Smallie spawn

[afishinado]

So far so good with the flow in most PA rivers for the spawn (Susky and the D River).

Here is a great article from the PFBC site detailing the conditions effecting the spring smallie spawn:

SMB Spawning

If we can get by a few more weeks without high water, chances are the 2016 spawn will be successful > the fry will hatch and disperse into the shallows / cover.

The success or failure of the spawn is the major factor that influences the success and failure of the SMB angler in future seasons. A strong year class or two close together makes all the difference.

Good luck to all this season.

 

[Dave_W]

Indeed.

Conditions have been ideal on the big rivers this spring with fairly low, stable flows since April and no flooding. If we can get through the next 2-3 weeks with continued conditions, we can expect a good spawn across the mid-Atlantic. Under ideal conditions, we might even see an excellent spawn such as 2007.

 

[turkey]

Thanks for the link Afish. I never knew of the correlation between flows and year-class success. We just had a deluge here yesterday but I didn't notice the Allegheny gauges spike. I look forward to reading the article more thoroughly tonight.

 

[Sylvaneous]

Here in the NW, we've had atrocious conditions for, gosh, 5, 6 years of the spawn. There are fewer y-o-y 3 inchers in Sept but some are always there.

Syl

 

[icyguides]

There have been a lot of reports of large #'s of big bass floating dead down the river lately. Seems like it's post spawn mortality + the sudden spike in temperatures.

 

[krayfish2]

Reminder for all of those affected by the closed season on Susky and Juniata........it opens up again this weekend! Not sure what to expect but the fishing prior to May 1 was pretty decent.

 

[Dave_W]

We're now at mid June and the Susky remains low and stable. The scattered storms lately haven't put a dent in the water levels. This is good news.
I wouldn't care to fish this weekend, but I'm hoping to hit the river soon (July and August have traditionally treated me better than June, but I'm itching to get back to bass).

Anyway, conditions are looking good for SMB YOY recruitment this year across the Mid-Atlantic rivers and, hopefully, the Susky in particular.

 

[krayfish2]

Dave,
I'll let you know how it fishes. I'm headed out tomorrow to put a beat down on some chump from the forum. Lol.

 

[Mike]

Icy guides: Whiich River? Delaware, Schuylkill, Brandywine, Conestoga, or Susquehanna?...all of which are readily reached from West Chester.

 

[krayfish2]

It was like opening day of trout on the Susky. Geez. We caught piles of bass. You wouldn't believe the number. 2 areas of interest were the amount of 5"-7" fish caught, chased fly or were seen cruise around the boat AND the big fish caught had open wounds / sore on the sides. Some looked like lamprey marks. Hopefully Nick will lost pics and Mike can comment. He or two of the bass had wounds with fungus or algae growing on the damaged areas. The river is quite low for this time of the year (50% or normal average cfs)

 

[Dave_W]

krayfish2 wrote:
It was like opening day of trout on the Susky. Geez. We caught piles of bass. You wouldn't believe the number. 2 areas of interest were the amount of 5"-7" fish caught, chased fly or were seen cruise around the boat AND the big fish caught had open wounds / sore on the sides. Some looked like lamprey marks. Hopefully Nick will lost pics and Mike can comment. He or two of the bass had wounds with fungus or algae growing on the damaged areas. The river is quite low for this time of the year (50% or normal average cfs)

Interesting. More good news on population structure and lots of small bass. Those 5-7" fish are from the fairly decent spawns last year and 2014 I would guess.

Bummer on the sores on big fish. I carefully inspected every bass I caught in the Susky and Juniata last year and, aside from one "blotchy bass," all the fish were flawless with no sores. I wonder if spawning stress may have played a role? It seems like the guys reporting this seem to see it a lot during the colder months. Roughly how many bass would you estimate had sores?

Let's keep an eye on them and see if we see fewer fish with this condition come summertime. Tjhanks for the report.

 

[icyguides]

Mike, I was referring to the Susquehanna river. I got out for a few hours in the middle of the day yesterday and brought 6 bass and 2 catfish to hand. I saw good #'s of small sized healthy bass which was encouraging.

 

[krayfish2]

One disturbing sight we did see was a large number of carp, quillbacks and channel cats with arrow wounds. We even saw some bloated dead ones floating around. The bow guys are putting a hurting on the bottom dwellers.