Susky fishing again?

[lprudente]

Thank you Mike, I hope that is the case.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
The funk reported here may or may not be reflective of the SMB population. It could be that fishing is just off. We’ll know soon enough.

No one can really explain why the smallie fishing is off this season. But since the poor fishing is being reported over a large area it likely has something to do with the high flows over a prolonged period throughout the entire region. High flows seems to be the only thing all the larger rivers in the area have in common.

As Mike said in an earlier post, a declining population is not unusual and expected when it reaches high levels as it has in the past few years.

 

[larkmark]

Lower river is terrible

 

[midgeman]

The smallmouth action has drastically declined since the spawn on the Susquehanna. Anglers are also reporting similar results on other mid-Atlantic rivers like the James, New, Shenandoah, and Potomac. I can attest to having an amazing year on the Susquehanna from February until Memorial Day weekend. I personally experienced multi 100 plus fish days. Soon after Memorial Day, the catching drastically dropped. My thoughts were that the smallmouth converted into a night feeding pattern on insects as the river temperature increased. Their activity diminished during the day and they simply hunkered down. Is this what’s going on? I don’t know but there has not been any reported fish kills that I know of on the Susquehanna.

I too would like to see the results of the electro-shocking. Numerous river guides and frequent trip makers aren’t seeing the fish in their normal summer habitat. They also aren’t seeing fish while drifting or running. Could they have migrated? Who knows? I believe they are there and that they have sought out more comfortable conditions in the river.

One bright spot this summer, I have caught a lot of smaller smallmouth. Circle of life.

 

[Duff]

I think the rivers are just now getting into a normal flow and fish getting into a normal feeding pattern. Of course it's going to change now with temp drop and fall feeding. My guess is since the levels continuously changed during the season, the fish got spread out and had to move often and adapt to flow and depth. For this reason I haven't been too the Susky at all this year. Hoping soon. All those fish in the spring are still there.

 

[afishinado]

Duff wrote:
I think the rivers are just now getting into a normal flow and fish getting into a normal feeding pattern. Of course it's going to change now with temp drop and fall feeding. My guess is since the levels continuously changed during the season, the fish got spread out and had to move often and adapt to flow and depth. For this reason I haven't been too the Susky at all this year. Hoping soon. All those fish in the spring are still there.

Since you haven't fished the River yet this year, I can tell you I've fished the Susky quite a bit and am still coming up small for smallies.

Plus, just about everyone I know that fishes the River quite a bit has experienced the same thing.

In addition, anglers fishing many other smallmouth rivers in the region are having similar results.

Apparently, the high water conditions with record rainfall for a prolonged period has been really tough on the fish.

Let's hope for some normal flows and good spawning conditions in the next few years to build things back up to the levels seen recent years.

 

[raftman]

Floated and fished from Marietta down through Columbia today. This is the lowest and clearest I've seen the river in three years. I saw 6 big carp, no bass. No bass. You know what else I didn't see? Zostera. Completely wiped out...

 

[riverwhy]

Spoke to a friend who was out last night. Not a thing until right at dusk. Did pretty well on top. Fished around the Turnpike bridge.

 

[krayfish2]

Wade fished Saturday evening for the last 60 minutes of daylight. Caught 6-7 fish on spin gear. Saw lots of bugs and little bass 4"-5" chasing insects. Crystal clear and temps have cooler a bit.

Tip: flats boots + Susky narrows = almost dying. Never again

 

[AFISHN]

Fished about 5 miles above Duncannon from 1PM until dark yesterday
Only caught 3 7-9" fish on a green bugger.Had several reaction strikes to top water poppers,but the fish were pushing them out of the way vs taking.My fishing partner had the same experience.River is very low and wading is a bit tough on the bottom slime.

Will not fish the river again until we have more water and more encouraging intel

 

[riverwhy]

Friend fished the Susky yesterday with a Kayak around the Statue of Liberty area. He used live hellgrammites and caught 2 bass. Glad I stuck local with the Swatara. Still had a poor day. floated from 39 Bridge to Hummelstown park. Between two of us 2 small smallies, a fingerling largemouth, a 10 inch largemouth and 3 small fallfish. Saw a bald eagle, blue and green herons, an egret, a black turkey buzzard warming its wings (eerie), so the birding was good not the fishing!

 

[larkmark]

Have fished river and tribs for about 50 years. Never had a year as bad as this. Took a float on a big trib yesterday and caught one small bass in about ten miles. I had one decent day this year and caught a few nice ones but that was it. Think I am done for a while. I feel like something happened to the bass. I know the sewage problem is bad on river and tribs but I just do not have any explanation. By the way NO sunfish or Rock Bass or Fallfish either. Really concerning.

 

[barrybarry]

I've been fishing the Susky for Smallies once a week since May. (Spinning Rod and Fly Rod) It's been pretty sad. Hoping for better days. (Wrightsville to Bainbridge)

There's a ton of fisherman along the river. Everyone one of them is fishing for cats. The night shift on any Saturday evening is something to see. One particular spot has a cat fisherman sitting there 24/7. As one group leaves another group moves in.

 

[midgeman]

Absolutely on fire right now, fall bite is on!

 

[raftman]

midgeman - which section are you fishing?

 

[midgeman]

I find schools of bait and start covering different levels near heavy current. They’re feeding pattern is literally like rainbows. They’re schooled up again.