Lake Frederick, Susquehanna River 9-29-2010

[JakesLeakyWaders]

I took my oldest boy for another boat ride today in the motorized super canoe on the river. Right now with all this low water it is about the best place to go without having to worry about the motor hitting rocks.

Conditions were overcast and I figured fishing might be ok before this huge storm system rolls through. We both fished with bead head wooley buggers. The water was very clear and we caught lots of pumkinseeds, red breasted sunnies, and a redeye. No bass however I saw lots of largemouth between 5-9 inches near boat docks and weeds.

Putting along just offshore I spotted one sunken pontoon which was tore open adjacent to a large sunken tree in about 7-8 feet of water. We putted around the spot just 60 feet out from a boat dock and caught nice sized sunnies one after the other. I made a mental note of which island cottage # the structure was infront of.

Stopped off at Goodling Island for a pee break. It is a small island picnic area with benches, grills, and even mowed grass. Has a nice boat dock too. Didn't catch any bass today but seen quite a few. They are not as willing to bite as the sunnies and my kid makes a lot of noise in the boat.

In the panoramic photo I am facing east on an island in mid-river, in the foreground is the river of course with Shelly Island across the center of the frame and Three Mile Island is obscured in the background behind Shelly Island.

Lake Frederick has at least ten Islands ranging from 200 ft. long, on up to 2 and 3 miles long.

Note:

In the picture of the cooling towers if you enlarge the picture you can see there is a tree just below the left tower with about 20-30 white herons in it. This tree is on the tip of battery Island.

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice job Jake - looks like a fun time.

 

[wgmiller]

I need to start checking out that area of the river instead of just sticking around Columbia. I'd assume that you could put a kayak in, paddle and make it back to the launch site without making it an endurance event?

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Lake Frederic is big but you don't have to cover the whole lake. The best fishing is probably at the beginning of lake frederick, where it is still more or less free flowing river. Downstream of hill Island is where the water begins to slow, and straight across to the upper end of Shelly Isand.

A good place to launch is in Gouldsboro, if you turn towards the river at the square of town and go over the tracks the road goes left after crossing the tracks and follows them about a half mile to the boat launch. It's a big public launch.

There are weeds off of every island and extend hundreds of feet out from the lower tips of the islands, where it is typically shallow.

In lower flows like the other day before all this rain, you can expect the river to have pretty contsant or gradual depth changes between 5-8 at the upper end and 8-12 towards the dam. However right now you can add about 4 or 5 feet to that since the water is continuing to rise. I don't have any plans to fish the river for a little while becuse of the high water.

Of coarse, you been goin' down around Columbia, so you might want to explore the York side around the islands in Lake Clarke. I'm sure the water at and just above Columia/Wrightsvilles will be looking pretty hellish this weekend.

Also if you drive south from wrightville to Long Level there is a launch and parking all the way down towards the dam right where the river goosenecks if you know what I mean.

There is also another fairly unknown launch even closer to the dam, but I can't give you directions it's out of the way you'll need a DeLorme Atlas for that one, it is within two miles of the dam. Hardly anyone ever uses this launch or knows about it. There are also some interesting little steams within a few miles of that launch.

The water near the massive dam is 20-40 At least it was twenty years ago. I read an article about them being silt catchers so they are slowly getting shallower over the years. But you can count on rocky shorelines on the York side down near the dam.

Try fishing the York side down near the Safe Harbor Dam right up close to the shore. The water is deep and you have to pay attention to the dam. Right now would not be the ideal conditions to attempt fishing near the dam.