Susky Near Harrisburg, 9-15-14

[HJS]

I fished the Susky near Harrisburg, Monday, 9-15-14, 10:00am-5:00pm. I had a banner day indeed, my best day ever on the Susky. I caught 33 smbass from 12” up to but 19”… that’s not counting the dozen or so that were under 12”. The river was flowing at 3.36’ at the Harrisburg gauge. That’s about as low as the Susky gets and I kept getting the canoe hung-up on rocks that were just under the surface. The water was very clear. Once again action started slowly. I began working over the shallow rock gardens with soft plastics with very little to show for my efforts. They were just too shallow. I gave up on the shallows and moved to the deeper pools. That did the trick. Action ramped up quickly once I got into the 4’ to 6’+ depths.

All bass were caught on the following lures in roughly equal proportions (see picture):
- Bass Assassin 4” forked-tail shad, opening night, rigged weightless with exposed hook and fished on the surface. I have never seen these for sale in any tackle shops so I have to buy them directly from the Bass Assassin website.
- Bass Assassin 4” paddletail shad, opening night, rigged weightless with exposed hook and fished on the surface. I also make a home-pour knock-off of this lure using a mold I made and melting recycled worn-out plastics melted in the microwave. The one pictured is a home-poured paddletail, they never turn out as bright or sparkling as the original factory-fresh opening night color… but the fish don’t seem to care one bit.
- Rapala Shad Rap, SSR-5, in silver. This lure runs about 4’ deep and was especially productive in the deeper areas.


Susky, 9-15-14 A.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 B.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 C.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 D.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 E.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 F.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 G.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 H.jpgSusky, 9-15-14 I.jpgSusky Lures - 2014.jpg

[Mark]

That's a great day on the water.

[YaknBass]

Outstanding!! You have had two really great days on that river, congrats!! Thanks for your reports!! Some really nice fish in your boat!! Best of luck & keep hookin em!!

[Poolz1]

About as impressive as it gets...at least for a guy that fishes the N Potomac on a regular basis. Beautiful fish!

[DanMarino]

Very cool Howard.
Yes, the results of your trip demonstrate the difference between the Potomac and Susqy.
So as a biologist type guy, why do you think the Susqy fish are larger?
Habitat? Food sources? Genetics?

[Berto]

Great Job! Those are some nice smallies!

[dpreller]

Very cool Howard.
Yes, the results of your trip demonstrate the difference between the Potomac and Susqy.
So as a biologist type guy, why do you think the Susqy fish are larger?
Habitat? Food sources? Genetics?

I've heard people who know better than I say that the susky smallmouth are a lake Erie strain which are bigger bulkier fish by nature.they also say that the potomac fish are a southern strain.kinda lime Midwestern deer are much larger bodied than southern deer.idk but I know I sure as hell love catching them!

[Mark]

I've caught lots of smallmouth bass in both rivers and my largest fish have always come from the Susquehanna. I had never heard of the genetic strain theory but it's plausible.

I do believe that years ago PA instituted more conservative black bass management techniques (slot limits) than MD and VA. I had always attributed the size differential to that.

[camelbird]

Wow, now thats smallmouth bass fishing. Congrats on such a stellar day! Also really like the 4" bass assassin forktail profile.

You caught more good smallies in one day than I have in the potomac in the past 20 trips...gotta make it up there one day

[PigPen]

I've read that the eastern brook trout have a minimum 6 genetic strains depending on which ice age they migrated north and general being constrained to certain ranges after the waters subsided. That's why the brook trout in the artic circle live longer a grow the biggest and the Appalachians have the smallest ones

[HJS]

Very cool Howard.
Yes, the results of your trip demonstrate the difference between the Potomac and Susqy.
So as a biologist type guy, why do you think the Susqy fish are larger?
Habitat? Food sources? Genetics?

I'm working on a response... I had to do a little research first... might take another couple days. Howard

[Brian]

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

[HJS]

Very cool Howard.
Yes, the results of your trip demonstrate the difference between the Potomac and Susqy.
So as a biologist type guy, why do you think the Susqy fish are larger?
Habitat? Food sources? Genetics?

Tom - Here is what I found out about how smbass got to Maryland and to the Susquehanna. Howard
=====================================
Sorry it took so long to get back. I had to do a little research first. I have one of the few bootleg copies of a book titled: Historical Information of Maryland’s Commission of Fisheries. This “book” was written and data compiled by Albert M. Powell, November 23, 1967. The book was never published. However, many years after it was written, several copies were reproduced from the original manuscript using a standard office copying machine. Its 311 pages long. This is what I found out about how small mouth bass came to Maryland. I met Albert Powell many times at the trout hatchery named after him and he had many tails to tell about early fisheries management. From his book:

“The introduction of fishes into new waters began about 1850. One of the most important angling fish was the small mouth bass which came from the Great Lakes through the Erie Canal into the Hudson River, from where they were taken and stocked into the waters of New York and later throughout many of the New England States.”

“Maryland received the initial stocking of small mouth bass in 1854, when William Shriver transported small mouth bass in a perforated tin container in the water tank of a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad locomotive tender. These bass were released in the Chesapeake on Ohio Canal basin in Cumberland from where they had access to the Potomac River. The reproduction was fantastic.”

The book didn’t mention exactly where the smbass came from that were stocked in Maryland. I’m assuming they came from Lake Erie or nearby areas since that’s pretty much were the B&O Railroad went to. So to sum up, I think the smbass in MD came from the Great Lakes via railroad and the smbass in the Susquehanna River also came from the Great Lakes but by taking a different route through the Erie Canal.

Other tidbits from Albert Powell’s book (paraphrased by me):

- In 1916, a state-wide anglers’ license fee was imposed but not enforced until 1927 when another state-wide anglers’ license law was enacted.
- In 1937-1938, Maryland shipped and established smallmouth bass in the waters of the Union of South Africa. Fingerling bass were shipped by steamer. A few earlier attempts failed.
- The first hatchery in Maryland was built at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore City. (Mid/late 1880s near where the Baltimore zoo is currently located.)
-During the early years of 1900, large numbers of largemouth bass were being netted by commercial fishermen and sold on the market for food. In 1945 an act of Maryland government made the sale of largemouth bass prohibited except to the Maryland Dept. of Game and Fish.
- There was a bounty on wolves, crows and squirrels, circa 1700’s, as these animals were detrimental to be predators of wildlife and farm animals and crops. Bounty on wolves continued until the early 1800’s.

That's what I got so far. More about size differential later. Howard

[dpreller]

Well sounds like they may be the same strain of fish.maybe it has isometric do with the forage base or something.I know a lot of the smaller fish I catch on the susky have a small head then a hump like "shoulders " and an extremely fat belly.like little football's.I've never caught fish like that on the potomac.

[HJS]

Tom - Once again, sorry for not getting back earlier. How can an easy 2-hour plumbing repair job in the bathroom go on for the entire day, and then some, before the job is done... I hate plumbing!!!

===========================

Tom – I’ve been thinking about your question as to why the Susky smallmouth are so much bigger and fatter than those living in the Potomac. I have some thoughts but I really shouldn’t comment on why because I don’t have access to water quality data for the Susky nor for the Potomac to even make a wild guess… not to mention I haven’t fished the Potomac for smb for several years… so I’m out of touch there.

But I’ll make a short & wild-arsed guess anyway. The Susky in PA has been having major recruitment deficiencies for smb the past many years. It’s well documented by PA Fisheries. The culprit is a fungus that attacks and kills the little YOYs (young-of-year). Some years the die-off of YOYs is nearly complete. Low recruitment for several years in a row ultimately results in low numbers of adults. I’ve noticed on several of my trips there that there appears to be a lot of quality bass habitat that is empty of adult bass.

Another major issue is the huge quantity of baitfish and crayfish that lives in the river. The eel grass beds are loaded with minnows. I’m sure that the abundance of food is the key issue to the fast growth rates and excellent condition of the Susky’s bass populations.

So, when reduced numbers of adult bass (due to low recruitment) are faced with a seemingly unlimited amount of food the end result are big fat bass. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

BTW, during the past couple of trips to the Susky I’m seeing more 3” YOY smbass than usual, not many, but enough to make a difference. I’m seeing them mostly hiding in the heavy beds of eel grass along with schools of little minnows. I think I read somewhere in the PA Fisheries literature that at 3” the YOYs are pretty much over the fungus die-off hurdle. I imagine life is good for baby bass living in a weed bed and feasting on the abundance of food. In just a couple years of rapid growth we’ll be catching and taking pictures of the resulting trophy bass.