Susquehanna River, York County, 10/5/13

[icyguides]

Fished the susquehanna for a little while today at my parents place, upstream from wrightsville. got on the water at about 11. I haven't seen the river this low and clear in the past two years. It was like looking into an aquarium. There were big carp everywhere as far as the eye could see. Some of the carp had a small bass or even several bass following them ostensibly feeding on what they kicked up. I hooked a carp after just a few casts, fought it for 10-15 minutes, and was so hot and sweaty i decided to take a break and eat lunch.

I got back out onto the water at about 330 and fished for another half hour. The lighting conditions had changed for the worse- there was a surface ripple and a stronger glare. I couldn't see nearly as far but i still managed to sight fish to a few fish and miss one more. Used a nymph i think is called the ausable ugly-basically a muskrat nymph with green wing teal flank hackle.

If you like sight fishing for carp and you're near the susquehanna i'd suggest you get out in the morning before all the rain hits. Conditions were perfect in the morning.

 

[vcregular]

Sounds killer! Sweet pic.

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice report. The river is currently at about 3.1 at the H-burg gage - which is bone low. Many areas are now accessible to the wading angler - get out today if you can if you're looking to sight fish carp. Water levels are likely to rise in the next few days (but this will improve other types of fishing).

 

[timmyt]

That many carp eh?

 

[icyguides]

Yeah, there were a lot. Not like you could walk across water on them, but when the visibility was good early in the day i constantly had a target to cast at. Sometimes i had to pick between multiple fish to cast at. The carp in the susquehanna seem to be doing very well.

 

[timmyt]

Could the abundance of carp have anything to do with the smallie fishery going to crap?

 

[troutbert]

It's probably the other way around. The decline in the smallmouth population makes more food available for other fish, so their populations bump up.

 

[codym21]

I have been fishing this area all summer and have done very well with carp here. I have even caught some blind casting too. I dont think the carp have made a decline in the smallmouth population. The river has a surplus of forage, maybe pollution?