Susquehanna River Dauphin and Snyder Counties

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

Met up with a buddy from Maryland and spent half the day on the Susquehanna. All I can say is thank God for the Wooden Nickel in Millersburg, they have good hot wings and ice cold Yuenglings.

Started at the Halifax boat launch where we fished for an hour without a strike. Headed north to a former hotspot north of Millersburg where we went fishless again. Finally went to the Shamokin Dam side of the Fabri-dam where I caught one measly little 8 inch smallie on a Clouser crayfish.

I know it has been a hot week and the river is low and warm but there are virtually no signs of life on the river besides crayfish. No minnows in the shallows, no swirls out in the middle of the river, no mudding carp, no wakes when wading around the islands and rockpiles, NO NOTHING!

At least at the Fabri-dam I saw a guy catch a couple of decent smallmouth on minnows and I saw some YOY bass in the shallows as well as a few fish chasing minnows. However, it was nothing like the river that I have known for nearly 40 years.

It's pathetic.

Regards,
Tim Murphy :-?

 

[MattBoyer]

Man, I've put off hitting my hotspots in Millersburg this year because I was afraid I'd find what you just reported. I guess the days of 100 fish days on the susky are over for a little while, if not for good. :-(

Boyer

 

[Woolybugger]

Tim,
That's what I've been seeing with the Susquehanna lately. So sad, almost makes me cry.
Last Thursday I caught six smallmouth after dark during the Miller Hatch, but nothing before or Friday night.
It is so hot and shallow, it think all the fish hide in deep holes or under bridges and only come out way after dark.
The 100 days are a thing of the past. The last 5 years have been crappy in the Susquehanna.
But....... this May was pretty good in the river. I even caught some 8" to 10" smallmouth, which is a good sign. But again in June, July, and now we have the same stinkin' hot and shallow water with snotgrass and nitrates.
Must be some truth to Global Warming. Years ago we would get rain every couple weeks and the river was full of life and world class smallmouth fishing. Now all we get are spring floods washing all the runoff crap in the river and then another drought. What fish could possible live in the hot polluted water?
And where are all the millions of Red Eye Rockbass that used to hit a small popper?
I wish I had a time machine.

 

[troutbert]

Do you guys who fish the river a lot ever take water temperatures on really hot days? If so, how bad does it get?

I once took a temperature of 90 degrees in the Susque in the Dauphin Narrows area. Does it get even warmer sometimes?

 

[MattBoyer]

I never carried a therm when I used to fish it a lot, but I remember in august of '88 it was actually hot to wade in and so low it was clear and we still hammered them. I can't say I think temp is the big deciding factor here. It is most likely a contributing factor, but when I say hot I mean like a pretty hot bath, so I'm assuming it was in the upper 90's or maybe even 100. I have been mulling about the thought that maybe when they upped the min size to 15 they allowed too many bass to mature and reproduce, thus eventually causing a population crash by which the YOY are getting sick due to overcrowding, then passing it on to adult fish. I have no idea if this is even a possibility, but it seems like most of the other species are still there in decent numbers, while the bass have taken a hit. The only significant change at least above the table, is the bass regs in the same area. Maybe just a coincidence, but you never know.

Boyer

 

[LehighGuide]

When the water slows and drops it can match the air temp quickly but exceed whatever the air temp is.

I believe there is another factor which is also making it much tougher to be productive on the Susky. The population is obviously down, and I think whatever smallies are still around are there because have the "skills to pay the bills". They're survivors. Bass are pretty smart little critters, despite what most people believe various experiments have indicated that bass are smarter than trout in a number of ways, and so now we have a smaller population of fish with better than average survival instincts with a huge surplus of food available and we expect them to abandon and endless supply of crayfish to eat our Chartreuse and White Clousers. When I saw all of the crayfish while floating last month I thought, "How am I supposed to get a smallie interested in my fly?"