Susky 7/24/09 Columbia

[Fredrick]

Well wilderness Lary and I got to the water and it was stained pretty good but it wasn't raging .Since I finnaly got the line for my Beulah 6/7 switch rod I used it the whole time I was on the water . Oh I can cast a country mile with the switch rod :-D I fished from 1 to about 6. The fishing was ok at best but the conditions were less than ideal with the weather . All fish caught were during or right after the thunderstorm yesterday . Black whoolly buggers were the key all fish but one were caught on whooly buggers . Sorry but I forgot my camera so I didn't take any pics ,I wanted to use my cell phone but with the rain I didn't want to chance getting it wet . I caught 5 catties all were 20" plus :-D and they pulled like bull dogs this was the first time I caught a cattie with a fly and it was a blast :-D I also caught one 10" Walleye on a bugger and one smallie 12" on a all white Clouser . I lifted up a few rocks while I was there and they were crawling with bugs mostly Iso nymphs and caddis. I didn't stay long enough for the full white fly hatch but they were starting to come off when I was leaving . I was surprised that I only caught one smallie but with the way the water was I thought I was going to leave skunked . All the fish looked fine no lesions or anything growing off them . I'm deffintely going to come back and hopefully the water will be clear . And just in case if it isn't i'm going to bring plenty of black flies with me . Oh also I had a fish break me off on 2x tippet it was on for about 3 seconds and 4 other fish got off after I hooked them . Wilderness Larry caught a few catties also on dark flies but I'm hoping he will add his 2 cents when he gets his cpu fixed .

 

[Fishidiot]

Cool report Frederick - glad you had a good time. I still haven't caught a walleye this year.

 

[afishinado]

Glad you had fun Fred.

No offense to Fred or anyone on this board that fishes for catties, carp or anything else, but I shake my head when I read reports like this. The lower Susky was one of the great SM Rivers anywhere in the nation a few short years ago. Now we feel lucky to even catch one or two on a trip. I guess this should remind all of us that any river or stream is very fragile and we must remain vigilant to protect it.

It makes me think back to this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzlplIeXn2g

 

[1wt]

It makes me cry also..... just like the crying Indian.
Only ten years ago, the smallmouth were so plentiful, I could catch and release over a hundred bass in a afternoon with my flyrod.
I had to be careful because if I put the woolybugger in front of me to see if it looked OK in the water, a small bass would smack it right in front of me.
Now some say that the bass are hiding in deep water and will only hit live bait....... Bullcrap!! 99% of the bass are gone!! Twenty years ago, the smallies would bite best in mid afternoon. Hot sun out, July and August, almost every cast would have a smallmouth hit your lure. The Susquehanna, upstream of Harrisburg, used to have a gravel bottom with no snot grass at all. Now when I wade the river there, it actually smells like a sewer and the bottom is now mud with slime on every rock.
I can't go fishing there anymore. It makes me cry just like the Indian in the commercial.