Susky near Harrisburg, 8-21-13

[HJS]

It’s been a wet/cool summer. Seemed like the Susky upriver near Harrisburg was taking forever to drop to summer low flow. Checking the USGS flow graphs, I saw that the Susky up near Harrisburg was finally approaching summer low flow, a good canoeing flow. I decided to give it a try and see if I could pick up where I left off last fall. So I fished it today, 8-21-2013, 8:30am-2:00pm. For the first 1.5 hours I caught nothing and saw absolutely no sign of bass anywhere. What happened to all my big bass of last year??? I was getting bummer-out bigtime. But then around 10:00am action started slowly ramping up. I eventual caught 11 smbass, 3 were dinks <11” and 8 ranged from 14”-19”, plus a half dozen missed hits, not too shabby. Hot lure was a gold Rapala, size F9. There was more bass boat activity there than I encountered last year. So maybe the bass were on edge due to boat traffic. But if/when the river drops another few inches then the rocky shallows where I like to fish will be too dicy for the bigger boats.

So, considering all the problems the Susky is have with bass recruitment, the populations of smbass appear to be holding their own in the Harrisburg area. Plus, while quietly drift downriver right next a weedy shoreline I saw a good number of small smbass in the 3”-6” range. I’m pretty sure these small smbass are the result of successful reproduction for the past 2 springs. Good news for the Susky, that is if these little guys can hang on for another year or two. As you can see by their body condition, these bass are very well feds. Growth rates must be fast.

Susky 8-21-13 A.JPGSusky 8-21-13 B.jpgSusky 8-21-13 C.jpg

[Shady]

Beautiful smallies!

[DanMarino]

That first one is an absolute tank!

[HearadonCatch]

I agree, that first one is a football! Great coloring too!

[Jig Monster]

Nice healthy smallies ! Yep ,the first one has a beautiful color. Are you seeing the black spots that seem to be on some of fish in the potomac ? I was wading the South Branch in WV last weekend and caught a few with the spots. Some had more then others.

[HJS]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, that first one is a brute. If you look closely you'll see he has a pronounced hooking injury in his lip. It is well healed so it might have happened a year ago or more. The injury doesn't seem to be affecting his ability to feed efficiently. Like I said at the start of this post, all the smbass in this river are in excellent shape. When fish eat well and grow fast their heads will appear smaller than normal compared to body size. Freshwater trout are notorious for this body shape (little heads, big bodies) when growing condition are beyond optimal. A lot of the exposed flat rocks out in the river are covered with crayfish pieces. I don't know what could be eating so many of them, then leaving a big mess. Maybe and otter or mink???

Jig Monster - You are referring to what PA Fishery calls "blotchy Bass" syndrome. PA said it is found on some bass in the Susky especially during to colder month. Pa guys are pretty sure this does not affect the health of the fish. It's a pigment thing, kinda like what found in piebald deer.

BTW, here's a pic of the crayfish carnage found on many of the flat rocks. Looks like some sort of chainsaw massacre horror film made to scare the heck out of the rivers crustaceans.

Crayfish Shells - Susky.jpg

[Poolz1]

I was thinking about giving this river a try before the season ends. Ive never fished the Susquehanna and it wouldnt be to far of a drive for me. Would you (or anyone) be able to give me a good put in location? Google Earth is great but its hard to tell river flow from the maps. Ive made the mistake before using GE and I put into a spot on the Potomac that looked great on my laptop but was miserable to try to fish. What I thought was a half day float turned into a 2 hour float.....

[Mark]

Poolz1,

Millersburg, PA is about 30 miles north of Harrisburg on the eastern side of the Susquehanna. The river is about a mile wide there with good structure (rocks and riffles) and an island in the middle. I have never floated the area but I have waded it. It is deep enough to kayak in the general vicinity of the town or you can float downstream (south) to the left of Millersburg as you enter the water.

There is direct and access to the water via a riverfront park. It's a scenic town.

I have not fished near Millersburg for several years but some of my best fishing for smallmouth bass has occurred there in September as the fish feed aggressively in preparation for the coming winter.

[HJS]

There is a small free launch at the western end of the Rockland RR bridge over the river a few mile upriver from Harrisburg. Good area there. Also there is a launch call Fort Hunter. Not sure if there is a fee there.

The PA Fish and Boating Commission should provide you with a lot of information.

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

[Poolz1]

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. I love fishing new areas....though it doesn't happen enough. Guess I need to win the lottery as work tends to impede on my fishing.

[HJS]

I fished the Susky again today, 8-30-13, 8:30am-noon. Perfect day, mostly cloudy, light upriver breeze, summer low flow (3.33’) and the water was as clear as it gets. The low clear water had the big boys were on high alert. I eventually caught 13 smbass. Four were 9” dinks, one&only big boy @ 19.5”, and the rest were in the low/mid teens. I slowly worked my way upriver nosing up on any handy rock. Taking advantage of the light upriver breeze I would cast as far as I could upriver to good looking spots. Several times the lure would plop down in a shallow pool and a biggie would torpedo to the lure from 10’ away pushing a big bow wave, only to halt at the lure, fidget a bit, then veer away never to be seen again. Some would follow the lure all the way back to the canoe then bolt away after seeing my canoe. Picky, picky, picky!!! This happened enough times that by noon I was foaming at the mouth with disappointment that I couldn’t fool but one big boy. When all was said and done I was very thankful that the mid-sized bass weren’t so discriminating.

I was using either 4” soft plastics on the surface or a F7 sized gold Rapalas. I was using a 6’6” medium rod and reel spooled with 8# Fireline with a 7’ 14# mono leader. With this rig I could cast quite a ways upriver so I wouldn’t be detected in the low flow shallow waters. This combo had just enough oomph to fight the bigger boys. All-in-all a good morning of fishing…. But dang those smarty biggies.

Susky, 8-30-13.jpg