Susquehanna River, Dauphin County, 7/15/16

[HopBack]

Weather: Low of 75, High around 85, Mostly Cloudy

Water Temp: Mid 70's

Bug Activity: None hatches, crayfish were abundant.

Time Fished: 6:00 am to 1:00 pm

Flies: Black bunny Clousers and crayfish patterns


Fellow forum member "Klingy" and I hit the river early this morning in search of smallmouth. We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning. The air was surprisingly cool for quite a while with very little of the oppressive humidity that we have been recently experiencing. Action was pretty good in the morning and tapered off toward mid day.

We worked our way from one side of the river and then back again and ended up with a nice mix of fish up to about 17 inches. It wasn't a great day in terms of numbers, about 20 or so fish landed between the 2 of us, but some quality runs from the lager fish kept things exciting. Here's a few pictures from the day.

 

[nomad_archer]

Awesome fish and views.

 

[KGStine]

Hopback,
Great report! Just checking, did you get my reply to your PM about the Conestoga last week? I couldn't tell if it was sent or not.
Ken

 

[HopBack]

Thanks Ken! I did get your PM and just sent you a reply.

 

[Dave_W]

Great report and some very nice pics.

The catties seem to be aggressive lately, I got a big one this week too. They're fun!
Looks like much of your action was in shallow faster water sections(?).

Did you get that water temp with a thermometer or just guessing?
If so, it's an interesting point to observe with water temps being in the mid 70s early in the am (I got mid 80s yesterday at 6pm). This reveals how much water temp can swing in a matter of a few hours.

 

[HopBack]

Did you get that water temp with a thermometer or just guessing? If so, it's an interesting point to observe with water temps being in the mid 70s early in the am (I got mid 80s yesterday at 6pm). This reveals how much water temp can swing in a matter of a few hours.

Dave I was just guessing at the temps. It might have been more like the upper 70s but the water felt fairly cool. it was actually very refreshing at times. As far as where we caught fish... I think a lot of them were taken in the shallow edges of fast moving water. Some of the deep runs, over 6ft deep, did not produce well for me. The bass overall were just not that aggressive. We had our most success when the sun peaked through the clouds.

 

[Dave_W]

HopBack wrote:
As far as where we caught fish... I think a lot of them were taken in the shallow edges of fast moving water. Some of the deep runs, over 6ft deep, did not produce well for me.

Interesting. This reflects my experience fishing that section multiple times last summer - fish were in shallow water along ledge rock wherever there was current. It may also be that those sections may be a degree or two cooler(?).

It's counterintuitive, but perhaps SMBs in that section of the river actually go to shallower areas when the water gets lower? The high water temps and high bass metabolism perhaps contributes to this as well. More oxygen too perhaps. I doubt it has to do with forage as the frog water areas (which is most of the river channel this time of year) are swarming with crays and baitfish. Whatever the case, big hungry SMBs really seem to be hanging in the shallows. This may also work to the benefit of the wading angler as most boaters are confined to the narrow sections where they can get through and they probably don't manage to target a lot of these side channels.
Hhmmm...