Susky Near Harrisburg, 9-24-14

[HJS]

Fished the Susky near Harrisburg, Tuesday, 9-23-14, 11:30am-3:00pm. I caught 5 smbass, only two were picture worthy (pics below). The rest were <12”. The river continues to get shallower and shallower (3.23’@ Harrisburg) to the point that it’s getting tougher to get around, even in a flat-bottomed canoe. I had a few more very near misses from nice fish but they actually didn’t hit the lure much less the hook. Sorta like a very close and very fast fly-by by a very cautious bass. A couple more bass veered away 5’ from the lure, not a good sign... those fish never come back for a second look-see. A few other bass scampered off like a spooked rabbit the moment the lure hit the water… like I was casting boulders instead of lures. So the very low and very clear water coupled with bright sunny conditions no doubt put the smbass on high alert.

Rain is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. We see if the river flow responds.

Susky, 9-23-14 A.jpgSusky, 9-23-14 B.jpg

[DanMarino]

What a difference a week makes!
Yes, I am curious how the Upper Potomac will fare after tonight's rain event.

[HJS]

Tom - Another thing that may have had the bass in a tizzy is that the evening before, when that cool/cold front came thru, the river temp dropped 7F, from 70F to 63F. Fish don't like big sudden drops in water temperatures, it effects their behavior. Also, I saw a fascinating event in one basketball court sized pool that had good flow-through. I've seen this happen several times on the Susky and on the Bay with stripers and blues. First cast into this pool I hooked the 19"er. As I got him in near the canoe I saw he was being followed by 4 or 5 other bass in the mid-teens. They were buzzing around the hooked fish at high speed, like hornets around a disturbed nest. The moment I removed the hooked bass from the water all the other bass zoomed back to the depths of the pool... never to be see again that day.

I know striper do this too sometimes when I'm fishing deep under breaking stripers and blues. Sometimes, as a hooked striper is being brought up from the depths, it frequently barfs up everything it has eaten in the past couple hours. Other stripers follow the hooked striper to the surface all the while frantically chowing down on this barfed up food. Sounds gross to me but stripers don't care.