It's been quite some time since I spent two straight days fishing on the Susquehanna River and to do it with my fishing buddy, Josh Kreider, made it very special. On the first week of July, Josh's truck broke down while he was driving near Knoxville, Tennessee. Josh initially thought he would be back on the road trucking by Wednesday, but that didn't work out. The garage had to send out for parts and Josh was given the entire week off. So, of course he called me and said, "Let's go fishing!"
Thursday (07/11/13)
We met at his home around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and headed to the Mt. Joy Diner for an early breakfast. After breakfast, we headed north and above Harrisburg, Pa. The river level was holding steady at 4.9' and was 76.5 degrees. On day one, we had very hot and muggy weather. The air temperature was in the low-70s when I drove to Josh's home and it rose to 88 degrees by the time we came off the water around 3:00 p.m. I was a sweaty mess by the end of our day. But on the second day, the air temperature stayed constant at 71 degrees and it was overcast the entire day. Just south of us in Lancaster and York counties, the rain was falling all day long! We were sitting "on the edge" and we never had a drop of rain.
From hot and humid to cloudy and cool, these were two very different days. And despite the differences, the fish were hitting both days
Here is a pic of Josh running his G3 1860 DLX with a 90/65 Yamaha Jet Drive upriver in the morning...
Dad was enjoying the cooler morning temperature on our first of two days on the Susquehanna River. We were in store for "The 3H's" - Hazy, Hot, and Humid!
Josh hooked up pretty quick with his first "Thumbs Up" smallie on a 3/8th oz. War Eagle Mouse color spinnerbait..
We started to hit some "Big Mammas" early with back-to-back 19.25" and a 19"...
19.25"
19"
We got into them pretty good and all were on spinnerbaits. I was tossing a 1/2 oz. War Eagle in a Green Shad color. Josh's colored spinnerbait seemed to be doing better than mine in the morning. But after a lunch break and short run, I pulled out a 1/2 oz. War Eagle Golden Shiner. I remembered attending a few seminars with Pete Gluszek at Susquehanna Fishing Tackle where he mentioned that the Golden Shiner was a great color for dirty water on sunny days. Well, I had bought one in the 1/2 oz size and one in the 3/8 oz. size this past Spring to try... and I'm glad I did.
Josh's War Eagle was taking a pretty good beating until it finally gave way and broke off...
Josh running back to our morning spot after taking a short trip down river to check out a productive spot from Saturday's trip. We took a much needed lunch break to regain our energy before a busy afternoon of tossing spinnerbaits...
The Golden Shiner absolutely "shined" in the afternoon...
Josh nailed another "chunk"!
We caught over 30 smallies with most going over 15 inches... What a great day to be on the water! The action kept us on our toes. We missed quite a few good sized bass. I thought I heard the JAWS theme music when I hit one beast... This "Toad" never came to the surface and ran straight towards the boat. I was trying to position myself to get a good hook set, but I never got the opportunity as she went straight under the boat. I thought I could turn her head as she came closer, but she was in control of this fight. As she passed under the boat, my spinnerbait came unbuttoned and she was gone!
Josh was so stoked about the good fishing. Knowing that it may be quite a while until he is able to get back out on the river, he definitely wanted to fish on Friday. He tried to get a hold of Steve H. (ifish) to see if he happened to be off work on Friday. Steve texted back saying that he was sadly working. Josh then asked me to go once again. He knew I was beat, but I knew he wanted me to join in on the fun once again. I told him if Julie said it was okay with her and that she didn't have any plans for us on Friday, I would surely go again. On our ride home, I called Julie and she said that it was fine for me to go... We were on for tomorrow!
We came off the water at 3:00 p.m. in order to beat the traffic through Harrisburg, Pa. But I can honestly say that the traffic on Rt. 283 in Lancaster County was a true nightmare. I cannot remember when I've seen it so nerve-wracking! I was so glad when I finally pulled safely into my driveway in Willow Street, Pa. I was happy to be home.
Friday (07/12/13)
I headed back to Josh's home at 4:00 a.m. Friday morning. My truck thermometer read 71 degrees. What a difference in humidity! I passed another temperature gauge along Rt. 283 that read 68 degrees. It definitely was going to be a totally different weather day for us on the water. In fact, the temperature never rose higher than 71 degrees all day long. On my ride home, my truck's thermometer only read 70 degrees! The temperature actually dropped while we were on the water.
It was overcast all day long. In fact, Jeff B (CHRGD) texted me during the morning and said to be prepared to put our rain jackets on because the rains were moving in... But we never saw a drop of rain the entire outing! We were sitting right on the edge of the cold front.
We had another fantastic day of spinnerbait bites! Only one fish came on a tube the entire day.
Check out these Susquehanna beauties...
16.25"
16.75"
19"
Never try to smile with a toothpick sticking out of your mouth!... LOL!
"The Beast"! This beautiful smallie was 19.75 inches and weighed in at 5 pounds!! This hawg was released back into the river to be caught yet another day. Protect the resource!
18.75
19"
We ended our day around 2:00 p.m. I may have been dead tired, but I was a "Happy Camper" for having been on the river for two straight days of fishing for fish as beautiful as these. Not only did we catch a boatload of great smallmouth, but we also got to take in the surrounding scenery...
I hope you enjoyed this blog entry as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. Please remember o wear your PFD and...
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
