Glad to see that you were able to come back and visit "Fishing With Dad". I was able to fish the Susquehanna River once again this week. Not only was I able to fish the river once, but I got to fish it twice with two of my very good fishing buddies, Josh and Steve. I always look forward to fishing adventures with these two smallmouth crazies. We had a blast! :)
Steve and I were able to hook up once again for a great day on the water. We made plans last evening to meet at the ramp after Steve got off work and took his kids to school.
I arrived at the ramp early and fished for about an hour before Steve arrived. In that hour, I decided to stay off the spinnerbait and toss a buzzbait. There was a pretty good fog cover this morning during my hour of solo fishing before the sun poked through the haze.
I had 8 blowups on my buzzbait without a single taker. It would have been nice to catch a few on the topwater, but I was satisfied in knowing that the bass were still holding in the area that Josh and I fished on Tuesday.
The weatherman was calling for 10-20 mph winds. I was expecting what Josh and I faced on Tuesday. But instead, I got the complete opposite... calmer waters in the morning with the wind building by the afternoon. We actually noticed the wind kicking up around 11:45 a.m.
The water temp rose to 70 degrees today and the surface reading was showing 75 degrees, The air temp was 70 degrees when I launched and rose into the mid-80's by the time we left the water at 2:00 p.m.
What a great day to be on the water (most are). Steve jumped out to a 4-0 lead over me with his new Nichols spinnerbait. I was tossing the one from Tuesday, but the sun wasn't shining and the fish refused to take it.
Steve told me he had an OC Special with my name on it just waiting for me to toss. I couldn't refuse (Mamma didn't raise no fool!) So, I turned my rod over to Steve and he tied on a brand new spankin' Nichols blade. Thanks, Steve!
That's all it took. I caught up in a few minutes.
We found fish holding in the push water above ledges and several feet behind grassbeds. In fact, my first three fish all went over 17"
These fish were on a mission today... Slaughter baitfish!
Thank goodness they have a pea size brain, because our offerings today were convincing enough to put 39 smallies in the boat from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. during post-spawn conditions (5 hrs. of fishing with a 30 min. lunch break).
These were Steve's first spinnerbait fish of the season. I was with Josh on Tuesday when he hit his first blade fish of the season, too... Pretty cool to be out with two good buddy's on their first spinnerbait bite trips!
In the afternoon, Steve nailed a few nice 17 inchers. The first was a beautiful 17.5" and the second was a great looking 17.75" pigbeast.
17.5"
17.75" with Steve working on his Farmer's Tan! :D
Tuesday's winds keep many people at home and off the water. Today, we saw quite a few more anglers on the water and folks out just enjoying some recreational boating.
A big thanks to my buddy, Steve, for allowing this old geezer a chance to take him on the water. Steve told me it was his first time fishing this particular area and it was great seeing him have a such successful spinnerbait day.
We'll have to do it again, Steve, real soon!
Dad
