Nice 20 inch Susquehanna River smallmouth bass caught on a tube bait
I fishing buddy and I spent a couple days chasing smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania. The highlight of the trip was a 20 inch trophy smallmouth that I landed on Sunday. Water temperatures were about 50 degrees and the air temperature was about 54 degrees both days. We saw some sun on both days but Sunday turned out to be a banner day!
Water levels were about 4.29 feet at the Harrisburg river gauge so we had to work a little to maintain the position of our kayaks as we fished. We started this day with the water level higher than the 4.29 but it dropped quickly! Rocks that had been submerged earlier in the day 7 a.m. were exposed by about 2 or 3 p.m.!
Saturday 11/21
We fished a deep “wintering hole” created by one of those famous Susquehanna River ledges for about the first hour of the day. My fishing partner caught the biggest fish of the day from this location! A beautiful 18 inch specimen that weighed 3.5 pounds!
Saturday was definitely a “junk” fishing day! It was tough to get a bite. I caught a total of 3 smallmouth. Two fish on tubes and one fish on a suspending jerkbait. My largest was 17.75. I was focusing my efforts on “shallow” water current breaks were I thought the sun might influence the water temps a little. It definitely payed dividends on what shaped up to be difficult conditions for everyone on the river.
Sunday 11/22
Today we moved to a piece of river north of the first days area. You know the saying…”when in Rome do as the Romans do”…so today we fished ledges like it was going out of style. We fished both deep and shallow water ledges AND it payed off.
We fished from about 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
We tried a variety of baits but it was obvious fairly quickly that the tube was going to be the bait today.
I landed 7 smallies. One measured 13 inches and the others were all over 15.5. The three biggest were 17.5 inches, 20 inches on the nose, and one that was just short of touching the 18 inch line on my golden rule.
Presentation was critical today. We were “draggin” the tube today S-L-O-W with frequent and long pauses. The fish seemed to be sticking really tight to the ledges on both the upstream side and the downstream side..depending on strength of the current. To make sure my bait was “on spot” I would watch for a ledge under the kayak and visualize the angle of the ledge and where it “should be” as it runs toward the bank. This really helped me place the bait exactly were I wanted it in relation to the ledge.
Overall, it was a great day that produced some true trophy sized river smallmouth bass!
Fall on the Susquehanna – trophy fish, frustration, ecstasy, changing weather – all in the same day, sometimes. Nice fish and nice post.
Wolfy
Wolfy, all this can be true! We experienced some changing weather conditions and water conditions but the trick is to stay focused and keep working at it. ..AND be ready when the bite finally comes!! Slow presentations are best this time of year..and I do me S-L-O-W.
Nice fish Juan, the week before last has seen good activity for the larger smallies. Fishing near the 322 bridge produced several fish like your lunker. Nice to see you down this way. Although the bite had changed from dark tubes to Humpback in perch with the orange belly. Mike
Mike, The big boys are on the feed but the presentation needs to be slow. Funny, your not the first person to tell me that a “perch” pattern is working. I’d like to get down that way at least one more time before the river ices over!
Wolfy, fall can be great fishing. Late fall can be very difficult! Weather has a profound effect on fish activity level and locationin late fall.