Best Bass Fishing Approaching

[jifigz]

Thank goodness that summer is over because, well, the "warm-water" fishing is easily at its worst during the hottest months of the year. The smallies, and other warmwater species, will be getting very aggressive and the fast approaching fall and winter are some of the best times to catch those bigger fish. About a week ago I nabbed a fish on almost every third cast while popper fishing the Juniata with two "good" fish - one that was roughly 18" and another pushing the 20" mark. They were heavy and put up one hell of a fight. I am going to try to post some pics of the smallies that come my way in the next few weeks and I will continue to catch nice fish all winter long....if anyone needs any tips please ask. I love winter fishing flowing waters for bass. The best part is is that big bass bite in the winter and musky and walleye also often fall prey to the same tactics and are taken from the same areas. Please feel free to share any pics and stories of your "warm-water" fishing adventures during the upcoming cold here.

 

[Fishidiot]

No doubt about it!

The next couple months are top notch for fishing large rivers for WW species. I think this year things are likely to kick off fairly early due to colder than normal water temps. It's a great time of year - so much to do, so little time.

 

[Fishidiot]

The lower Juniata River has not ticked above 70 degrees since last week. The Susky shows a similar trend. The fall river fishing season is definitely upon us. Water levels are also prime for wading right now.

 

[jifigz]

I walk about 100 yards and I am at the banks of the Juniata. I live on a 100 acre farm with a significant amount of river shore...I wouldn't trade it for what most people consider "paradise" because this is my paradise. There is some wonderful fishing in this stretch for wade-fishing. So if I even have only an hour to spare I can be down there, catch a few fish, and be back home in no time. It is great.

The only downfall is that I often fish alone and it is hard to take nice pictures of big fish when your are standing in the middle of a river with nothing but two hands and too much to hold.

 

[Stevie-B]

jifigz,

I'm sure there are quite a few of us on here that would gladly fish with you in exchange for a few pics. Can't think of anyone off the top of my head (ME! ME! ME! ME!), but I know some will chime in.

 

[jifigz]

Stevie-B wrote:
jifigz,

I'm sure there are quite a few of us on here that would gladly fish with you in exchange for a few pics. Can't think of anyone off the top of my head (ME! ME! ME! ME!), but I know some will chime in.

Let's figure out a time that it works for both of us and come on up. It is a pretty good drive from York though.

 

[laurelrun]

I am going to try hitting the Susquehanna near the Turnpike bridge this weekend. Any tips on what flies to fish?

 

[dc410]

Great time of year! In the past two weeks I have caught more Smallmouth Bass than I ever have in my life in that timeframe. The SMB bite is definitely turning on. One day this week I was messing around trying to hook up with a couple of huge carp that weren't having any of it. There was a fair amount of vegetation which always makes the carp fishing a lot more challenging. As my crayfish pattern sunk into some weeds I felt a little resistance. As I lifted the rod tip I hooked into the biggest smallie I ever had on a fly rod. Trying to haul the fish through the weeds was tough and I actually had it about a foot or two from lipping it and the fly popped out. Yeah well, the big ones always get away. I think this fish had a real chance of going 20 inches. I am looking forward to fishing this fall and into early winter to have the chance of getting into some really good size smallies.

 

[jifigz]

dc410 wrote:
Great time of year! In the past two weeks I have caught more Smallmouth Bass than I ever have in my life in that timeframe. The SMB bite is definitely turning on. One day this week I was messing around trying to hook up with a couple of huge carp that weren't having any of it. There was a fair amount of vegetation which always makes the carp fishing a lot more challenging. As my crayfish pattern sunk into some weeds I felt a little resistance. As I lifted the rod tip I hooked into the biggest smallie I ever had on a fly rod. Trying to haul the fish through the weeds was tough and I actually had it about a foot or two from lipping it and the fly popped out. Yeah well, the big ones always get away. I think this fish had a real chance of going 20 inches. I am looking forward to fishing this fall and into early winter to have the chance of getting into some really good size smallies.

A 20 inch smallmouth puts a nice bend in the rod. My arm is literally tired after battling smallmouths of this size...and don't worry I had one pushing 20" that I was about to lip the other day and my popper came unpinned just before I could grab it. Not a big deal, I got the best part of the catch and the fish got a good, safe release. I've brought many smallmouths in the 20" range to hand so it isn't that upsetting, now if that had been a 45" musky or so

Anyways I was out today and it took me a while to figure it out but as soon as I threw a chartreuse clouser around the ledges and structure the fishing was quick and furious. No big fish, but I probably caught 20 fish in the 6-14" range in the next hour. And that was after fishing for an hour and a half or so without hooking a damn thing.

 

[jifigz]

laurelrun wrote:
I am going to try hitting the Susquehanna near the Turnpike bridge this weekend. Any tips on what flies to fish?

Start out fishing aggressive with fast moving streamers and minnow imitations. I'd work it around shoreline cover to start too and move deeper if nothing. Don't think tiny either as a 5 or 6 inch streamer is certainly not too big. If this aggressive approach gets nothing dead drift a crawfish pattern or something similar....that should conjure em' up.

 

[jifigz]

Fished the Juniata again today for about 2 1/2 hours and landed about 40 fish. The largest smallmouth was only about 14 inches the fish were eating heavy. The water was 65° and all fish were caught on the same chartreuse Clouser. The fish weren't keyed in on any significant cover and were all in shallower water in the main river channel. There were also 5 or 6 nice fall fish thrown in the mix....all in all a good day of fishing and hopefully I can find the bigger fish tomorrow.

 

[jay348]

Prepping tonight for a trip to the susky on sun. Fingers are crossed.

Happy friday folks!

Bass On A Popper - slow motion 240fps from Jeremy Kennedy on Vimeo.

 

[Fredrick]

Nice video the feed bag is definitely on .

 

[henrydavid]

Very cool thread, just what I was looking for. I fished the Susquehanna NB white fly hatch many nights recently, caught quite a few 16+ inchers but no bombs over 18. Was out Sunday for the 1st time in a while and saw quite a few rises, black stone flys or caddis perhaps, I caught 20+ in a short while with a mayfly imitation, only a few hits on poppers, all the hook ups came on the mayfly.

 

[STONEMAN]

still a newbie to this warm water thing. My buddies and I are planning on kayak fishing the Juniata around Newport very early Saturday but was going to throw yamamoto senko plastic stuff with my spinning rod. Should I bring my seven wt and some poppers and clousers instead? We can only do a early morning float. Any advice? Thanks.

 

[BrookieChaser]

Always take the fly rod. Friends don't let friends fish gear.

 

[jifigz]

I fished the Juniata again today for a short time both in the morning hours and in the afternoon. All in all, the fishing was not the best. There seemed to be no clear pattern and although I saw fish chase my flies, attempt to eat my flies, and had several give feeble attacks to my poppers, few fish were caught. I think that I caught 6 fish all day which is a pretty LOUSY performance, but that is okay because I know that some days will be knockouts like I had the other day. A base summary of my fish caught today would be that 4 came on wooden poppers and 1 on an all white clouser minnow and another on a white and chartreuse clouser.

I did catch one nice fish. It was about 12 noon and I noticed that I spooked a big bass that was hugging the shoreline in virtually no water and just sucking up the sun. I watched the bass lazily swim towards the middle of the river after the initial startle. I thought that she was a little out of reach but I quickly chucked my popper towards where I thought she was and most definitely came up short. But, knowing that a little action might get her attention, I twitched the popper just a little and kept my eyes on the shallow water around it. I saw the bass so lazily and almost without interest slowly chase my popper down. She needed a little action on the popper to stay interested and eventually the fly was only about 15 feet away from me or so. I leaned towards the water and tried to stay low to keep her from seeing me and FINALLY she gently slurped the popper from the surface. Big bass tend to give poppers a much more gentle attack than the small and crazy fish, this is not always true but it is definitely their propensity. I sat the hook and this bass may have fought THE WORST out of any big smallmouth has ever fought. Seriously, she wasn't a great fighter at all and bass this size usually test your fish playing ability.

Anyways here are two pics of her. A big fish no doubt and one of many more to come.

When I went out in the evening there was a slight mayfly hatch and this triggered some alright popper fishing. I only hooked about a third of the strikes I received though. The first just were not all that energetic today.

 

[jifigz]

STONEMAN wrote:
still a newbie to this warm water thing. My buddies and I are planning on kayak fishing the Juniata around Newport very early Saturday but was going to throw yamamoto senko plastic stuff with my spinning rod. Should I bring my seven wt and some poppers and clousers instead? We can only do a early morning float. Any advice? Thanks.

Fly Fishing from a kayak is kind of difficult, but there is no doubt that poppers and clousers should work. If my sole purpose was to catch fish and do it from a kayak and have the most enjoyable day possible, I'd probably use spinning/baitcasting gear and jigs/soft plastics and crankbaits, topwaters, and spinnerbaits. Don't be afraid to fish BIG stuff. I know guys that throw monstrously huge spinnerbaits and stuff and do fantastic.

 

[BrookieChaser]

I don't understand how fly fishing from a kayak is difficult. Maybe it's my casting style.

 

[jifigz]

BrookieChaser wrote:
I don't understand how fly fishing from a kayak is difficult. Maybe it's my casting style.

I find it difficult to manage/control kayak in current while also trying to avoid having spare line that is stripped off of the reel from getting snagged on numerous nooks and crannies on the kayak itself. I have admittedly only tried it once earlier this year and have actually barely fished at all from my yak this year.
I'll try it again.