Shermans Creek, Perry Co., 7/5/19

[dc410]

I snuck in a about 1 1/2 hours on Shermans Creek in the early afternoon and got run out by a big thunderstorm rolling in over the ridges from the south. The high water over the past several seasons has obviously had a significant effect on the Smallmouth population on Shermans Creek as under very good water conditions I worked my a$$!! of to bring about a half dozen Smallmouth and a several Fallfish to hand. I did not observe any YOY Smallmouth along the creek bank edges which is very uncharacteristic for this particular section at this time of the season. I think we are in for several very challenging years of Smallmouth fishing due to a very unsuccessful spawning period over the past two seasons.

However, the only positive part of the outing was my chance to stick a really nice smallie (19" fish) that I managed to dredge up out of a deep section of frog water with a number of large boulders located on the bottom. I actually saw this fish follow my fly to within a rod's length of me an saw him suck it in, and I stuck him! Kinda like carp fishing ... almost. The Smallmouth fishing might be a bit more challenging than we have been used to but stick with it because there are plenty of big ones out there to be had. Good luck!

 

[Dave_W]

I did poorly on Shermans last week - biggest was a 14" fallfish.

Nice job on that big smallie!

 

[jifigz]

I haven't put in all that much time or had that many outings yet this year but I can say that my smallie fishing has been LOUSY. I caught them in March and April so I know that they are there but man, this summer has been tough.

 

[Dave_W]

jifigz wrote:
I haven't put in all that much time or had that many outings yet this year but I can say that my smallie fishing has been LOUSY. I caught them in March and April so I know that they are there but man, this summer has been tough.

This describes my season too (so far).

 

[nymphingmaniac]

Jifigz,
I feel better now. The last two times I went out on the juniata (huntingdon) this week it really sucked. I'm a SM novice, but even I can manage a dozen medium/small size fish most times.

 

[Canoetripper]

Thanks for the post. I've canoed Sherman's Creek twice. It was well over 30 years ago but I remember that it was a very beautiful secluded stream. I didn't fish it though.

 

[fritz]

Nice smallmouth! The Susquehanna was inching down to 4’ Harrisburg. Now it’s headed for 5’.

 

[afishinado]

fritz wrote:
Nice smallmouth! The Susquehanna was inching down to 4’ Harrisburg. Now it’s headed for 5’.

Yeah, still waiting for the Susky to reach even close to normal levels. The worse part is the constant muddiness of the river.

Even the Susky tribs are up again and muddy.

I'm hoping the conditions finally settle down in second half of the summer and into the fall.

 

[dc410]

fritz wrote:
Nice smallmouth! The Susquehanna was inching down to 4’ Harrisburg. Now it’s headed for 5’.

Thanks, Fritz! Yep, the windows of opportunity are short! Don’t wait for it to get perfect, because it probably won’t get there.

Shermans was at 104 CFS Friday afternoon just before I got chased off it by a thunderstorm. It’s rolling along right now at 2200 CFS on the Shermansdale gauge! Plenty of time to tie some more Smallie flies.