Neshannock Creek Brown Drakes

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Got the word mid-afternoon that the brown drakes had started hatching on Neshanock Creek. Called a few fishing buddies and was pleased to hear that two were crazy enough to join me on the trip. Bounced out of work a few hours early to beat the traffic. Arrived at the stream around 6pm and proceeded to head down the path a mile. The stream was recovering for recent rain and had a tea stained clarity that reminded me of the Au Sable in Michigan. Spent some time before the show teaching a first timer the basics of nymphing. Geo took off down stream to nymph a big hole that haunts him from seasons past.

Before we knew it the drakes started to appear around the tops of the trees. The waiting game began with growing anticipation as we studied the water for rises. The drakes grew more and more abundant as the day grew nearer to darkness. With no bugs on the water there was no fish looking up. But there sure were a lot of bugs moving upstream. Good to see big mayflies on my hand.

Just as I spotted the first spinner on the water the skies grew dark with a storm and we marched back to the truck. Half way back I managed to knock myself flat and break my headlamp on a downed tree. The storm was angry, "like an old man trying to return soup at a deli" but we managed to limp home in time for me to catch a beer at the bar.





beer

the J is heating up

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The Little Juniata River in central Pennsylvania has been fishing very well the past two weekends. Hatches have included sulfur's, march brown's and caddis. Some fish are looking to eat bugs off the surface all day, but nymphing tandem rigs midday is the best choice for the number's guy. Wait for spinnerfalls ever chance you get because they are likely to make surprise show. Jackson's Place, located at, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, Huntingdon, PA, will serve you a cold sixpack of PBR bottles for $7. Stay at the Green Hills United Methodist Campground in Alexanderia, PA for the closest location to the J's gorge parking area.




beer

Free Beer

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The J is Blown

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The rain has stricken PA with a lot of unfishable water. Flood levels and high gas prices have kept me within the city on my weekends. I've been getting drunk, paying bills, doing laundry, and sleeping in. I've been thinking about floating the Little Juniata River for a month now in search of Grannoms and rising trout. I don't think the Grannoms ever became fishable because the water was so dark when they hatched the fish couldn't see them.With the rain I thought that streamers could pick up fish, but the river has been so blown every weekend in April that I dared not to venture out. Reports of a lost angler on Slippery Rock Creek have me fearing that the floods took the actually life of somebody. For me the rain has just messed with my lifestyle a bit. I guess that it is good to take a break from the fishing, but this time of year is usually the start of the best fishing. Today the stream gauge on the J shows over double the average. But the weather looks wet throughout the week and into the weekend. Maybe I'll go up next weekend and just float the thing with a life jacket on. The rain has made everything an electric green color that helps me survive in this concrete jungle.






beer