Juniata Float Trip

[J. Rentch]

Fly fished with my Friend-Bill Smith on the Juniata River with guide Jake Villwock of Relentless Fly Fishing for Small Mouth Bass. We did a 4 mile float in 4 1/2 hours on a beautiful sunny day with little wind.
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We started out throwing yellow poppers, followed up by some streamers.
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Unfortunately the fish were not interested in our presentations- Jake thinks the was due to a post spawning condition. I did manage one nice sized fish early in the day.
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[bignose]

Sometimes a beautiful day on the water is reward enough.

At least you didn't get skunked and that is a real nice fish, especially on a fly rod.

[DanMarino]

I need to fish that flow one day.

[dsaavedra]

How do 3 guys fly fish out of that little boat? Yall must be some very good casters! Nice smallie

[J. Rentch]

Only two were fishing-Bill in the front seat, me in the rear seat. Zack was in the middle with the oars directing the path of the boat. Very comfortable boat, soft swivel seats, with ample leg room.

[Mark]

John,

I just saw this thread.

Congrats on your nice smallmouth.

Zack is an excellent guide who knows the river well. He moves from shoreline to shoreline to fish different river bottom contours and sometimes anchors in the middle over no visible surface structure but where he knows fish are present.

Dave -- In drift boat fly fishing, the rule of thumb is that the person in back seat watches the casts of the person in front. The back seater casts accordingly to avoid tangles. That means waiting until the person in front has completed his or her cast and is actually stripping line on the water. Yet a few tangles on an outing inevitably happen.

The person in front makes sure he or she never brings a backcast directly over boat. In otherwords, always casting to the left or right, never straight ahead.

The guide on the oars will quickly educate his clients if they do not follow the above rules, esecially if he has to duck or gets walloped in the head on an errant cast, or spends too much time unknotting fly lines.

The ideal scenario for two righthanded casters is when the front seater casts to the left of the boat and the backseater casts to the right. Still, it is the backseater's responsibility to keep an eye on the line of the caster in the front seat. It's not difficult and a good tandem will get in synch with each other.

Driftboat flyfishing is a lot of fun. One reason I do not take my kayak to free flowing rivers like the Upper Potomac is that I've been spoiled by driftboats under the control of a guide. When I'm in quick moving water, I just want to fish. I don't want to be concerned with steering a boat away from rocks or rapids.