I met Josh at 4:00 a.m. and we picked up his boat at the storage shed and headed to breakfast in Mt. Joy, Pa. We got to the ramp around 5:40 a.m., ran north, and fished until noontime.
Our first stop was at a favorite grass island of ours, but it yielded not a single smallie. So we headed further north and just below where Daryl and Beetlespin were fishing. This area was really hot about twelve years ago when I guided. Josh fished it last week with Randy and they found that the fish had returned! Good news for us.
We stayed in this general area the rest of the morning and brought 16 bass to the boat. Daryl joined up with us and caught some fish, too.
The largest of the morning was a fat 19". We also had a 17.25", a 16.5", and a 16" along with 14 other smallies measuring b/w 12-15" in length. It was a very productive day after a slow few weeks.
As Daryl mentioned, the water is clearing rather nicely. What I took note of was that there was none of that ugly brown algae that has coated the bottom over the past 4-5 years! (Not yet, at least) The water temp may have a lot to do with that(?). You could see the rocks and boulders clearly and the quartz crystal in the gravel was glistening in the bright sunshine... It brought back fond memories of what the river bottom looked like 20 years ago.
Here are a few photos from yesterday...
I had the pleasure of fishing with this guy... Check out the name of the lake. LOL! Don't you just love it!?
This is Josh's 17.25" that he caught using a tube and 1/8th oz. tube jig.
This 19" bruiser was enticed to bite an Al Winco 'Brown Pumpkin Fantasy' Warm Water Smallie Delight along with his new Weighted Flutter Jigs with a Hitchhiker coil keeper.
This flutter jig setup worked really well for over three hours. In fact, at one point, the weighted flutter head had Josh's tube 6 to 2. But around 11:00 a.m., the fish had seen enough and the tube continued to catch bass. Momma didn't raise no fool. I switched to a tube and got several more bites before we called it a day.
Air temperature was 54 degrees on Josh's truck thermometer at 5:00 a.m.! Man, I can't remember a July that it was that cool in the morning. Usually, we are having 65 degree temps now and 90 degree days. I know that WGAL reported that we tied an all-time morning low in Harrisburg last week at 55 degrees.
The river is dropping nicely and, as Daryl mentioned, the west side is clearing well. We had bottom visibility up to 4'+. Now, we all have to get used to running our jet rigs and seeing the bottom. Man, what an optical illusion that can be!
I learned a simple rule to follow years ago with gin clear water... "If you think it's two feet, double that!" Be careful out there. The "Goonies" are showing the top of their heads now. We saw stuff that we haven't seen a year's time.
