Lower Susquehanna Samllmouth

[HopBack]

Fished the lower river for the first time this year from 6:30 am to 8:30 am. Caught a dozen healthy smallmouth ranging from 8 to 18 inches and lost and even bigger one.

All fish were caught on a black bunny leech stripped in fast moving water. Smallmouth were visibly crashing baitfish in the shadows. As soon as the sun was well overhead the fishing shut down.

All in all a great way to spend 2 hours on the 4th of July.

Here's a few pictures:

 

[GenCon]

Those are some great fish. Looks like a lot of fun

GenCon

 

[sapper6]

You did much better than I. I only caught one decent SMB in the Delaware south of Easton. But I did see a bald eagle, which was really cool, especially today. Happy Independance Day!

 

[Dave_W]

Excellent!

I had hoped to get up to the Susky this week but couldn't pull it off. Good to see the summer bassin is going full throttle..

Happy Independence Day!
Smallmouth bass are among the many things that make ours a great country.

 

[afishinado]

Make smallies GREAT again!!!

Good fishing to all!

 

[jifigz]

Awesome. I've been crushing lots of smallies myself. I think I'll get some more tonight.

 

[laurelrun]

Having fished the Susquehanna my whole fishing life, I can never remember fish as big and as in as good a number as have been the past few years. Get out there!

 

[dc410]

Great to hear of those nice healthy fish coming out of the Lower Susky. Sounds like you had a great morning. Good stuff!

 

[HopBack]

Having fished the Susquehanna my whole fishing life, I can never remember fish as big and as in as good a number as have been the past few years. Get out there!

This is only the second year I have been at it on the river so I don't have much to compare it to but I heard the 90s was pretty great as well.

I was really encouraged to catch several different ages classes of healthy, lesion free fish.

For those of you who have never tried fishing for smallmouth, your really missing out!!! I'm sorry that I limited myself to trout for so many years. What a blast!!

 

[krayfish2]

My experience this morning was well up river and almost exactly the opposite. We were on the water by 6:30 with fairly thick cloud cover to start the day. It was pretty slow early. Once the sun started beating on the water, action increased and we found fish in shallow flats chasing bait. Most fish were in troughs or tight to structure. Still think it's a bit slow when compared to the last year or two. It seems that the lower the water, the better the action.

 

[HopBack]

Conditions were really good where I was at. Water was only slightly off color. Fish were exactly where you would expect them, in seams and around boulders. I connected just about every time a cast to a fish that was crashing bait. Maybe I just got tired and that's why I thought the action died down. For everyone that doesn't know it's a workout just to stay on your feet when your wading the Susquehanna.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

I took a couple guys out above Harrisburg on Sunday (fishing with spinning gear), and they did pretty well. Like Kray, we found the fish tighter to structure, though at a few points we were able to sight fish to cruisers. I felt like the overall size of the fish was a little small compared to last year, but then again, we lost all of the bigger fish we (they) hooked. Had they landed those fish, all of which were 18" or better, I might feel a little differently about it. One of my guys caught two really nice catfish (one blue, one channel) on tubes. The channel cat had to be better than 15lbs.

I suspect the fish are a little more active further downstream. As the water lowers over the next week or so, I bet the fish get their feedbag on a little more.

 

[jifigz]

I was unaware of blue cats being in the Susquehanna system. Are you positive it was a blue cat?

 

[Mike]

No confirmed blues in the Susquehanna. The breeding color male channel cats are at times mistaken for blues.

 

[jifigz]

Thanks Mike. My thoughts exactly. I can definitely see channels being mistaken for blues. I'm still wondering when I'll start finding flatheads in the Juniata near Lewistown.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

I guess it was a channel cat, but man, was it blue. I had no idea they weren't in the Susky.

 

[HopBack]

Has anyone been on the river this weekend? I stopped by the conewago and codurus and briefly hopped out on the river off of gut rd. The water was very dirty but wadable in this section but I didn't have any luck. Streams weren't much better but I managed a few.

 

[KGStine]

I was at Wrightsville from 4 to 8 yesterday. First time out with the kayak this year. Flow was stronger than I like and it was very windy. Lancaster side was very dirty, York side not as bad, and there was a section in the middle that was not as dirty. Due to the wind I used spinning gear. I normally only use surface lures,so it may have been more productive underneath. Nothing until around 7, then I missed 4 or 5 and landed a really heavy 17 inch smallmouth. One of the misses came straight up out of the water and was also a nice fish. After loading the kayak, I looked back out and noticed the wind had settled down, so the last hour may have been good.

 

[HopBack]

Kgstine,

Thanks for the report. Have you fished the conestoga this year yet? I tried once but it was high and muddy.

I think the the gauge at Harrisburg on the susky was at least a foot lower this time last year. It's probably going to be another couple of weeks before things get really going.


Wouldn't be a bad idea if someone started a Susquehanna smallmoth thread and kept it going through the season. I enjoy ready about everyone's outings.

 

[Dave_W]

HopBack wrote:
Wouldn't be a bad idea if someone started a Susquehanna smallmoth thread and kept it going through the season. I enjoy ready about everyone's outings.

Folks can just keep re-freshing this thread for lower Susky reports,questions or info. I usually prefer to write specific reports of some of my trips but there's no reason this thread can't continue with reports, discussion, etc.

If you'd like, I can change the title to "Susquehanna River 2017."