Good Susque access point near Bloomsburg or Berwick?

[troutbert]

A buddy and I are going to try some smallmouth fishing on the Susque tommorow evening and are planning to fish somewhere around Berwick or Bloomsburg because that's about halfway between where we live.

We will be wade fishing. Any tips on good access with some good wade fishing habitat and suggestions on what flies are working these days?

Help trout addicts catch smallmouth bass. :-o

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
A buddy and I are going to try some smallmouth fishing on the Susque tommorow evening and are planning to fish somewhere around Berwick or Bloomsburg because that's about halfway between where we live.

We will be wade fishing. Any tips on good access with some good wade fishing habitat and suggestions on what flies are working these days?

Help trout addicts catch smallmouth bass. :-o

You know the weather is bad when a trout afishinado such as yourself starts casting for smallies......:lol:

I never fished that section of the Susky, but I just checked the FBC map and there's a boat launch area both in Berwick and Bloomsburg, so that may be a good place to start. Also I see railroad tracks paralleling the river in that section, which usually means some walk in access. Dang someone should publish a guide book!...

As far as where to fish in general, SMB usually prefer areas with some current, depth and plenty of rocks/boulders. Work these areas well, and concentrate your casts in and around the rocks and current breaks. Try all types of presentations: dead drifting, swinging, fast stripping and everything in between until you find what the fish are looking for at the time.

I usually move and search. When you find where they're hanging and the right presentation (a pattern), stick with it and hammer them! The pattern may change during the day so remain flexible and don't be afraid to experiment with different water types, presentations and flies to get back on them.

You don't need a whole lot of different patterns and flies to catch smallies. A couple of different flies in a couple of light and dark colors should do the job. You can't go wrong with a wooly bugger. Bass sometimes key in on colors or just even light or dark flies. Try some olive/black buggers (my & the fishes favorite) chartreuse, white, and maybe brown. Clousers work well at times with the classic color being chartreuse over white. A few medium sized poppers and maybe some sliders in light and dark colors should round out the selection.

If things are really tough, it would be a good idea to have some large nymphs in your box, stonefly patterns work well. Try dead drifting and swinging them if the smallies aren't chasing.

Good luck, and be sure to post a report.

 

[PoconoPuke]

You can park at the Nescopeck side of the Veteran's Memorial Bridge on Rt 93 where it crosses into Berwick. The walk in is a lot eaiser on the downstream side of the bridge.
There used to be one hell of a walleye honeyhole a few hundred yards downstream of the bridge but the river has changed and it's no longer there. You should be able to wade across the entire river this time of year. Good luck!!!
BTW the town of Nescopeck is a speed trap. You had better keep it under 25 mph.

 

[troutbert]

Thanks for tips.

Chaz and I fished the Susque yesterday, first at Shickshinny, then at a PFCB access several miles up from Shickshinny.

No record-shattering fishing ocurred. We each caught one "heavy smallmouth" about 13 inches long. And both caught a few small ones.

Olive wooly-buggers were the top producer and a small light tan crayfish pattern produced a few fish too. We tried lots of other stuff, various streamers and poppers at dusk, but had no luck with these.

I was surprised that there was no top-water action at all. At least as late as we stayed, which was about 9:10. We saw some white mayflies flying around 9 pm, but we didn't see any baitfish skittering or bass hitting the top. It seemed like a high pressure system had moved in so maybe that was the cause, or maybe we just didn't stay late enough. On our way out we say lots of mayflies flying around a street light.

Both spots were on beautiful stretches of the Susque. There are some big forested slopes along the river with scenic outcroppings in that area.

The river has a pretty gentle gradient in most of the area we checked. There are some gentle cobble bar riffs, which is where we fished, but we didn't find any big rocky riffs.

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Thanks for tips.

Chaz and I fished the Susque yesterday, first at Shickshinny, then at a PFCB access several miles up from Shickshinny.

No record-shattering fishing ocurred. We each caught one "heavy smallmouth" about 13 inches long. And both caught a few small ones.

Olive wooly-buggers were the top producer and a small light tan crayfish pattern produced a few fish too. [color=CC0000]We tried lots of other stuff, various streamers and poppers at dusk, but had no luck with these. [/color]

I was surprised that there was no top-water action at all. At least as late as we stayed, which was about 9:10. We saw some white mayflies flying around 9 pm, but we didn't see any baitfish skittering or bass hitting the top. It seemed like a high pressure system had moved in so maybe that was the cause, or maybe we just didn't stay late enough. On our way out we say lots of mayflies flying around a street light.

Both spots were on beautiful stretches of the Susque. There are some big forested slopes along the river with scenic outcroppings in that area.

The river has a pretty gentle gradient in most of the area we checked. There are some gentle cobble bar riffs, which is where we fished, but we didn't find any big rocky riffs.

Sounds like a decent day (for two trout guys anyway) There really hasn't been any topwater bite at all this season. It's been tough to get fish to even chase underwater flies (at least for me). The fish seem to be in a funk, and dead drifting smaller flies near the bottom may catch a few.

I'm sure the fishing will improve. Give it another try when they're smacking poppers on top and your trout rod may begin to collect dust...;-). At least for the summer.

 

[Chaz]

Yeah we didn't catch anything once the sun went down, we usually catch a few after it starts getting dark, but not this time. Here is a picture of Dwight fishing after it got dark, note the moon and the little white dots, they are mayflies, some species of Ephemerella.

 

[Fishidiot]

Troutbert and Chaz,
Well your nose pinching descent into our world of Warm Water Insurgents, and brownlining for course fish is concluded. No worry guys - it'll all wash off with soap and water.

(just kidding of course)

Seriously, I agree with Afish that the bass bite has been slow so far this year, which is odd and disappointing due to the good conditions we've had.
Neat photo Chaz. I'm often amazed at the variety of mayflies and caddisflies that I often see on warm water creeks and rivers in the evening, including on rivers often claimed to be "dead" like the Susky.