Susquehanna River, Perry Co., 8/5/19

Dave_W

Dave_W

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Fished the Susquehanna along the west shore from about 5pm until about 10:30pm. My summer smallie slump continues.

WEATHER: Partly sunny with highs earlier in the day of around 90. Breezy.

WATER: Clear, about 3.8 feet at the Harrisburg gauge. Water temp was 85 degrees F confirmed by thermometer.

HATCHES/FORAGE: Nothing until late. Saw a few white flies starting around 8:40pm. Large numbers of juvenile crayfish in shallows at water’s edge after dark (this is typical).

Paddled out to some of my favorite boulder gardens and ledge rock to begin. Had no luck here or anywhere I else. I tried willow grass islands, rock flats, bridge pilings, shoreline woody debris, nymphs, streamers, poppers – I couldn’t buy a strike. The other anglers I chatted up or watched from a distance also did poorly. One fellow who had been out most of the day throwing soft plastics managed only two small fish. I usually expect a slow summer river to wake up when the sun sets behind the mountains but this didn’t happen.

Since I don’t have a light on my boat I headed in before dusk and saw a few white fly duns. After putting up the boat, I returned to the shoreline hoping for the bugs to materialize. Saw the first rising fish at 8:52pm. Right at dusk there was a pod of sippers working a current break close to shore. I quickly stuck a fish on a white wulff dry fly and was surprised to discover it was big – mid teens. A few minutes later I got another large fish from the same pod and assumed it was going to be a good night. However, the bite quickly stopped and I could find no more surface activity. The white flies never really picked up and numbers were sparse, not near what one expects when the hatch is at its peak.

My usual Susky disclaimer: be careful wading especially if it is dark. Use a staff and have adequate footwear and redundant flashlights. Move slowly. I tend to stick close to shore and shallow water when wading at night.

 
Great report Dave. You aren't alone with having lackluster smallie fishing. I fished the mouth of the Breeches a few days ago, and only had one fish on, which managed to pop off.

At this point, I'm going to scrap bass fishing for the rest of the Summer, and just go for trout when the conditions are suitable.
 
SteveG wrote:
Great report Dave. You aren't alone with having lackluster smallie fishing. I fished the mouth of the Breeches a few days ago, and only had one fish on, which managed to pop off.

At this point, I'm going to scrap bass fishing for the rest of the Summer, and just go for trout when the conditions are suitable.
Click to expand...

:-o :-o :-o

Yow! Don't give up yet! Smallie fishing has been off in most places in PA and even in the good smallie rivers in neighboring states. I can't believe the SMB's have disappeared everywhere.

The best smallie fishing happens in the late summer and fall season, and the rivers are slowly receding and clearing. Maybe I'm too optimistic, but I expect things to begin happening any time now if the conditions keep improving. Keep trying.
 
Nice report, I'll have to try the whitefly hatch one night. I've tried some spots out on Chartiers Creek recently that were recommended and its the same story, have to work for fish and they are fairly small. Kind of a bummer seeing as trout waters are fairly far for me but steel is just over the horizon
 
This is a timely report for me. I took a vacay day tomorrow and was really thinking about heading to the river. I see trout in my future instead. I might give the river a go Saturday night with white flies.
 
Had one day that was decent a week ago and got a couple but overall something is still off.
 
I did manage to wrangle a few trout at daybreak, and then I headed to the Juniata River. On White/Blue Clouser, I caught one solid bass in the upper teens along with several others topping out at 12". All the bass were holding tight to large submerged rocks on shaded side of river. When the shade disappeared, so did the bite. Still don't know what's up with things as historically late July/early August are usually fire for me. Last Friday, I hit Susky at Millersburg and fishing was subpar in spite of decent water and weather conditions. It might be time to break out the spin gear and chuck tubes...
 
Smallie fishing has been awful here. I've chimed in and said that before on different threads, but dang is it the truth. Nothing really happening. I did use my spinning gear one time this year and did better than I have with a fly rod, I'll admit that. But that was basically the only time I've used spinning gear in the last 8 years or so and it truly is boring compared to smallie fly fishing.
 
Same. Been out quite few times. Pretty much one bass a trip. Fished some beautiful untouched water last Sunday morning. Too shallow for boats and very hard to walk to. Beautiful ledge area. Nothing.

Been out with both the spinning rod and the fly rod. Fished several different sections over the last few months. South of Wrightsville to Bainbridge.

Hoping it gets better but it reminds me of a few years ago when the smallies crashed.
 
After several great years in my regular spot, I too am getting about one fish per trip. Last night should have been great conditions. White flies coming off everywhere with no surface activity visible.
 
Not to late Tom .


chess.jpg
 
Fished for four hours tonight with my son below Millersburg and caught zero, zilch, nada. Saw two YOY. Ok then.
 
For what they’re worth, here are my observations. I’ve fly fished the River for 19 years but have lived on its bank for 8. I’m on the east shore above Dauphin where the River runs east/west for about 2 miles. Other stretches may be experiencing different conditions but it doesn’t sound it. I get out more days than not, usually in the evenings but sometimes in the day on a weekend. I fish from a jon boat when the water is high but wade often when the water is 4ish (Harrisburg gauge) and lower especially if a hatch has brought the fish in closer to shores and islands. I also use a drift boat or kayak. I mention this only because it may give some perspective about these observations.

This is clearly an off year with fewer fish than any other in my years living on the Susquehanna. I think there are a fair representation across the sizes, just fewer. My 6 to 10 fish nights are 1 to 3 fish nights with exceptions each way.

The water was high in spring and so I got out less and had the expected bad results. I had one fun night in early June when I caught 5 very good rising smallies on a popper in about 7 casts. Promising but not to be repeated.

As the water dropped the expected uptick didn’t happen. Surely it would if we had a big white fly hatch which really starts the top water action. Well, we had a great whitefly hatch. It started late in July and was good tonight and most nights! The longest duration I’ve witnessed. Not super heavy at anytime, but good. On a night with a good hatch, I’d expect to see 60 or more rises in an hour. Now, 15. I’ve never counted but you get the idea. And instead of landing 4 to 9, Im getting one or two and even nada. Prospecting isn’t so fruitful either. I’m not doing better on Clouser minnows and the like on intermediate lines either.

Targeting any fish you see gives you a chance, but... it’s gotten like a no rise day on a trout stream.

I can’t figure out what’s different, with this exception. There aren’t the crayfish I’d expect to see. Stepping off the beach I’d expect to see hundreds of the little ones scatter and a bunch of larger ones. Not so. Barely any. Why? I’ve had guys say caught fish are regurgitating them but that’s not my experience. I’ve heard speculation about a proliferation of flatheads being a cause but I don’t have any knowledge about that. I know we can catch a 30 inch cat any night with something stinky on a hook (I have a neighbor who does then “dispatches” them).

Not terribly helpful but I guess it’s a report. Hope your experiences are better, that it gets better...
 
Thanks for your thorough report jleeg. This is what we are seeing in lower river also. Fewer crayfish for sure and even fewer small minnows and sunfish and zero Rock Bass ( despite what others on this forum will emphatically claim). Fishing in the usual places with fly rod and spinning is producing a few small ones. I've found a few decent fish in very shallow water near islands or shore but still not very many. This is probably the worst Smallmouth Bass fishing I have experienced since the crash of years ago. Tributary fishing has not been much better. Several float trips in perfect conditions that would have produced twenty bass last year are getting us 2 or 3.
I have been bass fishing the river since I was a kid. Over 50 years now.
 
My fishing results on the Susky and tribs are pretty much the same as those that have posted above....poor.

One possibility to explain the lack of crayfish is the record high water which started in July of 2018 and just now has abated more than a year later. It seems logical that the high water and extreme flow fluctuations for the past year have hampered the spawn and survival of the crayfish.

While the high water in has likely interfered with the bass spawn and lowered the YOY survival in 2018 & 2019, that still doesn't explain the apparent lack of adult smallies in the older age classes after such a banner year in 2017 when the River was loaded with smallies of all age classes.

I will continue to fish the Susky this fall. Catching a few here and there is better than nothing.

Hopefully we can have more normal rainfall and flows to help the Susky get back to better fishing for next year.
 
Thanks all for the information. I will be floating it on 9/15. Did well this time of year in 2017, of course last year was a washout. We are looking to float north of Duncannon, I will let you guys know how we make out. Hopefully we will hear some better news in the next few weeks.
 
Lots of good information in this fishing report (thanks!).

There's a thread in the WW forum about how the Susquehanna River is fishing and that might be a better place to put broad observations about one's fishing experiences on the river this year.

I'm hoping to get back up there soon and will probably write a new report.
 
I fished the Susquehanna last weekend at between the dams at Sunbury. I caught some bass but not like it used to be. I caught a hand full of smaller 11 inchers and then 2 nicer 17 inch fish. No big bass like I used to catch 2 years ago. I did catch a musky in the low 30s. In 2017 my brother and I said that fishing just wasn't the same around the dams in Sunbury as in years past. Last year when we fished it we started saying this place isn't as magical as it used to be. This year we said WOW something is wrong!
 
I’ve been out most nights and am seeing a little of what I’ve come to expect at this time of year. Fish are rising in waist deep water in stretches far out from shore where they are other, good, years. This happens after the white fly hatch that was very good this year but which did not bring big numbers of fish close to shore where the hatch is strongest. The fishing is target fishing to rises and is very much like targeting rising trout. Some smaller fish are jumping but the big smallies are sucking in surface bugs that are abundant. A white fly works but I’m doing better with smaller darker flies (big posts are necessary for seeing the fly in the sheen after sunset). The fish are easily put down with sloppy casts and I have to move the boat often for position. Leaving the motor in idle, anchored, doesn’t seem to bother the rises. Drifting is good but challenging especially in wind. Coming in lightless after dark is fun but the boat knows the way. A 15 hp prop with cage is perfect. An hour and a half is about all I get and I’m landing several and losing more because of .... name any excuse. I really enjoy this kind of dry fly fishing even if is off. Hope you find some good nights too.
Best to all.
 
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