Anyone tryin smallies?

The bite in the North Branch Susky has been good. My buddy and I went out on his boat both days last week end and again today. We fished a different section each time. We boated 15-24 per day, average 15", a few bigger. The biggest so far was a fat 18" smallie today. Low and slow along 4-8 foot deep rocky shores with current breaks is where we found the most success. I know that's not news. Flies that worked best: 3" clousers, olive over white; purple or copper Kreelix; #4 tan or brown Meat Whistles.

Random, novel catch: 15" quillback hooked in 12 feet of water.
 
You guys get a pic of the Quill?

Ty for the report btw!
 
Cool catch of Quillback Carpsucker. I always caught a few each yr on lower Susquehanna but they seem to have disappeared along with every other living thing except Flatheads. I fished all the usual places yesterday that have produced in past but nothing. Last yr and this yr so far don't look good for bass on lower river. I look at that big river and I am blown away to think that something bad has happened to the bass down here.
 
The walleye and channel cats are doing well too, plus the SMB population is still excellent in the Codorus Ck to Accomac area based on last fall’s electrofishing. There is an excellent year class of Walleye coming on from 2019.
 
I ll be curious to know how the river fishing is this year Mike.

I hardly got to fish it last year due to kids, kids with broken arms, work, heavy rain when i can go etc....now i have barn collapses, barn raisings, the kids still and a world pandemic going on.
I fished the river last year very early, sometime before/around the prespawn in the Falmouth area. Believe it or not Giant bass were leaping out on a pretty regular basis within casting distance, but i couldnt buy a bite. Lasted a few hours and then no more leaping.

I havent been back since. I heard all last year mixed reports on the Smallmouth fishing as i was sidelined.
IMO larkmark the weather has been acting very strange. Huge fronts in and out, rain, high wind, cold air bringing over night low temps, then warm right after.

I think once it levels out then we will know how its really fishing.
Need a nice medium to high pressure that lasts for awhile with some good temps.

I do recommend in the interim if going bass fishing to try medium to small rivers. On sunny days they will warm more in downstream reaches than the Susquehanna.

Trying to be optimistic. I miss the river.
 
Last two years were struggles in my usual haunts. 2018 was too much high water. 2019, just didn't seem to have fish moving into my typical honey holes. But my observation is that doesn't equate to fish being gone. Yesterday I fished over a pile of recently stocked trout and could not buy a bite, as none were visibly feeding. Sometimes you just hit them at the wrong moment -temps, pressure, cloud level, time of day. But that's the game, isn't it?

It makes those moments when things are on fire that much more appreciated.

I caught my first smallie of the year while trout fishing on a stocked warmwater, streamer fishing for trout. The hit and the tug had me thinking large trout. When I managed to get the bulldog out from under a log and some heavy current, it was, in fact about a 10" smallie. I love trout fishing, too, but they just do not compare to smallmouth.
 
salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
Fish are still sluggish. Cant wait for things to heat up a bit.
Click to expand...

That's surprising.

With the warm spring we've had, I'd expect the SMB bite to be gangbusters by now. We do have some colder temps coming this week and that may shut 'em down.

I have not been out for SMBs in over a month so I can't say I've got a good pulse on this spring.
 
When the warmwater ran at Brunner the fishing was very good all winter. Now they cut that back. March and April always were my favorite time for bigger fish and even numbers. I am talking bass, walleye and even Crappie. And the occasional Quillback! By this time of year things should be really getting going. The river is no good anymore in the Wrightsville area on up above Marietta and as far as I can tell extending into Maryland. below Conowingo is okay but not as good as yrs back. And now Rockfish showing up with huge sores. I know because every one I got down there last yrand yr before had them. A few yrs ago the Bainbridge area was decent but now that seems to be getting worse. The tributaries are also doing very poorly in that section. My theory is that something upstream, possibly wastewater, is accumulating in lower river and making it no good. I am speaking of bass but it is very obvious that other fish are effected. Mike says walleye are decent up there but I cannot confirm any of that with my fishing. I use fly and spinning gear and in last 5 trips in that area did nothing. Not a bump. Either I am the worlds lousiest fisherman or something just is not right. I know I should venture to other areas like I do for trout but the river is close to my house and after close to 50 yrs fishing this section , for better or worse, I still keep trying. It seemed that things were recovering up to about 3 yrs ago. Now they seem to be getting worse. This is just my personal take so I mean no offense to anyone here and if you are having better results I would love to hear about it. If anyone knows Bob Clouser just ask him what he thinks about it.
 
I think you guys need to move around more and find some active fish or possible change your tactics . I have been catching snakeheads on top water already and big ones at that I caught 8 3/4 pounder Sunday on top .
 
Frederick. I know what you mean about moving around. I know there are better areas but I would need to drive at least an hour.
And I want to catch a gamefish! Just kidding. I hear those things are a good fight?
I am going to keep trying on a weekly basis and if Mike is right I should eventually find some of these good numbers in my area.
 
Larkmark,
Regarding what I said about walleye, I said that there is a good year class coming on from 2019. I did not say that the present adult (fishable) walleye population is good, because it isn’t. There were at least two previous mediocre to poor year classes. The 2019 fish won’t be of legal size until about fall, 2021 and into 2022.

Now that I know roughly where you prefer to fish, I would suggest gearing up for muskies, as that population in the Bainbridge area is the best that I had ever electrofished in a river and in my view was very competitive with the best river sections in the state. On the other hand, once you get below Haldeman riffle the population pretty much tanks. So fish for muskies from York Haven Dam down to just below Bainbridge on both sides and in the middle of the river.

As for the SMB population, from the above info you should be able to tell that I don’t BS about fish populations, nor did I do so when I was working. Last yr’s early November electrofishing run for SMB from the gas lines across from the township park down to the old Accomac boat launch, our standard site since the 1980’s, was, according to the crew, the best ever.
 
Went out last weekend for smallmouth for a little bit to a new spot. Missed two smallies and unexpectedly caught a wild brown near the mouth of a South Central PA warmwater stream.
 
After striking out recently, I put the thermometer in my local favorite springtime SMB spot and got 45 degrees F. This is cold for mid-April and likely explains the slow bassin reports.

I was skeptical of Sal's claim further up this thread about the need for warmer weather... but now think he nailed it.

It's prime time right now, but water temps in the 40s are not ideal.
 
I hope it comes soon Dave.
Im ready to get on to bass this year!
 
I was out Monday 4/20/20 saw a few in the shallows but they weren't interested in any flys. It looks like they were sunning themselves, will try again after this cold snap goes through and the weather cooperates.
Looks like the trout rush has petered out, the usual, get out catch a couple, get on the net and lie about it.
 
I did a float up north of Pittsburgh...water flow good but water still cold forgot my thermometer...couldn’t get anything on streamers but picked up two nice fish, one 18 on a crawfish jig...they are starting to wake up
 
Now rain in Lancaster. I real nice soaker.
Guess ill go back to trout for a little bit.

This is starting to look familar.:roll:
 
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