Summer Small Mouth Bass bite

[pratt]

the upper Delaware main stem (above Zane Grey) has been fishing well since early June. Fish can be had most days underneath, topwater has been hit or miss depending on water temps & levels, etc. Haven't fished it in a week and a half though - so hoping the topwater bite is fully on now. This is usually the time of year (early July through August) when you can fish on top all day. I've caught numerous 16" range fish this year (both underneath and on top) and a whole mess of what I'd call midrange for that part of the river (10-12").

 

[Troutmeister]

Yesterday I made a trip out to the Juniata, first time in about 25 yrs. A few observations, most of the bass caught were yearlings (I'm guessing) as they were 6-7 inches and no sunnies or rock bass or channel cats.

When I fished it years ago I used to catch lots of all three of those species. What happened to all the panfish?

 

[coyoterahn]

Troutmeister wrote:
Yesterday I made a trip out to the Juniata, first time in about 25 yrs. A few observations, most of the bass caught were yearlings (I'm guessing) as they were 6-7 inches and no sunnies or rock bass or channel cats.

When I fished it years ago I used to catch lots of all three of those species. What happened to all the panfish?

They disappeared from the Susky in central Pa years ago. Sad to hear they may be disappearing from the Juniata. In my area, they have disappeared from the warm water tributaries also. I often wonder if it is related to higher nitrogen levels?

 

[afishinado]

afishinado wrote:

BruceC2C wrote:
Interested to know SMB bite status in your region so far this summer.
Couple of my go-to Maryland waters ( Monocacy & Antietam) seem eerily void of bugs and fish.
Even usually abundant and eager bluegill & fallfish that might help bridge a slow day are VERY few and far between.
Making my usual range of presentations......in various locations of above creeks.
Weird & Discouraging

Overall the my SMB fishing, as well other anglers I've talked to, and also most of the reports I've read indicate that the fishing has been slow so far this summer.

Reports are getting better, mostly smaller fish, but that's not unusual early in the season. The bigger fish are often a little late to become active right after the spawn, which was by most accounts a little late this year because of the cooler than normal spring weather.

Anyway, hopefully things will change for the better soon. Keep on looking. My best advice is to search different water types and areas for active fish. Also change up techniques, rigs and flies until you find them. Good luck.

A late summer update on smallie fishing from me.....not good.

I've fished quite a bit from my kayak as well as wading in the Susky, up and down the River and not many smallies to hand at all.

The Susky is at prime wading level right now and clarity and temps are good, all is good but the fishing.

I work hard just to catch a few and mostly smaller fish.

While some anglers working hard and being in the right place at the right time may have a decent day now and then, overall fishing is tough.

Even the white fly hatch really didn't bring up many fish.

I remained optimistic through a tough year last season and halfway through this season, but I now believe the smallie population is down.

Smallie fishing in the tribs has not produced very well either, Therefore I believe the record high rainfall and consistent high flow throughout 2018 maybe has something to do with it because every stream and river can't be suffering from pollution at the same time.

Looking forward years ago, I always believed smallies multiplied like rabbits and wild trout were more endangered since they need cold and clean water to survive.

Yet it turns out smallie population is suffering and wild trout seem to be thriving, at least in most of PA.

 

[RLeep2]

I've had a slightly worse than average season so far on smallmouth up here in the NW. Fishing on the larger creeks and the Allegheny has been spotty; sometimes pretty fast and furious but more often pretty slow. There doesn't seem to be a norm to speak of; it's been somewhat more variable than usual for whatever reason. I've probably had my most consistent fishing on the smaller creeks in Erie, Crawford and to a lesser extent, Warren and Venango Counties, for numbers anyway. But the fish in these places run smaller. I doubt I've caught more than a handful over 13-14".

I am seeing more YOY bass though than what I can recall seeing in quite a few years..

 

[Dave_W]

I've done less SMB fishing this summer than normal, but my experience reflects Afishinado's:
Poor on the Susky and generally poor in the small local creeks I inhabit in summertime.

 

[McSneek]

On the Juniata near Millerstown for a few hours today. Really low. A lot of algae on the bottom. One nice bass on a popper and a second small one. Saw several other decent fish in the shallows and had a few more hit and miss the popper. Just not much evidence of fish though. Fished a really nice riffle hard with several different flies - nothing. River was pretty deserted. Susquehanna was empty up through Dauphin narrows. Used to be there would be boats all over the place. The absolute lack of fishermen on the system is telling.

 

[afishinado]

McSneek wrote:
On the Juniata near Millerstown for a few hours today. Really low. A lot of algae on the bottom. One nice bass on a popper and a second small one. Saw several other decent fish in the shallows and had a few more hit and miss the popper. Just not much evidence of fish though. Fished a really nice riffle hard with several different flies - nothing.

River was pretty deserted. Susquehanna was empty up through Dauphin narrows. Used to be there would be boats all over the place. The absolute lack of fishermen on the system is telling.

I fished a spot I know well on the north branch of the Susky this past Saturday. Beautiful weather and the water flow, temp and clarity were just about perfect for wading and fishing right now.

I could literally see up and down the river for a mile each way. There were some boaters and kayakers but no fishermen at all to be seen.

I did see three anglers late setting up on the bank for night catfishing on my way out. That was it in a place where one would expect plenty of anglers fishing on the weekend for smallies on a perfect late August afternoon and evening.

 

[Swattie87]

Late August Update:

Fished the Swatara for the fourth time this Summer this past weekend and finally caught a Bass...a LMB! Still no Smallies for me. Fair numbers of Redbreasts and Fallfish present. I did see three decent sized Smallies (two 12" range and one 15" range) in the lower reaches of a smallish tributary. I'm shifting more and more into the camp that the population is down. High water all Summer in 2018, and 2019 was wetter than average too. Is that to blame? Dunno, but there's been significantly less tug on my WW line than prior to 2018.

FWIW...A buddy has reported a couple good nights fishing the river between Harrisburg and the Narrows.

My only decent (but not great) 2020 Smallie outing remains one evening on the lower J in July.

 

[wgmiller]

I fished a Susky trib near Lancaster and had a banner day last week, landing a half dozen, with the largest being 16" or so. The Clouser bite was on!!! My experience on the Susky has been smaller and fewer SMB, although it has been all wade fishing.

Largest of the day - 16"

 

[barrybarry]

It's been slightly better for me this year than last year. Many areas of the Susquehanna seem devoid of fish. I finally found an area that had a few smallies. Small ones under 10 and a few larger. (and some panfish)

I've been hitting the Largemouth and Panfish lakes lately. I enjoy the topwater bite. It's a nice switch.

 

[McSneek]

wgmiller wrote:
I fished a Susky trib near Lancaster and had a banner day last week, landing a half dozen, with the largest being 16" or so. The Clouser bite was on!!! My experience on the Susky has been smaller and fewer SMB, although it has been all wade fishing.

Nice fish WG. Clousers haven’t been working for me so far which is a real head scratcher. No idea how long you fished and exactly where but at one time a half dozen bass was far from a banner day in any body of water that held smallmouth bass. That would have been considered a slow day.

 

[afishinado]

McSneek wrote:

wgmiller wrote:
I fished a Susky trib near Lancaster and had a banner day last week, landing a half dozen, with the largest being 16" or so. The Clouser bite was on!!! My experience on the Susky has been smaller and fewer SMB, although it has been all wade fishing.

Nice fish WG. Clousers haven’t been working for me so far which is a real head scratcher. No idea how long you fished and exactly where but at one time a half dozen bass was far from a banner day in any body of water that held smallmouth bass. That would have been considered a slow day.

Yes, not to disparage anyone, but fishing and catching a handful of smallies is far from a banner day. Especially when looking back at how prolific smallies seemed to be and how terrific smallie fishing was not that long ago.

We all can only hope this is just the down side of a cycle. But I will say after quite a few decades of fishing for smallies, I have never seen fishing even near this poor, ever.

 

[krayfish2]

I'm confident that something bad is a foot. 18 months of high muddy water, huge sewage dumping and who knows what else.

The fishing has been close to the level that caused me to quit fishing it back in the early 90's.

It's amazing (in a bad way) how much the fishing has changed between October 2018 and June 2020.

 

[afishinado]

krayfish2 wrote:
I'm confident that something bad is a foot. 18 months of high muddy water, huge sewage dumping and who knows what else.

The fishing has been close to the level that caused me to quit fishing it back in the early 90's.

It's amazing (in a bad way) how much the fishing has changed between October 2018 and June 2020.

Things were good in 2017 and everyone had high hopes for the future.

Not that long ago, with flies, lures or bait, I would defy anyone to fish the River in good habitat and with decent flow, temp and clarity and not catch a bunch of smallies....nearly impossible!

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

You can't remove all the clean water protections that have been removed since 2017 on a river as threatened as the Susky and expect the fishing to remain positive.

 

[coyoterahn]

afishinado wrote:

Not that long ago, with flies, lures or bait, I would defy anyone to fish the River in good habitat and with decent flow, temp and clarity and not catch a bunch of smallies....nearly impossible!

2018 was also a very good year in the area between Dauphin above Harrisburg up tp Sunbury. 2019 had some decent fishing but not like 2016/2017/2018. We knew 2019 was sub par compared to a few years prior.
I am guessing we will see at least a couple more poor years. This is close to as bad as I have seen it for quite some time. I’ve been fishing the Susky for more than 40 years.
My top concerns are pollution and the impact of Flathead catfish. Those things are eating machines. Sure hope the smallie population rebounds. Well know more in a couple of years I guess.

 

[larkmark]

In all our river fishing this year we never caught more than 3 fish. We have a small jet set up and can cover a lot of water. Two bass were in the 16" range. They were the biggest. We saw several that were bigger. Very spooky fish. We tried every kind of structure and top to bottom. Fished areas from Halifax to below Holtwood dam. Other than those few bass we caught no other fish. I also fished some of the tributaries that were decent 3 yrs ago and did terrible. I am beyond discouraged. My son has taken up Flatheads.

 

[larkmark]

Where are the PAFBC studies?

 

[Paraleptalata]

Where is the SOS “save our susquehanna donation money? What was it used for and why did the whole thing just go away.