Brunner's Island

[wgmiller]

I would expect bait fishing to outfish the fly for catties any day of the week. I found an interesting read on how they feed: http://www.gameandfishmag.com/2010/09/28/fishing_catfish-fishing_gf_aa076502a/

Maybe if you could "sweeten" up your fly a bit with some scent they might like flies better.

 

[1wt]

[color=0000FF]Maybe if you could "sweeten" up your fly a bit with some scent they might like flies better.[/color]

Good point. I forgot all about the scent thing.
I see a new "fish stick" scent that looks like a chap stick tube...... I'll have to check it out.

 

[wgmiller]

Perhaps fishing so close to Brunner Island isn't such a good idea... :-o

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/570220_Susquehanna-River-power-plant-a-top-U-S--polluter.html

 

[1wt]

Yeah, a bad idea indeed! The whole Susquehanna is really getting me depressed.
The infected fish (over 50% of all the fish I catch in the river now) I caught at Brunners a couple days ago:
I shouldn't put my hands in the polluted water anymore..... and I used to wet wade! It's no wonder why I'm so crazy?

​

 

[wgmiller]

Shew... Looks like chocolate milk!

What kind of fly is that? :-D

 

[unforgiven]

Poor fish. I've heard reports all along the river that more and more fish are becoming sick. Their decaying bodies make me sick. Several years ago I would take my 3 kids out to play in the Susquehanna. Not now.

By the way, wgmiller, I've got 3 years on you

 

[Maurice]

wgmiller wrote:
Shew... Looks like chocolate milk!

What kind of fly is that? :-D

looks like a chicken liver...

 

[1wt]

[color=0000FF]looks like a chicken liver...[/color]

No, Maurice, it was a small chunk of a night-crawler! 1/4 of a big fresh Canadian night crawler!! I tried liver, both chicken and beef, but it won't stay on my hook. LOL
After a couple hours tossing Clousers and Buggers without a hit....... I get frustrated and grab my spin rod with live bait.
wgmiller gave me a tip with the scent on flies. Next time I'll scent up my flies and try to catch a lesion infected fungus catfish!
I won't touch the sickly fish, but take a pic and release with forceps.
The mighty Susquehanna, my how it has changed.

 

[1wt]

I fished Brunner's today from 3 until after dark. The water was cold and only warmed up at dark??
Not even the bait boys caught today. One guy told me "the environmental wackos wrecked this fishery"
It used to be warm all the time in winter, but now they only turn the warm water on every few hours. This stinks because the few fish that were left would come miles to stay in the warm 60 degree water. Now they hide in deep holes and wait for spring.
No prob for this guy!!! I am tying some neat BH Pheasant Tails and some Chez nymphs with a modified split shot! It took me a couple weeks to perfect this fly....... so I can't post pix for fear that the trout population might go down if it's released!