Havent fished much this year, and the precipitation this summer certainly hasnt helped matters. When i saw a dry window for a week, i kinda knew i had to take friday off. I fished Buena Vista to Boston earlier in the year and it was so-so, and wasnt in love with how industrial that stretch is. Lots of tires in the water there, ha. Kinda silted in a bit too. Anyway, i decided i wanted to fish farther south and chose Smithon. 1) not a great start to the day when noticed i forgot my newport motor control/throttle. Huge bummer. 2) also not the best start as you put your yak in the water you have a drift boat 60' in front of you. 3) this is not for the faint of heart to get your boat to the water from the GAP parking lot. It is a decent path to the river, but it is decently steep and 300'+/- to the water. I have a cart for my yak, but that was an effort to get it back up the hill after a day of pedaling. I wasnt surprised to get the skunk for the day. The water was just about as clear as i can remember seeing the Yough. Easily 6-8' of clarity. The amount of drum and suckers i saw on the mile and a half from Smithon dowstream of the i70 bridge was crazy. What was also crazy was the utter lack of strikes, follows, nothing from throwing spinner baits, chatter baits, swimbaits, jerk baits etc. I didnt have my electric motor, but i still had the pedal drive on my titan 12.5x, so i pedaled my way back upstream a few times to float several runs 2-3 times. If you have a pedal drive(or really like paddling), this is a good stretch to fish if you are like me and dont have a means of putting in and taking out at two separate locations. Connellsville gauge was 2.4', for comparison sake. I didnt spend a ton of time attempting to portage the riffle above the Smithton bridge, but I dont know i would recommend it. It doesnt help my kayak is massive and heavy at 175-200#. A little more water would actually be better to get out and walk your yak through 4-5" of water off to the side by the bank. On friday, i was in 1" of water, which wasnt enough to float the boat. Still, always a pleasure floating the river, seeing eagles, and getting some exercise.
Question for the folks that know the river better. Is it common for smallmouth to completely vacate some stretches of the river for the winter migration? The water temp wasnt too cold, according to the Suttersville gauge it was between 59-62*.
Season is coming to a close for me wanting to get my feet wet and be in a kayak, but i might try to hit up the yough once more this year. Has anyone put in at the Layton kayak launch before? Not necessarily looking for fishing intel, but it is hard to see riffles and skinny water on aerials. With my newport 300 motor, it is easy to handle MOST current on the yough, but some stretches it is too fast and skinny to navigate. It looks like you hit something 1/2 mile downstream of Layton, but potentially unobstructed 1.75 miles upstream? Anyone have experience with typical riffles in this stretch?
Question for the folks that know the river better. Is it common for smallmouth to completely vacate some stretches of the river for the winter migration? The water temp wasnt too cold, according to the Suttersville gauge it was between 59-62*.
Season is coming to a close for me wanting to get my feet wet and be in a kayak, but i might try to hit up the yough once more this year. Has anyone put in at the Layton kayak launch before? Not necessarily looking for fishing intel, but it is hard to see riffles and skinny water on aerials. With my newport 300 motor, it is easy to handle MOST current on the yough, but some stretches it is too fast and skinny to navigate. It looks like you hit something 1/2 mile downstream of Layton, but potentially unobstructed 1.75 miles upstream? Anyone have experience with typical riffles in this stretch?
