Today, September 21, 2012, is my mom's birthday. Mom passed away in 2005 at the age of 80. I miss her and dad everyday. "Happy Birthday, Grammy!"
Now... On to Smallmouth Bass Fishing!
Jeff B. and I made plans to meet at York Furnace yesterday morning at 7:00 am to go fishing on Lake Aldred. PPL had the Pequea Boat Lanuch closed due to dredging. I believe that they are also increasing the parking lot because the launch will be closed for 6 - 8 weeks. The last time that they dredged this ramp was 20+ years ago and it took them only several days to complete the task.
I got behind Bus #50 in York County and gave Jeff a quick call to let him know that I was stuck behind a school bus. He told me not to worry because the water level at Lake Aldred was so low that we were not going to be able to launch his boat... "Say what!?"
Yepper!... The Safe Harbor website mentioned that the lake would be maintained at 168-171'. There was no way that the lake was even close to that level and here are the pics to prove it...
York Furnace Ramp (09/20/12)
It was also very foggy on the York County side of the river because the water temperature was 69 degrees and the air temperature was 44 degrees... Brrrrrrr!
We made plans to head upriver to Long Level, Pa. and launched on Lake Clarke.
The river level was fine on Lake Clarke, but it was awful foggy.
The sun trying to peek thru while we were on the river.
Caught a pic of Jeff with his "Skeleton Helmet" to keep his face warm during the early morning run...
Deep in the fog and without assistance of a GPS, we were discombobulated and actually started to head south... LOL!
We worked our way to the middle of the river and the sun broke free and the skies were blue. I took this cool video of us running upriver. You can see the distinct fog line as we moved north... Pretty cool, huh?
We finally made it to our first fishing hole and this is what we found the water quality to be... Muddy and Yucky!
We tossed a ton of lures... Plastic tubes (with rattles) and Gulp, spinnerbaits in multiple colors including Green Shad and Firetiger, Crankbaits in Firetiger, Tennesse Shad and Total Black. I also tossed a Cotton Cordell Super Spot with silver flash that makes a lot of rattle... But Nothing!
We worked hard and practiced our casting skills all day long without one single bite except for this beauty...
Yes sir, I caught a beautiful Susquehanna River bedrock. "Is this a snagged carp or what?" We had a good laugh when we realized that probably the only thing that we will catch all day long would be this stupid rock! (aka Pennsylvania Rock Bass)
I know that being outdoors is one of the best parts of this whole fishing experience. We even caught sight of a beautiful bald eagle flying across the muddied river after we scared it from it's grassy island perch. This eagle flew just north of us and up into a tree along the hillside. For the longest time, she squawked and screamed at us, "Get out of my fishing hole!"
Flashback... Here's another cool video I pulled off my phone camera that I took of Jeff and I running on the Lake Aldred. I hope you enjoy it...
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
