I believe I saw some White Flies on the hood of the car the other day as I got ready to go to work. We have had tremendous mayfly hatches off of the river this year. Hellgramites and Dobsonflies too (http://www.whatsthatbug.com/dobs.html). Much improved compared to the last few years and if the White fly hatch returns to the level of this video, WOW!
They are not catching a lot of smallies right now but they are catching some really nice walleye in front of the Liverpool boat launch. some of the guys I am talking to are saying the walleye fishing is good from the PP&L plant at Shamokin Dam to below Marysville. The bait fishermen are picking them up on shiners so I am thinking that some large white, brown and chartreuse muddlers and woolly buggers should work some magic. Maybe tie some with a twister tail. Pistol Pete may work too. What do you all think? Any suggestions are welcome.
After dark, clear cool water and walleyes for the skillet. Just wait until that White fly hatch starts. Time to go fly fishing in the Susquehanna again!
The hatch has been very good the last few years that I’ve fished it from Duncannon to New Cumberland but the fishing hasn’t and I fish the river with everything from bait and plugs, (OH MY GAWD! :shock:) to flies.
Last year in the midst of a quasi blizzard hatch my crew of four managed about 6 fish total all night; not the numbers we’re used to. It really wasn’t even worth the 3 hour round trip I used to make 4-5 times a week a few years back.
I was thinking about giving the Susky a shot this week to see if I even want to bother with my traditional White Fly excursion this year. To say the smallie fishing has been not worth the effort at my usual haunts is an understatement.
Some of the summertime white miller hatches on the Potomac & Shenandoah were like a whiteout snowstorm. There were so many bass & bluegills feeding on the white millers that it looked like a hail storm was pelting the waters at the same time ! Usually started fishing white streamer type flies before tying on the white wulffs for some fantastic bamboo dry fly fishing:!:
Hey Bamboozle,
Give Bob Clouser a call or stop in at his shop in Middletown. You may want to talk to the guys at the fly shop in Bass Pro Shops too. Your trip may be better if you switch species and go after the toothy critters. It is a dream of mine to catch a monster walleye on the fly rod. Here is the link to Clouser’s Fly Shop:
The bass fishing has been bad since the die off but there are still plenty of musky, walleye and sauger in the Susquehanna and Juniata. If the rivers aren’t panning out for you try the tiger muskies and large mouths in Holman Lake at Little Buffalo State Park.
Let me know if you are going to be in the area on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Those are my days off.
well fished it two times, first time two bass one about six ins, and one eight ins. my son and his son, about six hours on river. next time was last week five guys about five hrs on river, we have a lot of years on this river and never saw it this bad. i had six bass biggest was nine ins. total for five guys was sixteen fish, all under ten ins, fish comm. will not help, say nature will fix the river. i also just talked to someone who fished up on the north branch and the fish are starting to dye up there. i fished the river since the fifty, duck hunted, trap was all way a fun time, flyman 3
The decline of the small mouth bass on the Susquehanna is sad but it is probably cyclical too. I seem to recall as a kid that the river was pretty lousy fishery during the 1970’s-1980’s. The turnaround started in the late 80’s and peaked out in the late 90’s.
So the river has changed, why haven’t we changed? Small mouth bass are not the only fish in the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. Both rivers have muskie, walleye, sauger, saugeye, carp, catfish, suckers, pan fish and quite possibly big brown trout. Sure smallies are a blast to catch but are they the only game in town? Nope. If we really want to enjoy these great fisheries and their prolific hatches then we need to target these other species too. Change our species and tactics. This will help us enjoy our rivers more, take pressure off of an already overstressed small mouth population and help us learn to become better tenants of our rivers. It will provide us good fishing on these waters throughout the year too.
eric yes there are other fish in the river, but fishing for bass you also caught walleye ,muskie,carp,pickerel and so on. two day of fishing i saw one other fisherman, about five miles up from millerburg, and that got hit hard by fishermen. i had allway good fishing on the river from 1950 till two or three years ago.when duck hunting when ducks took the day off, i took the boat and fish the rocks out from the blind, put corn on a rod left bail open and never fish far from the boat, watch the line, when saw the line going out,ran to get the fish some big carp were on the line over the years. you fish the rock ledges you had all kinds of fish. i build a blind that had a roof on, and sides. i stay over nite lots of times. sorry you are in ill heath, but getting better, i hope the best for you. flyman 3
It really is a shame, the decline of the river. I think the agriculture runoff is only a small part of the problem. I never did like the fishing during the spawn that rips the fish off of their beds. Next week I am going to hit the mouth of Penn’s Creek in the evening for walleye. I will let you know how I did. That’s where I am being told they are picking up the walleye.
I wade fished the Susquehanna yesterday above Marysville along with a friend. There were three other anglers there as well. Total angler representation was two fly anglers and three spin fishermen using bait as well as lures. I was in the latter group.
I got skunked with no action what-so-ever, my buddy got three dinks on a fly rod & popper after about a 1000 casts per fish in his estimation, the other fly fisherman left in disgust with zero, the other spin fisherman got one dink and the final angler disappeared down-river. Maybe he committed suicide in disgust?
After my day I have officially decided to give up on the Susquehanna for a few years. It really isn’t worth the effort and drive for me. :sad:
After we quit the Susky we did fish the Juniata up in Mexico, PA and while hardly anything to brag about; we did managed a few small bass. There were White Flies coming off but most were left unmolested.
It’s not a great time for Smallie fishing in Southcentral PA I guess, unless you are fishing from a boat and can move around a lot.
