Check out this big fish! It was Josh's biggest fish of the day at 20.50" and was caught off a Lucky Craft Pointer 78... It was Josh's day because I was only along for casting practice... LOL!
It has been nearly a month since I was last out on the Susquehanna River and fishing with my good friend, Josh Kreider. It won't be long before his last fishing adventure in the G3 with the 90/65 4 stk 1860DLX CCJ. The "Rock Proof" jet rig may be completed by Mid-January to the beginning of February, 2015.
We decided to get out on the river on Saturday, November 8, 2014. Josh was trucking in South Carolina on Friday and still had not headed home by early afternoon. So we made plans to meet at 7:30 a.m.
I arose at 6:15 a.m. and prepped my gear to put into the bed of my truck. The air temperature was only 30 degrees and there was a heavy frost on my truck windows.
I arrived at Josh's home around 7:25 a.m. and he was still busy indoors preparing himself for the cold weather. He had not gotten back home to Pennsylvania until 5:00 a.m. and got in about two hours of sleep and trucking paperwork before I arrived.
We packed my gear and tackle into his jet rig and headed to our favorite Mt. Joy greasy spoon... "Gus's Family Restaurant". I had my order of the "Quickie Special" which is a combination of meat, peppers, potatoes, ham, bacon, and cheese with de-caf coffee. Josh ate like a "hungry trucker" :)... I usually buy our breakfast and tip since we use his boat and he pays for all the gasoline and towing expenses. We do the complete opposite when we take my jet rig.
At breakfast, we got to catch up on the making of his "Rock Proof" boat. He was planning to visit Brent Kaufman the following day to go over a few items. Brent has agreed to send him pictures as they move along in the fabrication and production of his rig. Josh has also decided upon six storage lockers and two rod lockers. But the thing that really got me excited was that he has decided upon adding two Minn Kota 8' Talons to the transom... Cool beans! We will be able to venture into areas and place the Talons down onto the river bed to hold us in some fantastic fishing holes.
Josh will also be adding the Minn Kota "Fortrex" with 112 lb thrust... Perfect set up for the heavy current of the Susquehanna River... http://www.minnkotamotors.com/Trolling-Motors/Freshwater-Bow-Mount/Fortrex/
We arrived at the river launch around 9:30 a.m. and had already picked out our fishing spot for the day while eating breakfast. The water temperature was sitting at 48.9 degrees and the river level at the Harrisburg gauge was sitting at 3.44'. One would think that after a whole day of soaking rain this past week that the river would rise some. But we have had such little amount of rain from mid-summer until now that the soil is very dry and we've even fire hazard warnings issued.
Not only was the river level low, but the grasses had already died off and the water was gin clear. The area that we were fishing had some very, very low water surrounding a large hole of about 4' deep. There were plenty of smallmouth bass set up in this deeper hole. In fact, several of the fish that Josh caught attracted three of four more fish at the same time. We could see them chasing and following the fish that had taken Josh's jerkbait. This area was so active that we spent thenext three and half hours sitting on that spot and fishing it hard.
Here is another photo of the 20.50" smallie that Josh pulled in with the Lucky Craft Pointer 78...
We left the river early yesterday because Josh had a family function to attend. When we arrived at the launch, we met up with Nathan Kepp. Josh and Nate had fished together a number of years ago out of Josh's boat. Nate owns a beautiful Duracraft with a 115/80 4stk Yamaha jet motor (JA). Nate was pulled up on the shoreline waiting for his fishing partner to arrive. His buddy was watching the Penn State game at home while Nate was held up awaiting his arrival.
We had a nice half hour talk with Nate about fishing and the river in general. It was nice running across someone who knew about the "Fishing With Dad" blog... LOL! As we were driving back to Josh's home, he even mentioned that there were those who were fishing the river and reading the blog... I always have my doubts that many anglers are following my entries. But yesterday proved, once again, that there are folks out there who appreciate reading these reports.
I have plans to go fishing with CHRGD (Jeff) on Tuesday of this coming week. So keep an eye open for an upcoming report. I will also be adding pictures and updates from the building of Josh's "Rock Proof" boat over the next few months.
Please keep in mind that my friend, John Williams, is still cleaning and fixing reels. It's a good time to get any work done as you sit around the house waiting for winter to end. If you are interested in John doing any work for you, please contact me here at "Fishing With Dad" and I will get you in touch with him.
I also plan on being at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg for "The Great American Outdoor Show" from February 7 - 15, 2015 with Lakeside Marina. Due to my many surgeries and knee manipulations, it has been two years since I've been able to spend time with JC and Barb at their boat display... Plan to stop on by and say "Hello" to me and we can catch up on our bass fishing.
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad
