Susquehanna River, Perry Co., 9/9/16

[Dave_W]

An excellent and promising day. Nice to break out of my bass fishing slump from last month.

WEATHER: Very hot and muggy, air temp 90ish. Cloudy with clearing skies. Glad I had a towel around my neck and extra Gatorade.

WATER: Very low and warm showing 3.05' at Harrisburg. Clear, 86 degrees at 4:30pm. Much of the riverbed where I was was dry.

INSECT & BAIT ACTIVITY: No hatches, but bass were busting damselflies. Lots of minnow action in the shallows and several bass I was unhooking had the typical crayfish in their gullet.

Wade fished a section in the Dauphin Narrows from about 4:30pm till dusk. When I arrived and was stringing up my rod I saw some bass splashing around in current seams. Had to walk/wade a good distance out to get to good holding water. Hooked up on the first cast and it was off to the races. Hot, muggy days like today often treat me well when river bassin and the popper bite was fast and furious this afternoon. However, around 6pm the skies cleared and a bright sun beat down. The fishing slowed noticeably.

While wading around I was delighted to see redbreast sunnnies in the slack water areas. They weren't numerous compared to the many small bass, but I saw a decent number of them, mostly small. I decided to put on a nymph and see if I could catch some of the sunnies and had some luck. I also got a small rock bass on a popper, which made my day. Seeing rockies and sunnies in the Susky is an optimistic development.

By sunset the river turned back on again. I was fishing mostly very shallow riffles and runs between boulder gardens and ledge rock where the average depth was about a foot. Fish were a bit skittish, probably due to the very low water and the ubiquitous herons, eagles, and, egrets. Long casts helped. Anyway, every pocket and run produced bass and often times when my fly hit the water, twin swirls would reveal multiple fish closing on my popper at once. Great fun.

While we're waiting for cooler weather and rain, don't write off summer bassin just because it's September. The big rivers are low and easy to wade right now and hot weather days can produce some good bass fishing. I should reiterate my common point that wading the Susky can be tough and I use cleated Korkers and a wading staff, even at these low levels.

 

[krayfish2]

Good work Dave. It's raining pretty good up here right now. If I didn't stop for a haircut after work, might have bumped into you out there. Bass is far from over for the season. Plenty of good fish to be found between now and the end of October.

 

[laurelrun]

I kayak fished Thursday evening in the same area and echo a lot of what you saw Dave. The bite picked up as soon as the sun was off the water. Long casts helped and I boated several fish over 15". All on crayfish imitations. Hits were savage and the bass all looked healthy aside from one that had clearly met a bird of some kind. It didn't slow him down though. Several age classes. My best day on the river all summer.

 

[3wt7X]

I had a good afternoon yesterday near this area of the Susky. The winds were a little bit of a hassel and the water was super low. The fish were hitting minnow patterns near the deeper channels and rock ledges and I took a bunch of small bass near dark on a white popper. They seemed to like a long cast 50+ foot with a large mend to get the fly deep, then a strip strip pause approach as it swung down below.

I noticed a lot more 16-18 inch 2lb range smallies on this trip, and sadly I jumped off a stud in the 20 inch range, but that what keeps you coming back for more.

 

[Dave_W]

Nice job 3wt! Bummer on the lost biggie.

My efforts this year using poppers have produced mostly smaller bass for me - which is typical in my experience, especially during the evening when the fish really seem to turn on.

While poppers get big fish, I have consistently found that streamers tend to get most of the larger fish for me, even in summer. Nevertheless, I really enjoy the summer topwater bite and am tying up some more poppers this week.

As we transition into autumn, it will be fun and interesting to see how things continue to play out.

 

[henrydavid]

Dave, I fish the North Branch and have seen the same thing, however 1 of 10 will be a really nice smallie, dry flies have worked very well for me around dark, target a nice riser and hang on. Sulphurs have been out most nights and have accounted for a few 16+ inchers for me.

 

[Dave_W]

Spent a couple hours wade fishing vic. Marysville this afternoon during my travels to the Capital region.

With the wind and blustery frontal conditions moving in, I expected a hot bite. No dice. Fish were off and action was slow. The few fish I caught were small and on streamers. Poppers were ignored. Water temp was 67 degrees, and very clear. Perhaps the twenty degree water temp drop recently has fish moving to deeper sections(?). Was fishing a shallow section of rock garden riffle area where I usually expect to find bass in summer and early autumn conditions. The wind made fishing tough. The predictable September grass break up is underway and this also makes for tough fishing.

Glad I wasn't trying to row a boat or raft as the wind from the south was really pushing.

 

[krayfish2]

I don't think they've moved yet. I know we've found them in the usual spots into late October. Guessing the dramatic water temp drop and the recent pressure changes. We'll have to see how much rain falls, what happens to the flows over the next 6-10 days

 

[Dave_W]

krayfish2 wrote:
I don't think they've moved yet.

I think you're right that the fish likely have not moved yet - at least not any dramatic distance. The shallows usually fish well in Sept.


BTW: I didn't catch any sunnies or rock bass today but I was keeping an eye out for them and can confirm got eyes on a good sized rock bass today.

 

[henrydavid]

I spent Wed. & Thurs. camping along the Susky North Branch, the bite was slower than a week ago. I'd blame the quick drop in water temps and unstable weather conditions.