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Little Juniata - PA (Page 2 of 4)
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Continued (from Charles R. Meck - Pennsylvania Trout Streams and Thier Hatches - 2nd Edition):
Ken and I tied on Sulphur patterns and Bryan continued to use the larger Green Drake. Ken picked up three heavy browns in the glide he fished, and Bryan and I picked up several on Sulphurs and Green Drakes.
It hasn't been that long that the Green Drake has appeared on the river. For mor than 20 years I'd see a half dozen or so each evening for a week around the end of May. Then in May 1987 the hatch blossomed into one of the more spectacular on the river. The Green Drake seem to move upriver, lasting almost five days in any one area. The hatch normally beings around May 23 in the Petersburg area and continues upriver to the town of Spruce Creek. You can expect to see the hatch near Spruce Creek about five days later than at Petersburg. Above Spruce Creek the hatch remains unimportant.
The hatch is important on the river becuase it brings the really big Juniata River browns to the surface. In one day of fishing the hatch I saw Bob Baker of Huntingdon catch a 20-inch brown; Ray Yunk of Pittsburgh land a 26 1/2-inch brown; and Bill Simmeth of Pittsburg release three 18-inch trout.
If you're lucky and you hit cold, cloudy weather during the Drake hatch you're likely to witness the hatch all afternoon. During one Green Drake hatch recently I fished with Jim Ravasio, Andre Lijoi, Jim Herde, and Ken Rictor. One each of five days we hit hatches of Drakes that began around 1:00 P.M. and continued until 7:00 P.M. When the cool breezes of evening began the hatch ended.
Often during the Green Drake hatch you'll also see the smaller Sulphur appear on the surface. Trout often prefer the Sulphur over the much larger Green Drake. When the river hosts one if its multi-hatch days and you witness a half-dozen hatches appearing at the same time, you can be in for a frustrating day of fly-fishing, unless you sit back and decern what's happening. You'll see maybe a half-dozen trout feeding on Green Drakes, 20 trout feeding on Sulphur duns and emergers, a few trout feeding on Little Blue Winged Olive Duns, a couple feeding on Gray Foxes, and a couple on Slate Drakes. During this multiple-hatch time watch with the trout are feeding on in front of you and fish to trout feeding on what you're copying. If you're using a Sulphur imatation, they try to cast to trout taking the Sulphur natural.
Evening spinner falls can be impressive on the river-and also frustrating. Fish a riffle area in late May around 8:00 P.M. and you'll see Sulphur Spinners, Ginger Quill Spinners and Coffin Flies, usually in that order, falling onto the surface. If you're prepared with spinner imatations, and if you switch when you see trout changing from one natural to another, you can experience a spectacular evening.
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