The Little Juniata River, a 35 mile tributary of Juniata River, begins humbly in Altoona when several small streams merge. Known locally as the “Little J” or simply the “J,” the river flows northeast from Altoona through the Logan Valley. This part of the river is a freestone fishery for predominantly stocked trout, but that changes quickly when the Little J bends sharply southeast at the town of Tyrone. Below ...

Tyrone, the Little Juniata flows against high limestone cliffs and receives in-flows from dozens of large limestone springs which cool the river and add nutrients. The river’s deep, chalky-green pools and numerous riffles create the perfect environments to grow truly large trout. The J is a beautiful river, dotted with hand-cut stone railroad arches. But it becomes particularly scenic below Spruce Creek’s convergence, as it flows through the roadless “gorge” section within Rothrock State Forest. 13.5 miles of the Little Juniata River, from the bridge at Ironville to its confluence with the Frankstown Branch near Petersburg, is regulated as All Tackle Catch and Release. This special protection ensures that the river’s wild brown trout are able to thrive and attain proportions that are uncommon in the Northeastern U.S. In addition to the wild trout, Pennsylvania stocks 30,000 brown trout fingerlings into the river each year. But these fish quickly adapt to their surroundings and by the time they reach 10 to 12 inches (average size), it’s impossible to differentiate between the truly wild trout and the newly “wild” stocked fish.