It's been several months since Josh Kreider and I went fishing together on the Susquehanna River. It was my third trip out since I had my left knee replacement revision surgery and the first trip with Josh in 2013. We planned to go fishing last weekend, but we had to use my boat since Josh needs a couple of new batteries and a battery charger. But Saturday, April 20, 2013, brought us high winds (20-30 mph sustained winds with greater gusts) and I made the decision to hold off until we could get a better day. Hopefully, it would be before the "Bass Closed season (May1, 2013) on the 98 mile stretch of the river.
Sunday was that day! Although the air temperature was rather cold at 38 degrees, I met Josh at his home at 6:00 a.m. and we headed to our favorite "greasy spoon", Gus' Family Restaurant, in Mt. Joy, Pa. for a hearty breakfast and some coffee to get us going.
We made it to the ramp by 7:30 a.m. and "The Original" (prototype) G3 1860 DLX ... I like reminding folks that this was the very first G3 1860 DLX (2001) because there have been tremendous changes done by the G3 designers in the past years. For example, the production G3 DLX is now a tunneled rig which mine is not.
I find it funny that when I take my rig in for routine maintenance at Lakeside Marine (Harrisburg, Pa.), they make sure that the staff realizes that my rig is "no longer" what they consider the G3 DLX... LOL!
It was a rather slow day on the section of the river we chose to fish. I did see some fantastic reports from further north. I know that Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny fished the same stretch on Saturday and Jeff said there were a lot of boats on the water. I decided to hit this area anyway because I didn't really want to drive any further north while still recovering from my knee surgery.
Most of our smallmouth came on 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits. Josh was tossing a "Mouse" War Eagle and I was tossing a Chartreuse and White bladed spinnerbait. I did happen to catch one smallie on a green pumpkin tube with orange flakes rigged on a 1/8th oz. tube jighead with a single wire weed guard.
Sunday morning on the water was beautiful. The water temperature read 54.5 degrees on my bow Lowrance with only a few wispy clouds scattered in the blue skies above. The water had a greenish stain to it on the west shore and by the middle of the river, a slight brownish stain took over. We did fish some of the browner water, but failed to find any fish that would take our offerings. So, we pretty much stayed along the west shoreline and in the greener stained water.
It Doesn't Get Much Prettier Than This!
Although we did catch fish, they weren't anything to write home about except for this one. Folks, I've been fishing since the age of 7. That means 51 years of chasing many different species of fish and I never, ever caught (snagged) a fish this small. Check it out!
The picture is slightly larger than life and this little guy still looks rather small. I felt bad for him. But knowing what his fate most likely would be, I returned him to the water for a proper burial.
Rain was in the forecast for Monday and cloud cover started to take over our blue skies by 11:00 a.m.. The wind also started to kick in which put a slight chop on the river. Both Josh and I were already feeling sore and tired from the work we did on Saturday. Josh cleaned and shined all the chromed wheels on his semi and I did a ton of yard work on Saturday - mulched the front garden, mowed the lawn, and weed whacked. Our backs were telling us that it was soon time to head back to the ramp.
Despite the fact that the air temperature had risen into the low 70s and it was rather pleasant outdoors, we made the decision to call it a day and head back to the launch.
The ramp was quite busy with boaters launching their rigs and taking out. Heck, we even saw a pontoon boat launching which is rather rare for this section of the river. I quickly dropped Josh off on the shore to get my truck and I was greeted with "Is you knee ready to be out there?"... I answered by saying with a smile, "Not with the beating we just took coming back here". I had to move quickly off the shoreline to allow others to use it as a dropping off and picking up point and I never really got to see or ask who I was talking with! :(
When we finally had the boat "trailered". Josh asked me who the young man was who was talking with me. I felt embarrassed to say that I didn't ask and by the time we were on land, their party had departed... I thought it may be one of my visitors here at "Fishing With Dad" (?). So please, if that was you at the ramp on Saturday who spoke with me, please leave a message here. Things were happening so quickly on Sunday afternoon and it was my first rip out in my rig, I felt bad that I didn't get to speak any longer with you... For example, "How did you all do fishing Saturday on the river?"
Once we had the boat on the trailer and ready to tow, Josh asked me if I wanted to hit Hardee's in Middletown, Pa. for a sandwich. I am not known to turn "free food" down and I agreed.
Boy, we were surprised to see that the Hardee's was completely renovated inside. It looks great with a nice open atmosphere.
After eating our lunch, we headed back to Josh's home to drop him and his equipment off.
I miss our "Wednesdays With Dad" fishing adventures. But Josh has a great new job that takes him all over the United States. I know that his girlfriend has been able to accompany him on two of these cross-country trekss... One to California and the other down South. The toughest thing for him is that the weekends seem to go by so quickly before he is back trucking on America's highways.
I always keep Josh in my prayers knowing that he is somewhere "Out There".
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
