What a beautiful day we had yesterday while fishing on the Lower Susquehanna River! Penny was on vacation this entire week and she was able to join Jeff and I as we took Dad's second fishing trip since my knee surgery back in February. It's always fun having Penny along. If two of us can solve the mysteries of the universe while fishing, three of us can do so much more and faster. :)
My morning started around 6:30 a.m. My wife, Julie, is fighting a head cold, but she still got up and helped me get going with breakfast and by packing my lunch that we prepared the night before.
We made plans to meet at the ramp by 9:00 a.m. I arrived around 8:40 a.m., but Jeff and Penny got tied up in traffic and were a few minutes behind schedule. So, we launched a bit later and were on the water by 9:30 a.m.
When Jeff and Penny pulled into the parking lot, I got my first glimpse of their brand new Dodge Ram 1500 Express. What a nice looking truck! Jeff and Penny added a few accessories that really added to this great towing package. Jeff has a few more ideas that should go well with the overall scheme of the truck.
They told me that on their way to the launch, along the back country roads, an eagle set down at "roadkill" which was right in front of them... A rare site to catch. That eagle was certainly lucky it didn't become roadkill... LOL!
The air temperature at the ramp was only 44 degrees when I arrived at 8:40 a.m. I marked 54 degrees for the water temperature on Jeff's Hummingbird console depth finder while we sat at the ramp. As the day progressed, the air temp rose to 61 degrees and the water temperature rose to ~55 degrees. We did hit some slack water where the water temp rose to 57 degrees.
We also had an 11 mph wind blowing first thing in the morning that created a slight chop on our morning run. The wind settled to a mild breeze by afternoon and made our 4:00 p.m. run back to the ramp rather pleasant.
Wednesday night brought rain and thunderstorms across the Susquehanna Valley. By morning the storms had moved through and we had gorgeous "Bluebird Skies". Not always an anglers favorite conditions, for sure.
Jeff and Penny had fished this area several days earlier and were on some fish. We headed to our first stop where Jeff tagged this nice smallmouth that went 19.5" on a spinnerbait. In fact, all of our fish came on the spinnerbait bite. Great job, buddy!
Penny caught several beautiful smallies including a 19" that had a nice belly on it.
"The Queen Of The Susquehanna River" with her Court Jester acting out behind her... Nice 19" fish, Penny!
I felt like the "odd man out" since both Jeff and Penny had caught a couple of bass before I got on the board. But, as the saying goes, "No skunk in this boat!"
Nice "Homey" hat, Dad! This little guy had a chunk for a belly...
Afternoon fishing was rather slow. But we manged 23 fish total for the day with a few "swing and misses" along the way.
The nightly news reported that the fellow's body who drowned at Jack's Island on Lake Aldred was located yesterday. Although his drowning is tragic, I am relieved to know that is family has him back once again.
Please do not place yourself in dangerous situations while on the water. If you get that feeling that something just isn't right, you most likely are correct and should prevent tragedy from happening.
I would also like to thank Ad Crable, Outdoor Writer for the Lancaster, Pa. Newspapers, for printing an article in this morning's paper about the loss of our bass population on the Susquehanna River. Studies have estimated that we have lost nearly 80% of our smallmouth population since 2005 due to various reason associated with pollution, as well as, weather conditions. And despite this major loss, our Pa.D.E.P. will not declare our river in trouble. There are concerned anglers and other like-minded citizens who are now requesting that the Federal E.P.A. address this issue since our state won't.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
