PAFF Warmwater Jam/Float - Saturday 8/4/12

Fredrick wrote:
I am really looking forward to this . Is there any details on how we are to organize the float . I am deffinitely floating :-D
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From my post earlier in this thread:



The plan is to meet up at the Park & Ride just off the highway and drive down together to the River. We will be fishing/floating the Harding / Falls section of the Susky. Floaters will put in at the Falls launch and take out at the Apple Tree Road launch. The float is about 6-7 miles. Waders can park and fish at both places.

This is a day trip, but those wishing to stay overnight can camp here:

http://local.yahoo.com/info-12125419- ... a-shores-campground-falls

I've never camped there, but it's located right along the River, very close to the take-out.
 
Was just on the River this past weekend, above Port Royal... Saw many fish, even landed a few (but on spin gear) There were some very large (understatement) catfish carp suckers that swam under my yak! Saw quite a few smallies, and other panfish. Witnessed a 20+" smallie get creeled, caught off live helgramite. Wish I could make this trip, but I'll be out of state for work. (Any fishing to be had in Santa Fe New Mexico?)
 
Fishidiot wrote:
my personal pet-peeve - that "hundred fish days are common" on the Susquehanna or any other PA river.
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FI,

sorry for your "pet peeve" but i always caught >100 healthy, beautiful smallmouth bass with a fly rod all summer and fall! every afternoon, rain or shine? i used to post pix every day on "riversmallies.com"
i don't mean to brag, but bob clouser would catch a few with his deer hair clousers, while i would catch hundreds with my lead eye olive woolybuggers. marabou is the God sent feathers that rocked my world! this was near the end of the great fishing! also, i should say that i'm pretty sure that i was the very first to use a "smoke grub 2 1/2" on a 1/32 oz jig head with a UL spin rod and 2lb test line! a bass on every cast until i got tired of reeling them in, so i would put on a plug!
the susquehanna has changed a lot in the past ten years, but i still manage "more than my share" with my 5wt.

i'll be at the warmwater jam (i'll give you a couple flies that will catch any warmwater fish that swims) ....... if i can just keep my mouth shut on the OT forum? LOL a couple guys on this site want to beat me up..... maybe i could wear a disguise?

 
1wt wrote:
Fishidiot wrote:
my personal pet-peeve - that "hundred fish days are common" on the Susquehanna or any other PA river.
Click to expand...

FI,

sorry for your "pet peeve" but i always caught >100 healthy, beautiful smallmouth bass with a fly rod all summer and fall! every afternoon, rain or shine? i used to post pix every day on "riversmallies.com"
i don't mean to brag, but bob clouser would catch a few with his deer hair clousers, while i would catch hundreds with my lead eye olive woolybuggers. marabou is the God sent feathers that rocked my world! this was near the end of the great fishing! also, i should say that i'm pretty sure that i was the very first to use a "smoke grub 2 1/2" on a 1/32 oz jig head with a UL spin rod and 2lb test line! a bass on every cast until i got tired of reeling them in, so i would put on a plug!
the susquehanna has changed a lot in the past ten years, but i still manage "more than my share" with my 5wt.

i'll be at the warmwater jam (i'll give you a couple flies that will catch any warmwater fish that swims) ....... if i can just keep my mouth shut on the OT forum? LOL a couple guys on this site want to beat me up..... maybe i could wear a disguise?
Click to expand...

I think FI will take you to the cleaners 1wt
...........................Just Saying....................................
 
1wt wrote:
FI,

sorry for your "pet peeve" but i always caught >100 healthy, beautiful smallmouth bass with a fly rod all summer and fall! every afternoon, rain or shine?
Click to expand...

Really - always? You're a heckeuva better fisherman than I! :)

Honestly, this is the kind of nonsense that does a disservice to the memory of the lower Susquehanna or that imparts entirely unrealistic expectations when people take up river bass fishing. Can you catch an honest 100 SMBs in a day? Sure. Especially if you put two guys in a boat and fish all day, it's not that big of a deal. However, to imply that this was always the case (or even common) every time one wade fished in an evening is baloney. SMBs are easy to catch - but they're not a sure thing. I had many - many - days on the lower Susky back in the glory days of the 1990s when I couldn't buy a strike with fly or spin gear or caught only a few dinks. Oftentimes, this was a day or two after I had fabulous fishing.
It can be hit or miss.
 
1wt wrote:
also, i should say that i'm pretty sure that i was the very first to use a "smoke grub 2 1/2" on a 1/32 oz jig head with a UL spin rod and 2lb test line!
Click to expand...

May have been the first, but not the only! My biggest two SMB (21" and 20" respectively) came from the middle Susky on a 1/32 oz jighead with a 2 1/2 inch grub tail on it...circa 2005-2006. I'll admit I was using 6lb test on my UL though. Seriously, 2lb test?...I find that harder to believe than the 100 fish days!

Wish I could make this Jam...had plans to make it all year, but we have a wedding that day as it turns out. Good luck guys, and take some good pics.
 
sorry for your "pet peeve" but i always caught >100 healthy, beautiful smallmouth bass with a fly rod all summer and fall! every afternoon, rain or shine? i used to post pix every day on "riversmallies.com" i don't mean to brag, but bob clouser would catch a few with his deer hair clousers, while i would catch hundreds with my lead eye olive woolybuggers. marabou is the God sent feathers that rocked my world! this was near the end of the great fishing! also, i should say that i'm pretty sure that i was the very first to use a "smoke grub 2 1/2" on a 1/32 oz jig head with a UL spin rod and 2lb test line! a bass on every cast until i got tired of reeling them in, so i would put on a plug! the susquehanna has changed a lot in the past ten years, but i still manage "more than my share" with my 5wt. i'll be at the warmwater jam (i'll give you a couple flies that will catch any warmwater fish that swims) ....... if i can just keep my mouth shut on the OT forum? LOL a couple guys on this site want to beat me up..... maybe i could wear a disguise?
Click to expand...

I hope everyone who is reading ^^^this^^^ this is wearing thier waders because it getting deep in here. LMAO
 
I got my money on Fi . I will split half of my winnings with you if you win Dave. I think 1 wt gets fly fishing muscles when he drinks or is suffering from the good old days syndrome :lol: Notice how he always posts late at night .
 
Well, anyway, getting back on topic...... :)

Afishinado,
Does the section being floated have any waterfalls, low-head dams, rock gardens etc that would require portaging around? If so, it might be useful for floaters to have a rope at least about 30' long as this makes getting a canoe/kayak over a small waterfall much easier.
 
Really wanted to make this outing, but Mom-in-law's 80th birthday celebration is scheduled in Ohio for that weekend. She's a great lady and I can't miss that.

Any chance of another get-together like this before the summer's out?

Dave
 
May have been the first, but not the only! My biggest two SMB (21" and 20" respectively) came from the middle Susky on a 1/32 oz jighead with a 2 1/2 inch grub tail on it...circa 2005-2006. I'll admit I was using 6lb test on my UL though. Seriously, 2lb test?...I find that harder to believe than the 100 fish days!
Click to expand...

the giant "fish kill" was in 2003! if you were catchin' good numbers in 05 and 06, well good for you! i never caught close to 100 bass after 2003.

as far as the 2lb test? i used to do a lot of UL trout fishing back then. i used a shimano stradic on a im-8 ul rod with 2lb triline xl. i am so convinced that a thin line will make any small jig or plug swim and dive in the water, while a thick line will drag and not get the hits.
also, i had much more fun with ul tackle and the medium to small fish. sometimes i would use heavy tackle with a senko, and catch a few hogs, but "big deal"?

in the 80's and 90's the susquehanna had a gravel bottom. there were so many small bass around Perdix, that when i checked to see how my woolybugger looked in the water ........ a small 8" bass would try to hit it so i had to yank my fly out of the water!!

it's hard to believe, but the fishing was really that good! it will never come back, but i was smart enough to go wading with my 6wt every chance i got...... somehow i knew that this paradise couldn't last for too long!

and only late night posting, WTF, it's lunchtime now!
 
Probably a stupid question: After those floating take out, how are they getting back to their cars at the put in spot?
 
FlySwatter wrote:
Probably a stupid question: After those floating take out, how are they getting back to their cars at the put in spot?
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Carpool. Before the float, one or more cars are left at the take out spot to ferry everyone back up to the put-in where the rest of the cars are. This will be coordinated at the beginning of the day.
 

FI wrote:
Does the section being floated have any waterfalls, low-head dams, rock gardens etc that would require portaging around?
Click to expand...

It's an easy float, no dams, obstructions or whitewater. If the river level remains the same, there should be no need to even drag in low water.

Flyswatter wrote:
Probably a stupid question: After those floating take out, how are they getting back to their cars at the put in spot?
Click to expand...

We will meet up in the parking park & ride and take inventory of everyone - waders and floaters, car pool to the river and have vehicles in the right place at the take-out.
 
OK, got it. Thanks.

 
It's looking like I might actually be free to attend this event which would be awesome since I've yet to fish the Susky anywhere. Not sure if I'll bring the yak or the one-man 'toon though. Don't think I'll have the new hitch on my truck yet to haul the 2-man up.
 
Is anyone camping that weekend? I am bringing my 12 yr old daughter and a canoe and hope to camp at a local campground Friday and Saturday night. Definitely float Saturday, maybe Sunday, perhaps near the campground without shuttle. Anyway, I would like to find a campground with others in the group to make for a nice campfire convo.

So what say you....anyone camping?
 
I'm planning to camp on Saturday night but this is still up in the air.
 
Maurice wrote:
Is anyone camping that weekend? I am bringing my 12 yr old daughter and a canoe and hope to camp at a local campground Friday and Saturday night. Definitely float Saturday, maybe Sunday, perhaps near the campground without shuttle. Anyway, I would like to find a campground with others in the group to make for a nice campfire convo.

So what say you....anyone camping?
Click to expand...

Hey Maurice,
I'll do the camping thing, bringing a canoe too.
John
 
Prognosis Negative.

I just called the campground and spoke to a nice woman. asked alot of questions. Here is what I learned.
- Susquehanna Shores Campground (linked above on first page). has no primitive sites. $25/nt for two people, water and electric for all. They keep a few sites for canoe and kayakers. Should have several should anyone want to reserve.

- She said the float from Falls to Appletree is a 1.5- 2hour float. I suppose with the fishing we could drag it out a few hours. But she couldn't figure out why we would float such a short stretch.

- She also said that the river is extremely low, kayaks are dragging through riffles, canoes worse. Lots of getting out and push/pulling. The fishing is confined to a one big pool near Appletree road take out. Thats the only pool in the stretch.

- Dogs allowed in campground but no "dobermans, rotweilers, pitbulls, etc" I think Bennie will be OK. Hehe.

- The fishing on the river is poor right now, her regular campers are going to local lakes to catch fish.

So I am not so pumped anymore.....maybe a shorter distance from York, I am on the fence. Still wanna go camp and float somewhere. Maybe the Juniata float we did last year?

Sorry for the downer post, just thought some may like to know.
 
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