Annual kayak/camping trip - Thinking Susky?

[Poolz1]

I know from reading these forums that there are several members that frequent the Susquehanna. We are currently planning an overnight trip and are looking for something new. I was just curious if anyone has any feedback regarding this trip....

Put in spot: Dalmatia, PA
Take out : Duncannon, PA
Approx 15-18 miles

A little shorter trip than what we've done in the past but the river seems to have a good deal of structure....islands...rocks etc. I can see us taking longer than normal fishing a mile of river here than our typical Potomac river trips. If anyone has any tips or cautions or any other advice it would be greatly appreciated. We will be passing through the dam at Millersburg Ferry. There appears to openings in the dam to be able to pass through?? Is this an easy obstacle?

Thanks in advance...

Matt

[gkreps]

I know from reading these forums that there are several members that frequent the Susquehanna. We are currently planning an overnight trip and are looking for something new. I was just curious if anyone has any feedback regarding this trip....

Put in spot: Dalmatia, PA
Take out : Duncannon, PA
Approx 15-18 miles

A little shorter trip than what we've done in the past but the river seems to have a good deal of structure....islands...rocks etc. I can see us taking longer than normal fishing a mile of river here than our typical Potomac river trips. If anyone has any tips or cautions or any other advice it would be greatly appreciated. We will be passing through the dam at Millersburg Ferry. There appears to openings in the dam to be able to pass through?? Is this an easy obstacle?

Thanks in advance...

Matt

Matt, you can figure a mile to a mile and a half per hour on a float trip. That's on a steady float.

[Mark]

Millersburg was one of my favorite SM bass destinations but I have not been there for 4 or 5 years. I had a friend who loved to fish there with me but he is no longer physically able to fish. It's 140 miles from my house and we used to do overnight visits to Millersburg. I haven't been back since my friend got ill.

I always waded just downstream of the dam, parallel to it. The ferry crosses just upstream of the dam. You can almost speak to the boat passengers as they pass. You're that close to them. The river is 9/10 of a mile wide at Millersburg and on the downstream side of the dam it is mostly waist deep with a few deeper holes to avoid if you are wading. There is enough water for a kayak, of course, but the current is swft. You'll slide through the good fishing spots quickly. I would recommend that you beach the boat and wade. There is plenty of structure in the form of rocks and shoals that hold fish. There are also islands mid river that you can reach by wading or you could beach your boat there and strike out on foot. It is shallow behind the islands and you can wade there also.

I'm pretty sure you can get around the dam by going behind the islands (right side as you come downstream toward the campground.) I'm not positive on that because I never floated there, just waded. But the dam itself was not tall. I could see over the top of much of it as I waded below it. If need be you could land at Millersburg (left side of river) above the dam at the ferry stop and portage around it. You'd have to carry your boats a very short distance, maybe 50 to 100 feet.

The dam is made of stone and has a break or gap to release water from upstream. I've caught many SM bass casting wooly buggers and Clousers into the tail waters at the dam. I've also stood on the dam and cast into the deeper waters in front of it. In truth, I've caught SM just about everywhere at Millersburg. It's a great fishery. Often I would get there at daybreak after spending the night in a Millersburg motel. Poppers and sliders worked well in low light. When the sun got high I would switch to streamers. I never fished conventional tackle there, just flies, but soft plastics and crank bait minnow immitations would certainly work. Try surface lures in low light. I had many days of 40 or more SM bass between sunup and early afternoon just wading near the dam and islands. The SM were usually a bit heftier than the 10 and 11 inch SM so prevalent in the Upper Potomac. Twelve to 14 inch fish were the norm with a few larger ones caught each trip.

I also have fished the river at Dalmatia. I don't recall it as fondly as Millersburg because it lacked structure where I waded. It seemed flat to me with no distinguishing features. I could have just been in the wrong area there. To be honest I did so well at Millersburg routinely that I stopped venturing up river to Dalmatia.

The river is beautiful in the areas you have chosen to visit. I'm certain you'll have a great trip.

Good luck,

[Poolz1]

Appreciate the responses! Really looking forward to fishing this river...

[Poolz1]

Well, we finally found the time to hit the Susquehanna river for the first time. Put in just south of Sanbury early morning of the 9th and the bite was slow. We made our way slowly down river dodging rain showers the entire way. I landed the first sm at about 10am on the down river side of a small island. About 10 minutes later hit another. My buddy joined me at that time and we proceeded to crush them for about an hour. Caught about 14 in this same area and all were caught on a pumpkin seed tube. With the upper Potomac being my home water, all of these sm were bigger than anything Ive caught in the Potomac.

We then made our way down river with hits here and there. After a long search we found a nice camping spot for the night and cooked up dinner over the fire. There was a nice hole, after some rapids, right beside the island that we set up on for some cat fishing. Not too much luck for a while but around midnight I landed the biggest blue cat I have ever caught. (which isnt necessarily saying much) I would estimate it was in the 12-14lb range. The adrenaline was still pumping when I landed another blue that was just a hair bigger than the first. Awesome fight!! After soaking some cut bait a little longer we decided to call it a night.

Early morning was beautiful on the river. We set out for a second day of fishing and paddled upstream so we could hook around the other side of our camping island. I set up below a boulder and on my first cast of the day hit the best sm of the trip. 17". A great fight and broke water several times. Wish I had the GoPro rolling at that time. The fishing the rest of the day was a little slow but we managed a few here and there. We stopped around noon to restock ice and water....when i learned how prevalent copperheads are in this river. We saw several along the way.

The second night was a great cat fishing night. No blues but plenty of channel. We caught around ten cats that night and all ranged 5-8lb. No monsters but a perfect location and plenty of action. About 4am that night a nasty T-storm rolled right up the river. Fortunately, the thunder and lightning woke us up before the rain hit. We managed to get a tarp over our rain fly that covered our hammocks. The storm was intense and was blowing our hammocks around like crazy....but we stayed dry. The next morning we had no luck with exception of one sm. The storm had significantly muddied the water and only got worse as we headed south. We finally took out around 1pm on the 11th just south of Millersburg.

I am officially hooked on this river. A beautiful, dynamic river that holds great fish. All the islands and passageways through the islands make it interesting even when the bite is slow.

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[Mark]

Congratulations on a great trip.

I agree with you that the SM from that area of the Susquehanna tend to be larger than the ones on the upper Potomac.

Some of the islands on Susquehanna have makeshift housing on them. I don't know if they are for duck hunters or squatters. I certainly wouldn't move in without permission! One of the islands at Millersburg had a nice structure on it the last time I visited. It was wood and even had a gas stove in it.

I'm glad you had a successful float. Sounds like a lot of fun.

[Poolz1]

Mark...We noticed those structures. I thought the same thing that maybe they are duck shacks. For camping purposes, I wouldnt touch them...they look like snake and spider motels. I prefer to be up off the ground especially after seeing copperheads around. We even saw copperheads on islands in the middle of the river. They are pretty skittish snakes and want nothing to do with people but I still had a constant eye to the ground as I walked.

[DonV]

Matt, could you elaborate on your put in and take out locations? I noticed a couple of dams near Sunbury and am guessing you launched somewhere below them.

I've been dreaming of a trip in that general area for years and reading your post and seeing your pictures really inspired me to try to put one together. Sounds like heaven.

[Poolz1]

Don...We put in just North of Selinsgrove on the right hand side of the river (if you are floating down river). There is a boat ramp off River Road. I just cant remember the name of it. Take out spot was on the left hand side between Millersburg and Halifax. I just used Google Earth to find boat ramps that looked like they had good public parking.... If I had the trip to do over again, I would take out at Millersburg. That stretch between Millersburg and the take out was a long haul and we were ready to get off the river after three days. Maybe I would think differently if the water was not so muddy. The fishing on that stretch would probably have been pretty good.

[DonV]

Don...We put in just North of Selinsgrove on the right hand side of the river (if you are floating down river). There is a boat ramp off River Road. I just cant remember the name of it. Take out spot was on the left hand side between Millersburg and Halifax. I just used Google Earth to find boat ramps that looked like they had good public parking.... If I had the trip to do over again, I would take out at Millersburg. That stretch between Millersburg and the take out was a long haul and we were ready to get off the river after three days. Maybe I would think differently if the water was not so muddy. The fishing on that stretch would probably have been pretty good.

Thanks.