Susquehanna River, Dauphin Co, 4-23-16

[krayfish2]

I met up with Fishwagen and my youngest nephew. We shoved off for a float around 10am. Overcast skies, air temp in the low 50's. Water clarity was good for this time of year and I'd guess it was in the upper 50's. We brought fly and spin gear but the wind said "No fly fishing for you today".

I warned Tony that my nephew "flat out catches fish". The little guy didn't disappoint as he accounted for 90% of fish netted. We found them all over.....deep cuts, on the edges of islands, behind submerged weed beds and in very shallow flats.

The day started off very cloudy with light breezes. We knew the sky would clear and the breeze would pick up but........WOW. We got more than we were expecting and were blown out of control through the narrows by winds 30 knots. We also go to see a big brush fire and thanks to slow camera reactions...... I missed and eagle flying by us with a big fish in it talons. Took out at Ft Hunter by 5pm. There was a great caddis hatch too but didn't see any pods of rising fish and didn't expect to. Wrong river for that kind of stuff.

Nice day, exhausting rowing and dangerous at some points. LOL.

 

[wbranch]

Wow, you guys did great!

 

[barbless]

Healthy looking fish.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Looks like the Susky smallies are coming back.

 

[afishinado]

Good job, Andy!

I stay in touch and see reports from some of the guides and regulars that fish the Susky for SMB. I'd say the River is coming back strong by all accounts.

The only black cloud is nothing has changed and the problem has neither been identified (at least officially) or remediated, and may return without warning.

But, things are looking up for the River right now.....great to see!

 

[krayfish2]

FWIW, if we caught 10x what we did catch, I don't think I'd do it again in those conditions. The photos show calm water because we hid behind islands to keep from being blown up onto RT 11/15. Lol. It was pretty dangerous at some points as we had zero control over where the boat went in exposed areas.

The fish we caught looked healthy and we're good size which follows suit with our catches from last summer. No deformed fish or mottled coloring. Let's hope for a good spawn / hatch out since the flow is holding pretty consistent. The numbers are still way down from what they were when I fished it as a teen but has improved over the last few years. Maybe she'll bounce back to its former glory over the next 10 years or so with cleaner water and the newer regs. Almost too sore to eat my cereal this morning. Lol.

 

[3wt7X]

Great report and chunky smallmouth bass. I am only a couple years into the float game, but the wind can certainly make life brutal on floats, sorry to hear about the rough float and I'm sure you paying for it today.

Great job putting the kid on some great fish and I'm sure you've earned some good karma for upcoming trips. I hope to join you guys on the Delaware float in May.