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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Frankstown Branch Juniata River
River · Blair and Huntingdon counties, the branch running east from Hollidaysburg through Williamsburg to meet the Little Juniata at Petersburg and form the Juniata River main stem · Pennsylvania

Frankstown Branch Juniata River Fishing Guides

A central Pennsylvania limestone-influenced river running from Hollidaysburg to Petersburg, with strong smallmouth fishing and a real musky population.

Whitewater dropping through a boulder-strewn Appalachian stream
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Frankstown Branch Juniata River

The Frankstown Branch is the larger and warmer of the two streams that come together at Petersburg to make the Juniata River, and it is consistently overlooked in favour of its neighbour. The Little Juniata, joining from the north, is a famous limestone trout stream and draws most of the attention in this part of Blair County. The Frankstown Branch is a different proposition: a broader, slower, more fertile river running east from Hollidaysburg through farm country and the village of Williamsburg, picking up limestone springs along the way, and fishing as one of the better smallmouth bass rivers in central Pennsylvania rather than as a trout stream.

Smallmouth bass are the reason to come. The river has the ledge structure, the depth and the forage base to grow good fish, and the long flats broken by rock shelves between Williamsburg and Petersburg are classic smallmouth water best covered by canoe. Rock bass and redbreast sunfish are everywhere in the bank cover. Walleye run the deeper channels and are most reliably taken at dusk, and the river carries a genuine muskellunge population that produces a handful of very large fish each year, concentrated in the slower deep holes. Brown and rainbow trout hold in the upper reaches near Hollidaysburg and around the spring inflows, where the limestone contribution keeps summer temperatures down.

The gauge reports discharge and stage with a precipitation series and no temperature, so flow is the number to read and the precipitation trace gives useful warning of what is coming. A moderate steady flow is ideal and makes the river both floatable and wadeable at the riffles. A hard rise after storms over the ridges pushes the smallmouth into the slack water behind the ledges and turns the float into a fast one, and the river takes a couple of days to clear afterwards.

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Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Frankstown Branch Juniata River cfs

Now: 135 cfs, read 6:30 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 01556000, Frankstown Br Juniata River at Williamsburg, PA).

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Access

Williamsburg - the gauge borough in the middle of the river, the usual access point and the best place to judge flow.
Hollidaysburg - the upstream town where the trout water is, with lodging, food and tackle.
Petersburg - the downstream village at the confluence, the natural take-out for a float.
Altoona - the regional city fifteen minutes west, the main base for services in the area.
Canoe Creek State Park - the nearby park and lake, a short still-water alternative.
Little Juniata River - the famous limestone trout stream joining at Petersburg, the obvious second stop.
Juniata River main stem - the larger river formed below the confluence, continuing the smallmouth fishing.

Seasons

Spring: high and productive, with smallmouth waking up on the ledges and the best trout fishing in the upper river.
Summer: the prime smallmouth season, with long warm days, low clear water and good floating between Williamsburg and Petersburg.
Fall: excellent and underfished, with smallmouth, walleye and musky all feeding hard before winter.
Winter: slow, with the deeper holes holding walleye and musky and the upper spring-fed reaches the only trout option.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Frankstown Branch Juniata River?

As of Nov 2, 6:30 am, the USGS gauge Frankstown Br Juniata River at Williamsburg, PA reads 135 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Frankstown Branch Juniata River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Muskellunge, Rainbow Trout, Redbreast Sunfish, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the Frankstown Branch Juniata River in Pennsylvania.

Where can you access the Frankstown Branch Juniata River?

Williamsburg - the gauge borough in the middle of the river, the usual access point and the best place to judge flow. Hollidaysburg - the upstream town where the trout water is, with lodging, food and tackle. Petersburg - the downstream village at the confluence, the natural take-out for a float. Altoona - the regional city fifteen minutes west, the main base for services in the area. Canoe Creek State Park - the nearby park and lake, a short still-water alternative. Little Juniata River - the famous limestone trout stream joining at Petersburg, the obvious second stop. Juniata River main stem...

When is the best time to fish the Frankstown Branch Juniata River?

Spring: high and productive, with smallmouth waking up on the ledges and the best trout fishing in the upper river. Summer: the prime smallmouth season, with long warm days, low clear water and good floating between Williamsburg and Petersburg. Fall: excellent and underfished, with smallmouth, walleye and musky all feeding hard before winter. Winter: slow, with the deeper holes holding walleye and musky and the upper spring-fed reaches the only trout option.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Frankstown Branch Juniata River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Pennsylvania agency site: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/fishing/regulations