Labor Day Weekend on the Susquehanna

[MrJB00G13]

Hope all of you had a good holiday weekend! Just reporting on the camping/drift trip that Jaspratt, myself, and many others have joined in on for this past weekend. Ill let Jaspratt chime in and account for his catches but I believe most of us have had a decent weekend of fishing with the type of weather we had to face (high winds, overcasts, threats of rain... some sunny moments.)

Here are photos of my best two catches... (My very first SM and Channel Cat, so these are the first of PRs for these two species lol. Still learning and trying to get better at reeling these hogs in.)

Smallmouth (Forgot to measure, was too excited for my first SM haha)
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Channel Cat (about 24"-24.5")
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On our third round of fishing, I thought I was snagged on a rock until I noticed my line moved up river about 30ft from where I thought I had snagged... whatever it was, it kept moving up river and I ended up losing it

Sent from J-Boogie Yak Fishing Headquarters

[Jaspratt]

fishing started out great until i smashed a rock and sheared the gears on my hobie drive only a mile into the drift. at 1:50pm that day, I made a quick call to Lancaster County Marine inc. the owner Dale gladly re-opened the shop for me even after they closed at 2:00pm on saturday. i had to paddle my pro angler 2 miles down river to the nearest boat ramp which i then ran the road back up river 3 miles to get my truck so i could load my yak. the shop was an hour drive one way and i got there around 6pm. got my parts and a few extra accessories and back on the water i was. Thankful for Lancaster County Marine for helping me out and salvaging my weekend. I think ill be shopping there in the near future for a new hobie.
fishing was great but hard with the constant winds putting bow in our lines so it was hard to feel the bottom so i got snagged alot. thanks to my camera shutting off on the water i only got a few decent pics. all in all it was still a great weekend.
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[Jaspratt]

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[Runnin]

The Susky is an amazing fishery. Sorry about the yak. Lancaster county Marine is good people. Glad they got you back on the water quick!

[HJS]

Was your trip above or below Conowingo Dam? I'm guessing it was below the dam in the tidal section... but some of those hills in the background look almost like those near Harrisburg.

[dpreller]

I frequently fish the exact area they were in recognized it as soon as I saw it. It's above Harrisburg.I wouldn't go there though not many fish there. :/

[Jaspratt]

I frequently fish the exact area they were in recognized it as soon as I saw it. It's above Harrisburg.I wouldn't go there though not many fish there. :/

Thats crazy you say that, damn near every cast once you find them normally we hook average 13-16" with the occasional 17"-20" this year we still got some solid pigs around 16-18" but more 12-14 inchers. This year in the 3 days i probably spent 6-7hrs on the water because of the miss haps but i still hooked close to 25 fish

On monday since we were leaving early i fished 7:00am-8:30am i stayed on these eddies just below the bridge and hooked 12 bass. But because of there ability to throw hooks i only brought 6 in the yak. Still alot of fun out there.

[Romo]

Looks like an awesome trip!

[dpreller]

Yeah I was being sarcastic.probably my favorite place to fish in summer.

[dpreller]

I've gotten more 12-14s this year too but I look at that as a positive lots of big ones to come in the next few years.

[Jaspratt]

Yeah I was being sarcastic.probably my favorite place to fish in summer.

Oh haha i cant read sarcasim i was like what!?!

[Jaspratt]

I've gotten more 12-14s this year too but I look at that as a positive lots of big ones to come in the next few years.

As many pigs that are in those waters im glad to hook some juveniles, when i first started fishing those waters 6-7years ago we never caught a fish smaller than 15-16" we were worried it was a fading fishery. Glad the officials are on to that and doing things about it

[Jesse Calhoun]

Where is the best access for this area? Sorry I'm new to the area, still trying to figure out the best spots.

[HJS]

Good spots are where you find them, and goods spots change with the season/month/or day. Although vast stretches of the Susky are quite wadeable at low summer flow, it is by far not the best way to fish the Susky. You can't cover enough water while wading to catch enough fish to make it worth your whiled. A kayak or canoe is almost a must have. You need to cover a lot of ground to do well with smbass on the Susky.

See if this works. Here is a link to PA's list of boat launching areas for the whole State of PA. Scrolling around this map long enough and it will show you all the launch sites in PA. Some areas are free and others require a PA boat launch sticker. See if I can do this right.

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/county.htm

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Hmmmm. that didn't go as planned. You will have to figure out how to zero in the map to the area of Harrisburg all by yourself. When you zoom into the Harrisburg area clink the "boat access" icon then refresh. Lot of information there.