Today was Dalsyn "Allskill" Jones' turn to go fishing with his neighbor, Dad. "Allskill's" middle brother, Masyn Jones, fished with Dad this past Monday and we had a good day. What we found today was a lot more difficult situation to fish for smallmouth bass... It was a very bright sunny day, Lake Aldred had been dropped several feet, and less water dumping into the lake provided less oxygen and less current for bait movement. A very difficult situation, indeed.
Dalsyn's first smallmouth bass came on a bright chartreuse 3/8th oz. spinnerbait with double willow leaf chartreuse blades. Check out the following two pictures... Whoever said that painted blades won't catch bass didn't have any dea what they were saying... LOL! Guess who had given that chartreuse spinnerbait to the boys?... Yep, Dad!
Dalsyn's First Smallmouth Bass of the Day
Even the Mallard ducks found today rather boring and decided to take a break resting on a rock ledge just below the Safe Harbor Dam... "Hey, don't turn your backs on Dalsyn and me!" :)
Ducks Below Safe Harbor Dam
The water had the Safe Harbor green stain to it and was 74.8 degrees. The air temperature was only 61 degrees ths morning when we left home to head to the Susquehanna River. Sunrise at 6:51 a.m. brough a bright "Blue Bird" sky day! ... Not the best situation for any bass angler. Usually on the Susquehanna River, bright sunny days push the smallmouth bass closer and closer to the river bottom.
The Safe Harbor website had projected the day's level for Lake Aldred to be 168' or just one foot lower than the overflow at the "flashboards" of the Holtwood Dam. This was the same level that was reported on Monday on Lake Aldred, but today's level was a good two or more feet lower. There were also less turbines turning and only two gates were open when we arrived at 7:00 a.m. This past Monday, there were at least eight gates running water into Lake Aldred from the Safe Harbor Dam when we arrived... Much more current than Dalsyn and I saw all day today.
I was hoping for so much better conditions for taking Dalsyn fishing with me for the very first time, but the weather and the SHWP Corporation just didn't cooperate!
Here is a good picture of Dalsyn preparing for his day of fishing with me on the G3...
Dalsyn and I tried numerous lures today. We started out with tossing our buzzbaits without success. We switched to two different styles and colors of spinnerbaits. Dalsyn tossed his 3/8th oz chartreuse colored combined willow leaf and small Colorado blade. While I was tossing my 1/2 oz. War Eagle Green Shad spinnerbait on 14 lb test monofilament.
We also threw a 5' Senko on a 5/0 hook, a tube Texas rigged on a Shaw Grigsby hook and 1/8th oz. worm weight, and 3/8th oz. Cotton Cordell "Big O" crankbait and a crayfish style crankbait.
If I missed any lures, let me know, Dalsyn!
As you can see, we started at the top of the water column and worked our way to the bottom without too much success. We did have several bass grab at our crankbaits as if they were irritated by them rather than hungry to eat them. We noticed that the bites were on the tail end of the crankbaits and not at the head... Where bass will hit hard when they wish to "stun" the "hard" bait fish in order to eat.
I hope Dalsyn enjoyed his first trip together with Dad. If "Allskill" sustains his interest in bass fishing, I am sure that we will once again fish together another day on the Susquehanna River in the near future.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
