Susquehanna River, Lancaster Co., 6/26/20

[Dave_W]

Got out on the big river with Afishinado for the first time this summer to see if the bass were ready to play! (They weren't.)

Here's what's up...

WEATHER: Mostly sunny and breezy with a dark rain cloud moving over the river at around 6:30pm.

WATER: 3.6' at the H-burg gauge (this is low); water temp was 80 deg F. at mid river channel; fairly clear but suspended algae clumps along west side.

HATCHES & FORAGE: Saw few crayfish but some molt sheds along shore, numerous bait fish in frog water, some white mayflies in the evening and plenty of damsels but no significant surface activity;large numbers of stonefly shucks on boulders (see photo).

With the recent warm temps and the low river level, Afish and I were eager to get our boats out and start the summer bass season. June, however, tends to treat us rough and I am more confident in July. This trip reinforced our perception that June is a poor bass month as we both caught the skunk. I threw everything but the kitchen sink and couldn't manage a bump. Spin guys we talked to also had no luck. I thought with the darkening skies in the evening that things might perk up but they didn't.

Will probably wait a week or two before hitting the rivers again for summer bass fishing.

I was surprised by the light boating and angling pressure. With fishing participation up substantially this year, I had expected to see many more yakkers, boaters, and anglers as we were starting from a popular public access site. There were some, but much less than I typically expect for a summer day on the river.

EDIT: I'd add a reminder that you should bring sunscreen and a substantial amount of fluids to drink if you're going to be out on the big rivers at mid-day this time of year. My thermos was insufficient (dang- I know better) - should have had a gallon of water.

 

[raftman]

Good report Dave! Glad you guys made it out. Wish I would have run into you as you were right by my place. My experience with the river so far is that the bass are super active, but only in certain spots. They definitely aren't as spread out as I'm used to. It's good to see the river in this shape though. It's been three years of high spring and summer water. I've been noticing a lot more zostera (eel grass) growing which I think is a really good sign.... here's hoping it's a good bass summer!

 

[KGStine]

Maybe a glimmer of hope!!

I fished the Conestoga this morning. In some riffles I used an Olive bugger with a crayfish tied off the bend. On one of the first casts I caught a 13" smallmouth on the bugger. What was surprising was he was stuffed with crayfish. I'm not sure how he got the bugger in his mouth. Several casts later I got a double 11" and 9"'. That was a first for me. I moved to the other side of the riffle and got another double, one 9 an one 7".

I usually fish poppers, not much action on top today. Only caught 1 10" smallmouth, but did lose a better fish. Had a few other hits that I think were just tiny fish.

All in all, better than expected! Hoping the Susquehanna turns around.

 

[Dave_W]

raftman wrote:
Good report Dave! Glad you guys made it out. Wish I would have run into you as you were right by my place. My experience with the river so far is that the bass are super active, but only in certain spots. They definitely aren't as spread out as I'm used to. It's good to see the river in this shape though. It's been three years of high spring and summer water. I've been noticing a lot more zostera (eel grass) growing which I think is a really good sign.... here's hoping it's a good bass summer!

Good to hear, especially the grass.

Hopefully the river will experience a stable year after so many ups and downs (esp. 2018). I think we should see a good YOY year class as levels have been good and we are entering the summer phase after fairly stable levels.

 

[Dave_W]

KGStine wrote:
Maybe a glimmer of hope!!

I What was surprising was he was stuffed with crayfish.
All in all, better than expected! Hoping the Susquehanna turns around.

I've been frequenting my local stocked trout streams a lot lately trying to clean out the last stockies before they go belly up. Crayfish numbers on these creeks are very high this year - I'm thinking levels more typical of August where every step flushes multiple crays. The trout are certainly on 'em and I'm finding them in their stomachs (this is common).

This bumper crop of crayfish may have SMBs further up into creeks than usual for June, aggressive in smaller rivers like the 'Stoga, and keyed on Bugger style flies(?).
Interesting.

 

[riverwhy]

What species of crayfish are you seeing? The native ones or the rusty crayfish?

 

[greenghost]

Good report, Dave.

Wow. Those water temps seem really warm. That may have helped shut down the fishing.

Do the temps on the river typically get that warm this time of year?
We have had warm days but not out-of-the-ordinary.

 

[Dave_W]

greenghost wrote:
Good report, Dave.

Wow. Those water temps seem really warm. That may have helped shut down the fishing.

Do the temps on the river typically get that warm this time of year?
We have had warm days but not out-of-the-ordinary.

I thought the temps were on the warm side too, although 80s are normal on a summer afternoon and we're at the end of June.

I initially took the tem in a shoreline riffle at mid-day and got upper 80s which I thought was due to sun. I took the temp later out in my boat under the dark clouds in mid channel. It read 80 and I didn't think anything of it, although I may not have let the thermometer in long enough.

River smallies like warm water.

 

[afishinado]

The River is rather warm for this time of year, but in a good range for smallies.

Most important, the levels were favorable for the peak of the spawn and now the post-spawn. This hasn't been the case in several years. High water during and just after the spawn suppressed the YOY count. We need a good spawn or two to get the smallies population back in decent shape.

I look forward to seeing the YOY survey from the PFBC.

Also, given the mixed fishing reports last year overall, I look forward to seeing the PFBC adult bass survey for the Susky from last year.

It's still early in the season. I would expect the smallies to turn on soon in the Susky. The best weeks and months of fishing are ahead of us. Looking forward to a great season.

 

[Dave_W]

riverwhy wrote:
What species of crayfish are you seeing? The native ones or the rusty crayfish?

I'm not sure - will have to examine some of them more closely.

The streams I frequent have both natives and rustys but my guess is these are mostly native species as some of the rustys are pretty obvious, even at a glance.

 

[larkmark]

There is something very wrong with the lower river. From Harrisburg south it is just not right. I know the pa fish comm. might say otherwise but I don't really care about their surveys any more.
The reason you see no one out there where you guys went is because it is lousy.

 

[afishinado]

larkmark wrote:
There is something very wrong with the lower river. From Harrisburg south it is just not right. I know the pa fish comm. might say otherwise but I don't really care about their surveys any more.
The reason you see no one out there where you guys went is because it is lousy.

2017 was one of the greatest years for smallies in a long time in the lower Susky (H-burg and below). 2018 was a terrible year with the deluge of record rain, and 2019 wasn't much better for my smallie fishing for some unknown reason . I'm hoping this year things turn around. It won't be from lack of getting out and trying. Good luck.

 

[HopBack]

There is something very wrong with the lower river. From Harrisburg south it is just not right. I know the pa fish comm. might say otherwise but I don't really care about their surveys any more.

2017 I had double digit outings on the fly every time I went out on the lower river. Fantastic summer!

2018 was a bust due to constant high water events. (great for streamer fishing for trout though)

2019 was pretty bad for me but a work friend would go out every evening in areas from York haven to Columbia and do very well fishing tubes almost exclusively. Had the pictures to prove it as well. I would still say it was bad fishing that year but does it mean there was less of a population of fish in 2019 then there were in 2017? No, more than likely, wrong place, wrong time, wrong conditions. unless the survey says otherwise...

 

[wgmiller]

Your report is fairly consistent with what I've seen in my few outings as well. Last night I saw some white mayflies coming off, but no surface activity. A few days previous I stung one on a damselfly, but lost him. I've been tossing lots of Clouser minnows, seeing some crayfish moving about, but have gotten few bumps or strikes. The areas I have fished have been Falmouth and Riverfront Park in East Donegal (Marietta). I'm going to keep working the water though as wading levels are perfect and there is no sign of rain in the immediate forecast. Even if my outings aren't terribly productive, they serve as a nice diversion from trout, which I am glad to give a break to over the summer months.

People keep saying the river is "low", but I've seen it lower in past summers. Right now it's running 10,500 CFS(ish) at Marietta, yet I can remember seeing summer flows as low as 5,000 CFS.

 

[Swattie87]

wgmiller wrote:
People keep saying the river is "low", but I've seen it lower in past summers. Right now it's running 10,500 CFS(ish) at Marietta, yet I can remember seeing summer flows as low as 5,000 CFS.

I find it useful sometimes to look at the percentile statistics for a gauge on a given date...

For instance, the Susky gauge at Marietta is showing a flow rate in the 32nd percentile for today's date. Based off of 88 years of data...A good data set. That means that approximately 32% of the time on 7/1 the flow was lower than now, and approximately 68% of the time it was higher. Helps give you a relative picture of normal, along with the median flow. FWIW, I'd call that a little low for 7/1, but well within the "normal" range.

You have to watch, because some newer gauges don't have many years of data to compare, but on many there's a big historical data set to compare against.

 

[wbranch]

I fished the Wrightsville area last week and had very slow bass action. One 10" and two big channel cats on the spinning rod. Where I was there were very, very few crayfish. I usually see a couple dozen, as I wade in and then out of the river.

 

[ldsudds1963]

2019 was the year a friend of mine won a July Online Kayak Tournament with over 2,000 inches of SMB. He had 75-100 fish days and didn't stray far south of York Haven to find them. Nothing under 12" counted, and he had a ton in the 17-20" range.

2019 was all about knowing WHERE they were and getting to them--seems they were in places most boats couldn't go.

 

[timmyt2]

What type of water were they holding in ldsudds?

 

[Dave_W]

ldsudds1963 wrote:
2019 was the year a friend of mine won a July Online Kayak Tournament with over 2,000 inches of SMB. He had 75-100 fish days and didn't stray far south of York Haven to find them. Nothing under 12" counted, and he had a ton in the 17-20" range.

2019 was all about knowing WHERE they were and getting to them--seems they were in places most boats couldn't go.

Very interesting.

This is encouraging and supports the theory that some of us had to explain our poor angling results last year (ie. that the fish were not in the normal places). Odd that there were no small fish. Hhmmm...

Feel free to share some other details or info from your friend's fishing last year. Inquiring minds wanna know.
(I'm kidding, but only half kidding). 🙂

 

[larkmark]

The section of river between rt 30 and 462 bridges and above used to hold a lot of bass. What changed? Looks the same to me. Rocks and structure still there but hardly any bass (or anything else for that matter). Go out there when the white flies hatch. Don't expect to see much. I remember counting 50 guys wading out there and fishing on a summer evening 25 yrs ago. Now you will hardly see anyone out there and for good reason.