Afishinado wrote:
Very interesting stuff Mike (and Bassbert). My experience fishing for SMs in the Schuylkill reflects exactly what you wrote about a good last years YOY crop. I’ve been catching many dink SMs this summer, with an occasional larger fish mixed in.
As far as fishing the VF area, the park area section above Valley Creek is marginal water, but the section just below where Valley Creek enters the River has ideal current, cover and depth to hold SMs, yet the SM population seems to be very low in the area. This is especially puzzling given how good looking the water appears to be. Mike’s advise about where SMs hang out should be heeded, there are many sections of the River that are devoid of fish because of lack of good habitat, but the section described above in the VF area seems to break the rule. I have noticed that the River is cooler just below where Valley dumps in, but I would think the cooler water would attract fish in the heat of the summer. I will keep trying the area since the water is nice and access is easy.
Mike, I keep reading about anglers catching huge flathead catfish in the Skuke, could this have an effect on the SM fishing?