Susky fishing again?

afishinado

afishinado

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Two weeks ago the Susky flow was slowly dropping and looking like it was going to be in great shape soon, but last week's rain blew it up and made it a mess.

It's now way high and off color, but the 10 day forecast I see calls for very little chance of rain for the entire forecast.

If this forecast holds, we should see the river get down into decent fishing shape for smallies and other river fish in a few weeks.

I'm optimistic that we will all be able to get out and fish the Susky soon....it's been a long time.

July is usually when good summer smallie fishing on the Susky starts.

Keep the faith.
 
Tweed Can I recommend a nice fly fishing kayak for some Lake fishing while you wait on good flows might be a long wait . :lol:

I'm picking up this kayak tomorrow

https://www.panfishonthefly.com/blog/2019/3/27/rigging-the-jackson-mayfly-storage
 
Fredrick wrote:
Tweed Can I recommend a nice fly fishing kayak for some Lake fishing while you wait on good flows might be a long wait . :lol:

I'm picking up this kayak tomorrow

https://www.panfishonthefly.com/blog/2019/3/27/rigging-the-jackson-mayfly-storage


Nice looking kayak....good luck with it, Fred.

Been hitting the lakes and small streams, but I'm looking forward to finally fishing the Susky again for smallies.

I lived along and grew up fishing the Susky and last year first time I ever saw it too high to fish for pretty much the entire season.

As I posted above, hopefully the Susky gets down to good fishing level and stays there for a while.

 
afishinado wrote:
As I posted above, hopefully the Susky gets down to good fishing level and stays there for a while.

Man, let's hope so. . .
 
I'd say without any rain the west branch should be fishable by Saturday or Sunday and lower Penn's should be decent but probably still pretty stained. With good flows I think this year could be really good based on what I caught in the early spring. Fingers crossed I can only catch so many trout ????
 
I've declared the Delaware at a fishable level today. Still needs to drop a bit but it's fishable and looking to stay that way for a while. Hopefully. I've been going to local creeks which have been high at times but if you pick the short creeks they drop in a day or two and have been pretty fishable most days while the river has been up.

Fred, does that kayak have an option for a drive system? I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a hobie peddle drive but it bugs me that they want so much. Problem is I know I don't want to paddle and fish so I pedal drive will be a must.
 
The Juniata was in prime conditions yesterday. I took and rod down for about 20 mins and made a few casts but I mostly just swam. Seems like we have a good stretch of hot, dry weather coming up so things should be dropping to good levels and feel more like traditional WW smallie fishing soon.
 
I fished the Apple Tree launch on 7/15 and clarity was the best I'd seen in a long time. Caddis were around, sulphurs and an extremely large insect that resembled a Green Drake, I was told they were more likely the Hex fly. The smallies were gobbling them up, I managed a few on my Sulphur imitation.

I captured a sample of the larger insect and took a couple photos when I got home.

p0X07Cc.jpg


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Anybody been out lately? Got a Delaware River fishing buddy coming to get his first smallie action. I've been busy with a big home project. Neighbor stopped by and talked for a bit. Said the river was dead....no bugs and no crayfish. I don't buy it since I showed clients how many nympha's and crayfish were under every rock we turned over. I saw plenty. The neighbor claims that he threw everything and caught only a handful of fish. I kinda believe him since he's a very proficient spin guy that goes 4 times a week. Wondering if anyone has had a different experience on the big river.
 
krayfish2 wrote:
Anybody been out lately? Got a Delaware River fishing buddy coming to get his first smallie action. I've been busy with a big home project. Neighbor stopped by and talked for a bit. Said the river was dead....no bugs and no crayfish. I don't buy it since I showed clients how many nympha's and crayfish were under every rock we turned over. I saw plenty. The neighbor claims that he threw everything and caught only a handful of fish. I kinda believe him since he's a very proficient spin guy that goes 4 times a week. Wondering if anyone has had a different experience on the big river.

Still slow, Andy and I don't know of anyone bragging about the smallie fishing on the River.

No doubt, knowing the River like you do, you will scare some up; but you have to work for them.

The flow is up again, but at a good boating level > around 4' at H-burg.

The cold front this weekend might put them down, but like I said, you should be able to cetch a few..

Good luck......post a report.
 
Well, had a Delaware trout buddy make the drive from Brooklyn to get his first try at river bassin'. It was the most comfortable day I've had out there this year. Had him do a little spin fishing and a little fly fishing. He probably was hooked up on a stick bait 15 times and didn't even know it. LoL. The fly rod accounted for most of the fish. Was it good? Not good but better than it has been for sure. I think I've made another convert who will be back for more. Hope it continues to improve before the end of the season.
 

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Nice to see some nice Susky fish.

I wade fished two areas on the west shore from 5pm till dark today - skunked.

Edit: There were some Hexagenia that showed up around 730pm but they were sparse. There were also some white flies right at dusk but they were also very sparse and no fish were rising to the bugs.
I did get a water temp of 76 degrees (confirmed at two locations by thermometer). This is a significant drop in temps.
 
It's been tough. Honestly all my good areas where I can "regularly" turn up fish on clousers or slump busters haven't produced at all. The only success I've found is poppers fished the last hour of daylight in long runs or pools but still not great fishing by any means. Clarity on north branch is still not great even with the lower flows.
 
Fished below Safe Harbor Saturday morning. Nothing.

 
I haven't fished enough to know how it's been since the other week. Definitely got some cooler temps and heavy rain last night here. I might have to check the temp. Wouldn't surprise me if the Juniata up here is barely 70.
 
Waded Saturday evening near Harrisburg with a buddy. Not even a strike. Saw no rises. Saw no fleeing baitfish. Sunday six of us floated a five mile stretch north of hburg. Lies that normally reward a well placed cast with an eat were ghost towns. Ten fish between four casters. The Susquehanna smallie slump continues....
 
Fished Saturday with stimey. At the launch, we spoke to 4 anglers....6 fish between them! We managed to get 12-15 hooked up but it was a chore. Fish don't seem to be related to the ledges, the banks or the weedbeds. Just random spots. You'd swear there's no fish but the river is filled with risers in the last 45 minutes of light...so they are there. I'll be interested to see what the pfbc finds if they do another fall survey. Something bad is going with the river again.

Sidenote: my neighbor stopped me in the yard and asked if I heard anything about the spill. He said that is what effed up the river. I didn't know what he was talking about. He's claiming that during the spring, a fracking company lost a ton of their fluid into the river as well as some radioactive spill. Can anybody confirm this information? Messed up or not, any rock turned over is blanketed in nymphs and sends crayfish fleeing. Walking the edges of the beds revealed crayfish, minnows and small bass. Whatever is going on out there is baffling for sure.
 
krayfish2 wrote:
Fished Saturday with stimey. At the launch, we spoke to 4 anglers....6 fish between them! We managed to get 12-15 hooked up but it was a chore. Fish don't seem to be related to the ledges, the banks or the weedbeds. Just random spots. You'd swear there's no fish but the river is filled with risers in the last 45 minutes of light...so they are there. I'll be interested to see what the pfbc finds if they do another fall survey. Something bad is going with the river again.

Sidenote: my neighbor stopped me in the yard and asked if I heard anything about the spill. He said that is what effed up the river. I didn't know what he was talking about. He's claiming that during the spring, a fracking company lost a ton of their fluid into the river as well as some radioactive spill. Can anybody confirm this information? Messed up or not, any rock turned over is blanketed in nymphs and sends crayfish fleeing. Walking the edges of the beds revealed crayfish, minnows and small bass. Whatever is going on out there is baffling for sure.

Your neighbor read or someone else probably read and told him about this article, and now blames this for the poor fishing on the Susky.

In this day and age of Instagram and Tweets, no doubt too many people just look at a pic and a caption to to get their "news" instead of reading the actual story for the facts.

Yeah, no doubt the smallie fishing is off big time on the Susky and really every river in the northeast from the reports I read.

Like everyone, I've worked hard just to catch a few fish here and there this season, even now with the near normal flows and temps.

I will say the water never completely cleared all summer on the Susky, but I have no idea if that has any bearing on fishing results.

Just keep fishing into the fall and hope for a better year with lower flows next year.

I too would like to see the results from the PFBC for both the YOY and adult bass surveys.

 
I actually put my bass fishing stuff away for the year. I'm focusing now on NY salmon/steelheads/browns. My trip to Sunbury 8/23 and 8/24 was enough for me to hang it up. I caught about a dozen small bass and 2 decent sized 17 inchers along with a musky in the low 30s. 2 years ago I would have landed 25+ bass and probably 4 18"+ with a 20 incher mixed in there. I too am seeing the same type of reports pretty much all over the USA when it comes to smallies especially here in the north east.
 
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