The mostly sad stories of the Susquehanna River

[foxtrapper1972]

My apologies if this has been shared before. It is well worth reading.

http://www.fishandboat.com/water/rivers/susquehanna/susq-impairment/susq-stories.htm

 

[BrookieChaser]

I've read those before. I'll admit I never fished the Susky in its hay day. I will say it has to be sad to watch a river, or stream, you hold dear go downhill.

 

[Fishidiot]

I've fished the river a long time too...and I think it's trending uphill.

It certainly ain't what it used to be.. and problems with the SMB population remain mysterious and persistent. However, I'm more optimistic personally and have experienced good fishing lately, especially on the lower Juniata. If it's so bad, they should try fishing somewhere else. I didn't fish much for bass on the lower Susky the last several years, but I will definitely be hitting it again in 2015.

The PFBC continues to bang the drum for a declaration of impairment. However, angler testimonials such as these are unlikely to sway DEP. The river is (generally) cleaner than it used to be and filled with pollution intolerant macros - turn over rocks in the river and they're swarming with stoneflies and mayflies.
Again, I'm not saying I'm against a declaration of impairment...just that scientific evidence, rather than angler testimonials, are what are needed to achieve that particular goal.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

I like these stories because they tell the very human side of the issue. Hearing the long term emotional attachments and observations regarding the river rings true and is similar to my experience. I look at the charts and graphs on the biologist reports and think of the YEARS that have gone by without any real action. The problem actually appears to be growing and is not just SMB but many other species on many waterways. The DEP most likely won't claim impairment because then something would need to be done....That is my assumption. While I am happy to hear of a glowing fishing report here and there (most of which are fishing wintering holes or warmwater areas that concentrate fish) I don't see meaningful signs of improvement in angler reports or biologist reports.

 

[Chaz]

Then there is this;

Small mouth survey, YOY.

 

[icyguides]

Thanks for sharing Foxtrapper. My family has lived near the Susquehanna for at least 3 generations now. My grandfather used to tell me how filthy the river was when he was a boy, that raw sewage would just float by. My father grew up in Marietta and I grew up only about 5 minutes away, so me and my family have been hunting and fishing the river for a long time. Before the collapse i remember catching large numbers of fish, but mostly sub 15 inch fish. Things collapsed rapidly on the stretch of river I know best. We basically gave up on fishing for bass for years. I would see many YOY bass with lesions dying in the shallows. It seems like it's turned a corner since then. The bass fishing has been getting better and the past two years have been a lot of fun, but i don't think any of the issues have really been addressed...

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Icyguides- I bet you and your family have many good stories. Sounds like you fish much of the same area as I do. I mainly fished between Red Hill Dam to below Holtwood Dam. Fished the Marietta and Bainbridge areas quite a bit over the years. The grass beds off Bainbridge were some of the best fishing I have ever seen until the decline. If anything maybe there were too many fish which kept the average size smaller. Back then a 18" fish was rare but not unheard of. Rock bass were awesome....gone now. Went down a few evenings during white fly hatch and saw nothing coming up at Wrightsville last yr. Fished in the Marietta Boat Club C&R Tournament last summer and made a point to ask all the anglers if they caught any bass. A few were caught---not many. Have caught some big ones in the warmwater on occasion. Some had lesions...most did not. All very big ones- no small ones.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

I went out in mid September on a nice clear but windy day and had the most successful day in ten years on the lower Susky here in York Co. I fished a clouser style olive bugger that was pretty beat up by the end of the outing but had quite a few fish.
Don t remember the number but continuous strikes and misses. I don t fish my #7 rod often but it got a workout that day.

 

[troutbert]

icyguides wrote:

The bass fishing has been getting better and the past two years have been a lot of fun, but i don't think any of the issues have really been addressed...

It may be that we've just got luckier with the summer weather and flows in recent years, as compared to the drought and heat during the time the population crashed, in 2005.

I have not heard of any substantial changes in farm practices, in sewage treatment, industrial discharge treatment, etc. that would make a significant difference in water quality, or any changes in water withdrawals that would affect river flow quantity, between 2005 and the present.

Has anyone?

 

[Fishidiot]

troutbert wrote:
I have not heard of any substantial changes in farm practices, in sewage treatment, industrial discharge treatment, etc. that would make a significant difference in water quality, or any changes in water withdrawals that would affect river flow quantity, between 2005 and the present.

Has anyone?

Farm practices, effluent etc. have not been identified as a cause of the bass crash. I'm not saying they're not part of the picture (I suspect they are) - just that despite all the studies made, this link has not been firmly connected to the section of river where the fish have declined.

The current theory is that low water levels, combined with high temps and low dissolved oxygen are more likely culprits (I'm skeptical). Overall, the health of the watershed has improved. The link below is to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which tracks much of this in the watershed - which is admittedly very large and complex - but what is noticeable is that there is greater impairment in the West Branch and North Branch watersheds (AMD connected) but that the lower Susky and lower Juniata, where the bass problems exist, has a lower level of overall pollution.
Impairment in Watersheds

To be sure, some pollutants have increased a bit the current culprit being dissolved Phosphorus - but overall, most pollutants (at least the ones being tracked long term, not the new stuff like endocrine disruptors) shows a trend of improvement over the last generation.

 

[wildtrout2]

Fishidiot wrote:
I've fished the river a long time too...and I think it's trending uphill.

It certainly ain't what it used to be.. and problems with the SMB population remain mysterious and persistent. However, I'm more optimistic personally and have experienced good fishing lately, especially on the lower Juniata.

I think the uphill trend has much to do with the catch and release aspect of things, and not so much that the actual problem has been addressed. Sorry to be a skeptic.

 

[Mike]

Not so, the population change was too quick and too large last year, the same year that the regs were implemented, for the change to have been caused by the regs. Besides, the extensive creel survey data from the Middle and lower Susquehanna documented that the fishery was almost exclusively C&R before the reg went into place in 2013. Regulation responses seen in bass populations take more time than that to materialize.

 

[NickR]

^^^
Really? Catch and release doesn't didn't have an impact? Do you know how many people probably throw their catch back because they don't want to eat bass with sores on them? People have been practicing catch and release more and more on the Suskie and lower Juniata... not just recently.

 

[Mike]

C&R has been voluntarily practiced on disease free bass populations all over the country for at least a decade, so why would the Susquehanna be any different, diseases or not? Even without the disease problem only 2000 or so bass were harvested from Holtwood Dam upstream to Sunbury and part way up the Juniata from spring through October during the creel survey. In that much water and habitat the amount of harvest prior to the disease problem was a proverbial drop in the bucket. And even with reduced numbers of bass in the river following weak year classes and disease problems for fingerlings, there were more than enough adults present to bring off large year classes if flows cooperated. Additionally, across the population, survival and growth rates were measured and just as ecological principles would predict, as the bass population declined competition for resources was reduced and the bass responded with much faster growth rates and enhanced survival rates...all before C&R went into effect.

 

[krayfish2]

Mike
The Susky had a good bit of water in it for most of the 2014 summer. What type results would you expect to see on the newly hatched generation due to the higher than average flows? I haven't caught many small fish over the last two years and have taken a handful of really good bass. In the early 80's, I remember days wading between Marysville and Purdix where we'd catch 50-75 fish per man. Lots and lots of 6"-10" fish. If you got one 16", that was a big one. My last couple floats yielded 5-10 fish per trip but they all were 14"-20"

 

[jwb123]

Was there any ever thought given to a slot limit on smallmouth bass?

It kills me to see people with a stringer of 16-20 inch smallmouth. River smallmouth in this part of the country are slow growers and it takes a long time to replace these trophy class fish.

Curious to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

 

[Fishidiot]

jwb123 wrote:
Was there any ever thought given to a slot limit on smallmouth bass?

In the case of the current situation with the Susquehanna and lower Juniata, I doubt a slot limit was considered. These areas were already Big Bass regs and it was easier and better to just make them C&R.

With respect to the overall idea of slots for bass statewide....It makes sense to me, but the PFBC has never been inclined to use slot limits much and such a proposal would likely be considered too complicated. My guess would be that tournament guys would not support it either.