18.75 inch Juniata River Smallmouth Bass
CentralPAfishing.com is just a “for fun” personal account of my fishing adventures and thoughts on fishing techniques. I’ve been an avid fisherman in the state of Pennsylvania since the age of 6. I now have almost 40 years of fishing experience in this state. My passion is kayak fishing for smallmouth bass and largemouth bass. That being said, my specialty is fishing for river smallmouth bass. Pound for pound there is no better fighter..in particular when your doing battle from a kayak! When I’m not chasing smallies, I fish for a variety of other gamefish in the waters of Pennsylvania and beyond such as walleye, crappie, perch, pickerel, muskellunge, and various types of trout. Fishing is my passion and I enjoy sharing that passion with others through my blog!
My Fishing Resume
- 40 years of fishing experience
- Pro Staff, Centre Sportsman TV Show
- Pro Staff, Kayakbassfishing.com
- Pro Team, Columbia Sportswear
- Pro Staff, Temple Fork Outfitters
- Pro Staff, Winco’s Custom Lures
- Pro Staff & Contributor, Susquehanna Fishing Magazine
- Guest Blogger on the subject of fishing for VisitPA.com/Savvy Grouse Pennsylvania’s official tourist site.
- Article Contributor, Smallmouths.com
- Adviser, Penn State Bass Fishing Club Team. They compete in the FLW College Fishing Tour
- Guest appearances on a regional TV fishing show The Centre Sportsman
- Seminar, Bass Pro Shops (Harrisburg) as part of the Centre Sportsman Pro Staff
- Numerous citation bass caught in the waters of Pennsylvania
- Notable flowing waters I’ve fished;
- Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania
- Juniata River and all it’s branches, Pennsylvania
- Allegheny River, Pennsylvania
- Little Juniata River, Pennsylvania
- Spring Creek, Pennsylvania
- Fishing Creek, Pennsylvania
- Pine Creek, Pennsylvania
- Little Pine Creek, Pennsylvania
- French Creek, Pennsylvania
- Potomac River, Maryland and Virginia
- Shenendoah River, Virginia
I'm owner and operator of 
Hi, I can’t find your name on your blog/website, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I live the in DC area and I would like to meet a friend up in central PA to fish the Juniata. Do you have a good float to recommend, or even a spot to fish where we can put in and take out at the same place? Much appreciated.
Bill K.
Bethesda MD
What section of the juniata are you looking to fish. Lower/near Harrisburg or upper…several branches can be fished in the upper Juniata: Raystown Branch, Main Stem, and Frankstown Branch. I’m sure I can get you pointed in the right direction. Oh BTW. I’m working on a contact for for “other questions”. My old database crashed so I decided to re -design got to add a form yet. Still working on restoring 5 years of data.
Juan,
Thanks for all the work on this great site. Youobviously put your heart into it and it shows.
We have decided to fish the stretch from Lewistown to Port Royal next week. Any specific advice on stretches etc.?
How about any thoughts on smaller streams/rivers for day two, either for a float or just wading for a few hours. Thoughts?
Bill K.
Thanks again.
Bill,
You’ve picked a nice stretch of water. I don’t have much experience on the entire length of you float but I’ve fished various areas. I usually don’t change my tactics from one section of the Juniata to another…or even one river to another because generally in Pennsylvania they all have a very similar forage base. Smallies are feed heavily on crayfish right now and minnows. Water conditions will pretty much dictate what I throw on a given day. I wish I wouldn’t have lost some of my posts because I talk a lot about water conditions as they relate to baits. Here’ my quick answer. If the water is clear take a look at my post for August river tips. Those baits should do fine. If the water is stained I’d start with Dark tub baits or something similar that imitates crayfish. Also, if the water has some stain definitely throw some crankbaits at them..that’s been my #1 producer this year during muddy and stained water conditions. Of course there are never any clear cut answers in fishing..you just never know what the fish are going to be hitting but this should give you a base to start from. Good luck and let me know how you make out!
Bill, this may also help. Here’s a link to a map of the Juniata river trail. It give you access points and mileage. Typically your looking at 1 hour per river mile when fishing but as they say on the car commercials “your mileage may vary” depending on flow and how the fish are biting.
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/watertrails/trailindex.htm