Pacemaker Fishing Forum

The craziness was getting to me so I took another day off and headed back up to the Little Juniata River. I knew when I left the house this morning that there would be more anglers on the water due to some people being out of work, I didn’t expect it to be like a Saturday in May. But that’s what it was. At least I had a day off fishing.

When I pulled up, there were 3 trucks already parked in this small area and there were 5 guys, all fishing together, that just came off the water. We chatted a bit, they said they caught some fish but it wasn’t great and they were heading to find new water. I made the decision to fish there anyway, figuring other spots might be crowded too. I also thought it would be really cool if I could catch a fish right after they came out. I was also hoping that if no one else came by, maybe the water would calm down and the fish would eat again.

I got in the water at 11:25



By 11:40, I hooked and landed my first brown that took a caddis pupa, a cool resin fly that I “tied” recently. I figured it was about time for caddis to start coming off and it worked.



I didn’t see another fish for about 40 minutes but it was another good fish.



Overall the day was a slow pick. I stuck to that section of stream, eventually wandering about a half mile upstream. There were a bunch more anglers on the water throughout the day but they were always pretty far upstream or downstream of me so I never felt crowded at all. I crossed paths with a nice young man who was a high school baseball coach and out of work. We talked for a while, shared some stories and I continued to head upstream to explore new water. He was super nice and didn’t fish the runs I was coming up on. Excellent stream etiquette.

I spent some time throwing at rising fish but couldn’t get them to eat. They were sipping blue winged olives but wanted nothing to do with my dry flies or nymphs drifted right past them.

I finished the day with 7 fish hooked and 6 landed. Typical sized fish for that river with all fish going between 12 and 16 inches, including these two beautiful males. The picture does not do that last fish justice. He was a brute. I was definitely not in the zone today. This section needs to be fished with my casting arm upstream so you’re making across the body casts. On top of that there was a persistent wind blowing upstream. These factors caused me to tangle a lot of rigs. I spent a lot of time untangling and retying today. Just when I thought I was past that stage in my fly fishing.

In spite of that, another wonderful day on the water.

   

Last edited by Paul Naj (Mar-18-20 7:58PM)