstown Branch near Petersburg, is regulated as All Tackle Catch and Release. This special protection ensures that the river’s wild brown trout are able to thrive and attain proportions that are uncommon in the Northeastern U.S. In addition to the wild trout, Pennsylvania stocks 30,000 brown trout fingerlings into the river each year. But these fish quickly adapt to their surroundings and by the time they reach 10 to 12 inches (average size), it’s impossible to differentiate between the truly wild trout and the newly “wild” stocked fish.
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| The Story: (Courtesy of Charles R. Meck - Pennsylvania Trout Streams and Thier Hatches - 2nd Edition) |
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Ken and Kathy Rictor, Bryan Meck and I headed toward the Little Juniata River. Ken had aske me to show him some hatches on central Pennsylvania streams. After a breif early-morning shower the weather turned downright chilly. When we arrived at the river just above Barree the air temperature hovered around 45 degrees. this late May day proved to be one of the coldest on record. Ken and Bryan became even more apprehensive about our chances of success that day as we hiked a mile upriver to our final destination. I assured them that often on a cold overcast day anglers witness some of the greatest hatches, especially in late May. These cold days prevent emerged mayflies from taking flight and any mayfly that has appeared on the surface stays there for a long time. And an overcast, rainy day and trout rise throughout the day.
Almost on cue a heavy Sulphur hatch began within minutes of our arrival. Twenty trout took up feeding positions in front of us. We caught none of them. Within minutes a heavy unexpecxted Green Drake joined the Sulphur on the surface. On ly occasionally did any trout come to the surface for one of these large mayflies. Ken, Bryan and I had more than 50 trout feeding on the potpourri in front of us. Some trout fed on the Sulphurs and others on Green Drakes. Addto this a good hatch of Little Blue-Winged Olive Duns (Baetis tricaudatus), plenty of Slate Drakes, and Blue Duns (Baetis species) and you can visualize the feeding frenzy that took place. It appeared that the trout fed on all four hatches, but the majority keyed in on the Sulphur and the Green Drake.
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