Susquehanna River, York Co., 11/22/14

[icyguides]

Hunted ducks with my dad yesterday morning. It was 18 degrees when we woke up and the river was very icy. Slush ice was all over the river and there was some solid ice in spots around islands. We hunted the morning and i got a mallard. When we got back to the boat ramp there were a few guys fishing and while loading the boat we witnessed one guy pull in a 19' from shore and another guy in a boat pull an 18'. We came in and ate lunch. I was encouraged by seeing some other guys connect so after eating lunch i decided to grab the fly rod and make a few casts, not expecting much.

I only fished for about a half hour and didn't even move spots, but i managed 6 bass from about 12-15/16 inches to hand and a miss or two. It was unbelievable, i caught bass on my first 3 casts. All were caught on a solid black clouser with green flash, fished very slow with 1 inch twitchy strips. It ended up being the most productive day bass fishing i've had all season. This warm snap of weather really has the fish turning on. All fish were caught from shore, wading in to about waist deep and casting out to water that's probably 3-5 feet.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Good to see this!

 

[beeber2]

Awesome, nice work!

 

[jay348]

middle guy has a broom for a tail...healthy looking fish for sure!

 

[Fishidiot]

Neat report!
I've really enjoyed Icyguides reports on the Susky this year. Glad to see the bass are still biting despite the early cold weather. Indeed some mighty fine looking fish.

 

[icyguides]

The fish were all super fat and healthy looking. All of the fish had bulging bellies, it looks like they are all well prepared to survive a cold winter.

I've really enjoyed warm water fishing this year, so much so that i can barely remember the last time i fished for trout. I like the variation in species, almost all the fish are wild and abundant, the water temperature doesn't get too high, and warm water locations usually aren't as crowded. Although these species are termed "warm water" it's a bit of a misnomer because obviously they can be caught almost year round. I think i'm now a warm water convert.

 

[Fishidiot]

icyguides wrote:
I've really enjoyed warm water fishing this year, so much so that i can barely remember the last time i fished for trout. I like the variation in species, almost all the fish are wild and abundant, the water temperature doesn't get too high, and warm water locations usually aren't as crowded. Although these species are termed "warm water" it's a bit of a misnomer because obviously they can be caught almost year round. I think i'm now a warm water convert.

Excellent! Another recruit to the Warm Water Insurgents. Remember our motto: "Trout are for suckers!"
😎

 

[Chaz]

I hate to throw a damper on things, but there a new biologists report on the Susquehanna Bass on the PFBC web home page.
Great fish!

 

[pete41]

Fishidiot wrote:

icyguides wrote:
I've really enjoyed warm water fishing this year, so much so that i can barely remember the last time i fished for trout. I like the variation in species, almost all the fish are wild and abundant, the water temperature doesn't get too high, and warm water locations usually aren't as crowded. Although these species are termed "warm water" it's a bit of a misnomer because obviously they can be caught almost year round. I think i'm now a warm water convert.

Excellent! Another recruit to the Warm Water Insurgents. Remember our motto: "Trout are for suckers!"
😎

if you have ever tail hooked a really big sucker their first run would make bass or trout proud.lol

 

[Fishidiot]

Chaz wrote:
I hate to throw a damper on things, but there a new biologists report on the Susquehanna Bass on the PFBC web home page.
Great fish!

I posted that report here on PAFF over a week ago in the WW forum.

The low YOY across the watershed was due to weather conditions (which is predictable). Despite this, the lower Susky below Harrisburg actually had an above average YOY in spite of the weather. It's not a great report - as I have said repeatedly we need to see some strong, above average YOY #s for the entire main stem before I'm convinced that the SMBs have bounced back - but it does contain some good news.

 

[afishinado]

^ yep.

The low # of YOY SMB's in the past few years has been caused by high water conditions during the spawning season.

The same results have been recorded in the Delaware River (not impaired) the last few seasons.

Better fishing reports on the lower Susky this year and last year have been encouraging. Still no where near what it once was, but on the upswing. Bad luck (high water during the spawning season) has continued to depress the population.

The black cloud for me is nothing specific has been recognized and thus remediated to prevent the problem for recurring.

 

[mr7183]

afishinado wrote:
^ yep.

The low # of YOY SMB's in the past few years has been caused by high water conditions during the spawning season.

The same results have been recorded in the Delaware River (not impaired) the last few seasons.

Better fishing reports on the lower Susky this year and last year have been encouraging. Still no where near what it once was, but on the upswing. Bad luck (high water during the spawning season) has continued to depress the population.

The black cloud for me is nothing specific has been recognized and thus remediated to prevent the problem for recurring.

I don't know much about the issue. What was the problem before, and what actions were taken to cause some to believe the SMB population is on the upswing?

You can link me to an appropriate thread if you don't feel like typing it out.

 

[Fishidiot]

mr7183 wrote:
I don't know much about the issue. What was the problem before, and what actions were taken to cause some to believe the SMB population is on the upswing?

Nobody knows. That's the problem.

Here's the short version: about 12 years ago anglers started complaining about poor bass fishing in the main stem of the river around Harrisburg and seeing young bass with sores. Since then, there has been poor recruitment of young bass in the river (which is what is being discussed above, the "YOY" data). The problem has been studied closely and continues to be studied. The current theory is that low, warm water with low dissolved oxygen may be part of the problem. This topic has been very vexing and frustrating for everyone involved. The current optimism stems from some of the YOY data and from good fishing reports such as this one. If you search this site (use the Advanced Search function at the bottom of this page) there is years of discussion on this topic here on our forum. For more detailed reading, hit the PFBC website as they have a great deal if info on the situation as well.

 

[afishinado]

There are plenty of articles to read about the Susky River Impairment. The link below is from the front page of the PFBC site:

Susky Bass