Zach and I took to the water once again last evening in search of some quality Susquehanna River smallmouth. But it was a terrible fishing night despite the beautiful weather we were currently having.
While fishing by the York Furnace Launch, Zach spied a mature bald eagle flying overhead and above the island that was just south of us. He mentioned how the turkey vultures were so much higher above the eagle... I have a feeling that they wanted nothing to do with that bird of prey. :)
It was a great way to start our fishing trip. There are several mature bald eagles in this area, but this was the first we've seen in several visits to Lake Aldred.
We did have several hits during the evening, but no hook ups. I assume that these hits were smaller fish attempting to take our larger 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits as they passed over submerged rocks and stumps.
The water on Lake Aldred level was running around 168.2' which is relatively low for the required "Recreational Level" per Federal Permit. However, I can almost guarantee that we have no watchdogs in our Federal Government making sure that these public recreational promises are being met. If so, I would like to know who they are so we could have a discussion on what ha been taking place on Lake Aldred over the past year and a half.
When PPL was part owner of the Safe Harbor, they coordinated very closely with the Holtwood Dam on their generation schedules. But now that PPL has sold their shares in the Safe Harbor Dam, it seems that there is absolutely little to no coordination between the two power companies in meeting the needs of the recreational boaters and anglers. Which is a shame since the "General Public" owns the waterways and not the power companies!
Here is Zach retrieveing a War Eagle 1/2 oz. spinnerbait just below the Safe Harbor Dam on the York County side of Lake Aldred.
Dad running the trolling motor in and around the York Furnace ramp.
Here we were running up river to see if we could locate a few bass in moving water...
We looked for chutes that were pulling water through, as well as food. We located numerous chutes upriver and gave a yeoman's effort in tossing our moving baits (spinnerbaits, lipless cranks, and crankbaits) through these oxygenated areas, but had absolutely no luck in catching a single Susquehanna River smallmouth.
We only sighted one other smaller river boat moving about this area. We didn't get a chance to speak with them to see what luck they may have been having, if any.
Summer tends to be this way in "The Lake". The low light hours tend to be more productive with morning being the best. I assume that is because the water has cooled several degrees throughout the night. But low light evening hours, the water has heated. Last evening, the water temperature was 82 degrees.
The air temp was in the mid-80s and we had partly cloudy skies.
I did get to speak by cell phone with my fishing buddy, Dell Jackson, while out on the water. He has been up at his North Branch cabin the past few weeks repairing floor damage from last year's Fall flooding. If the weather improves, we may try to get out fishing tomorrow.
We had storms move through early this morning with a downpour of rain and I believe that the cold front will be lingering throughout tomorrow morning. So, chances are that we won't be able to get out on Wednesday morning because of lingering showers.
Recent Local News:
We recently had an 18 yr. old man, Jason Howard, drown near Marietta, Pa. on the Susquehanna River. He and a couple of his buddies tried to walk and/or swim across the river last week during the river's low water conditions. Failing to understand the dangers of the strong river currents, the three young men approached the York County side of the river. All three young men were overwhelmed by the current and Jason, was swept away. The other two were able to make it onto a nearby rock for safety. It took several days to find Jason Howard's body among the major rock garden above the Rt. 30 Bridge and just south of where he was last seen.
Jason was a recent Donegal High School graduate.
A group of kayakers who had assembled for a sporting event on Saturday agreed to spend several hrs. looking for the body before starting their event. These kayakers were able to locate Jason's body in only a foot of water where no rescue boat could traverse.
What a shame!
Please, Please, Please... Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
