I was able to get out fishing today with Dell Jackson and my youngest son, Zach. Jeff (CHRGD) and I have been in touch throughout the week and he has been sharing his fishing adventure information with me. I used his information to help me make a decision as to where to fish today... The Lower Susquehanna River.
Jeff and Penny (The Queen of the Susquehanna River) fished the lower river yesterday and had a good day fishing. Below are a couple of great looking fish that they brought to their boat on Sunday.
Penny was on vacation all last week and they made several fishing outings to different parts of the river... two north and two south. From that collected information, I decided to save a bit on gasoline by hitting the lower river which is nearer to my home.
Thanks Jeff and Penny for sharing your fishing adventures with us this past week!
I prepped my clothing before I went to bed last night. I knew it was suppose to be unseasonably cold in the morning. So I pulled out the ole' silks to wear under my clothing. It was a good thing that I did since it was only 37 degrees when we woke up today!
My wife got up with us today because she had to take our son's car to the mechanic for some work. Before pulling out of our driveway at 6:30 am., Julie actually had to clean ice off the car windows before leaving! Pretty early fall ice for West Willow, Pa.! We are used to seeing this first ice around the 15th of the month. We did have rain last evening and the skies later cleared allowing for the heat to escape. The air temperature dropped down to 37 degrees by morning. This convinced me to jump into the F-150 and start the engine up in order to heat the interior and defrost the windows before Dell got here... Good deal!
Once the windows were defrosted, I backed up the truck and hooked the trailer to the hitch. Zach and I took some time to arrange the boat for the three of us to fish out of today. He did a great job arranging the interior of the boat to give us the optimum space possible for the amount of people, tackle, and gear we would be carrying.
Once I was satisfied that the boat was ready to go, I went back inside to eat breakfast and take my morning meds. I like doing things in this order so that I can relax a bit before leaving for the river. It also gives me time to give some attention to spend time with my dogs before I leave the house for the next several hours.
Dell arrived at our home at 7:10 am. and we stowed his gear into truck and boat. We all jumped into the truck and headed to the corner gas station for a piping hot cup of coffee and a few lunch snacks.
We arrived at the ramp around 7:40 am and noticed a couple of Peach Bottom workers running a small front-end loaded and a mini-digger for digging ditches close to the ramp. By the time we returned to the ramp, those two workers had dug an entire ditch all the way across the front end of the ramp. It was about a foot of so deep. Deep enough to be very careful as you drove over it with your tow vehicle and trailer.
We prepared the boat for launching and Dell dropped me back into the river. Once we were all on board, we headed out onto the river and to our first fishing hole.
It was partly sunny, but cold on the run. I'm certainly glad we dressed warm for the water today... face masks and all. The water temperature was 59 degrees and the clarity was clear.
We tossed a myriad of lures throughout the morning... Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, buzz baits, swim baits, grubs and tubes, and crankbaits in assorted sizes and colors. But the most hits and fish to the boat came on the spinnerbaits and swim baits.
Dell usually brings a "ceee-gar" or two along to puff on throughout the day, but today he forgot them... That didn't stop him from thinking that maybe he'd light up his first smallie of the day caught on a swim bait.
Give the "Li'L Ones" all the lovin'!
Dell hung in there today and finally caught one on a spinnerbait. "Proud of you, buddy!"
Dad handling a smallie and getting ready to measure her...
Many of our fish looked like "Cookie Cutter" smallmouth... Going about 15" or so.
Our largest smallies (2) went 17" today and were caught on spinnerbaits.
As we were passing one of the many islands in this section of the river, I took notice to this marking on a tree. I asked Dell what he thought had made this marking... "A Big Beaver?" Dell had a good laugh and said that this "Big Beaver" would have to be over three feet tall standing on his hind legs to get that far up the tree. Of course I then called it a "Beaver with a Cleaver"... for those who remember Beaver Cleaver form "Leave It To Beaver". My lame attempt at dry humor... LOL! :)
Dell thought it was a land owner's marking... Not sure, but it was cut the entire circumference of the tree.
We got off the water and back on the road by noon time. Dell had to be home by 1:00 pm because he was heading to Baltimore tonight to watch the Orioles and Yankees play in the playoffs... Lucky Dog!
Before backing the trailer into the garage, we unloaded all of Dell's gear so he could get on his way home. I then backed the trailer into the garage and hooked up the electric to the 4 bank battery charger. A soon as I plugged in the charger, an alarm went off on my boat... "What the Heck!" I unplugged the battery charger and it went out... Strange! Each time I replugged the charger into the electrical cord, the alarm would make a slight noise and then the alarm would go off.
I quickly gave JC Nuss form Lakeside Marine a call to see if he would know why this would happen. He was just leaving West Virginia and said he would look into it and call me tomorrow.
I then checked the entire charger and all the batteries to make sure everything was hooked up and not loose. My wife had pulled the charger booklet and no alarm was mentioned, only a visual cue for any problems. I then assumed that the alarm came from my motor system... possible low oil alarm that triggered when I plugged in the electric cord.
Maybe something came loose when we pulled the boat out of the water and drove across that deep ditch (?). I'm not sure... So, later I decided to plug the charger back in and wait out the alarm. All my battery charger lights were lit red meaning a need for charging. I waited about 30 seconds and the alarm went off (reset?) and my started battery light lit green. The charger was working correctly. Within the next thirty minutes all four lights were lit green and no more alarm... Hmmmm.
I'll see if this happens again the next time I use the boat and plug the charger into the power cord. If so, I'll have Lakeside give it a once over to see what may be happening.
A big thanks to Zach for taking all the pictures today. He was a big help as we maneuvered in and around the many rocks and boulders we encountered on the river. His push pole technique came in handy more than a few times when we were retrieving lures stuck on rocky ledges and submerged tree limbs.
I'll be trying to get out for another day of fishing this week. I know that showers are expected on Wednesday and I have a surgeon's appointment once again on Thursday for my replaced left knee. So, maybe I'll get out again tomorrow and/or Friday. Keep your eyes open for my next fishing adventure!
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
