Shad in the Susquehanna

I was fishing in the Susquehanna today in the afternoon with my spinning rod. All the hot shallow water with all the nitrates gave the smallmouth bass a killer fungis. 99% of the bass are dead. All the fry this year were killed, and the past two flooded years were almost no spawn............ makes me sick, the Susquehanna was a "world class" smallmouth fishery, ..... but , the channel cats that are all stocked are still alive in the river. I've been hitting them pretty good with a slip float system.
Below the power plant, I saw fish smacking the top like bluefish in the ocean. They were shad, so I tried a small plastic 1" worm on a 1/64 jig head. I caught 4. They were approx 16"ers and fought pretty good. I couldn't see what they were eating.
Tomorrow I'll take my fly rod with some small sparkle minnows. I'm tying them as I write this e-mail. LOL

This shows me that I should have taken my fly rod. Even catfish are way more fun with the long rod. I hate the heavy, stinkin', spinning crap. I wonder why I use the junk.

Catch & Release,
Longrodder

IS there anything else known about this fish kill? I planned on fishing a day in the susquehanna next month while on vacation. But I am fishing the pere marquette in michigan less than a week after that and do not want to contaminate that watershed.

Should I skip the smallmouth fishing in the susqy and try to find a nice trout stream instead?

Longrodder,
Do you know how far upstream this disaster extends? I crossed the Susquehanna in New York State on the 15th and saw what appeared to be Smallmouth Bass Feeding. Maybe we can determine where the cutoff point is and save some guys a ruined trip.

Bill

Well, He's in york pa....and My grandmother lives in Shamokin Dam PA...prolly 40 to 60 miles up river and the fishing there has been good and I've not heard a word of a fish kill,I have ALOT of fam down that way...and since I'm planning on being down there this weekend to fish the susquhanna,Juniata Rivers and the Pennscreek...I think my fam would warn me of this....They know me well,and also fish these places religiously.....

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill

I'm surprised shad are still in the Susq this late. In the Delaware, the shad run is a springtime event, and are long gone by now.

Hi,
In response to the question as to how wide spread the smallmouth problem is, all I can tell you is that WVa portions of the Potomac, the Shennandoah and the Susquehanna have all been seriously affected. The Shennandoah, and the Potomac do converge in the area of Harpers Ferry and I believe that area is blamming things on the poultry farms and plants that are situated along its banks. I do not have any info on the source of the problem for the Susquehanna which lies further east (past Baltimore) and runs through Pa into Md. It does seem weird though, that these prime fisheries are all affected at one time. I have not been out much this summer due to health issues and have not made inquiries if the Potomac problems have worked their way downstream to suburban Maryland and into DC or if things have been contained further up in the mountains.