I was able to text/email with Jeff (CHRGD) last evening and he shared their Thursday and Friday fishing experiences with me. The river was low ("Hairy" was the description Jeff made) and on Thursday, rain poured on them for about an hour after making their first run. Some areas were difficult to get into without scrapping and dragging along the bottom. Despite the rains we had this past week, there was absolutely no rise on the Main Stem. We need rain!
Check out the sores on the tail of this smallmouth...
More smallies are showing up this fall with the black spots. DRY has recently been in contact with the PAFBC biologists to see what research has been done on these spots since they were reported in mass numbers in the spring. What he found was that not much has been done in the way of researching the causes... So, what's new!? :(
We know that many fish have sores and growths attached to them, yet there are still plenty of healthy smallnouth bass in the river as seen in these two pics.
There are certain areas on the Susquehanna River that appear extremely sick with very little, if any, smallmouth population present. The further north one goes on the main stem, the river seems to have much healthier populations of smallmouth, except in the Selinsgrove area. One of our worst YoY (Young of Year) reports for the Susquehanna River comes from the Columbia (Lake Clarke) and Safe Harbor (Lake Aldred) areas... historically.
Thanks to Jeff and Penny for sending me pics and updated information.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
