Great morning of rockfishing!!

[shootNscoot13]

Met up with one of my buddy's at the Conowingo dam, launched the kayaks at 5 am. We started off using poppers, and we just couldn't keep them off the line! We both limited in the first hour! Will be heading back this week for some more action!image.jpg

[HJS]

That's a great place to fish. Did you float down river or did you put-in and take-out near the dam?

[shootNscoot13]

We stayed up towards the dam, hitting the drift than paddled back up. We have always done good there, usually paddle down river about a mile than come back up.

[echo5oscar]

Hey when are you heading back to the dam? Just called the hotline, 1 gate @ 5,000 cfs until 1:00 in the afternoon...

I am trying o talk my buddy into meeting me there. If he can't, I have problems going alone. I your able to, I will be in a dune hobie outback. Stop by.

Nate.

[huizhao85]

Do you guys launch from the concrete ramp at Fisherman's park? How fast is the current there? I imagine it could be pretty dangerous if they have a bunch of gates open.

Also, how deep is the water when only 1 or 2 gate is open. I know its rocky so I want to know if it can damage a hobie mirage drive.

Thanks.

[echo5oscar]

The current and depth will depend on how much water is being released.

I put in the that little concrete ramp. Just be careful, it can be pretty slick at times. Go slow and make sure your footing is good, and you shouldn't have any problems.

I use my outback there with no problems. You won't be able to see all of the rocks. Just use light pressure when peddling. That's what I have done, haven't bent or broken anything when I did bump into rocks.

[huizhao85]

Thanks, I haven't fished there for like 10 years. Last time I fished there was when I was a kid and you could still fish on the dam before 9/11. Ive been there a few times after and saw people pull up huge flatheads so that intrigues me. Let me know if you plan on going on a weekend morning, I can keep you company.

[zimm]

how close to the dam?
do you venture beyond the island towards the dam? or fish the backside where they can't see you?

I'd love to get up near the wing wall where the old boating limit sign is- just once for an hr or 3

[echo5oscar]

You are only allowed up to the power cables that cross to the island. They are probably a good 400-500 yards from the dam. The end of the wall is probably a little closer. On the front side there is a channel, on the back side of the island, it is about 3-5 feet on average.

[bignose]

I urge you to take great precautions when fishing the Susky in this area. When the sirens go off announcing the release of water, you have between 5-10 minutes to get into a safe area. The times posted for water release on the hotline are not always accurate!
If you look at the releases on the USGS website notice that the river level near the dam has risen 5-6 feet as the water is released.
This, in turns, creates an enormous and frightening increase in water velocity as it funnels down past the island.
In 40+ years of boating/canoeing, the only time that I have rolled my boat was after getting caught out in this.
This is not a problem further down river.

[shootNscoot13]

I have been going in the mornings when the have been running 1 gate at 5000 cfs. I always call their hotline to see when and how much water thery will be running, I dont like to kayak it if they are running more than 4 gates.. Unless you have a ride waiting on you at deer creek lol the water level is about 3-4 feet at most places, but there is a nice channel that runs threw there!

[missedshed]

Yeah the water can come up fast, siren is to go off for each gate opening. For years prior to kayak fishing for us... Around 1997-99 we used float tubes. We could take 2 small or 1 large. If one small opened we could stay out and fish off the small rock piles behind the islands. Once they released more according to the siren we had to jet, we would end up about 1 mile down getting out due to current. With our kayaks we usually came down the octorora bc the damn didn't open early enough after 9-11. The back side gets a strong current but there where plenty of places out of it to fish. We would pull up and fish off rock piles. We would cross also to the big island during large releases but we used to whitewater kayak so crossing wasn't a real problem for us. I wouldn't suggest it unless you know how to cross something like thAt. It's easy to dump or roll and lose your stuff. The Susa for years was one of the best places for stripers for us, we managed a few stripers close to upper 35-50 a few times. Since about 2004 it seemed to be tough as that water was really warm by opening day.