JakesLeakyWaders
Active member
It's Saturday night and I have just been dropped off at a large party with lots of beer and food, and there are two guys playin' some blues on stage with some amplifiers. It is dark and I am trying to find my way around to set up my tent. Within minutes I notice a ten foot high pile of wood about 30 feet across being soaked with gasoline. Within 15 minutes, 40 foot high flames are shooting into the night filling the entire area with light, including Hill Island a few hundred yards across a river channel, lighting an assortment of rocks and boulders that protrude from the river in between the main land and the island. Where I have decided to pitch my tent now feels like 135 degrees, as well as anything within 30 yards of the fire. I decide to set up my tent later.
About 5 hours later, tent pitched and a half case of Mickey's malt liquor later, the huge bonfire has subceded to a 6 foot high pile of glowing embers looking much like a volcano with 3 foot flames coming off the top. I am standing on a big smooth rounded boulder in the dark. I can hear the small rapids up river and looking down river I can see no less than 5 or 6 miles of river, with little sparkling lights along the bank from cottages, campers, and possibly a tiki torch or two. The river really is amazing at night, smooth like glass and quiet. I can't help myself and decide that against all consciousness, and a few regulations, to go for a quick paddle in my kayak upriver a little before I head for the tent.
Other than the fast flowing stretch of river directly in front of me the next several miles of river is Lake Frederick, backed up by the York Haven Dam on the York side and the the Red Hill Dam on the Middletown side of Three Mile Island. Even though the river is dammed up here it never exactly stops flowing, it does however become deeper, slowly increasing in depth from about 4 to 6 feet to about 10-15 feet near the dam. This area has several large islands with hundreds of summer bungalows and trailers only accessable by boat. I have to admit that I've spent many a weekend at a few particular bungalows.
Fathers Day, 9:30 a.m., I am still laying in my tent hung over. I have to get up now, the heat in the tent is unbearable already.
I pack it up, and get out on the water. I go upstream a little and get out and fish off of a rock, I will do this dozens of times during the day. I catch my first smallmouth, just a little guy, in this stretch, where the water still flows it's natural course. I miss a few and head down river. Down near Gouldsboro the river becomes a lake and being Fathers'day, boats are everywhere and the water is choppy. I navigate through 2 and 3 foot high waves as boats speed past me at 40-60 m.p.h. causing waves in every direction. I try to fish an island point with a weed bed but between the waves and a steady wind coming from the west I am blown right past it.
After several hours of being tossed about and wet I decide to paddle over to Shelley island and stopped in at my Aunts place. I beach my kayak and walk up the steps from the bank, and bananna daquiri's are up for grabs, so I have one and then help myself to four more Capn' n Cokes. I now notice that my arms are red like a lobster. I'm tired of the choppy water so I throw my kayak on my uncles boat and hitch a ride down towards the dam, we anchor, take a swim and then I'm off,headed towards the dam in my kayak.
On the York side the water funnels in towards the power plant, becoming faster, deeper, and narrow. I fish a few spots, lose another fish and then concentrate on getting to the portage which is right at the power plant. The haul to the downriver side of the dam is a few hundred yards on land while dragging my kayak loaded with gear.
Once below the dam I decide to paddle around the discharge area and over towards the potholes, which is a vast area of huge exposed rocks, boulders and deep holes below the York Haven Dam caused by the change in flow/lack of flow due to all of the water being funneled in through the powerplant.
I catch one decent bass in a back flow standing on a hundred foot long rock shelf. I decide not to waste time climbing over rocks to get my camera, and put it back in the water. This is the last fish I catch for the day and the sun is getting lower in the sky. The next few miles of river are smooth flowing with random boulders breaking the suface or hiding just below the surface disturbing the flow of water. I am fishing a streamer and I get two misses before the trip is over. During the day I caught many rocks, I felt like I should have been catching bass but they just weren't there. I can say that most of Lake Frederick is tough and hard to fish with a fly rod, and that I never got to fish my favorite section of river, it got dark and I had to pull in for the day. I know I was fishing deep enough, and the stretch from the dam down past Bruner Island has alway been productive for me spin fishing in the past, I just felt like I was casting over empty water. I had a good time although I am sore, I took my shirt off and my back is slightly burnt my face is also burnt except for where my sunglasses were, the shape of my sunglasses on my face is comically obvious or obviously comical, either way I'm not the one laughing about it, and my arms and legs are a radioactive deep red lobster color. I navigated at least 10 miles of river, not exactly in a straight line, and I've decided that my kayak which has served me for ten years,is a little uncomfortable after about 10-12 hours of being slightly cramped and thrown around and soaked. I think it's time to get a four stroke motor for my Coleman Scanoe.
Next time I go out, I'll skip the lake section and explore more of my favorite spots where there are lots of grass beds, riffles, holes, ledges, and tiny islands. I'll post some pics later, I left my camera in my truck.
I knew I was going to post a report about my trip beforehand, and I imagined posting a heroic report with lots of big bass because I know I'd always caught them in the past in decent numbers when dedicating most of my day to fishing. However my trip today confirms my thoughts of other recent unsuccessful outings, it just isn't as good as I remember in the past. On a high note there was a tournament in the area below the dam on Saturday, and I heard several nice fish were measured. (I don't agree that a tournament should even be held on the river though.)
About 5 hours later, tent pitched and a half case of Mickey's malt liquor later, the huge bonfire has subceded to a 6 foot high pile of glowing embers looking much like a volcano with 3 foot flames coming off the top. I am standing on a big smooth rounded boulder in the dark. I can hear the small rapids up river and looking down river I can see no less than 5 or 6 miles of river, with little sparkling lights along the bank from cottages, campers, and possibly a tiki torch or two. The river really is amazing at night, smooth like glass and quiet. I can't help myself and decide that against all consciousness, and a few regulations, to go for a quick paddle in my kayak upriver a little before I head for the tent.
Other than the fast flowing stretch of river directly in front of me the next several miles of river is Lake Frederick, backed up by the York Haven Dam on the York side and the the Red Hill Dam on the Middletown side of Three Mile Island. Even though the river is dammed up here it never exactly stops flowing, it does however become deeper, slowly increasing in depth from about 4 to 6 feet to about 10-15 feet near the dam. This area has several large islands with hundreds of summer bungalows and trailers only accessable by boat. I have to admit that I've spent many a weekend at a few particular bungalows.
Fathers Day, 9:30 a.m., I am still laying in my tent hung over. I have to get up now, the heat in the tent is unbearable already.
I pack it up, and get out on the water. I go upstream a little and get out and fish off of a rock, I will do this dozens of times during the day. I catch my first smallmouth, just a little guy, in this stretch, where the water still flows it's natural course. I miss a few and head down river. Down near Gouldsboro the river becomes a lake and being Fathers'day, boats are everywhere and the water is choppy. I navigate through 2 and 3 foot high waves as boats speed past me at 40-60 m.p.h. causing waves in every direction. I try to fish an island point with a weed bed but between the waves and a steady wind coming from the west I am blown right past it.
After several hours of being tossed about and wet I decide to paddle over to Shelley island and stopped in at my Aunts place. I beach my kayak and walk up the steps from the bank, and bananna daquiri's are up for grabs, so I have one and then help myself to four more Capn' n Cokes. I now notice that my arms are red like a lobster. I'm tired of the choppy water so I throw my kayak on my uncles boat and hitch a ride down towards the dam, we anchor, take a swim and then I'm off,headed towards the dam in my kayak.
On the York side the water funnels in towards the power plant, becoming faster, deeper, and narrow. I fish a few spots, lose another fish and then concentrate on getting to the portage which is right at the power plant. The haul to the downriver side of the dam is a few hundred yards on land while dragging my kayak loaded with gear.
Once below the dam I decide to paddle around the discharge area and over towards the potholes, which is a vast area of huge exposed rocks, boulders and deep holes below the York Haven Dam caused by the change in flow/lack of flow due to all of the water being funneled in through the powerplant.
I catch one decent bass in a back flow standing on a hundred foot long rock shelf. I decide not to waste time climbing over rocks to get my camera, and put it back in the water. This is the last fish I catch for the day and the sun is getting lower in the sky. The next few miles of river are smooth flowing with random boulders breaking the suface or hiding just below the surface disturbing the flow of water. I am fishing a streamer and I get two misses before the trip is over. During the day I caught many rocks, I felt like I should have been catching bass but they just weren't there. I can say that most of Lake Frederick is tough and hard to fish with a fly rod, and that I never got to fish my favorite section of river, it got dark and I had to pull in for the day. I know I was fishing deep enough, and the stretch from the dam down past Bruner Island has alway been productive for me spin fishing in the past, I just felt like I was casting over empty water. I had a good time although I am sore, I took my shirt off and my back is slightly burnt my face is also burnt except for where my sunglasses were, the shape of my sunglasses on my face is comically obvious or obviously comical, either way I'm not the one laughing about it, and my arms and legs are a radioactive deep red lobster color. I navigated at least 10 miles of river, not exactly in a straight line, and I've decided that my kayak which has served me for ten years,is a little uncomfortable after about 10-12 hours of being slightly cramped and thrown around and soaked. I think it's time to get a four stroke motor for my Coleman Scanoe.
Next time I go out, I'll skip the lake section and explore more of my favorite spots where there are lots of grass beds, riffles, holes, ledges, and tiny islands. I'll post some pics later, I left my camera in my truck.
I knew I was going to post a report about my trip beforehand, and I imagined posting a heroic report with lots of big bass because I know I'd always caught them in the past in decent numbers when dedicating most of my day to fishing. However my trip today confirms my thoughts of other recent unsuccessful outings, it just isn't as good as I remember in the past. On a high note there was a tournament in the area below the dam on Saturday, and I heard several nice fish were measured. (I don't agree that a tournament should even be held on the river though.)
