Some guides are getting out on the river up north of Harrisburg, Pa., but down here in the Lower Susquehanna River, the river level at the Harrisburg gauge was showing 8.17' and the level at Lake Aldred was 171.6' or six feet over the spill level at the Holtwood Dam... Dangerous Levels!
This is what Lake Aldred looks like from the Pequea Launch when running at 171.6'.
The water level is up at top level of all three ramps at Pequea Boat Launch...
Sunset
There were several anglers setting up to fish off the Handicap Access and there were several others fishing the Pequea Creek. I saw one catfish caught on bait from the creek while I was standing b the river taking photographs.
There was a southerly breeze blowing against the current this evening and causing some wave action to lap up onto the ramp. It would make it hard to trailer the boat on the river ramp under such conditions. Most likely, it would be safer to trailer along the two creek ramps.
This coming week, April 16 (Wednesday), I will be heading to the North Branch of the Susquehanna River to fish with Josh Kreider. The river on the North Branch is running quite high and even LD Guide Service (Lance Dunham) currently has shut down operations until the river returns to a safer level. Lance runs a 21' SeaArk with an 8' beam... This is a very large river boat and can handle pretty rough river conditions.
The weather forecast is calling for a few showers tomorrow into Saturday and also next Tuesday. But from next Wednesday through Saturday, we should have decent weather in Bradford County. I am hoping that the upcoming rain fall we get won't be significant enough to make the river unsafe again. We'll have to wait until next week to determine whether or not we will head north to fish.
Remain safe folks... Last week we had a boat go over the York Furnace Dam after striking several rocks and boulders and making the prop unusable. Five people on board survived... Four adults and One Teen. They were all lucky to have survived seeing that the river is running so high. In fact, they may have survived because the river was running higher than usual and the severe rock formations below the dam weren't exposed... Just a thought.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
