Susquehanna River, Perry/Dauphin Counties, 8/7/15

[klingy]

Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: Low 80s
Water Temp: Mid-High 70s
Time Fished: 2:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Hatches: White flies at dark; not blizzard, but steady
Most productive fly: Black rabbit strip Clouser

Headed out to my favorite spot on the Susky today with my dad. The river is finally getting in shape, and we were hoping to hook up with some smallies. As we paddled upstream from the boat launch, there were swirling fish everywhere, and they were on the baitfish hot and heavy from the beginning. Even in the afternoon sun, there were minnows being chased all over the place.

Started with a bunny clouser and stuck with that pretty much the whole time. Hooked into some nice fish, including a beast pushing 20 inches. Noticed a couple fish with abnormally small upper jaws. Haven't seen that much in the past. Pretty steady action throughout the day, though, including plenty of dinks, which was good to see. Caught a lot of 3-4 year old fish. Ended up with somewhere around 30 total. Between the weather, the fishing, and just being on the river, it turned out to be a really enjoyable evening.

 

[afishinado]

Very nice!

It's GREAT to see all those healthy SMB's come out of that section of river.

Good job!

 

[troutbert]

Beauty!

How big are 3-4 year old smallmouth?

Does anyone know the usual size progression per year for smallmouth?

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Beauty!

How big are 3-4 year old smallmouth?

Does anyone know the usual size progression per year for smallmouth?

 

[Fishidiot]

troutbert wrote:
Beauty!

How big are 3-4 year old smallmouth?

Does anyone know the usual size progression per year for smallmouth?

Typically about 9-12 inches. Many of the fish in Klingy's pics above are probably more in the range of 7-10 years.
They're slow growing fish.

 

[Fishidiot]

Just a great report - glad to hear that fishing has turned out well after all the high water this summer.

Mayfly hatches and fish busting minnows in shallow ledge rock. . .paradise for a smallie FFer!

 

[Millsertime]

Nice bass. Looks like there is some interbreeding with grayling going on there.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Awesome report!

I yaked hopewell lake in French Creek State Park today and did well catching largemouths in the lily pads then headed to Falmouth.
No whiteflies down there but some cahills hatching.
Lots of boils on baitfish and managed a few small bass in the shallows and a few decent ones targeting the boils. Saw a woman land a flathead dang near the length my the yak in using :-o

I got off all this week and I'll be floating all kinds of areas chasing these great fish. Way better than trout for sure!

 

[Fishidiot]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I got off all this week and I'll be floating all kinds of areas chasing these great fish. Way better than trout for sure!

Way better than trout?
Whodda thunk it - it was not that long ago that you were Mr Trout. Glad to see you've seen the light. 😎

Good luck - let us know how you made out. When you see bass swirling on baitfish, it's a good sign.

 

[afishinado]

Fishidiot wrote:

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I got off all this week and I'll be floating all kinds of areas chasing these great fish. Way better than trout for sure!

Way better than trout?
Whodda thunk it - it was not that long ago that you were Mr Trout. Glad to see you've seen the light. 😎

Good luck - let us know how you made out. When you see bass swirling on baitfish, it's a good sign.

Hey Sal, we can change your moniker to Micropterus salmoides if you'd like... :lol:

 

[krayfish2]

I took the boat, NickR and the dog in / around the same section yesterday. Lots and lots of 1-2 yr old fish in the 5"-8" range. Good numbers in the 10"-14" range and a few in the 17"-19" range. Big fish numbers we caught were down from a float I did last year at the same section. They were chasing bait all over the place and if you got a fly or lure where the bait were fleeing from....boom, hooked up.

Juniata, Susky, Swattie and Connie all look great. Clear and very wadeable. WW guys should strike while the iron is hot. Looks like you had great success just like we did. Only 1 of our fish had blisters on it. The bottom lip of our 19"+ smallie looked like it had herpes (based on photos I've seen, not personal experience). LOL

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Good luck - let us know how you made out. When you see bass swirling on baitfish, it's a good sign.


I'll tell ya now, likely very poor if we get all the rain wgal and accuweather are calling for...

 

[klingy]

krayfish2 wrote:
I took the boat, NickR and the dog in / around the same section yesterday. Lots and lots of 1-2 yr old fish in the 5"-8" range. Good numbers in the 10"-14" range and a few in the 17"-19" range. Big fish numbers we caught were down from a float I did last year at the same section. They were chasing bait all over the place and if you got a fly or lure where the bait were fleeing from....boom, hooked up.

Were you at Dauphin, or higher up? I was somewhat north of there. good to hear the small ones are down there too. Looks like you had about the same experience I did, except I didn't get a lot of real small ones. Mostly in the 12 inch range (which I always thought were around 3 years). Did see quite a few healthy YOY in the shallows though.

 

[BrookieChaser]

I fished both the Juniata and the Susquehanna on Friday, then the Susquehanna yesterday afternoon. The carping sucked, too much pressure from bowfishing, so I fished for bass. Your observations mirror mine.

There was a major decrease in white fly activity from Friday to Saturday in the exact same location.

 

[krayfish2]

Now that you mention bowfishing.....saw quite a few boat out there doing it. Never saw that before.

 

[codym21]

Looks fun, we hit a crazy white fly hatch on the the NB on Friday did okay with fish last week was better.
Bowfishing is so lame

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

i put in at the mouth of the connie this morning and paddled up river a distance. lots of guys yak fishing. i managed to land 10, 2 were big fish. when the rains came we all headed back. sounds like everyone did well there. as soon as we all got our gear and boats put away, the rain stopped...

 

[BrookieChaser]

Kray, there was at least one bowfishing tournament this weekend. The rednecks were needing maximum carp poundage to win gift certificates.

 

[Fishidiot]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I'll tell ya now, likely very poor if we get all the rain wgal and accuweather are calling for...

Although we got less than half an inch in my neck of the woods, the upper Susky watershed appears to have been drenched and the gage height at Harrisburg went way straight up today. Dang.
May be awhile before the lower Susky is back to ideal fishing levels.

Other bass rivers in the area, however, remain at nice, low summer levels.

 

[krayfish2]

8,000 to 96,000 cfs ?!?! Wow. It will be awhile before its wadeable.