Fishing With Dad

Real Reel Maintenance - Part IV (01/24/12)

2012-01-24T19:35:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

The reels are totally cleaned and serviced!

I received an email today from John with a few pictures attached. The only problem that John found during the maintenance work on my reels was with my Pflueger baitcaster. Some how, some way... The plastic brake collars needed to be replaced. Apparently, some greased had "melted" the brake collars. The "melting" is caused by the chemicals found in grease/oils/hotsauce and their reaction to plastic. John was quick to mention that he was not dismissing the "positive traits" of hotsause, just that there is a chemical reaction to plastic.

According to John, when a reel squeals, it is time to clean the brass track, not grease it. If the brass track continues to squeal, then it needs to be replaced.

Disassembled Pflueger

Brake system with replaced brake collars

"Melted" Brake Collars

Above photo -The black on the melted plastic brake collars is from dirt and oxidation from the brass brake track.

Assembled and Fully Serviced Pflueger

All Six Reels Are Looking Good!

I hope that you enjoyed these past view blog entries as we tracked John Williams work on my three spinning and three baitcasting reels. It was with the help of John that we were able to follow along with all the pictures. A big "Thank You" goes out to him for allowing us the opportunity to see how he breaks down and reassembles reels.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Real Reel Maintenance - Part III (01/22/12)

2012-01-22T12:30:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

We seem to be on a roll here with posting blog entries. John Williams has been sending me some really great photos of his maintenance work on my reels and I am excited about posting the pics for you all to see and enjoy.

We now have have all three of my spinning reels totally completed and my Curado Bantam CU 200 is also finished. John has informed me that we will most likely not be seeing as many pictures in the next few days as he works on my final two baitcastng reels (Quantum and Pflueger). I, for one, have definitely enjoyed the "play-by-play" photos that John has shared of his disassembling, maintenance, and reassembling of my reels.

The following pictures will show you a series of reassembling of my Curado Bantam CU 200...

Casing...

Finished and Fully Assembled Curado CU 200!

Great job, John! I would like to publicly thank John for the willingness to share his work with us here at "Fishing With Dad". I know one thing, these big fat fingers of mind would have a very hard time working with such tiny parts. It takes a lot of patience and know-how to tear one of these reels down, diagnose any problems, and reassemble all in one day.

Thank you, John Williams!

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Real Reel Maintenance - Part II (01/21/12)

2012-01-21T12:55:00.003-05:00

Hello Folks,

John Williams has been working away at cleaning and servicing my reels over the past week. It usually takes him about one full day to service one reel. He is gracious for the write ups here at "Fishing With Dad" and says that he is currently "swamped" with not only my reels, but those of his local bass fishing club members.

My spinning reels are now completely cleaned and serviced. Check out how nice they all look on the pic below... Great job, John! I'm drooling at the thought of casting these "puppies" once again.

The first baitcaster reel that John has tackled is my Curado Bantam. This is one of my older baitcasters and can probably be picked up on "ebay" at a reasonable price ($60-70). It's kind of a straight forward baitcaster and has been the workhorse of all my baitcasters... along with my Pfluegers, of course.

Check out this site where Alan Tani breaks down a Curado Bantam on "TackleTour.com"...

Alan Tani Breaks Down A Curado Bantam

My Curado had one problem... " It has one bad bearing in the shaft for winding. This one was never removed to oil. As a matter of fact, all the bearings had grease on them. It is a wonder you could get any distance at all. They are to be oiled for smooth casting."

I certainly appreciate how John stays in touch with me as he continues to work on my reels. It has been a learning experience.

Money is always tight around my home since my early retirement due to disability and he understands that and will not spend my money without first informing me. "That's what friends are for!"

Here are a few shots of the Curado broken down...

Disassembled Dirty Parts...

Cleaned and Ready Parts for Reassemble

If one closely examines these photos, they can tell just how much TLC John puts into his maintenance work.

I will continue to post any photos and enlightening comments that John shares with me.

We had about 3-5" of snow last time. It's the first snow since October 2011. Seeing the snow outside should be a strong reminder for us all to clean those rods and reels. It is also a good reminder to service your boat and motor.

The past week, I helped my buddy and fellow basketball coach, Dell Jackson, take his jet rig up to Lakeside Marine in Harrisburg for a once over before Spring arrives.

I was with Dell for his first fishing trip last season and his boat motor turned over on the first try. It was the perfect way to start out a great fishing trip. This is exactly the way we want it to happen. In fact, on our trip to Harrisburg, Pa. this past week, Dell mentioned that first fishing trip of 2011 because it had stuck in his mind just how pleasant it was to have a perfectly functioning motor on the turn of the key.

Next month, "The Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show" will be coming to the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg, Pa. The dates run from February 4 (Saturday) through February 12 (Sunday). I will, once again, be helping JC and Barb Nuss at the Lakeside Marine Boat Display (Booth 648). If you are in the Fishing Hall, stop by and say hello to all of us and sign my "autograph book". I'll have a new Shutterfly Photo Book of my fishing adventures from 2011 along for you all to look through.

The Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

p.s. My wife, Julie, celebrated her birthday this past week (January 17, 2012). Her birthday fell on a Tuesday this year. So, we headed out to a celebration breakfast and then to a 10:00 a.m. movie at Penn Cinema (Lititz, Pa.). Penn Cinema has 10:00 a.m. movies every Tuesday... We just love it! The theater isn't too busy at 10:00 a.m. and they serve free coffee on a cold winter morning.

Julie and I saw the new Mark Wahlberg movie "Contraband". It was full of action with a pretty good story line. We both enjoyed it and our time together.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! - Tom

Real Reel Maintenance - Part I (01/18/12)

2012-01-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

When winter rolls in and the temperature falls below freezing, it's time for Dad to get some maintenance done to his reels, rods, and boat.

I have a very good fishing buddy who has taken on reel maintenance in his retirement. His name is John Williams. John is an outstanding angler and has fished many tournaments in his time on the water. A few years ago, John and I met through the NASS bass fishing club and have been friends ever since.

John Williams - 7+ pounder From The Susquehanna Flats (2011)

Last year, I had taken my reels to Susquehanna Fishing Tackle (SFT). This was after my long-standing reel repairman, Dave Hess of Oak Bottom Reel Repair, hung up his tool kit several years ago. I went for about three years without having any of my reels professionally cleaned or maintained.

I posted a blog entry here at "Fishing With Dad" last year after getting my reels returned from SFT. They did a fine job and I was pleased. John Williams, upon reading that entry, informed me that he, too, cleaned and serviced reels. What a great discovery!

I am so much more comfortable personally knowing the person who is working on my reels. I have spent many hours on the water with John and trust him greatly to do a fantastic job. Not only that, but I feel that John will be straight forward with me when it is time for replacement parts.

John explained to me that it takes 6 -8 hours to breakdown, clean, oil and grease, and reassemble a reel... all for $20! It will be clean of all metal filings and dirt... both can be very destructive to my precious reels.

I liked John's description of the work he does... "That's like getting an oil change for your vehicle, and they throw in disassembling the engine block, clean all the pieces, reassemble it, and give you a bill for just an oil change."

All of John's work comes through "word of mouth" and he always welcomes new people.

"...I do pick ups at Bass Pro in Harrisburg, and Hawghead Marine in York. I do charge a $5 pick up and deliver, (at either location) per order, whether 1 reel or 10. $5 is just a gesture toward gas. It costs me $20 to pick up and return. Both places give me a call when reels are dropped off. Approx 2 week turn around. (unless parts are needed)"

Below are photos of my older Daiwa Advantage. You can see how dirty my reel was and the need for service. There was a lot of dirt mixed with old grease and oil on top of old grease and oil... :( But, as you can see, John worked his "magic" and the reel looks almost new!

If John sends me more pictures of his excellent work, I'll post them here on "Fishing With Dad for you all to see.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

It's That Time Of Year - Rod and Reel Care! (01/14/12)

2012-01-14T19:13:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

Part I - Boy, it doesn't seem like it, but it's been almost two weeks since I posted my last entry. That is a pretty long period of time between entries for me. The weather has recently changed here in SE Pennsylvania and we are currently in a cold spell. This is after quite a mild start to the 2012 Winter. Yesterday was a cold and blustery winter day! Today, the temperature didn't rise much over 30 degrees, but the winds died down.

My good fishing friends, Jeff and Penny, were able to get onto the river several times during the recent mild weather trend and caught a good number of catfish with live minnows. Jeff reported that they also caught a few smallmouth scattered among those catties.

While they were fishing the Accomac area of the Susquehanna River and just below Brunner's Island on the west shoreline, they noticed quite a few "wash outs" from the heavy rains we had over the past month. Jeff was kind enough to take a few photos to share with us.

Here is what Jeff and Penny saw during their fishing trip...

It seemed that wherever there was a small creek, gorge, or large cliff area, these "wash outs" occurred.

In the last photo, you can see the small creek that runs towards the river. The loosen gravel appears to have used these pathways to carry the washed out the stone down stream and gather at river's edge.

Jeff also reported that the privately owned ramp at "Wildcat Falls" has been filled in with gravel by the current owner. Folks can no longer access the river from below the old railroad bridge on the western shoreline. I will not assume the reason for this action, but it is a shame that the PFBC cannot see that the folks in the Lower Susquehanna River have very little accessibility to our natural resource.

I have campaigned for more PFBC ramps without success. The excuse has been that they cannot locate available land to purchase along the river. Here in Lancaster (Pa.) County, Norfolk Southern owns the entire river shoreline... What a shame we cannot work together with the RR system to create accesses for the public.

Part II - Before Christmas, I was in touch with another good fishing buddy, John Williams.

John is retired, but services fishing reels on the side. We were in touch with one another last year after I posted an entry here on "Fishing With Dad" about having my reels cleaned and serviced through Susquehanna Fishing Tackle (SFT). Seeing that John is a good fishing buddy and a very reliable individual, I told him that when the time rolled around for me to have my reels cleaned and serviced again, I would definitely get in touch with him. Which is exactly what I did this past week.

I took about 30 minutes on Thursday morning to remove the fishing line from six of my most used reels. It is an easy process for me to do when I do it in bulk.

Step 1 - Remove the lures from the reels that I want to have service

Step 2 - Line up my rods and reels on a level service (i.e. table, boat, work bench, motel bed when on the road at a tournament, etc.) with bails open.

Step 3 - Gather all the tag ends of the line into one hand and start to systematically pull the line off the reels... Bulk Style!

Step 4 - Once the line is removed from all the reels, remove the reels one at a time and loosen all the drags. In fact, I loosen the reel drags after each trip!

Finished Job!

John and I set a location to met and hand off the reels for service. I know that they are all in good hands! I will report back to "Fishing With Dad" once I get the reels back.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Lake Aldred - 7' at Harrisburg, Pa. River Gauge (01/02/12)

2012-01-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

Jeff and Penny were on the river a few days ago and recorded this video for us to view. It shows the Safe Harbor Dam generating electricity and passing water with the river reading 7' at the Harrisburg, Pa. river gauge.

What you are viewing are general areas that we often fish for smallmouth, walleye, largemouth, and catfish. But as you can see, there would be absolutely no way anyone could ever fish these areas safely with the water moving so swiftly.

As you can see, the current created by the damn is extremely dangerous.

Please, if you ever go fishing on Lake Aldred and you boat up to the Safe Harbor Dam, do not try to anchor down and fish in anything that looks even close to what you are witnessing in this video. It is extremely dangerous and there are loved ones who want to see you return home.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Happy New Year To All My Blog Visitors! (12/31/11)

2011-12-31T14:43:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

Well, the Mayan calendar runs it's course this year and there's much talk about the world coming to it's end once again. All I want to know is... "Will our 2012 Pa. fishing license be cheaper this year since the world will end a few weeks into December?" :)

This has been one very unusual year for Dad. I started out taking a break from volunteering as an assistant coach for the Penn Manor Junior High teams (7, 8, and 9th grades) and later returned to coaching as the new 2011-2012 season began. I definitely needed a break last season since my right elbow was still healing in a sling and my left knee was definitely bothering me.

Since January 2011, my elbow has recovered with the help of PT, but my left knee continued to ache and pain me until we made the decision to go ahead and have a Total Knee Replacement on July 26, 2011. What a disaster that was!

The pain was excruciating and my knee failed to bend after scar tissues (adhesions) took control of it. So, on September 13, 2011, my surgeon performed a "manipulation" under anesthesia. That gave me 78 degrees of flexion and only -20 degrees of extension. This was not good and I am still walking with either a walker or a cane. To think that last basketball season I was running and playing basketball with the varsity squad... So Sad!

I had one of my best smallmouth outings with Jeff B. in a long, long time this past Spring. We just nailed a ton of smallies below Harrisburg, Pa. after a slow morning start... Dig this!

First 20" of the year!

What a fantastic April 26, 2011!!

And it just continued through my next outings...

Ahhhhhhh... Another 20"'er!

I always love it when my sons can go fishing with me. Here is my youngest son, Zach, with me on the Juniata River, May 10, 2011. "Nice catch, Zach!"

Another trip with Zach on Lake Aldred as Summertime approached...

Summer was now upon us and the great fishing continued...

Jeff and I caught several really nice largemouth on Lake Aldred this past Summer. The average size usually goes about 14", but these largemouth were running in the 19" range... Cool!

I got to fish my last summer outing with my buddy, Tyler (Steve's son). Tyler nailed some nice smallies near Middletown this summer...

Ahhhh... To be young and thin again! :) Good job, Tyler!

I spent a week at the beach with my loving wife, Julie, before heading into the Lancaster General Health Hospital in Lancaster, Pa.

I had my total knee replacement and fishing was put on hold until I got back on the water with Josh this past October 24, 2011. I was off the water for nearly 15 weeks! It's so hard to believe, but I am so happy it is over and I'm on the mend.

I hope that the year 2012 brings health and prosperity to all who visit "Fishing With Dad". I wish to express my gratitude for all your visits during the year 2011. I'm always amazed by the number of folks who actually take the time out of their busy lives to visit my blog. I am equally as impressed by the many locations from from around the world that we pull visitors. I believe that the only continent we haven't pulled a visitor from is South America. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see our first South American visitor in the year 2012. When it happens, I'll be sure to let you all know.

Happy New Year!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Slow Fishing On The Susqy (12/30/11)

2011-12-30T20:37:00.005-05:00

Hello Folks,

Although I haven't been out on the water this past week, my good friend Jeff and his wife have been hitting the the local spots. The weather has been rather cold for them, but we are currently in a warming trend and they had a nice day today.

On the first reported trip of the week, Jeff and Penny only caught a couple of catfish with live minnows. Nothing was caught on any artificial lures that Jeff tossed.

Today, Jeff reported that they had a couple of fish including a walleye that hit a 3/8th oz. Cotton Cordell Big O in Firetiger color. Walleye really like that Firetiger color and I often will get walleye hits using this very productive lure.

I spoke with Josh earlier today and he wasn't sure if he had to work or not tomorrow. If he was going to be off, we would be heading out onto the river for a few hours of fishing to end the year catching a few smallies, if we were lucky. I haven't heard a word from him this evening so I assume he had to haul milk in the morning.

Oh well, I may not see another 2011 fishing trip, but I had a great 2011 despite my surgery. I am looking forward to moving on to 2012 and another successful year on the river... Now, I just need to purchase my 2012 fishing license before I do anything else! :)

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

"Thank you, Ben." - Dad

2011-12-29T21:00:00.000-05:00

I wasn't doing so well this evening and I found myself back in my bedroom after just getting up from a two hour nap. This time, I had taken my clothes off and was preparing to lay down for the night. I was questioning God and why things are they way they are and why did this all have to happen to me. I was feeling extremely low.

I had turned the t.v. on and saw a newscast about Ben Breedlove. Ben was a young man who suffered from a rare heart disease since the age of four. He had cheated death three times since the age of four. The last time he cheated death was on December 6, 2011. However, on December 25, 2011, Ben passed away from a heart attack. He had made it to Christmas Day before leaving us.

Ben had done something remarkable before he left this world. He made a short "video of silence". He had prepared his life story on small white cards and in simple hand print, presented it for us to read.

After seeing just the tail end of the newscast, I sought out Ben's message on YouTube...

Thank you, Ben.

I got myself up off that bed and redressed. I went downstairs and my wife asked me what I was doing. I replied, "Moving." Ben had inspired me to get my butt out of bed, stop feeling sorry for myself, and to move.

My wife was puzzled with my reply and came up to me face-to-face as I was putting on my winter jacket and G3 hat. She looked me straight in the eyes and asked again what I was doing. I didn't tell her until we got home why I had redressed and come back downstairs. All I said was, "I'm moving. Get your jacket on and let's go."

We went to a nearby favorite fast-food ma and pa shop and ordered some homemade ham and bean soup, one of my favorite. Later, we shared a small cup of ice cream together. I love sharing things with my wife. All the while, I kept Ben in my thoughts and the message of hope that he had given us.

When we returned home and right before I wrote this blog entry, I introduced Julie to Ben.

"Thank you, Ben, for giving me the strength this evening to get up and "move". I was feeling so low and your inspirational story gave me enough strength to give today another try. For that, I am thankful. May you find peace and happiness among the angels." - Dad

Anglers Kibitzing After A Cold Run Across The River (12/26/11)

2011-12-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

When early winter arrives, the air temp during our early morning river runs falls into the mid-20 degrees. Brisk is an understatement for the actual feeling I get when Jeff pushes that Tracker's throttle WOT and the 175 HP kicks in. We hit the mid-30 mph while running over 36 degree water and YOWSER... :-o

Jeff hasn't been able to locate his ski goggles this year, but he recently purchased a gnarly looking "Save Phace" mask which will prevent the inevitable "brain freeze" he always gets from keeping his eyes peeled on the water with his head up. I, at least, can tuck down and keep my face protected from getting a direct blast of cold air. By the way, I certainly do appreciate Jeff taking that "brain freeze" to keep us both safe on our river jaunts. Thanks, Jeff! :)

So, what do two anglers talk about when they arrive at their first fishing hole? Well, Jeff brought his video camera along the other day and captured a few moments of our conversations.

And what do two anglers discuss when they finally arrive back at the ramp after a cold morning of fishing on the Susquehanna River? Jeff video taped a few moments of us at the Columbia (Pa) Ramp. With sore and arthritic bones working slowly to remove my cold gear, I didn't immediately realize that Jeff was video taping, but I soon caught on...

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Merry Christmas! (12/24/11)

2011-12-24T12:44:00.003-05:00

Hello Folks,

Christmas Day has always had a very special meaning for me. I born Thomas Edward Boyd into the Catholic faith and raised in a very Irish household and, get this, my birthday was on Christmas Day. That's right, I was one of the millions of "O'Christian Folks" to have been born on the day that our religion chose to celebrate the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let me explain my Christmas Story...

It was certainly a rare event for me to have a Christmas birthday party. I heard comments like, "You know, Tommy, people are busy this time of year." or "People don't have extra cash to be buying you a birthday present when they are spending their paychecks on their own family!"

You get my point!?

I always laughed when my loving wife would tell me how hard it was for her to find me that one special birthday card to expressed not only her birthday wishes for me, but expressed her "Christmas Birthday" wishes for me. I used to tell her it was quite okay to treat me just like everyone else and actually buy TWO cards... a birthday card and a Christmas card... LOL! What a novel idea and a lot easier to find.

Now, when folks notice that my birth date is 12/25/1954, Christmas Day, and mentione that they notice it, I joke by saying, "Oh my, now I'll have to go back into therapy because it took me years to get over it." Some get my sick humor joke and others actually think I'm telling the truth and express concern for my mental well-being. :)

But I'm here today to let you all know that I love my Christmas Day birthday. Who else in the world, past or present, better to share one's birthday with than Jesus Christ. A poor carpenter's son who changed the entire world. What a major accomplishment for a child born poor and in a manger, surrounded by animals and shepherds. The Christmas Star to guide them to the town of Bethlehem to a little barn by an inn that was too crowded to accept the child-bearing couple as guests.

Christmas Eve is now upon us. My wife and I ate an early breakfast at home and then headed into the Lancaster to shop at the Central Market. We joined the hundreds of other folks as they picked up last minute items and food for their Christmas Eve galas and Christmas Day meals. We were all treated to the brass ensemble playing our favorite Christmas melodies atop the new loft. The music floated over the noise of the crowd below as they moved between the many Central Market stands.

I hope that you all can find peace and love within your heart on this most holy of Christian days.

Luke 2:8 - 2:12

⁸ In the countryside close by there were shepherds out in the fields keeping guard over their sheep during the watches of the night.
⁹ An angel of the Lord stood over them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified,
¹⁰ but the angel said, 'Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people.
¹¹ Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
¹² And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.'

Merry Christmas to all my Family, Friends, and Acquaintances at "Fishing With Dad".

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Fishing Out Of Columbia, Pa. (12/20/11)

2011-12-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

Jeff and I put in at Columbia, Pa. around 8 am on Monday (12/19/11). The air temp was around 27 degrees when I left the house and it was suppose to rise into the 40's by mid-afternoon.

The sun was shining brightly and the wind was building throughout the morning. Accuweather reported a 10 mph wind around 11:00 am, but we had small whitecaps on Lake Clarke which usually indicates a stronger wind.

Jeff brought one fish to the side of the boat, a good 17" or greater, with a crankbait and lost it. Only the back treble was hooked in it's mouth. He had two more hits with the same crank and I had three "hits and misses" with a 2.5" tube with an 1/8th oz. jig head.

I thought that we might have something going early when Jeff got the strike on the crankbait, but nothing panned out for us.

After our last fishing outing this past Thursday, I decided it was time to locate my ski goggles for those upcoming cold runs. I found them yesterday in a bag full of cold weather gear out in the garage... Good place to be, I guess. ;)

Here I am with the ski goggles snugly in place after we ran across the river... Brrrrrr!

We should have had six fish today and ended with none in the boat. A bit disappointing, but very possible on such a cold blue bird sky morning.

Before we started to fish today, we decided to see just how far out from the bank the warm water was influencing the river. We reached about 200 yds. or so off the bank before the water temp dipped into the 30s. I was surprised that the the warm water discharge from Brunners Island influenced so far out into the river under these conditions.

Jeff picked up one of those running face masks. For our next run on a cold brisk morning. Check this out!

The mask was purchased from Bass Pro Shop and the brand name is "Save Phace". Jeff got a great deal on the "Full Monty" Series
Save Phace Website

Another buddy of mine, Mike Burton, has a "Save Phace" and likes it a lot.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Fishing The Lower Susquehanna River With My Good Buddy, Jeff B. (12/16/11)

2011-12-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

This past Wednesday, Jeff B. (CHRGD) and I decided to take a mid-December fishing adventure on the Lower Susquehanna River. We had seen a recent post showing some smallies being caught on crankbaits and decided to give it a try.

It was a beautiful and mild morning when we met at 8:00 am at the ramp. I was dressed for cold and wet weather because the local weatherman called for the possibilities of a few showers passing through before the heavier afternoon rain sets in.

The sky was slightly overcast but the sun popped out off and on and helped to warm the air temperature into the mid-40s by late morning. The winds were building out of the Southwest. At first they started quietly, but by afternoon, they built substantially as the sun went behind some very ominous clouds.

The water clarity was an emerald green which is most common for this section of the river when the reading in Harrisburg, Pa. is 5.6' and slowly dropping. The water temperature at the ramp was a chilly 36 degrees. We found mid-40 temps water that was being influenced by the Brunner Island power plant which is several miles upriver.

I started my fishing adventure off by tossing a god cold water lure, the Winco Chillie Willie. Jeff chose a jerkbait. We were sitting in water that varied from 8' up to 10'.

Here's a pic of Jeff working his jerkbait under the chilled water.

On our first pass, I was able to bring this beautiful 18.5" into the boat on a Bill Dance Fat Free Shad. She wasn't hooked very well, in fact, she only had one hook from the back treble still attached. I was lucky that she stayed buttoned long enough for me to get her on board.

There were several duck hunters at the very end of our float and we didn't want to disturb their hunt. So we ended our first pass early. This area of water fell off a drop that settled into 8.5' -11'. We ended our first pass and ran the Inboard Tracker 175 hp upriver to make a second pass. Brrrrrrrrrr!

You can tell from the video that we had an overcast sky moving over us.

On our second float, Jeff nailed this healthy 17.75" smallmouth on a smaller version of the Bill Dance Fat Free Shad.

During one of our many discussions that cover a myriad of items, Jeff showed me this sickle shaped jighead hook that he recently poured. We know that Chris Gorsuch (OBjet) really likes this shaped hook. I've used some that I bought from Chris, but have returned to the old Eagle Claws when we pour lead.

On our second pass, I was lucky enough to nail this gorgeous19" smallie that was pushing close to 4 lbs. on my Boga Scale... Cool Beans!

As the time approached 11:30 am., the winds really started to pick up which made it difficult for Jeff to keep the boat steady and moving on a down river course. Then a few drizzles began to drop and we decided to call it a day before the rains moved in a drenched us completely.

It wasn't too bad outside on Thursday. The outdoor temperature slowly rose throughout the day and by evening, the air temp reached 58 degrees here in Lancaster, Pa. Pretty nice weather for December!

A big thank you to Jeff for taking this ole' crippled guy back out on his great boat. We always have a lot of fun just talking about life matters. In the past, I think we may have even solved a few of life's mysteries while on the water... But I'll never tell. :)

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

The Bass University - Pete Gluszek and Mike "Ike" (12/09/11)

2011-12-09T14:32:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

Years back, I used to attend some of the best bass fishing seminars on earth. They were sponsored by B.A.S.S. and were called Bassmaster University and later, Bass Fishing Techniques. These seminars were well attended locally at the Harrisburg Area Community College by many local anglers, both recreational and tournament.

I used to attend these seminars with my good buddy, Mike Burton. We would often take a youth bass club member with us. I can remember Thomas Banzhof attending several seminars as a high school student. Mike, Thomas, and I even sat one lunchtime and ate with Bassmaster Classic Champ Woo Daves (Chicago, Il, 2000) and, now retired and Bassmaster Classic Champ (Baltimore, Md., 1991), Ken Cook. Folks, it doesn't get much better than that for a die-hard bass angler!

These seminars would be held on both Saturday and Sunday of a given weekend during the "off season" for all professional anglers. Specific Professional B.A.S.S. anglers would present topics of interest at these seminars throughout the nation and boy, did we learn a ton of information from them.

I can even remember Mike Iaconelli attending as a young and budding bass angler from New Jersey! Yep, Mike "Ike" was just "one of the guys" at these seminars and man, he must have soaked in every last drop of information shared by the Pros. Look at where he is today!

Our Lancaster Junior Hawg Hunters bass fishing club had befriended bass pro Pete Gluszek a number of years ago when Adam Caldwell wrote to Ranger Bass Boats while in eighth grade looking for a bass professional willing to spend time with him on "Career Day". Ranger Bass Boats hooked Adam up with Pete Gluszek, a local Ranger Boats-sponsored professional angler from New Jersey.

Pete took Adam along with him on a day of pre-fishing for a tournament on the Potomac River out of Smallwood State Park, Maryland. Pete later visited our junior bass club on several occasions to meet and teach our young anglers the art of bass angling, including my own son... Thanks, Pete!

Well, as time past, B.A.S.S. was bought out by ESPN and the B.A.S.S. Fishing Techniques went away until one day recently Mike "Ike" and Pete Gluszek decided to bring it all back.

The Bass University

On February 18-19, 2012, The Bass University will have a seminar right here in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Check out the information on their web site listed above.

Be aware that I am in no way affiliated in any way with this program. However, I do support the purpose of the program and the effort that Pete and Mike have put into bringing instruction back to us, the anglers.

If you have attended any of these seminars, please let me know in the "Comment" section of my blog. I'd like to hear your impressions of the seminars you were able to hear.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

The Passing Of My Sister-In-Law (12/8/11)

2011-12-08T19:59:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

On November 26, 2011, my sister-in-law, Dore Jean (Thompson) Houck, passed away in Deming, New Mexico. She left behind three small children, ages 6, 4, and 1. Dore was 43 years old.

On Mother's Day, Dore's second husband, Shaun Hock, passed away from a heart attack. Shaun had his first heart attack three years ago and later a stroke while living here in Mt. Joy, Pa. It was after these two health events that he and Dore moved their young family to Deming, New Mexico to be with his stepmother and stepfather. His father also lived nearby, but they didn't live with him. Shaun's stepmother was willing to help them get back on their feet.

Within the first year in New Mexico, Dore became pregnant with their third child. This baby boy was born on Mothers Day, 2010... Remember, I said that Shaun passed away this past Mothers Day.

Dore had been suffering from severe back pain from an injury she received as a certified senior nursing care assistant. It is not uncommon for folks in this profession to injure themselves lifting and turning larger patients day after day, year after year. She also had been in an automobile accident that re-injured her back.

Her pain was treated with prescription pain killers which Dore eventually became addicted to over several years. When she arrived in New Mexico, her new physician helped her get off the Oxycontin. However, three days before her death, the doctor prescribed morphine in an attempt to help her handle the constant pain.

After her death, an autopsy was performed and a toxicology test was given. Although the autopsy is completed, the toxicology results may take several months until they return. Therefore, no cause of death has been determined by the coroner.

My wife lost a younger brother seven years ago and a year later, his wife passed away. They left us with their 16 year old son and a 10 year old daughter. The children lived with us immediately following their mother's passing. The son eventually returned to his home town to live with a family he had been living with prior to his mother's death and the daughter lived with us for nearly a year.

Once the school year ended, our niece's aunt on her mother's side came to take her to Alaska for a visit. She had called a few days before her arrival letting us know that she had a pastor and his family who were interested in adopting our niece. Because I was experiencing a lot of serious health problems during this time, we were very open to the idea of her living with this much younger and vibrant family with children her own age. She is now 16 years old, healthy, and doing quite well with her adoptive family. We stay in touch with her through Facebook.

Dore's children are currently living with their step-grandparents. Although they are not blood-relatives, they have been gracious in offering their home in this time of great need. Julie stays in touch with them almost on a daily basis to keep track of the children's care. We have also been in touch with a certified adoption agency in Arizona (Next Door To New Mexico) regarding a permanent placement for the children. Dore always said she wanted her children to stay together if anything ever happened to her. That was her wish and we will do our best to honor it.

The agency has a young couple who is willing to consider adopting all three children. The one major concern we have is that Dore's six year old son has autism and is already receiving special schooling through the state of New Mexico. He is high functioning, but definitely needs specialized services.

Dore's oldest son to her first husband is a young adult and responsible for the care of Dore's remains. It will cost him ~$2000 to cremate his mother. We will do all we can to help him financially. In fact, my wife and I paid for her younger brother's entire funeral costs, plus interment of his and his wife's remains. Despite the fact that my wife had four remaining siblings at the time, none offered to help us with any of the costs. I was still working full-time back then and we could better handle the costs.

Fast forward to today and my wife's remaining siblings have already told us that they will not be helping this young man care for the cost to cremate his mother, their youngest sister. So, you can see where we are coming from on this issue.

We are hoping that the adoption agency and the prospective adoptive parents will be able to move along quickly in order to place these children in a supportive home setting. Our only wish with the agency is that the adoption be "open' and we can stay in touch with our niece and nephews. They claim that this will be no problem.

As you can see, it has been one heck of a year for my wife and me. We have both experienced surgeries. My surgery was major and has left me crippled, walking with a cane or walker. My wife has been off work since the end of September and is currently receiving Workman's Comp. Her wrist and hand surgery took place in October and she is currently receiving PT. She will not be allowed to return to her full-time position until she can perform all duties required of her on the job. Her next surgeon's appointment will be in mid-January.

After all of that, my wife's sister passes away and we are the closest living relatives "willing to be responsible" for the placement of our niece and two nephews.

If you can find it in your heart, please say a prayer or two for these small children and my wife. Facing this world and not remembering your parents will be a very difficult thing for all three of these children.

Being responsible over the past seven years for her deceased siblings' children has taken a toll on my wife. She is a kind, loving, and caring human being and these children are fortunate in having her as their parent's oldest sister, their aunt.

It's been hard getting out fishing over the past month with all this happening in our lives. I find it fortunate that my wife is currently off work, despite the circumstances, and at home with me so that I can support her daily through her loss. We have spent a lot of time together, talking, crying, and supporting one another. I definitely appreciated this quality time we spend together.

17 days until Christmas. I hope that you are all enjoying and having a joyous holiday season.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Hallelujah! - PPL Delivers

2011-12-03T09:02:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

As you know, we have been anxiously awaiting the reopening of both the PPL Pequea Boat Launch and the York Furnace Boat Launch. There was an article written in our local newspaper describing this situation... PPL closed these ramps after the Flood of 2011 which was in September. These ramps have been closed for over 90+ straight days. And keep in mind, the PPL company also had thesw same ramps closed immediately before, during, and after the Memorial Day Weekend.

I'veve been in touch with both our State Rep, Scott Boyd and our Fish Commissioner, Dr. Bob Bachman. Dr. Bachman passed my concerns onto Andy Shiels who is the PFBC representative for the FERC when permits are reissued for hydroelectric power companies along our rivers and streams.

So, yesterday, two of my friends received this very exciting letter:

From: mewelker@pplweb.com
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2011 16:57:37 -0500
Subject: PPL Holtwood Boat Ramps Reopen

Holtwood Boat Ramps Reopen, New Safety Signage Installed

PPL Holtwood has reopened the Pequea and York Furnace boat ramps to the public on the Susquehanna River and completed posting new safety signage for boaters.

“We have repaired 2 strobe lights on the dam, repaired signage, and installed new signage at the Pequea and York Furnace boat ramps. The new signs alert boaters to high river flows and to avoid the area downstream of the one-mile warning signs in the river and that the marker buoys 1,000 feet upstream of the dam are not installed,” said John M. Levitski, PPL community relations director for the Lancaster region.

The signage also notifies boaters to use caution with portage access limited to the east shore of the river.

“We’re still dealing with high flows that prevent us from repairing the final two strobe lights,” Levitski said. “Hunters can enjoy the remainder of duck season in south central Pennsylvania, which lasts until Jan. 14, but it is very important that boaters be safe, follow the information on the new signage, and review procedures for cold-weather boating.”

Updates regarding the reopening of the Pequea and York Furnace boat ramps will be available at www.pplholtwood.com, or from the Lower Susquehanna River Hotline at 800-692-6328.

Boat ramps operated by the nearby Safe Harbor and Conowingo hydroelectric plants remain open.

Thanks to all who emailed their state reps, PPL, and newspapers regarding this issue. We cannot allow these large companies to control the access to our public resources. These, for profit, institutions are responsible in creating recreational opportunities according to their FERC permits. What PPL was doing was in violation of their permit and they were using "Safety" as their excuse. As we all know, their has been plenty of time that the river level was below the 5' level and they could have been taking care of their responsibility. But instead, they chose other activities for their employees. In fact, the week after the article appeared in out local newspaper regarding the ramp closures, PPL came out with their own "Boo Hoo" article relating the amount of damage they incurred due to the September flooding.

Well, guess what... You are enlarging a hydroelectric power plant that sits alongside... A RIVER!

Take Care and Be Safe!

Dad

Happy Thanksgiving! (11/24/11)

2011-11-24T18:09:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

I wish my oldest son, Chris, a very warm and happy 28th birthday. We spent some time together at Uncle Denny's and Aunt Judy's home today for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a nice family gathering with a football game thrown in there somewhere. :)

I am so very thankful for my beautiful and loving wife, Julie. Without her support over the past year, I doubt I would have had the strength to survive all the experiences, both ups and downs, that we've gone through in 2011. She was always there for me during the pain and suffering I experienced following my left knee replacement. Oh, did it hurt! I am grateful for the time and energy she put into sustaining me at home once I left the hospital. She even gave up two weeks of her own precious yearly vacation to be with me as I recovered... I love you, Sweetheart.

There is definitely a lot to be thankful for this past year. We are pulling our troops out of Iraq and bringing them home... I am so thankful for this and the lives that will be spared.

My friend, Josh, survived two terrible accidents in the past two months. Each one could have been serious enough to have killed him and he survived both with only bruises and a scratch or two. He was so lucky.

Fishing was very limited as I faced yet another major surgery. Although things aren't going as well as I would like, I am extremely thankful that I no longer have a knee that is falling out on me and hitching as I climb and descend stairs. Let's hope it loosens as the year passes and I get more use of it back.

I am thankful for my family as we make it through another financially troublesome year. I have two beautiful and healthy granddaughters whom light up my world every time I see them... including today!

I am thankful for the friends I have who are willing to take this "handicapped" old fart fishing. Without their friendship and assistance, I would not have been able to take the last four fishing trip this past few months.

I am thankful for my surgeon, the nursing staff, the physical therapist, and support staff at Lancaster (Pa.) General Health for all the help they gave me since my total knee replacement in July.

A big thanks goes out to Penn Manor School District for allowing me to return for another season as a volunteer assistant basketball coach at the junior high school level. This activity keeps me in positive spirits and allows me to feel useful in retirement. I am thankful that I coach with three good friends... Dell, Don, and Steve.

And finally, I am thankful for all who take precious moments from their lives to relax and read my blogs. Without your support, I doubt that I would spend the time to write about my life and fishing adventures.

We have a lot ahead of us as I prepare to see if I can continue to handle my own boat. I am seriously concerned about entering and exiting my jet rig on my own with this bum knee. I am especially concerned about exiting my boat once it is trailered. My knee doesn't allow me to bend past 75 degrees which will make it physically impossible to exit off the front of my boat. I am currently looking for attachments that will allow me to step down safely.

I wish all of my blog visitors a Happy Thanksgiving Day. Please take a moment to reflect on those things that bring joy and happiness into your life. These are the things that make us all thankful as we travel through this life together.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Update On My Replacement Knee (11/16/11)

2011-11-16T22:11:00.001-05:00

Hello Folks,

I'm looking forward to this coming Monday when our 2011 basketball season tryouts begin. We will have three days to decide which thirty-nine boys will make the three thirteen man rosters (7, 8, and 9th grade) for the Penn Manor Junior High School level.

We have had over 45 boys attending "open gym" these past two weeks. Many of whom have been attending for the past couple of months. We may get a few more boys attending once we start tryouts this coming Monday.

All four Jr. High level coaches have been attending "open gym" and we have a pretty good idea of the core team members. The toughest part of our selection isn't the first ten team members, it's always the last three or so. These last few boys tend to have very similar skill levels. Therefore, we have to make our final decisions based on related views such as attitude and desire. These can be seen as either positive or negative during the three days of tryouts.

We are also fully aware that there is the potential for growth. Many boys at this age level have a long ways to go when it comes to physical and emotional maturation.

Today was a very important day for me. It started out by my attending aqua-therapy at 7:45 am. I had a very good talk with my current PT about last night's "Land" PT's measurements and the lack of overall improvement in my range of motion (ROM). My flexion remained at 75 degrees and my extension actually fell from -15 degrees to -30 degrees. Either way one looks at it, I made no improvement in my ROM since moving from "Land" PT to "Water" PT two weeks ago.

Both my PT and I felt that very little was being accomplished by attending the softer mode of therapy, aqua-therapy. I had mentioned to my PT that I had moved my December 7th orthopedic surgeon's appointment up to today. She was very pleased to hear that.

After aqua-therapy, my wife and I headed immediately to the orthopedic surgeon's office for my 9:15 am. appointment. Upon arrival, I was taken back into the examination room rather quickly. My surgeon ordered a new set x-rays to be taken. This is done within the office.

The x-rays showed that no physical damage occurred by the manipulation process back in September. The new replacement knee looked in excellent condition. That was the good news.

My surgeon called in a second orthopedic surgeon who had assisted him during my knee manipulation back in September. Together, they consulted over the best options for me. Neither felt that the new knee was faulty. Neither of them felt another manipulation or surgical procedure would be beneficial.

What was decided upon was for me to stop the "water" therapy and return to once a week "Land" therapy. They asked me if I felt I could take control of my recovery, exercise, etc. because they felt we were at a recovery standstill.

I agreed 100%! I will now only see my PT once a week for therapy and measurements. My next surgeon's appointment will be in one month.

Everything I have read regarding the recovery process from knee replacements mentions that it will take up to a complete year. I am currently in my four month of recovery.

There is a chance that I may not improve the ROM and if that is the case, we will discuss further options to assist in my mobility.

I am certainly not pleased with this, but I am much in agreement with both surgeons about my future. I told them that I emotionally could not handle another round of surgery at this point in my life. I am only now starting to feel free of the 24 hours a day pain. I have been succeeding at reducing the dosage and usage of my pain medication... which, for me, is a big positive. I am also able to sleep for longer periods of time. The lack of sleep was driving me nuts.

There is a high probability that I will be using a cane or walker for quite some time. Because I will be in charge of my recovery, I will most likely be joining the local YMCA where I can exercise with light weights and swim.

I have been in a similar position thirty years ago when I had the same knee reconstructed from an injury I sustained during a Judo tournament. I even had the knee manipulated afterward, as I did for this surgery, due to excessive scar tissue growth. I worked hard to recover. The help I received from others also helped me get through that period of my life. I do understand that I was much younger then, but I still have the same desire to recover.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Closed Boat Ramps Anger Anglers (11/13/11)

2011-11-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

Hello Folks,

Last evening, I received an email from our local outdoor staff writer, Ad Crable, regarding the closing of Lake Aldred, Susquehanna River, accesses by PPL. Ad follows the "Fishing With Dad" blog and understands that I have a vested interest in Lake Aldred since it is so very close to my home and I consider it my "Home Waters". He also has sen me write about this situation several times over the past year.

I called Ad and we openly discussed the length of time this 7 mile stretch of river (Lake Aldred) has been closed (65 Days) and how I feel about the reasoning reported this past week by PPL, owners of the Holtwood Dam.

Printed in the Intelligencer Journal and The Lancaster New Era

Originally Published Nov 13, 2011 20:51
By AD CRABLE
Staff Writer

Sportsmen are unhappy with PPL because the only two public boat launches between the Safe Harbor and Holtwood dams have been closed since Hurricane Irene hit in September.

PPL already has raised the ire of anglers who have been unable to get to their favorite spots during the peak of walleye season.

And PPL now says the Pequea and York Furnace boat launches on opposite sides of the Susquehanna River will remain closed for the opening of duck season this week.

Duck hunters will be unable to reach their blinds unless they can find private places to launch.

"For the ramps to be closed to the people of Lancaster and York counties for 65 days, it's just a shame," said Thomas E. Boyd, of Willow Street, a frequent smallmouth bass angler on the 7-mile stretch of Lake Aldred.

"We've lost the best of the walleye season the last two months," Curt Nicholson, 60, a psychologist from Manheim, said Sunday evening from a fishing boat on the Susquehanna in Conoy Township.

PPL issued a news release Thursday, saying the recent severe flooding and continued higher-than- normal river flows will keep the boat launches locked to the public.

"As much as PPL supports and encourages public recreation at the Holtwood hydroelectric project, we have made the decision to keep the boat ramps closed because river conditions have not allowed our workers to safely make repairs to strobe warning lights and other equipment in place for public safety," said PPL, which owns the Holtwood Dam.

"We know this is an inconvenience to duck hunters who use Lake Aldred. We hope to reopen the boat ramps at some point before the season ends in January, depending on river conditions and our ability to repair or replace what has been damaged."

Some sportsmen complain that it should not have taken the utility this long to fix the safety devices.

They also say river access was not affected when the devices have been damaged in the past.

"We've hunted the river like that for years, and now, all of a sudden, it's off limits?" said Dale Sirbak, a duck hunter from Conestoga.

"I can understand why everybody is angry. It's one thing to be liability-conscious. It's another to stop sportsmen who have been going for how many years."

Said Boyd, who recently wrote his local legislator about the matter, "We're not being given any answers that satisfy us. Everybody wants the river to be safe. Yet there are people who are on the river to recreate a lot, and it doesn't seem to be unsafe."

Boyd, who has been boating and fishing on Lake Aldred for more than 30 years, said the river is not high.

"Yet they are using that as an excuse not to get the work done," he said. "We know they close sometimes to do repair work, but it's been closed now since September, and that's an extremely long time."

Boyd said a frustrated fellow bass angler recently paid $100 to a private marina in York County so he could fish Lake Aldred.

He also pointed out that PPL closed the same two ramps to boaters over the Memorial Day weekend, citing high water.

In its press release, PPL encouraged duck hunters to use boat launches above the Safe Harbor dam on Lake Clarke or below the Holtwood Dam on the Conowingo Pond.

Updates on the status of the Pequea and York Furnace boat ramps will be available at www.pplholtwood.com or from the Lower Susquehanna River Hotline at 1-800-692-6328.

acrable@lnpnews.com

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/497339_Closed-boat-ramps-anger-anglers.html#ixzz1di0r7crY

Thank you for taking the time to read Ad's article. I am hoping that those who have the power to make changes step up and help the recreational boaters, anglers, and hunters re-open our natural resource, Lake Aldred.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

A Crisp and Beautiful Day on the Susquehanna River (11/06/11)

2011-11-06T20:11:00.002-05:00

Hello Folks,

Josh and I made sure we had turned our clocks back last evening so that we wouldn't miss our Sunday outing on the river. We met at 7:00 am. and headed to Gus's Keystone Family Restaurant in Mt. Joy, Pa. for breakfast. It's always fun to eat breakfast at Gus's with Josh because he knows one of the waitresses and many, many of the local patrons.

We chose our fishing location while eating breakfast. We decided to stay below Harrisburg, Pa. today based on information we received from friends regarding Saturday's fishing.

The water level at the Harrisburg, Pa. gauge was 5.27' when we launched at 8:30 am. and the water temperature was a cool 45 degrees and clear with a green stain to it.

The air temperature was only 24 degrees when I left my home and rose to barely 27 degrees as we ran upriver. It was a bit nippy!

Today, I was dressed warmly silks, jeans, long sleeve shirt, fleece jacket, and my large white winter fishing jacket. To keep my hands and head warm, I had a pull on knit hat over my NB Outfitters fishing cap, face mask, and warm ski gloves.

I definitely was toasty with all my winter gear on. I had even added the additional fleece jacket after our last outing. I had felt a bit chilled and thought the extra jacket would help keep me warmer... It did.

Once we arrived at our first fishing hole, I picked up my Lucky Craft 78 in Ghost Minnow and Josh stayed with his trusty 4" mudpie tube with a 1/8th oz. jig head. Within a few minutes, we had our first smallmouth bass in the boat. This beautiful 18.5" smallie grabbed the tail end of my Lucky Craft JB and barely hung on and into the net.

After we landed this fish, the breeze started to pick up and more and more leaves were dropping into the water. It made it almost physically impossible to work the jerkbait without fouling up with fallen leaves. So, Josh stayed with his 4" mudpie tube and I switched over to a 2.5" Green Pumpkin/Orange Flake tube.

Josh hooked into a monster fish and fought it to the side of the boat and it broke free... What a heart breaker!

My first tube fish was this nice 18.75"...

A few minutes later, I hooked another smallie. "That's not a big one", I nonchalantly mentioned to Josh... Wait! This thing is a beast. It came racing towards the boat without much time to react. But Josh was quick and was poised and ready with the net to scoop up this huge smallmouth. However, it slipped under the boat and I tried to force it back out when... Ping! GONE!

Wait, this can't be happening! :( We have just had two behemoths break off and run free. What's wrong with his picture!?

We decided that we weren't going to allow this happen again, for sure. I took time to check my line and even sharpened my hook o be safe. But despite the best plans, I still had two more fish "snap" my line on the hook set. We had a sneaking suspicion that they may have been those toothy critters playing with my lure. But we couldn't be sure since we didn't catch sight of them.

The next fish into the boat was this pigbeast... A 19.75" Goliath! Oh, yeah, now were talking...

As the day progressed, the water temperature rose from 45 degrees to 47.4 degrees. We were pleased with the number of fish we caught today.

Josh ended the day with some great smallies. Here is a 17" "CHUNK" that he pulled from the west shoreline along a grass line.

And then finally, as the sun was lowering over the hillside, he made up for that lost bass from the morning with this huge 19.75" smallie...

I am always appreciative my outings with Josh. Another big thank you goes out to him today!

Side Story:

While I was out fishing today, my wife and son took an afternoon drive just south of our home in Southern Lancaster County. Look what they came across... Not one, but three pheasants! It is a rare sight in Lancaster County to run across one pheasant, let alone three.

These three birds ran across the roadway and in front of their car. My wife stopped the car and Zach jumped out and took these pics...

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

HydroWorx Theraputic Pools

2011-11-05T20:01:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I am currently off of "Land Therapy" and taking "Aqua-Therapy" at the Lancaster General Health Suburban Outpatient Pavilion of Lancaster, Pa. I have had two sessions of aquatic therapy so far and I'm loving every second of it.

The facility is simply unbelievable. Not only is it a state of the art therapeutic pool, but the changing room is immaculate. You are the only patient in the changing room and they provide hot showers prior to entering the pool and afterward, as well as, clean towels. I am super impressed with the facility and care!

The HydroWorx Therapeutic Pool was designed by a chiropractor, Dr. Paul Hetrick, who was raised in Hummelstown, Pa. which is right up the road from Lancaster. He now practices in Middletowm , Pa. Check out his story on their website. It's quite remarkable.

My Occupational Therapist, Lori Goldman, grew up with Dr. Hetrick in Hummelstown and told me about his remarkable recovery from a car accident at the age of 13 yrs. Dr. Hetrick used the local swim club's pool for therapy.

Take a moment and check out these remarkable aquatic therapy pools:

HydroWorx

Josh and I will be getting back on the water tomorrow morning. It is suppose to be a beautiful day outside. In fact, all of next week will be great with temperatures rising into the mid-60's by Wednesday!

Jeff and Penny had a tough day on Friday landing a solo bass. The weather was quite windy and the sun was shining bright. The air temperature rose to 55 degrees which was several degrees short of the 60 degrees that they predicted.

Here is Penny holding the "Solo Smallie"

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Fishing With Jeff Below Harrisburg, Pa.,, Susquehanna River (11/03/11)

2011-11-03T21:36:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Jeff B. (CHRGD) sent me a text message asking me if I wanted to go fishing with him today. I first had to take my wife to the eye doctor at 10:00 am and then would be free the remaining afternoon.

We met at the river ramp around 1:00 pm and fished until 4:15 pm.

We found the water to be a nice stain green and the water temperature was holding around 47 degrees. There were passing clouds overhead and we had a strong breeze blowing in from the South. The breeze was strong enough at times to hold our position against the current.

The air temperature was holding in the mid-50's. Along with the southerly breeze, we had a beautiful day on hand.

Fishing was slow for the three hours we were out. We only had three bass hit our lures all afternoon... Not much size to write home about, either. Here was the largest smallmouth we had take a 2.5" tube...

Tap, tap... "Set the Hook!"

A good hook set resulted in catching this 17.75" smallie.

As we were drifting along the western shoreline, Jeff and I saw a mature bald eagle fly out from the tree tops. A few minutes later, we both heard the loud screech of the mature eagle...

We were surprised that this eagle allowed us to creep up so close while perched atop this tree. What a majestic sight!

We had tried jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, Chilly Willies, and tubes today. Th tube was the only lure that attracted a bite.

A "thank you" goes out to my good buddy, Jeff, for asking me to go fishing with him and for helping me on and off his jet rig today. Without his assistance, I definitely would not have been able to enjoy this day on the water... "Thanks, Jeff!"

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

The Final Day Of Oktoberfest On The Susquehanna River (10/31/11)

2011-11-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Despite the awfully bitter cold weather we've been facing since Saturday, Josh and I decided to brave the 24 degree morning temperature to go fishing on the last day of the Oktoberfest, 2011.

The temperature was only 24 degrees at my home in Willow Street, Pa. when I left for Josh's apartment at 7:15 am. We decided to meet at 8:00 am and headed to Gus's Family Restaurant in Mt. Joy, Pa. for a warm breakfast and great some piping hot coffee.

We arrived at the river ramp just above Harrisburg, Pa. around 10:15 am. and headed to the opposite shoreline. Although it didn't seem like there was much of a breeze blowing, when we turned and headed west, I felt a cold stiff wind hit me on the left side of my face... Brrrr. I pulled my winter hat and face mask tighter and closer to my skin to keep it from freezing.

Josh started his day out by tossing a 4" mudpie tube with a 1/8th oz. jig head and I tossed a K&W Krinkle-Cut Worm with a 1/8th oz. jig head and later, used a 2.5" tube. It took us an hour and forty-five minutes to catch our very first smallmouth of the trip and boy was it a bruiser...

Check out this 20" Pigbeast! It was Josh's third lifetime 20" smallie. Way to go, buddy!

Another angle of Josh's 20" Toad.

We nailed two more big fish within the next twenty minutes from this general location.

This was my first smallie of the day... a 19" Pig.

A second pic of my slender 19". This is the opposite side which had large black freckles on it... check 'em out! These markings remind me of Steve's fish from his last report.

My second large fish was an 18.5" Hawg.

18" Smallie Chunk!

What a great day this was turning into!

The water was a cool 44 degrees when we arrived and it only rose one degree to 45 degrees in the entire four hours we were on the water. The air temperature rose from 27 degrees to 44 degrees by 2:15 pm. under overcast skies.

The water clarity on the river was stained green and clear. It was that great coloration that we all find very productive on the Susquehanna River.

We found most of our bass hanging in about 5' to 6' of water. The smallies have started to school up as they prepare for the upcoming winter months. We found them in small pockets scattered along the western shoreline.

Josh caught this beautiful 17.75" smallie in a shoreline pocket just along a major grass bed. This pocket produced at least five bass for us including...

...this very healthy 17.5" Football taken on a 4" tube.

We have had two very good Fall outings over the past two weeks. I can't say that the fish have been always easy to locate yet, but when we do find them, there are usually several same size bass hanging together.

Thanks to Josh for helping me once again during this trying time I'm expereincing. He has certainly helped me a lot. Not only does he help me get in and out of the jet rig, but he also helps me net the larger bass. I know it hasn't been too easy for him either since he hurt his right knee a couple of weeks ago.

We both started the day out feeling pretty good. But after four hours of cold weather and moving about the boat, our knees were feeling tight and sore. It was time to call it a day and head back to a nice warm truck.

One of the funniest moments we had on Monday was immediately after I caught the 18.5" (see pic) smallie. Josh helped me not only net it, but he took it for a walk! I had grabbed the bass by the lip and removed it from the net. I picked it up and began to unhook the 2.5" tube from it's jaw when I realized that not only was my rod moving away from me, but my fish was also slowly moving away from me. I looked up to notice that Josh had my fishing line wrapped around a metal snap attached to his one piece hunting suit. He was taking my 18.5" toad for a walk on the boat.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Josh! You got my line wrapped on you and you're taking my fish for a walk!" LOL! :)

Watching two partially handicapped anglers gimping about the boat chasing a rod and fish was pretty darn funny.

Until our next trip...
Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Before and After Surgery (10/27/11)

2011-10-27T11:10:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

Pain does strange things to one's mind and body. What I found during my years of post-surgical pain was that I lost my appetite when experiencing it. Oh, I knew I needed to eat, but I would always start to chow down on a meal and then after a few bites, quickly lose the appetite.

This past surgery has been an eye opener for me. Since my last major surgery five years ago, when I had my gall bladder removed and a liver biopsy performed, I had been holding around 216 lbs. I came to identify myself at that weight... never gaining or losing from it in about a five year time span.

During this same time period, I started to take Lantus which is a long acting insulin for my diabetes. I already took the oral medication of Metformin and Glimepiride, but the Lantus injection was added to my medication list about three years ago.

Since my total knee replacement back on July 26, 2011, I have lost close to 40 lbs. Back in 2004, I had my hips replaced and lost 50 lbs after the second operation. However, I weighed in at 230 lbs prior to my two surgeries. On July 26, 2011, I weighed in at 216 lbs and dropped to 176 lbs as of today, October 27, 2011.

This loss of weight has helped me in a very substantial way. I no longer need to take my insulin injections!! If someone would have told me that a few months ago, I would not have believed them. I never truly thought that 216 lbs for a 6' man was awfully heavy, but I guess I was only fooling myself.

I am truly motivated now to keep this weight off, permanently! If I can remain insulin free, it will do my body good. I already take a ton of medicinations due to my liver disease and other health issues. I definitely didn't need to add insulin to the long list because my weight was too high.

Check out these pictures...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

As you can see, there is a major difference between 216 lbs and 176 lbs. I feel physically better, except for my knee pain, of course. I am very happy to be at this lighter weight and hope that my will power helps me to maintain the lower weight so I can remain "insulin-fee".

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Back On The Water Again! (10/24/11)

2011-10-25T18:22:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

On Sunday evening, my good buddy and fishing partner, Josh Kreider, called me and asked if I wanted to go fishing on Monday. "Sorry Josh, I have PT at 10:30 am." *sniff*

Josh thought that he may be able to find someone else, like Steve, to go fishing with him. But alas, Steve had already made plans to fish with a fellow co-worker which left Josh all alone. He thought he may not go out if he had to go alone.

Early Monday morning, I received a second call from Josh. "Hello, Tom?" I overslept on my couch and I'm going to finish my milk haul a little later than I expected. Do you want to go fishing later today with me?"

"Heck, yea!"

I headed to breakfast around 9:00 am and then on to PT at 10:30. My God, my PT worked my knee so hard yesterday that I started having doubts that I would make it through an afternoon of smallmouth fishing. But I bared down and took the "Pain and Torture" (PT) that she inflicted on me for entire full hour and was ready and eager to go once finished.

After PT, I gave Josh a call. He was still on the road with his milk truck which meant I had time to head home, change clothing, and pack my truck up with all my gear before he arrived back at his apartment.

While driving home from PT, I overheard the weatherman calling for afternoon showers. Say what!? His prediction caused me to change my clothing plans. I grabbed a pair of waterproof "duck boots" and my warm rain gear once I arrived home, although it was still sunny outside.

Around 1:00 p.m., Josh called and said he had finally returned back to Mt. Joy, Pa. with his milk truck and was wrapping things up for the day. By the time I got to his apartment, he would be ready with his boat hooked up and ready to head to the river.

On my way up Rt. 283, it began to shower a bit... Oh no! It wasn't too bad and it actually stopped before I got to Josh's place.

We loaded my gear over into his boat and truck and were off and running. We gave Steve a call to see if he was still out fishing, which he was. He was below Harrisburg and having a decent day on the water.

With the overcast skies and chance of rain in the forecast, Josh and I decided to fish closer to home. We had been thinking of heading to Fort Hunter, but changed our minds and stayed below Harrisburg, Pa.

The Susquehanna River level was at 6.06' at the Harrisburg gauge and was on the fall. The water temperature was 54 degrees when we arrived around 2:00 pm. The river was dingy on the east shoreline and towards the middle, but the west was a nicer stained color. There was only one other truck and boat trailer in the parking lot... Good!

As we were preparing to launch, the rain moved in once again and we needed to run wearing our rain. We are not fair weather anglers! :)

Dad finally back on the water after a four month hiatus.

When we reached our first fishing hole, the rain had subsided and we were able to strip off our rain jackets. Within the first 20 minutes, Josh nailed his first 16.5" bass on a 4" "mud pie" tube.

That was our only bass in this location and we moved on to our second hole. Josh picked up two more bass before I eventually lured my first smallie to hit. Ahhhhh.... my first smallmouth bass since my total knee replacement back on July 26!

Boy, did that 15.5" smallmouth feel really good after such a long break. "So that's what it feels like!"

We had a great evening of fishing. The rains moved through for about a two hour period and then picked up towards nightfall. But that didn't stop us from catching some "pigbeasts" that weighed in the 3 to 4 pound range.

Josh caught this humongous Fall crawdad. This huge crustacean wrapped itself around Josh's line and both claws had a hold of Josh's tube. We didn't want to harm this monster,so we cut the line and let it go free. Josh said that it should provide some smallie with a great evening meal and a side of plastic!

The biggest "Hawg" of the evening. She measured in at just over 19" and weighed a whopping 4.5 lbs!

We only tossed three different lures on Monday. Josh was using a 4" "mud Pie" tube and I tried a 3/8th oz. chartreuse bladed spinnerbait without luck and a 2.5" "mud pie/orange flake" tube. Slow working of the tubes was the ticket all afternoon and evening. The bass were holding very tight to the bottom and several had very dark and beautiful coloration.

After our night on the water, we stopped at a local burger joint and relaxed and talked about our great evening on the water. When we arrived back at Josh's apartment, I realized that I had left my G3 jacket back at the restaurant.

Well, I sure wasn't going to leave that nice jacket sitting there. So, I gave them a call and they located my jacket and kept it for me until I made the 30 minute trip back to get it... Thanks to the restaurant for holding it for me. I had won that G3 jacket last year at the Lakeside Open House and surely didn't want to lose it.

On the way back home on Rt. 441 near TMI, a six point buck came walking out onto the roadway. Luckily, I was far enough away from the buck not to him him. AS he entered the roadway, he stuck his head down and proceeded across the road no doubt on the scent of a doe that may have crossed just before I got there.

A "BIG THANKS" to Josh for assisting me throughout my "return" trip. Josh has banged his right leg up a week ago and was taking it easy. We were "Gimpy and Limpy" from the Cripple Creek Bass Fishing Team... LOL!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Fishing In Lancaster/York Counties (10/23/11)

2011-10-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Jeff and Penny were able to get out yesterday on a very cold day (50+ degrees) to do some "so-so fishing". Jeff claimed there was nothing much to talk about, yet none of their fish were under 16"... Not bad, Jeff and Penny! In fact, three of the fish were 17"ers and one was over 18". I would say that was a pretty darn good outing despite the low numbers. In this case, size does matter!

They tossed a combination of lures covering the middle and bottom columns of the river - Tubes, Big O, Spinnerbait, Clown-colored Rapala, and Al Winco's Undulator.

The Safe Harbor Dam were pumping "Big Times" once again. At the back of "The Dam", the level was close to 175', but at the end of the rock garden, maybe 165'. That is a heck of a drop off! The current was "Fast as Hell"... and everywhere! They both claimed it was some of the swiftest and most dangerous moving water they have ever seen on this section of the river.

Just after noon today, Jeff gave me another phone call and said that he and Penny were up at the Safe Harbor Dam. The power plant was once again generating a ton of water. Only two of the four orange buoys were visible and the water had risen well above the front entrance gate to the fish ladder.

They may make a trip back over that way before heading back to the ramp to take a video or two so we can see what they were talking about. "Just be careful you two!"

I personally cannot remember the last time I have seen the water above the fish ladder gate. The Safe Harbor Dam must be generating a lot of electricity to have the turbines moving and pushing that much water... They may also just be passing the water through since the river is sitting at 7.05' at the Harrisburg's river level gauge.

Jeff stated that there must be at least a 5' drop in water level as you approach the islands just below Safe Harbor Dam. His Tracker IB 175 HP had a hard time keeping steady in that hard driving current. No fishing in this area today!

They were heading to the west shoreline as we spoke where they had at least a foot and a half visibility. Plus, the sun was shining some this afternoon. Yesterday, they had no sunshine to assist them in their quest for smallies.

The sun can work to their advantage in several ways. First, it can make their lures a bit easier (visible) for the fish to see. Bass use sight as their primary sense to feed. And second, with the sun shining, bass will often concentrate in shadier areas helping the angler determine where best to toss a lure. The bass chose these spots for two main reasons. It's safer overall for them in the eat or be eaten world they live in and shade provides an ambush point for them to feed from.

Let's hope this pays off for Jeff and Penny today.

Let's move on to some of the pics that Jeff and Penny took on their outing yesterday. You can see that they were both dressed well for the cold weather.

Many folks are fair weather anglers. But folks like Jeff, Penny, Josh, Chris Gorsuch, Blaine Mengel, Jr., Al Winco, Mike Burton, myself, and many more of our friends are "year-round smallmouth bass anglers". As long as the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers aren't iced over, we will dress in warm gear and head out to the river for some cold water smallie fishing.

Penny has a lot to smile about with this beauty of a smallie!

Jeff nailed a couple again on the chartreuse bladed spinnerbait. This is one of our favorite colors in dingy/dirty water.

Chunky smallie there, Penny. No wonder you have a huge grin on your face. "The Queen Of The Susquehanna" comes through again!

Smallies remind me of chameleons. The light coloration of the bass is often common in such chocolate milk color water.

Take Care and Be Careful,
Dad

34th Anniversary (10/22/11)

2011-10-22T20:05:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Today, my wife and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. I was just a 19 yr. old man preparing for life and studying at Millersville University when I met my wife. It was my sophomore year when we met at the Student Memorial Center (SMAC) and then later at a private party.

I approached my wife at the party and asked her if she wanted to dance with me. I had absolutely no idea that she actually responded by saying, "No." I took her by the hand anyway and led her onto the dance floor and the rest is history!

Three years later, at the ripe old age of 22, I married Julie, "The Love Of My Life". She was the only woman who I had ever "gone steady" with. Oh, I dated a lot of women prior to meeting her, but none who I felt drawn to as my wife.

Julie was a year ahead of me in college and actually stole me from the cradle. It didn't seem to bother her one bit that she was dating a "younger man".

Tying myself down to only one woman was a whole new experience for me and I sort of enjoyed it. Oh, we had our moments mind you, but we always seemed to work through them and come out better for the wear.

We were married on October 22, 1977 at the blessed alter of St. Anthony of Padua in Lancaster, Pa. This was the church that I was baptized in, received my First Holy Communion in, and had Confirmation in.

It was a beautiful Fall Saturday and we partied into the early evening at the Manheim (Pa.) American Legion before leaving for our honeymoon in Williamsburg, Virginia. I spent the major portion of the 8 hour drive alone as my wife slept off the effects of our wedding day... fatigue. We didn't arrive at our honeymoon suite until close to 1:00 a.m. We were both totally exhausted.

I love my wife so much and would do it all over again if ever given the chance. We have grown together and have supported one another through so many trials and tribulations, including the death of our only daughter, Amanda, in 1982.

"I love you Julie!"

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Fat Boy's Outstanding Outing (10/20/11)

2011-10-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Over the past few years, I have met several fantastic blog people who have the same passion as we do for fishing. One of these anglers is Kevin G. Wilson who is known on our fishing web sites as "Fat Boy".

Kevin developed an active blog site that you can access from my "Blog List" under the title "Fat Boy's Outdoors" .

When I started following Kevin's blog a few months ago, I took close notice that he had dedicated the site to a deceased brother. I admire Kevin for continuing his brother's memory through his love for the outdoors.

I encourage you all to go visit Kevin's site and read his recent blog entry. Kevin and a buddy, Howard, visited Unicorn Lake, one of their favorite Eastern Shore ponds. Throughout the day, they were able to catch six different species of fish. Although he'll mention that they worked for these fish, I find it simply incredible that one can have the opportunity to switch gears and lures to seek out different species to bite throughout a day of fishing... Good job, guys!

I captured several scenery pics from his blog entry to share with you here on my blog "Fishing With Dad". I encourage you to click on his blog's web site and read the entire enjoyable write up.

I hope that all my blog followers enjoyed these beautiful pictures.

Thank you, Kevin, for contributing your pics to my site today. You and Howard did an outstanding job catching such a large variety of fish during a single outing.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

p.s. A few days ago, a man had jumped off a pleasure boat near the Long Level Marina to take a swim (60 degree water) and was immediately swept away by a strong and cold current never. His friends claimed that none of them had seen him slip into the water and only took noticed once he was dire straits.

His body was only recovered this past Tuesday. Our hearts go out to his family and friends during this difficult time in their lives.

Secret Hot Spot Goes Cold (10/18/11)

2011-10-18T15:20:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

On Sunday morning, I emailed Jeff in regards to the upcoming week and our potential day of fishing. I mentioned that he and and Penny were probably out on the water nailing more hawgs as I was writing to him.

Well, my email was partially correct. They were indeed out fishing on Sunday. However, unlike the day before, the fish just weren't biting as they were 24 hours earlier.

Jeff said that the day was perfect except for one major factor - The dirty and muddy water had finally moved in from the weekend's rain. On Saturday, the water was a stained green which is a very typical color for this section of the Susquehanna River. Jeff and Penny noticed that the western shoreline was getting a bit dirtier as the day progress on Saturday. By Sunday, the entire river was a mess.

As you have seen in past blog entries, Jeff loves taking pics. So, one thing that he took notice to was the distinct cloud formations that were developing as a Northern Clipper was preparing to move across our state. This "clipper system" brought rain to us just above Harrisburg, Pa. on Sunday evening. We missed the rain by only a few miles and stayed dry throughout Monday.

Here are some of the unique cloud formations that Jeff and Penny saw while out on the river this past Sunday:

This one is my favorite!

We often see military aircraft flying overhead while fishing near the power dams. Quite often there will be two military jets flying up and down the river. This has been happening on a routine basis since 9/11. On Sunday, Jeff and Penny caught sight of this military helicopter overhead.

As you can tell by the following two pictures, the smallies that were caught on Sunday were not in the same size range as the day before.

I believe that this pic proves that "The Queen" caught the biggest fish of the day. "All Hail Queen Penny!"

Thanks Jeff and Penny for the great shots!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

OktoberFest Is In Full Swing! (10/16/11)

2011-10-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Did you ever have a computer keyboard that gave you problems? Well, my current keyboard seems to be messing with a lot me recently and not giving me every key that I tap on. It's actually getting better right now. More notes are showing than there were two weeks ago. So, the last blog entry I wrote to you took me about twice the length of time because I was either correcting all the misspelled words or hitting the keyboard numerous times to give me just one dang character. What a PITA!

Oktoberfest is in full swing! I've been following Lance Dunham's reports ( guide on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River) which are recording 100+ fish days with three anglers in his boat. Here locally, I have friends who have nailed twenty "inch" smallies that are weighing in at 5 or more pounds range. Not only are they long, but stocky, too.

You all know Josh, my fishing buddy. Well Josh and I had plans to go to the NB the first week of Novemeber this year, but we had to postpone this much anticipated fishing trip due to my knee's slow recovery process. Thank goodness... Why? You may ask. Well, yesterday while replacing the brake pads on his Dodge Ram, Josh's truck slipped and fell, trapping him underneath the wheel. Luckily (strange word to use under these circumstances), he had his cell phone nearby and called out to his landlord for assistance. The landlord made it quickly to Josh's apartment(an old farmhouse)and, as most of us would likely do, attempted to free him by cranking the handle to the jack. But the truck slipped and fell a second time onto Josh's leg. Imagine that!!

The ambulance arrived and extricated Josh from under his truck and rushed him to LGH (Lancaster General Health Hospital). At first, Josh thought he had totally crushed his right leg. In fact, that was the first text message he sent me. But as luck would have it, he had no broken bones. Phew! That is crazy stuff right there... That truck fell twice onto his right leg and did not break a single bone in his lower leg or knee. What a lucky young man he was!

Josh is now walking with the aid of crutches and will not be collecting milk for quite some time. Sometimes soft tissue damage takes a bit longer to heal than a actual broken bone (usually 6 - 8 weeks).

I woke up this morning and immediately texted him. I told him just how happy I was that he, "my fishing buddy", was still here with us. Heaven knows what could have happened to him had that truck slipped a foot or two in another direction.

Josh wrote back that he was glad we had decided to postpone our NB trip until next Spring or we would have been calling the hotel once again to cancel our reservations as we did in the past Spring when the rains hit. He told me that our new team fishing name will now be called "Cripple Creek Fishing Team". LOL!

So while Josh was trying to kill himself yesterday, my other fishing buddy, Jeff, was out fishing in a very exclusive "hot spot" on the river. He had gotten access to an area of the river that we both had wanted to fish for the past month and were unable to. Boy did it pay off for him and Penny, too.

They nailed over 20 bass with two going over 20 inches!! "There ain't no fish in that section of the river!" :) A lot of folks tell us that and we just go along with them and agree... Knowing a lot different from our past and present experiences.

Jeff and Penny sent me a set of pics to share with all of you. The tube and spinnerbait was working well in the 60 degree water. Not only was the water prime for spinnerbaits, but the wind was blowing which is every spinnerbait anglers dream. In fact, the one twenty inch smallie came off a spinnerbait.

This area is usually pretty busy with duck hunters (Oct. 15 - 22), but Jeff and Penny saw no other boaters or heard a single shot all day. Did I say this was our secret "hot spot" for Fall fishing? :)

Check out these smallies...

Penny the "Queen of the Susquehanna River"

Getting closer to the twenty inch mark...

20.75" Smallie on a spinnerbait. What a hawg!

A second twenty incher that measured in at 20 1/8th inch.

Did anyone lose a sailboat?

I would say that the "2011 Flood" was definitely the "Turning Point" for this particular vessel.

I am hoping that Jeff and I can hit this section sometime this coming week. When? We'll have to see what Mother Nature has in store for us and compare the prime days with PT and doctor appointments I have scheduled.

My weekday life seems to be ruled by medical appointments... Last week, it started out with my wife's surgery! This week, I have four PT appointments, a dermatologist appointment, a family physician's appointment, and my wife's surgery follow-up appointment... I can't see how anyone could do all this and have a full-time job.

I can't wait to get out with Jeff. My new knee has been gradually allowing me to sleep at night. However, when the rain last week set me back a couple of days and the pain was terrible on Wednesday and Friday.

My Friday's PT and I discussed this pain. They are firm believers that the barometric pressure plays a major role in how our joints feel. She reminded me that a second low pressure had moved across our state late Thursday evening which may have been the reason for the pain on Friday.

I'm hoping that as my knee heals, this type of "Mother Nature" pain lessens for me. I certainly can handle most pain, but there are some days that it drives me to tears. I believe that my high activity level also has a role in it all. It's like a "Catch 22"... Stay active and you'll regain the bending and straightening of the knee quicker. But by being so active, you will also bring on more overall knee pain.

Congratulations to Jeff and Penny for nailing those two hawgs this weekend. What an accomplishment on one outing!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Jeff and Penny's Sunday Trip On The Susquehanna River (10/10/11)

2011-10-12T13:35:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I have a bunch of pics to share with you that Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny took while on the river this past weekend. They hit a familiar spot on Sunday, but failed to find the same success that they did on Saturday.

During this time of year, we can have weather changes happen very quickly. These weather changes effect the behavioral patterns of smallmouth bass. Chances are that the fish were still in the same general area as they were Saturday, but they may have moved a short distance away making us wonder where they may have gone. If there's a viable food source available on Saturday, that same food source was no doubt still be present on Sunday. Now, the major task presented to us is to locate them and replay the success we had the day before.

I also had a text message from Petey who had great success on Saturday (21" smallmouth and a few 19" hawgs)and was able to relocate those same schooling bass once again on Sunday.

The bait fish and crayfish have particular seasonal patterns and the smallies will follow these food sources during their seasonal pattern changes. For example, the blue back herring will migrate downriver during this time of the year. We find great success in catching bass using lures that represent this bait fish duing the Fall. Petey was able to figure out the seasonal pattern of a particular food source and have yet another outstanding weekend of fishing.

If you look back to last year's blog entries for this time of the year, you will see that we were on the same river location at this prime fishing time and had a couple of fantastic fishing days.

It's good to record these seasonal patterns and repeat them each year.

Here are the pics that Jeff and Penny sent me from this past weekend:

Some of these smallies were "Chunks!" It' amazing how much food they take in as they prepare for the cold winter months ahead.

A big thanks to Jeff and Penny for sharing their pics with us.

Take Care and Be Safe!!
Dad

Nice Days, Great Catches (10/07/11)

2011-10-08T21:04:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

We've had several days of some very awesome weather (48 degrees in the morning rising to the low -70's by the afternoon) after a couple of weeks of an ugly stalled Low Pressure that brought extremely wet weather. Not only that, but we had just come off the "2011 Flood" which had the Susquehanna River a total mess.

Penny and Jeff (CHRGD) took a fishing trip yesterday just below Harrisburg and caught over 15+ smallmouths. They made their way out of the dirty and challenging river water and into some cleaner creeks and streams.

The river water temperature was holding around 58 degrees which is nearly perfect for spinnerbait bites. But the bites didn't happen right away until Jeff tossed his green bladed spinnerbait... Eureka!

Not only were the smallies hitting the spinnerbaits, but so were certain plastics.

Here are some beautiful smallmouth pics that Jeff and Penny brought to hand...

The "Queen Of The Susquehanna"

I think Jeff blurred this photo on purpose because Penny caught the very first bass and he was actually jealous... Don't tell him I said so because I'll just deny it anyway. :)

Jeff popped a couple of great looking creek smallies. Penny took perfect photos... Apparently, she doesn't hold grudges... LOL!

Here's evidence that smallmouth do love painted blades. KVD will attest to that fact in almost every article he mentions blades in. When you are faced with stained water from Spring through Fall, don't hesitate to pick up a 3/8th to 1/2 oz. green bladed spinnerbait and go after 'em.

Another great looking smallmouth for Penny. Penny has a secret lure that only a few of her loyal "river subjects" are aware of. When I found out what that lure was, I was immediately sworn to secrecy or face instant death. As you can see, I chose life!

"Long Live The Queen!"

This was the "Lunker Of the Day"... An 18.5" beauty from one of the "hottest spots" that Jeff and I fished all year. Great job, Jeff. LOL! :)

I must admit that Penny and Jeff have been developing into very versatile anglers. Jeff told me that there was a time that Penny would only toss a grub. He can no longer make that claim. She is throwing several different lures with great efficiency. The pictures we have seen over the past few months have proven just how good she has become by spending time on the water with Jeff and being willing to step outside her comfort zone and persevere by tossing a variety of new lures for her... Good job, Penny!

This coming Monday, my wife will be having arthroscopic surgery on her ailing right wrist. She had fallen on the job back in early July and injured it. Not only did she injure her wrist, but she also had a black eye and a cut upper lip. She was cared for at the hospital and given a CAT scan and x-rays to be sure she didn't have a concussion or any broken facial bones. Both tests came out negative.

A couple of weeks later, the surgeon ordered an MRI of her right wrist and noticed a few abnormalities. He treated her with rest, brace at bedtime, and later, gave her a cortisone shot for inflammation.

During this time, Julie was caring for me with my knee replacement surgery and doing the best she could. She also remained on light-duty at work until about two weeks ago when she was told to stay home on workman's comp.

Julie's arthroscopic surgery on Monday will be at 7:30 am. We need to be at the surgical center by 6:00 am. for pre-op... An early day, for sure! Hopefully, the surgeon will locate what it is that has been causing Julie such pain and discomfort and repair it. She will then be on the road to healing.

Next Tuesday after my morning PT session, Jeff and I are planning to go fishing. This will be my first trip on the water since my surgery on July 26, 2011. It will actually be my second attempt to get back out on the water. The first attempt was with Josh, but we got hit with such terrible rainy weather created by that "Low Pressure" system. This coming Tuesday, we will be facing a cold front after a long stretch of beautiful stable weather... Maybe we'll get lucky and have the perfect "pre-front" trip chasing smallies. We definitely have one particular site we are planning to hit... Right, Jeff!?

Thanks to Jeff and Penny for the great pics and fishing tale.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Lake Aldred Launches Remain Closed (10/01/11)

2011-10-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

We've had some more rain in Central Pennsylvania this week that has help raise the river level once again. On Friday (09/30/11), the river level in Harrisburg, Pa. was standing at 13.32'. It was slowly dropping, but will rise once again when the rains return tonight and tomorrow. The predicted level in Harrisburg, Pa. by Tuesday (10/04/11) is 12.8'.

Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny traveled to York Furnace yesterday to see what work has been done to clean up the launch. If you go back several blog posts, you will see just how muddy the launch was. Here are the update photos that they sent me yesterday.

Entrance To Launch

Parking Lot Work and Dock Damage

Raised Water Level

As you can see in the second photo, there is evidence that workers were on site scrapping the mud off the pavement.

The docks are still askewed in the water just as they were a couple of weeks ago.

One can tell that the water level is still up on the lake. The PPL sign in the third photo is normally high and dry is shown surrounded by river water.

Duck Season will soon be upon us and the duck hunters have not been able to get out to their blinds to prepare. I'm sure that they are not happy with the present situation!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Fishing Below Harrisburg, PA, Susquehanna River (09/25/11)

2011-09-26T15:27:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Autumn has arrived here in SC Pennsylvania. Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny made their way to another part of the river since Lake Aldred ramps have been closed. So, they took a little drive north to find an open ramp and some murky, but "fishable" water. In fact, Jeff said that some of the water in the area was actually running muddy... UGH!

Although Jeff and Penny only caught three bass, they were all chunks!

Jeff was able to land a 20" smallmouth. Despite it's length, the 20" was rather skinny compared to the other two fish that they landed.

Penny caught a 16.5" bass that weighed in at 3.0 lbs! Now that is what we call a "football". This smallie had shoulders made for a linebacker.

The third and final fish caught was Jeff's and it measured a respectable 18" in length and weighed in at 3.0 lbs.

It's amazing that a smallmouth that was 1.5" smaller weighed in at the same weight. Our beloved Susquehanna River definitely gives up some pretty nice hawgs, that's for sure!

As you can see in the one photo of Jeff's 18" smallie that tubes were successful lures in that murky and slightly rising water. The water measured at 5.63' at Harrisburg during the daytime. It is currently holding at 5.3' and is suppose to rise to 5.8' by Thursday (9/29/11).

Jeff and Penny just love to take photos of wildlife and scenery in areas that they fish. In recent trips we have seen pics of majestic and mature bald eagles. We have also seen photos depicting the power of water in scenes created by the large amount of rain left by Hurricane Lee. Can you guess where the following pictures were taken along the Susquehanna River?

Another big thank you goes out to Jeff and Penny for sharing their recent fishing trip and some random pics of scenery found along the river.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Lake Aldred LAUnches Still Closed To Public Use (09/23/11)

2011-09-23T19:34:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

My wife is slowly working at cleaning the mud from our in ground pool. If you recall, the mud entered out pool from the run off waste water from the construction site from behind our home. Julie has been vacuuming the mud from the pool through our "Waste" cycle. It by-passes the filtration system but requires a large amount of water. My wife works on a small section of the pool at a time and then waits until the pool can fill up again with our own well water. Today's rain will help tremendously.

Our next step will be to shock the pool and restore the filtration system for use. We will then have to "backwash" the filter several times until the pool water returns to it's normal clarity.

Julie made a new date for closing the pool with Anthony & Sylvan... October 14, 2011.

I was in touch today with Jeff (CHRGD) regarding the launches for Lake Aldred, Susquehanna River. Both launches are controlled by PPL (Holtwood Dam). The launches have been closed due to the large amount of debris and mud that filled the ramps during the flooding.

Jeff drove to the York Furnace (York County) launch today to see what damage had occurred. Check out the docks... A Twisted Mess!

As you can see, there has been a lot of mud left behind after the river receded. We need a good heavy rainstorm or the help of a fire company tanker to wash this mud down the ramp and back into the river.

After our last flooding event, I witnessed a PPL employee cleaning the PPL ramp at Pequea. He used a small front end loader to scrape the mud off the parking lot and to collect the large amount of wood left behind. The wood was stacked and the later hauled away.

New Knee Update: I have returned to PT once again at LGH Willow Lakes. Last evening, my PT was able to get my knee bent to a 70 degree angle. The night before, it was only bent to a 54 degree angle... I was pleased that we made such progress last evening. The success came with a lot of pain!

This damp and rainy weather really bothers me, but I will continue to push for complete recovery. It may be a slow and painful process, but I am willing to do whatever it takes so that I can get back to a more normal life-style... including smallmouth bass fishing! :)

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Jeff and Penny On The River 09/18/11

2011-09-19T15:13:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

The Susquehanna RIver is finally returning to more "fishable" levels, but the water is still rather muddy. The ramps on Lake Aldred had been closed most likely due to debris that passed through the flood gates since Hurricane Lee and that cold front met up a couple of weeks ago.

Jeff and Penny had visited York Furnace and could not get into the parking lot due to the gate being closed. However, they did get out a bit further north this weekend.

Jeff and Penny were fishing structure without success. The water temperature was 63 degrees with approximately one foot of visibility. They fished from shoreline to approximately half way across the river without a single bite... Throwing spinnerbaits, rattletraps, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and grubs. They were going to throw a hammer and kitchen sink, but decided against it.

After making their way to the middle of the river and back, they decided to stick to the western shoreline and hit all the clearing creeks and streams... still no luck!

Finally, after a couple of hours of fishing, Jeff nailed a nice smallie with a black skirted spinnerbait:

Although Jeff and Penny failed to measure this beauty, we were guessing it was in the 17-18" range.

That one fish saved them from having one of the "suckiest" (Jeff Quote) days this year on the river... LOL!

It was one of those days that when the sun came out, the sweatshirt came off. When the sun went in behind the clouds, the sweatshirt came back on... dead calm, and then the wind would blow.

Ahhhh, Fall is soon here!

Thanks to Jeff and Penny for supplying us with yet another one of their fishing adventures. I know that Jeff has been "Jonsing" for a good day back on the water since the flooding. It seems that those days are still ahead of us.

I spoke to another buddy, Pete, yesterday. He had an excellent day fishing above Harrisburg, Pa. He caught 19 smallmouth with the biggest being 19.5".

He had one hole that yielded 9 of the bass. There was a Pa. guide nearby with two clients who saw him catching fish and attempted to move/push into or as he said, "Share", the hole.

He actually requested to share the hole with Pete because, get this, "I have two paying clients here." Excuse me! This is what gives reputable guides bad names. Go find your own hole and if this one hole is all you got, don't be collecting honest folks money for guiding.

Petey said that he had paid for his fishing today, too... gas, boat, tow truck, Pa. license, insurance, etc. I told Petey that he should have offered to share the "hole" if the guide would have offered to share his guide fee for allowing him to find the hole for hos clients... LOL!

Granted, maybe the guide knew of the hole, but I guess he'll have to wait his turn with the two paying clients just like all other anglers.

Question: What is your take on what that guide did?

Personally, I think if the guide would have stopped by and asked Petey w/o trying to "push" himself and his clients onto Petey's hole, that would have been a totally different situation. I believe that would have been much better "fishing etiquette". But just because one asks doesn't mean the person being asked will allow it. He can always say, "No."

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Returned Home (09/16/11)

2011-09-16T19:10:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers sent my way during this last hospital procedure. I definitely appreciates every last one of them.

I had the left knee manipulation performed on September 13, 2011 at Lancaster General Health. This is the same facility that I had the total knee replacement surgery.

I was in the hospital by 10:30 a.m., registered, and prepped for the procedure. My surgeon met with me and gave me several scenarios that may happen:

1. Manipulation only
2. Manipulation and arthroscopic surgery to remove remaining scar tissue
3. Reopen wound and remove scar tissue surgically
4. Re-open wound and replace "new" knee correcting whatever problems that may exist

I finally lucked out and only required the first option... Thank goodness.

The anesthesiologist was aggressive with pain control and gave me an epidural injection, as well as, a femoral block on the left leg. He responded to the amount of pain I experienced after the knee replacement and I was very comfortable with his decision.

The surgeon had my knee bent to ~125 degrees... that's like bent and kicking my own butt... LOL! I, however, could only get it to ~80 degrees with the help of my PT. I have a lot of hard and intense work ahead of me.

My extension should be 0 degrees, but it facilitates between 15 and 10 degrees.

So, not only do I need to work on the bending but also the straightening of the joint.

One nice experience I had was with the Physical Therapy. I was treated by a PTA Instructor and a PTA student for the past two days. They focus on my needs and put me through the old grind. It wasn't pleasant, but I certainly was pleased with the attention I got and the hard work they put me through.

I am on a good amount of pain medication which is very good since my quads and hamstrings are so TIGHT! Not only are they as tight and hard a rock, but very, very painful! :(

It has been over 50 days since I bent my left knee and the muscles had begun to show signs of atrophy. Atrophy is when a muscle is not in use and starts to "shrink" or pull in due to the inactivity. In the manipulation procedure, the surgeon stretches all those muscles to a point they hadn't seen in many days... Ouch!

I returned home tonight around 6:00 p.m. and met with the insurance adjuster regarding the mud damage to our in ground swimming pool. I don't have a very good feeling about this, but I'll go with the flow (pun intended) and see what the insurance company decides.

Once again, thank you all for writing and calling me regarding my recovery. I'm hoping that I'll soon be back in shape and on the water fishing with my buddies...

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Preparing To Return To The Hospital (09/11/11)

2011-09-11T19:22:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Before I begin my blog entry today, I want to take a moment to send my thoughts and prayers to all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001 in the attack on the Twin Towers in New York City.

I was a school counselor at Manor Middle School in the Penn Manor School District of Lancaster County, Pa. I still remember standing with the building principal and watching an office television after the first airliner crashed into the first Twin Tower. Within minutes, the second plane was seen heading towards the second building... OMG! "This is a planned assault on innocent American lives!"

I remember suggesting to the principal that our 12-14 yr. old students should not be watching this unfold in a classroom without their parents guidance to help them understand and cope with this tragedy. He agreed and asked all classroom teachers to please turn off their televisions.

I may have made a totally different suggestion had we been with older students. This was an historic event that teenagers soon to be adults will carry with them throughout their lives.

We were inundated with phone calls from parents who were coming to take their children home. We weren't prepared for the mayhem that developed afterward. Our driveway was filled with cars as frightened parents descended onto the school property fearing that we were all fair targets for terrorism. We had a tough time getting even our own buses into the parking lot to pick up students to take home.

Throughout this entire process, I couldn't help but worry about my own three sons who would be home alone during this very stressful time in our family's life. Here I was helping all of my student's families, yet no one was assisting my own. I held a highly responsible position in the school system that required me to stay on site until every last child was safe and secure in their own home with a guardian or parent.

Someday, I'll recount the time I entered the school building with yet another principal to retrieve personal items for staff members during a bomb scare.. Oh, yeah.

Well, folks, I'll be returning to the hospital on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, to have my left knee manipulated and arthroscopic surgery performed to remove and break scar tissue. It has been close to 50 days since my knee wasreplacemed and I still cannot bend it! This will all come to an end on Tuesday.

Will it be painful? Most likely, but I can withstand the pain to have the use of my new knee restored! I saw an x-ray of my knee apparatus and it looked rather good. Now to get the soft tissue free so that I can move it and strengthen my leg once again.

I will be in the hospital for a few days afterward to make sure all is well and the pain is under control. The surgeon may use a CPM (continuous passive movement) device. It is a mechanical device that will move my knee while I rest. Hopefully, the constant movement will help prevent more scar tissue from forming again immediately after the procedure.

Please be aware that this may be my last blog entry until I return home. God bless!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

The Great Flood Of Sept. 8-9, 2011 - Lower Susquehanna River and Home

2011-09-10T17:02:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

A lot has happened over the past week here in Central Pennsylvania. The remnants of Hurricane Lee moved slowly up the Eastern Seaboard and stalled outside of Washington D.C. At the same time, there was a NW front moving across the state. These two met up and reeked havoc on the creeks, streams, major tributaries, and the Susquehanna River Basin. Record flood levels were recorded on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. As the water moved south into the main stem, the levels pushed but did not surpass the levels marked by Hurricane Agnes back in 1972.

With the help of my good friends, Jeff and Penny, I have some excellent pics and videos of the Holtwood Dam located on the Lower Susquehanna River. I also have video and pics of my own from here on the home front. There is a construction site behind my hoe that was totally unprepared for what we endured. A muddy flow came out of their site and into the neighbors' yard. Our in ground pool was flooded with muddy water and our next door neighbors basement was flooded.

We have been in touch with our home owner's insurance company, the local township, and the developer. The insurance company will be out next week to inspect our pool and view the damage. Damage that you'll see in this blog entry.

This past summer, Jeff and Penny visited the Holtwood Dam on the York County side and took this beauty video. This is a typical day of water flowing over the dam.

This is what the same area looked like on Sept, 9, 2011. Listen to the power of the water spilling over the dam. It is simply amazing...

I am always surprised how many people fail to respect the power of water. We have had at least six deaths related to flooding in the Susquehanna River Valley. One was the death of an 8 yr. old boy who was playing in the backyard of a friend's home. He was swept off his feet and into a vortex created at a drain. Several men responded quickly and removed the young boy, but not before he lost his life... What a tragedy!

It makes our home problem seem like peanuts in comparison. However, we had some damage that was created by the huge construction site that is directly behind our home. They definitely were not prepared to protect our properties from damage caused by such a monumental rain event.

After a few days of the initial start up, the excavating company placed stone near the roadway entrance that is two doors away from our home. This allowed their large equipment to enter the property without eroding the soil. However, when the rains came, many of these stones along with a torrent of mud came washing down from the excavated farm field and met up with the rain already flowing down the street.

The muddy water was then pushed back into our neighbor's yards and around the back of our homes. We have a swale outback to catch runoff water, but the flow was too great and the swale was breached by the muddy water and the muddy water flowed into our in ground pool... Dang!

We've had this pool for six seasons and never once had muddy water breach the swale and enter our pool. I place full responsibility on the developer and the excavation company for not preparing to protect our properties.

We will wait to hear what the home owner's insurance rep tells us this coming week. IF we have to empty the pool, it will run close to $1,000 to refill the 25,000 gallon pool. Not only that, but we will need to stabilize the water before closing it for the winter. That will include costs of chemicals to do so.

We were scheduled to have the pool closed by Anthony and Sylvan this coming Thursday. That date, of course, has been postponed until we decide the best course of action.

Here is a video that I made when I was a bit upset... I felt useless with this bum knee of mine to help around the home.

The day before the big waters came, Julie and I took a drive to "Fisherman's Park" which is located beside the Holtwood Dam on the Lancaster County side of the river. The river had been rising most of the week due to the many rain storms and showers we were experiencing, but nothing as bad as what we eventually got was ever expected!

The "Fisherman's Park" is no doubt under water as I write this blog entry.

Please remember that many, many folks who lost their homes, campers, and vehicles when this flood hit Pennsylvania. My oldest son had both his and his wife's car submerged in the parking lot of their apartment complex. I suspect that the drain system was clogged and the maintenance crew for the apartment complex failed to respond to help the residents. They got a knock on their door around 8:30 pm warning them of the water issue. By then, the water was waist deep in the parking lot!

To top things off at our home, we lost our electricity at 8:30 pm the night of the flooding and it was restored by 9:00 am. the next morning. Luckily, our basement wasn't flooded like our neighbors. What compounded their problem was that they had no power to run any pumps to extract the water from their basement... a double whammy.

If you have a neighbor who needs help, please reach out and lend a hand in times of need. We are all in this together and many hands make little work.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Hurricane Lee Meets Up With A NW Front (09/08/11)

2011-09-08T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Excuse me for this short blog entry...

We are simply being hammered here in Lancaster County by torrential downpours accompanied by severe thunderstorms. This weather system is the slow moving remnants of Hurricane Lee from the south and another front that moved across our state (Pennsylvania) from the northwest. Simply said, "We are getting nailed!"

On top of all this, the construction site behind my home was definitely unprepared for such a large amount of rain. The entrance to the site is only three doors east of our home. The construction site sent muddy water and rocks onto the roadway last evening. Since we are lying below the site, the muddy mess moved into our yards and flooded our in-ground swimming pool. It is now a mud pit... Just Great! (Pics will be coming)

And... We lost our power last evening around 8:30 p.m. We regained it around 9:00 a.m. this morning. Thank God we didn't have any water enter our basement through our sump pump hole. I have no idea why, but we were lucky.

My wife and two sons were working their butts off all evening long keeping our home safe from flooding. They did a fantastic job. Our next door neighbors weren't as lucky.

Fred and Linda were up near Sunbury, Pa. at the campground making sure that their new trailer was on higher ground. While they were there working, they got a call from their daughter and son-in-law (Jessica and Rob) explaining that their basement, where Fred and Linda reside, was flooding!! :(

The local Willow Street fire company where Fred is an EMT came by to see if they could support them, but the water wasn't high enough at that point to pump out. However, Fred and Linda's daughter, Shanna, brought over a pump for them to use as the level rose... Sad part was that we had no electricity to run the pump!!!

AS I write this, the sun is trying to peek through the clouds. We haven't seen sunshine here i Willow Street, Pa. for several days and it is looking lovely.

Once I get my pics and videos transferred from my phone to the computer, I'll be sure to post them here on "Fishing With Dad".

The Susquehanna River is suppose to crest on Saturday in Harrisburg, Pa. at 2:00 a.m. at 29'. Keep in mind that 17' is flood stage. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 brought the river to it's highest level in recorded history at 36.57'... Check out these record highs for the Susquehanna River at the Harrisburg, Pa. site:

Historical Crests
(1) 32.57 ft on 06/24/1972
(2) 29.23 ft on 03/19/1936
(3) 26.80 ft on 06/02/1889
(4) 25.70 ft on 05/22/1894
(5) 25.08 ft on 01/20/1996

If the river does indeed reach 29' by Saturday, it will be the third highest recorded flooding in the history of all records for Harrisburg, Pa... Simply Amazing!

We've had at least two flash flood recorded deaths already here in Lancaster County since the start of this. I hope that there are no more before this is over.

Needless to say, the rivers and tributaries in the Susquehanna River Basin will be blown out for quite some time. Not bad for me since I can not fish anyway with this bum knee of mine. (I see the surgeon tomorrow at 8:20 a.m.)

Please, if you can find it in your hearts, say a prayer for all those who are struggling through this natural disaster. Our country seems to be getting it's share of disasters over the past few months. From New Jersey to Vermont, folks were experiencing similar flooding events.

No matter what comes our way, we will pulled together to support and help one another when the need arises.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Aftermath of Hurricane Irene On The Lower Susquehanna River (09/04/11)

2011-09-04T13:35:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

It's been 40 days since I had my knee replacement surgery and I still can't bend my left knee. I have been attending three PT sessions per week. During that time, I have had several different therapists working with me and they all agree that scar tissue has taken a firm hold of the joint. These scars grab the soft tissue, tendons, and ligaments and prevent motion. Not only does scar tissue prevent motion, but it puts pressure on nerve endings and causes an extreme amount of pain. Scar tissue in itself has no nerve endings. So when several have broken during PT sessions, I do not feel pain associated with those breaks. When they break, it sounds similar to a finger snap or a small pop.

I have to ride in the back seat of our vehicle whenever I go places with my wife. I cannot bend my knee far enough to slip into the front passenger seat. Sitting on the back seat isn't all that bad. It gives me plenty of room to adjust my leg to a more comfortable position than I would most likely get in the front passenger seat.

Yesterday, my wife took me to see the movie "My Idiot Brother". I enjoyed this situational comedy about a young and "goodhearted" man who has three sisters and a mom who attempt to assist him after he returns from a four month stint in jail for selling pot to a police officer. The young man personally knew the officer and fell for his story of having personal problems.

Although I found this film pretty good, I was surprised that there were only four of us sitting in the theater! I guess there are far too many other movies out now that are splitting the audience.

Over the past month, I've kept in close contact with my good buddy and fishing partner, Jeff (CHRGD). He and his wife, Penny often hit the river on Friday afternoons. This past Friday (09/02/11),they drove to the river to find it a muddy mess...

Knowing that they were faced with a very difficult situation, Jeff and Penny decided to fish and made their way up the the Safe Harbor Dam. The rocks and boulders in this area hold plenty of smallmouth. But this is what they found when they arrived at the "Fish Ladder"...

Sometimes pictures just don't show us how severe a situation is. Take a moment and listen to the water fall created by the fish ladder chute... Amazing!

Jeff and Penny remained on the water for approximately 2.5 hours without a single bite. I must give them credit because most anglers would not have even gone out on the water after seeing what it looked like at the ramp. It takes a confident angler(s) to meet such a challenge head-on!

Knowing that the river was a complete wreck on Friday, Jeff and Penny decided to try their luck on a local lake where the water would be more conducive to fishing. This particular lake holds several species of fish, including largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Jeff finally was able to land a largemouth bass. Perseverance and patience finally paid off for the duo...

Way to go, Jeff and Penny!

Thank you for allowing me to share your fishing adventures with our "Fishing With Dad" visitors. I must rely on my good fishing friends to provide reports and pics while I recuperate from my surgery. I am eager for the day that I return to the water and can once again bring you my own reports. But until that time comes, we will all enjoy the reports provided by my friends.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

2011-08-31T11:40:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I am still laid up with this knee replacement. My PTs have not seen much improvement over the past two weeks and are now suggesting to the surgeon that he "manipulate" my knee while under anesthesia.

This is a procedure that a surgeon uses by placing the patient under anesthesia and, with the help of his operating room staff, slowly and steadily bends the replaced knee to break as much of the scar tissue as possible that has taken hold and preventing the knee from bending. The new scar tissue is quite strong and, even with a PT's assistance, will not break without a lot of pain and discomfort to the patient.

I actually had this done to the same knee 30 years ago when I had it reconstructed after a judo injury. The knee was held in an immobilizer for six weeks and then would not bend. Such post-op care no longer exists and repaired knees are placed in PT the very next day, thus preventing most scar tissue from forming.

My body tends to produce scar tissue rather quickly. This is my third surgery... two to my left knee and one to my right hand... that had scar tissue that needed to be released.

I have not heard back from the PT or surgeon yet. But once I do, I'll let you all know when the "manipulation" will take place.

In the mean time, I have plenty of fishing buddies who have stepped up to the plate and offered me fishing tales of their outings.

Today, I have a fantastic fishing adventure from our good buddy, Fat Boy (Kevin Wilson). Kevin loves chasing those big "Greenies" (largemouth) while wade fishing. He contacted me last evening and told me that he was going to send yesterday's fishing trip report to me. He described this as one of his best summer outings to date and I'm sure you'll see why.

On with the report!

My friend Howard and I met at our local watering hole and put in about three hours of fishing. I arrived about fifteen minutes earlier and caught four largemouth and a rock bass prior to his arrival. A couple of them were keepers. Howard fished ahead of me and picked up several bass before I finally landed one. I had four break offs (on the hook set) on the Nanofil, so I’m thinking about shelving this line and using it during ice season, but going to a thicker diameter and pound test. I want to feel the difference between the different pound tests before I make a decision, but I will upgrade to either be the 8 or 10 pound. Break offs during hook sets are common across all super lines, and I had the same trouble with other brands in this diameter before. I’m still a believer in this line, and even the other thicknesses should cast remarkably well.

Here’s the first one that I landed, not big, but fun:

As you can see, even after the Hurricane, the water was gin clear. The Potomac looked in good shape too, having come down a bit since Sunday and much clearer than Sunday too. The level was really low in preparation for Irene. The bad news is that the fish were spookier, the good news is that they were bunched up in some of the deeper holes. See the weed mat? Those have been hot spots all summer.

I got this next fish in a fun way. I saw it roaming around a weed mat, but when I put the ringworm in front of it, it examined the lure but didn’t hit…I got snubbed. So, I thought about casting on top of the weed mat, crawl it over, then let if fall off the edge and see if that does the trick (remember that later in the report). The bass blew up through the weeds on my worm before I had a chance to drop it off the edge. This bass was 17”, but not very fat.

We found a spot that had a huge mat of weeds, and the bass were stacked up under it. I stood in one spot, casting my plastic worm over top of the weed mat, plopping it and crawling it over the mat, and let it drop off the edge. I caught 7 bass in 8 casts doing that, then I had to work for them. I finished with 10 bass on the worm in that hole, Howard got 6. Average size was 13”, but I got one that was 18”, and one that was 17”. Here was Howard’s biggest one at that hole, caught on the worm:

During the last minutes of daylight, I decided to give the weed mat one more go, cast my worm in the same friggin spot, crawled it over the same track mark that I made several times earlier, and let it drop off the edge, and saw the bass below shoot out and grab my worm. It was friggin awesome, and I was so fired up! She went 20” long, my biggest of the evening.

Eventually, it was too dark to work the worm, and the fish seemed to slow down. So, I switched to my handy dandy buzzbait, and caught a fish on my first cast working downstream parallel to shore. It went about 14”. I tossed the buzzer way back on the weed mat, began cranking as soon as it hit the water to prevent hanging up on the weeds, and crawled it across the mat. As soon as it cleared the mat, kersploosh!!!!!!!!! This 19” bass annihilated my buzzer. I was fired up, hooting and hollering so much that I think that I spooked every blue heron along the Potomac within a mile of our location.

Buzzer bass:

That was my last fish of the evening. I finished with 19 largemouth and a rock bass, with the biggest five bass going 20”, 19”, 18” and two 16” bass, and numerous 13-14” bass. I only caught four dinks. Howard picked up a couple more on a buzzbait after dark. I had one massive blow up but the fish missed the lure. Howard had a three huge blow ups, one of them where I lost that 8 pounder a couple weeks ago. The daggone topwater explosion sounded like a beaver slapping its tail, it was so loud. Howard had the fish on for a moment, but didn’t get a good hook into it. He finished with well over 20 bass on the evening, with a bunch of them being keeper size.

Sorry for my camera (replacement phone). It doesn’t take good night pics. I need a real camera again. My favorite buzzbait of late, a Strike King Tri-wing buzzbait modified with a Fat Boy special clacker did the trick. Unfortunately, while fishing in pitch black darkness on the walk back, it found a tree and wanted to make it a permanent home. If anyone would like to take a swim, it’s yours for the taking, and I’ll point it out to you. It’s my last one, so I’ve got to get to BPS for some replacements.

What a night! One of my best evening trips there in a long long time.

What a great report, Kevin! A big "Thank You" for sharing it with all the visitors here at "Fishing With Dad".

You can find this report and many more on Kevin's site at:

Fat Boy's Outdoors

Summer is slowly drawing to an end. Although I've lost over a month of warm weather fishing this year, I am awaiting those cooler fall days when the Big Mammas start to feed for the long winter months ahead.

I can't wait to get back on the water!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Hurricane? What Hurricane? ( 08/28/11)

2011-08-28T17:27:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Hurricane Irene has finally passed us here in Pennsylvania and the skies are clearing. We are, however, still having winds. The wind gusts we had throughout the evening reached into the mid-40 mph range. It could have been a lot worse and I consider us lucky.

We only got some rain water into the basement from under the door jam. This often happens when we get wind blowing rain vertically against the back of our home.

We took precautions yesterday by placing our grill and patio furniture into the basement. Better safe than sorry!

So, what does one do the day before a hurricane is forecast in your area? Well, go fishing, of course! :)

That's exactly what Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny did on Friday afternoon. Penny worked in the morning and after work, she and Jeff loaded up the boat and headed to Lake Aldred in search of some smallmouth bass.

It is not unusual for there to be good fishing when a front is approaching. Jeff and Penny found that to hold true on Friday.

I have dubbed Penny the "Queen of the Susquehanna"! She didn't let me down and caught a beautiful largemouth bass on here "Secret Lure" You know, the one that she swore me to secrecy with the threat of death if I do reveal it to the general public... Yea, that one!

Fantastic looking LM, Penny!

Not only can Penny catch largemouth bass on here "secret lure", but she can also coax a few smallies into taking it.

Personally, I think Jeff "allows" her to be the top fish catcher in his boat... At least that's what he tells me... LOL!

Let's compare Jeff's LM to Penny's and you tell me what you think.

Is that live bait or what? :)

After a great evening on the water, Jeff and Penny trailered the boat and headed home. As they pulled out of the river valley, they were met with this beautiful site... Hurricane Irene approaching York County.

Looks like the weekend fishing plans had to be put on the back burner with such a tremendous storm heading our way. According to the weather bureau, Hurricane Irene spread out over 90 miles. WE haven't seen such a large hurricane since the 1960s.

I can remember the large amount of rain that hit Lancaster County during Hurricane Agnes back in 1972, but this storm covered a wider area and touched upon major metropolitan cities... including New York City.

For the first time, the governor of New York posted a mandatory evacuation of all low lying areas. Such an edict requires great coordination in order to handle the amount of traffic expected by his mass exodus.

This coming week is suppose to really nice outside. But as major storm will have it, the Susquehanna River will most likely be blown out for quite some time.

My good friend, SteveinPa, traveled to Bradford County and called me on his trip home today. He said that all the smaller streams were blown out and some roadways were closed due to flooding. The North Branch of The Susquehanna River will be a muddy mess. All that will be traveling south and into the main stem of the Susquehanna River.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Our Good Buddy, Dave Shindler (08/24/11)

2011-08-24T20:16:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Our good buddy an great guide, Dave Shindler...

Fox 43 Coverage Of Dave Shindler

Take Care an Be Safe
Dad

Highlights of My Total Knee Replacement (08/23/11)

2011-08-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

This blog entry will highlight some of my experiences since my total left knee replacement on July 26, 2011.

I was apprehensive about going into this surgery knowing that the last time I had a major joint replacement, I was in severe pain for quite some time. Well, as chance would have it, I am experiencing a very similar situation with this surgery.

I was told by several professionals, including my own surgeon, that as a past athlete, I had experienced a major injury that required my knee to be reconstructed. As the reconstructive surgery healed, adhesions grew in and around the wound. I couldn't bend my knee.

I participated in PT for approximately two months after that surgery until the surgeon finally decided to "manipulate" my knee and break the connective scar tissue. Manipulation is a much better technique than surgery for removing scar tissue. Manipulation is done manually by the surgeon and the adhesions are less likely to return.

I arrived at the LGH Orthopedic Center around 9:30 am. on July 26, 2011, and filled out a few insurance forms. After completing the forms, a nurse took me into the pre-op area for me to get undressed and be prepped for surgery.

An IV was placed in my arm... "Ugh!". I don't necessarily enjoy IVs. But it all went well which made me feel a whole lot better.

I had a male nurse prep my leg by shaving it and washing it with a disinfectant soap. Once I was prepped, my wife was allowed to join me as I waited my turn for the operating room.

The anesthesiologist was very good with me. I had told him that I get quite agitated as I anticipate surgery. He gave me a relaxant to sooth my anxiety. It worked quite well. :)

I was in surgery and recovery for about 3.5 hours. After coming to, the staff took me to a private room to begin the healing process.

It was rather difficult relaxing and resting in the first room they placed me in. The wing I was on was for orthopedic patients, but there were also some surgical patients scattered among us. My next door neighbor was a woman who screamed and moaned 24/7! I was being somewhat neglected due to her obnoxious behavior. In fact, the staff was falling behind giving me my pain medication prior to me going into PT.

Why? Well, every time my neighbor would begin her screaming and moaning, the nurses would leave what they were doing and tend to her needs. Thus, neglecting my needs for meds, etc.

By the third day, I refused to attend PT until I had my pain medication in me at least 20 minutes before hand. Now I got their attention!

The nurse administrator visited me an my wife. We didn't mix words as we expressed our concern about the lack of care I had received the past three days. She mentioned that others had also been complaining. She agreed to move me to a quieter area of the wing. "Thank you!"

I ended up having arrhythmia and had to be placed on a heart monitor. I left the hospital with a new medication for that... Great! Just what I needed - Another medication.

Iced Down Knee After Surgery

My oldest son, Chris, visits me after the surgery.

Always thinking of basketball... Penn Manor Bball Shirt From 2011 Summer Camp

Total Knee Replacement With Bandages

One of my six IV Spots... Nice Bruise, Huh!?

You can see a second IV mark to the left of the bruise.

My guardian at home... Missy! She never leaves my side... Such A Good Dog!

Resting at home in my own bed... Relief!

After the 20+ metal staples were removed...

Standing by the mirror this morning... Quite Swollen and Bruised Left Knee

Each day brings slow improvements. A normal recovery period requires four days in the hospital and walking with a cane by the second or third week. I am already 30 days out from surgery and still walking with a walker... Argghhhh!

Take Care and Be Safe
Dad

Chris and Dorene Gorsuch - Trip To Lake Champlain, July 2011

2011-08-22T20:48:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Today was my first PT outside the home. I don't negotiate our stairs too often since my wife heads off to work at 6:00 am and I'm still in bed resting after my restless nights. Plus, there's not really anywhere in my living room for me to put my legs up for elevation.

Our couch sits way too low for me to get into and out without straining my good leg and my nice leather lounge chair is now old and broken. It's what happens to furniture when you have three young men and "ploppers" when they sit living in the home... LOL! Chairs are not made to withstand that abuse over the years.

My therapist, Jessica, did the initial evaluation and recorded my flexion and extension degrees. I was a bit tight today and only got 10 degrees extension (needs to be zero) and about 55 degrees in flexion. I had 75 degrees last Friday!

Jessica told me that it's all too common that we lose flexion over the weekends.

My wife made future PT meetings out to September 28th. There will be three sessions per week. That will give 15 more visits until I see the surgeon again on September 21, 2011 and a total of 18 overall (into the following week).

It will be at that time that the surgeon will decide whether or not I will need to have my left knee manipulated to break any adhesions (scar tissue) that may have taken hold during post-op. Just the sound of the word "manipulation" sounds painful. :O

During the month of July, my good friend and fellow angler, Chris Gorsuch (Backwoods Angler TV) and his wife Dorene took a trip to Lake Champlain. Chris sent me a few picks of some very nice bass that Dorene caught during their stay...

This LM has some weight to it!

Two healthy pig beasts. Way to go, Dorene!

Lake Champlain is a premier bass fishery and these pics are testimony to how healthy it truly is.

Thanks to Chris and Dorene for sharing these pics with me during my recovery.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

While I Was Recuperating From Surgery, My Friends Sent me Some Pics (08/20/11)

2011-08-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Back in late July, Jeff (CHRGD) and Penny went on a couple of fishing adventures on Lake Aldred, Susquehanna River. They were gracious enough to take the time to send me a few photos of their outings for me to share with you all here at "Fishing With Dad".

So, while I'm recuperating, I will post some of the pics that are being sent to me.

Not only were the bass hitting, but Jeff and Penny had their fair share of catties in their trips. But check out this feisty little bugger... The lure is bigger than he is!

Here is a pic of the Conestoga River confluence with the Susquehanna RIver just below the Safe Harbor Dam.

A couple of nice catties came to hand with spinnerbiats.

Penny concentrates as she fishes along the wall of the dam.

It was quite shallow in this area and one has to be very careful to get stranded as the water drops.

And finally, Penny lands a beautiful 19 7/8" smallie on her "Secret Lure". She told me if I mentioned it to anyone that she would have to kill me... I believe her!

Thanks Penny and Jeff for allowing me to print these great pics of your outings in late July.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Healing Continues (8/20/11)

2011-08-20T12:46:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

I hope you are all doing well. I am still on the mend and partially bedridden.I begin outside physial therapy on Monday. I'll be attending three sessions per week until I see my orthopedic surgeon again. I cannot drive until I am off the pain medication. Therefore, I am limited to my home unless my family takes me out.
I was only gettkng 55 degrees of flexion. But this past week, I advanced to 75 degrees. I need to be at 90 degrees in order to lift myself from a seated position, climb stairs, and sit in a car seat.
I keep myself busy by watching sports on television, doing daily newspaper puzzles, and reading Mike Iaconelli's book, "Fishing on the Edge". I'm enjoying Mike's approach in writing this biography. He doesn't hold back.
I met Mike years ago at the Bassmaster Fishing Techniques in Harrisburg, Pa. Mike was a young man with a driving force. He has accomplished much in professional angling career. Time will only enhance his innate abilities to locate fish and catch good weights.
I'm hoping to be back on my feet and on the water again by the Fall-fest. Remember all the big fish we caught last Fall? I fondly remember the day on Lake Aldred when I fished several hours without a bite. Once the dams started to drop the water level, the fish turnef on and I was able to nail two 20" plus. Thry came within minutes of obe another.
I love Fall fishing!

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

In Recovery (08/12/11)

2011-08-12T16:59:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

I am slowly recovering at home. The knee replacement went well, but I had numerous problems in other areas. For example... Severe pain. My surgeon explained to me that younger replacement patients who have had previous knee injuries are prone to more pain than are older and less active patients.

I was also experiencing heart palpitations. I wad placed on a 24 hr. halter heart monitor. The good news was that my heart appeared in good shape. The arrhytmia may have been caused by pain and medications (?).

I also had a Renal Ultrasound done to rule out any problems with my kidneys This was spurred by my erratic and high blood pressure.

I would like to thank my family and friends for the pouring out of love and support they have shown me these past few weeks. I have absolutely no idea how I would have made it this far without their help and phone calls.

I am writing from my phone as I lay here in my own bed. Please excuse any grammatical and soelling you may find. My big fingers don't do well on these touch keypads.

Once I am mobile, I will be back on the rkver. I am still walking pretty stiff legbef and wjth a walker. Today in home PT, my therapisr, Dolly, had me walking with only a cane. I felt some accomplishment

Final Day With The Old Left Knee (07/25/11)

2011-07-25T16:21:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks,

I got the call this morning... "Be at the hospital at 9:00 am. Your surgery is scheduled for 11:00 am."

Okay... Now I have the exact times... Great!

An Open Letter To My Left Knee

Dear old knee, you have served me well. We've spent over 20,444 days together in this life. I learned to crawl, walk, and run with you. I can remember when I was four and how my knees would swell up because of Rheumatic Fever. Mom would always put me in a hot tub of water and wrap hot towels around you to calm the pain.

After being bedridden for over a year, I was once again able to use you and by my teen years, I was allowed to play sports with you. And boy, did we ever play sports... Baseball, basketball, football, and Judo!

I must admit, I wasn't always gentle with you. In fact, I probably asked a bit too much from you while wearing those Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars. We ran on every floor imaginable while playing bball... tile, macadam, concrete, dirt... You name it, we played on it together.

Thirty years ago during a Judo competition, I made a move to throw my opponent, lifted him onto my hip, and my left foot failed to spin with us and the torque dislocated you... OUCH! I can remember that day like it was yesterday.

They injected dye ( arthrogram ) into you because MRIs didn't exist yet and they claimed nothing was wrong with you. But you and I knew better and finally, the surgeon agreed to try something new on us... arthroscopic surgery!

Alas, when the surgeon entered to see you up close and personal, he found more than what he expected and performed a five hour reconstruction surgery. He sewed you up, packed ice on you, and sent us both back to our hospital room to recover... I cried for us. :(

It took us a year and a half to run again. And when we did, you would swell and I needed to ice you down. That lasted for well over three years until you had no more swelling.

You never "looked" the same after that surgery. But that was okay, because you served me well for the next thirty years of playing more and more basketball in men's leagues and also as a coach.

Tomorrow, they will replace you with metal and plastic. I'm not sure what your fate will be after the surgery. I assume that they dispose of you in a proper manner.

Let's not forget all those fishing trips and tournaments we fished together. Man, did we ever fish! There were slow days and then there were off the wall fantastic days, too. I must say that you always responded when I needed you to load and unload the boat. You even helped me pull the boat and kayaks through low level water... We would do anything together to catch "The Big One". I even asked more of you when I had my hips replaced seven years ago. Did that speed up your deterioration? I'm sure it didn't help. You always responded... spending your fair and equal time on the raised trolling motor pedal or supporting my body weight when my right foot was on the pedal.

As time went on, I knew you were having problems. I took you to see Dr. Tymon, the orthopedic surgeon, and he tried to help you with a steroid injection. However, that only lasted a little over a month. The doc was looking for six months of relief... It wasn't to be. That is when the decision was made to move ahead with the replacement.

Please know, that I will always be grateful for the service you have given me in my lifetime. I am forever thankful I had you because many are not as fortunate as I was.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Preparing My Gear and Boat For My Surgery (07/24/11)

2011-07-24T22:14:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I guess the last thing most people would be worried about when getting a total knee replacement is "I have to take care of my gear and boat"! Yea, I know that I obsess a bit over my stuff, but I believe that in order for it to be ready to go without any problems when I return, I must prepare my gear and boat for my surgery.

It isn't difficult at all and only requires a few minutes of my time. The first thing I must do is reduce the tension on all my reel drags. This saves my reels by sitting without any stress.

All my baitcasters have "star" drag systems. By turning the star drag counter-clockwise, I will release all the tension that I use during my normal fishing trips.

My spinning reels are all "front drag" systems. I follow a similar routine with all of them by turning the front drags counter-clockwise to release all stress.

By reducing the drag pressure, pressure on the soft drag washers is eliminated. "Pressure over time can make an impression on the soft washers and cause sticking and erratic drags, which might later cost you a fish." (Gofishn.com - Tackle care, maintenance and repair)

My next task was to make sure that my 115/80 4-stroke Yamaha motor was sitting level and not tilted. "Why?", you may ask. Well, even though initially we were told that the 4-Stroke Yamaha Motors would not have a problem being stored in a tilted position, what we actually have found over the past few years is... Yes, they can have a problem!

Tilt/Trim

By leveling the motor, I keep the gasket from being saturated with oil and causing smoking at start ups. It's pretty simple to understand and by keeping it level, this issue normally doesn't exist.

Level Motor

Here's another tip for those who experience air-locks on hot days in their fuel line from the gas tank to the motor... Take a plastic wire tie and pull your gas line up and attach it to whatever is available... I have a hose that is readily available for me to use. I was having some problems last season and gave JC Nuss, Lakeside Marine, a call and he gave me this tip... It works!

Gas Line Held Up By Electrical Tie

So, if you are going to be off the water for awhile and not sure when your next trip will be, try these fast and easy tips in keeping your gear and boat ready to go once you can return to fishing.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

A Purple Box Kite? (07/23/11)

2011-07-23T19:14:00.003-04:00

Hello Folks,

I have taken notice to several triangular purple boxes hanging in trees along our Lancaster County, Pa. roadways this summer. So, I did a little internet investigation today and found out exactly what they are used for.

Check this out:

Is that a purple box kite lodge in that tree?

The Emerald Ash Borer

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Hot Time Summer In The City... (07/22/11)

2011-07-22T18:45:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I only have five days until my total knee replacement and the dang weather is broiling all living things. It hit 104 degrees here today with a heat index of 119 degrees. Further south, it was even more suppressing.

We almost had thunderstorms pass through Willow Street, Pa. this evening, but they fizzled out in this intense heat.

There doesn't seem to be any relief in sight until Monday. In fact, every evening weather report from now through Sunday shows the potential of heat sparked thunderstorms. I am sure the lawns would love a drink or two to refresh themselves during this heat wave.

Yesterday, I went swimming after mowing my lawn. The pool water was 90 degrees and felt like bath water. I haven't been out at the pool this evening to check on the temperature... I have absolutely no desire to walk outside right now.

I hope that all my visitors who are experiencing this oppressive heat remain safe until relief arrives. There was a boater on the Susquehanna River who died this past week most likely due to a heat stroke and passing out in the water. The authorities believe that he was having boat motor trouble and was out in the water "towing" his boat with a rope. The 61 year old had a PFD (life jacket) on, but that failed to save him. The autopsy showed that he did not have any trauma to his body and that he did not have a heart attack.

It is so important that those with preexisting health conditions stay hydrated and indoors as much as possible on days like today. For example, I am a Type-2 diabetic with liver disease and I am very cautious on such hot and humid days. Not only do I hydrate often when out on my boat, but I also seek shade to give my body a break from the scorching sun. Being on an aluminum boat in 100+ degree temperatures is like sitting in an open frying pan. It reminds me of "The Rock" (Dwayne Johnson) when he asked, "Can you smell what the Rock is cooking now?" Exchange the word "Rock" with "Sun" and you could use that line today! :)

I was hoping to get back out on the water before my knee replacement surgery this coming Tuesday, but this intense heat may put a kibosh to my plans.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

It's Good To Be Home! (07/21/11)

2011-07-21T18:33:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

I waited for many weeks for the last five days and now they are over... wahhhhh! We had a fantastic time on a limited budget.

We stayed at the Aqua Beach Ocean Resort (new name for hotel) which is the second hotel, I mean resort, off the southern end of the Boardwalk...

Aqua Beach Ocean Resort

We arrived just before check in time (3:00 pm.) and were told our room "wasn't ready" yet. I asked what our room number was and we went to check... It was done. So, we returned to the desk among the throngs of people in the hotel lobby and asked for our keys (another name for the credit card-like plastic). We had all our stuff packed into the room within the hour.

Our first stop, which is a ritual for our family, was to take in the Early Bird Special at "Duffy's On The Lake".

Duffy's Facebook Page

Julie's anticipating her meal at Duffy's... What a beautiful view of Sunset Lake!

Jet Skiers and a Pirate Ship sailing the lake...

This is the boathouse where the jet skies are rented. (Excuse the glare from the window)

We hit he beach the next three mornings. Wildwood's beaches keep growing. It's like a quarter mile from the hotel to the actual beach... A nice hot walk across the Sahara Desert. But once you arrive, you will fine some of the nicest and cleanest beaches in Jersey.

Julie is chillin' at the beach

The Old Man sitting in the shade after a long walk on the beach... Ahhhhhh, shade!

The beautiful Atlantic Ocean...

This is a view of the Wildwood Boardwalk Piers and the Convention Center is just to the left.

The woman in the pic above had a hot green fluorescent two piece bathing suit on... It reminded me of my "Ugly Bait", the Firetiger 3/8th oz. Big O... and a few other things... Like my younger days! :)

That evening, we followed another Boyd family tradition... Early Bird Specials at The Lobster Shack.

The Lobster Shack, Wildwood, NJ

Hey, these are awful small lobsters... LOL!

Check out the interior of The Lobster Shack. That's "Nails", the hammerhead shark, hanging from the ceiling. This has been the decor of the Lobster Shack every year we have been going to Wildwood.

That evening, I donned my bball gear and headed down to the local park to shoot some ball... My last hurrah before next week's total knee replacement... Egad! Call me crazy or nostalgic, but I ran so much bball down at the shore in my day that they should name a court after me... LOL! No wonder my knees are like mush.

I have been going to Wildwood NJ since I was twelve years old. My oldest brother, Denny, used to "drag" me along when we headed to the beach. This was the late 60's, folks, and Wildwood's beaches were blanket to blanket teenagers with transistor radios blaring in the summer sun. The smell of baby lotion and iodine filled the air along with the burning of young human flesh... Ahhhh, the good ole' days!

Did you know that the NJ government has declared Wildwood the town to preserve the great sounds from the 1950's... Chubby Checker, Doo Wop and the like?

We ate at a very nice restaurant called Groff's on the third evening...

...which was suggested to us by my brother and his family.

Julie had the broiled scallops and I ate the broiled flounder. Let me tell you, those scallops that my wife ordered were the sweetest and juiciest scallops we have eaten in a long, long time. We will often share our meals and that night, we had a great seafood fest. For dessert, I ate a piece of their famous pie... Coconut Cream!

After supper, we headed to the Casba Comedy Club to see a great comedienne, Carole Montgomery. Carole performs a ton of shows for the USO and our troops oversea. She's a bit "upfront" with her humor and I died laughing.

Carole Montgomery

Julie and I always ask to sit right up front and will often have exchanges with the comics... What a blast!

Casba Comedy Club

Julie and her Chocolatini ... a chocolate martini

$15 cover charge (2 for 1 Coupon) and a two drink per person minimum at the table.

Notice that Dom Irrera is a headliner at the Casba Comedy Club. This guy is outstanding! If you ever get a chance to see Dom, take advantage of it and go, go, go! He has been on so many shows that it makes your head spin... and ""I don't mean that in a bad way."

Dom Irrera

When we exited the comedy club, we were greeted by the only rain/drizzle of our whole trip. We jumped the tram car back to the end of the Boardwalk.

We stayed around the pool most of the last full day we were there. The pool was nice and cool and they also had a hot tub. I always enjoy meeting and talking to folks I meet at poolside. People from all over the east coast and we even ran into a few families from Lancaster County.

The fog started to roll in off the ocean Wednesday evening. It reminded my wife of the sci-fi movie "The Fog". People just seemed to appear out of nowhere... oooooooo!

Don't be frightened by the teenager carrying a Reggae Banana (Only at the beach)... Looking North to the Boardwalk

We ate at Jumbo's upon recommendation. We had jumped the tram car to head up to the Boardwalk and a young worker sat beside us eating a piece of pizza and drinking a cold soda. I asked him, "What's the best pizza on the Boardwalk?" And without hesitation, he said, "Jumbo's!"

Jumbo's Seafood Grill

I thought, "If anyone knows pizza, it's a teenager working for minimum wage on the Boardwalk!" That was good enough for Julie and me. We headed into Jumbo's and had a couple slices of pizza and some fried calamari... Oh, boy!

We had such a great time that I hated having to pack up and leave today. We met so many new and exciting people, including restaurant workers from Russia, Bulgaria, Greece, and many, many more places from throughout Europe. It was like visiting the United Nations except a lot cooler since we had the beach and the boardwalk, too.

I couldn't leave you without this one last picture...

"Wa, wa, wa, wa, watch the tra, tra, tra, tra, tram car, please."

Take care and Be Safe!
Dad

Lancaster (Pa) Central Market (07/16/11)

2011-07-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

My wife started her two week vacation with a little trip with me to one of our favorite Saturday locales - The Lancaster Central Market. We especially love this market around the Christmas Holiday when minstrels roam it's corridors bringing holiday joy to all the shoppers. There are also brass ensembles, local talented choirs, and many more who spread the holiday cheer among the thousands of shoppers that visit during the festive season.

Much work has gone into the Central Market over the past few years. New ventilation and lightening has really helped the overall atmosphere within the market itself. If you ever come to Lancaster, Pa., please make sure that you visit this historical treasure of ours.

"Keys For The City" places pianos in and around the city of Lancaster, Pa. Anyone can step up to one of these donated pianos and have at it. The past few weekends there has been a man playing the piano at the Central Market. When we were there two weeks ago, he and the piano were located by the North entrance to the market. Today, he was at the more popular East entrance with a brand new EZ pop up canopy shading him and a local bongo player from the hot sun.

How about some Otis Redding... Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay or a little rhythm and blues, Kansas City, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952 and sung by many, many performers since!

They look like they were having an excellent day by the donations stuffed into their fish bowl... :)

Keys To The City - Lancaster, Pa

Here is the facade of the East Entrance to the Lancaster Central Market

The Lancaster Central Market dwarfed on it's NE corner by the tallest building in Lancaster, Pa, The Greist Building. The Greist Building stands 14 stories high and was erected in 1925. It was designed by Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban.

I took this photo on the newly renovated loft inside the Lancaster Central Market. Can you smell all the delicious Lancaster County foods and all those fresh cut flowers?

Tomorrow morning, my wife and I will be heading southeast to Wildwood, NJ for a five day, much needed, vacation. The weather is suppose to be great - hot and humid... Just the way we like it when at the beach!

If you get the chance, look over at "My Blog List" and visit two new sites I posted there this week... Fatboy's and Steeler's Blogs. Both have great blog entries of fishing adventuresthat they take with friends and family and much more... I think you'll enjoy them.

So, until I return from vacation to the sunny New Jersey shore...

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Susquehanna River Black Fly Suppression Update (07/16/11)

2011-07-16T20:19:00.000-04:00

John WIlliams sent me a third memo on the ongoing Black Fly Suppression Program:

Subject: Black Fly Suppression
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:34:34 -0400

An aerial black fly suppression operation is scheduled for Monday, July 18 on the main stem of the Susquehanna River and Swatara Creek. This operation is scheduled to start at 0700 in the York County area. The treatment will continue North throughout the day ending in Selinsgrove. The counties involved in this treatment include Snyder, Northumberland, Juniata, Perry, Dauphin, Cumberland, and York Counties.

The treatment should be completed by late afternoon. Poor weather conditions and technical difficulties can delay or cause postponement of the operation.

Helicopter Applicators of Gettysburg will be conducting the operation with a blue and white Bell 205, tail number N658HA. Vectobac 12AS, a biological larvicide, is the control product that will be dispersed. The label and MSDS sheet for Vectobac 12AS are attached should you need more information on this product.

If you have any questions concerning this treatment or the Black Fly Suppression Program in general, please contact me at the number listed below.

Thank you,

Douglas Orr | Water Pollution Biologist III
Department of Environmental Protection
Southcentral Regional Office
909 Elmerton Avenue | Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: 717.705.4951 | Fax: 717.705.4930
www.depweb.state.pa.us<http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/>

Beautiful Weather, Great Day of Fishing (07/14/11)

2011-07-14T21:42:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

What a fantastic day to be on the water! I arose at 5:00 am and arrived at the ramp by 6:30 am. We have been having a scorching heat wave with unbearable heat and humidity. That all broke last evening and in a big way. The thermometer on my truck read 57 degrees on my 15 minute ride to Lake Aldred this morning.

I wasn't surprised at all to see three other trucks/trailers already in the parking lot when I arrived. Two more anglers arrived with their boat in tow while I was launching the G3. This was the day we were all waiting for... Lake Aldred at 168' and perfect weather. Let's go fishing!

I ran to the dam and got another pleasant surprise. The Safe Harbor Dam was only generating from one turbine and the current was just right. I was able to run to my favorite little corner of the lake and began tossing buzzbaits. Without a hit for over twenty minutes, I put the buzzbait down and picked up a War Eagle "Screamin' Eagle" with a Green Shad skirt in a 3/8th oz size. Let the games begin!

I almost immediately enticed a feisty 14" into taking my offering. It wasn't long before another grabbed and ran with it... Okay, somethings working and I'm not asking any questions.

My Lowrance showed the water temp at 79.2 degrees. It always seems a bit cooler this close to the dam. I believe that when the dam is generating electricity and pulling water from Lake Clarke, cooler water from the bottom passes through the turbines and is pushed into Lake Aldred, thus creating cooler temperatures.

My own personal theory without a bit of science to back it up. LOL!

Here's a fact that I do know. When Josh and I were fishing Lake Clarke on Monday, we had readings in the mid-80s.

The perfect conditions lasted for over two hours. In fact, I caught several smallies in that time and then this little treat hit...

A Largemouth up by the dam. Go figure!

Like I've said before, Jeff and I have been catching largemouth with size in and around the rock garden this year.

Here are a couple of videos I took this morning... Nothing special. Just hoping to catch a fish on camera... Which didn't happen. But you will be able to see just how beautiful the weather and water conditions were today...

The Safe Harbor Dam blew their Warning Siren several Times over the next hour. It seemed like they were pumping water through to maintain the lake level and then it would stop.

AT one point, I had a good two hours more to fish under prime conditions... Fantastic and a lot of fish came to hand!

A couple of helicopters were out inspecting the power lines today. I know that they visually check the lines and towers, but I do believe that they utilize apiece of equipment that helps detect electrical problems (?)... Just don't quote me on that one.

Right before the helicopter made it's second pass from the York to Lancaster County side of the river, I spotted two immature American Bald Eagles directly overhead. The first flew past before I was able to get my camera out for a shot. I always enjoy calling or attempting to call to the eagles. On occasion, they will return and circle above you most likely thinking, "What the heck does that human think he's doing anyway!?"

I've had surprising luck calling them back. This one returned screeching and circling above...

This was a multi-species day on the water. Not only did I catch my share of smallies today, but I also caught the largemouth and several catties. Yes, even the catties were taking my blades. I had numerous swipes by catfish and one that hit it like a freight train and eventually let the spinnerbait go.

That was one thing I noticed as soon as I arrived at the dam this morning... The catfish were jumping!

Here's what one smallie gave back to me after hitting my War Eagle... I got the blades and he got a face full of metal! :)

I got off the water around 1:30 pm. The air temp had risen to a nice and comfortable 82 degrees with bluebird skies. There was a brisk breeze on the water most the morning. I believe that you can hear it in the first two videos I took today. I would guess-timate that the east wind was blowing off and on at around 10 mph today.

Update: The J &T Boat vs. The S & K Boat (Day 2)

The teams headed above Harrisburg to one ramp where they had difficulty getting their boats off the trailers. So, they made a quick decision to hit the road and move closer to Harrisburg and into some mighty skinny water. (3.58' at the Harrisburg Gauge)

After a few hours of "no luck", the teams decided to head back to the location that they had fished yesterday in hopes of getting rid of the foul skunk odor in their jet rigs.

This was now their third ramp, but their luck didn't change. The J & T Boat smelled "Mr. Skunk" all day long. However, with persistence and some luck, the S & K Boat finally caught the only bass between all four anglers... Steve nailed a bass on a spinnerbait!

After two days of fishing, The J & T Boat ended their two day adventure with 7 smallies and the S & K Boat had four smallies and lunker (18" smallie).

Despite the friendly competition among friends and family, I would call all four anglers - Josh, Steve, Tyler, and Kayla - winners! It was nice seeing Steve taking his children on the water with a little help from his good friend, Josh Kreider.

This may have well been my last day on the water until after my knee replacement. Once I am well enough to get back on this computer, I will bring you some great blog entries regarding gear and tackle.

I want to thank all my visitors for their faithful following of "Fishing With Dad". I appreciate all the effort you make to repeatedly visit and share in my crazy, mixed-up world of fishing... Thanks!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Josh and Tyler, Steve and Kayla (07/13/11)

2011-07-13T15:56:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

Word out there is that Tyler got to fish with Josh this morning and Kayla fished with her dad, Steve. I haven't heard a report from the S & K Boat, but I did have a J & T Boat report at 8:30 am.

I text Josh early this morning and he was on the way to the ramp to meet up with the Steve (Ifishblades) Halbleib family. He was excited to finally get Tyler out in his boat and on the river fishing. I had the pleasure last year of taking Tyler out for a few days.

I checked in with the J & T Boat and found that they had four smallmouth in the first two hours of fishing. All their fish came on tubes. Knowing that they were fishing south of Harrisburg made it easier for me to believe that spinnerbaits weren't on. In fact, the one flat that I fished in this area a couple of weeks ago already had "snoot grass" in it. This usually doesn't arrive until late summer! Even if there were fish on that flat, it would have been difficult to find a lure that wouldn't be fouled up by that algae growth.

Once I get a report from the S & K Boat, I'll return here and give an update.

News Flash... Report just in from Steve of the S & K Boat.

The J & T Boat ended up with 7 smallmouth. Tyler had two 17" smallies and two smaller ones on tubes. I bet he's a pretty happy teenager right about now. Josh had three and that's all I'm going to say about that.

"On The Board!"

Second 17"er For Tyler!

The S & K Boat had 3 on spinnerbaits with a couple of swings and misses. Their best was an 18" smallie!

"In You Face J & T Boat!"

Sounds like we had one boat with the numbers (J & T) and the other had the "Big One" (S & K) of the day.

Miss Kayla struck out which is a rare occurrence for her. Last year, she put a hurting to Tyler in our first outing. What do you say, Tyler? "Paybacks are Sweet!"

I'll be trying to get out on Lake Aldred tomorrow morning. I was going to go today, but they dropped the bottom out once again at 163'... Top Level is 169'. That's a six foot drop... Simply amazing!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Susquehanna River At Long Level With Josh (07/11/11)

2011-07-11T15:34:00.003-04:00

Hello Folks,

Last evening, I had the opportunity to speak with Seth S. from Eastern Pa. Fishing Reports (EPFR). Seth was planning a day trip to the Conowingo Pond and wanted some details on the upper section of the lake. It was going to be his first trip to that section of the river. He had spoken earlier with Mike Phillips at Phillips Bait and Tackle regarding the Lock 12 area. My name came up in their conversation and Seth decide to get in touch with me by phone.

I hope he did well today!

I had my annual eye doctor appointment today at 8:45 am. and had absolutely no intention of hitting the water with dilated pupils. My plans more or less involved hitting my pool to stay cool on such a hot day. However, Josh gave sent me a text at 7:30 am. saying that Steve (Ifishblades) had family obligations and couldn't make it on the water with him today.

"Hmmmmmmmm... Maybe I can get in and out of the doc appointment quickly... Just maybe I can go fishing."

Josh was all for it and I quickly readied my gear and lunch and headed out the door to the eye doctor appointment.

Luck was definitely on my side today. I was the doctor's first morning patient and got in and out very quickly. Eyes fully dilated... sunglasses on... I hit the road to meet Josh at the Columbia, Pa. ramp.

Josh was fish-less when I text him that I was on my way. However, only a few seconds passed and I got another text with this pic attached...

A nice big cattie hammered Josh's spinnerbait. The catfish did a number on his spinnerbait by giving it a good twisting! That War Eagle took a beating, but was salvageable.

Josh soon arrived at the ramp and picked me and my gear up... "Boy, it was hot outside!"

We hit the general area where Josh caught his big cattie but we only connected with a pipsqueak of a smallmouth bass on a spinnerbait. A lot of smaller bass were chasing and hitting our lures, but no we had no other hookups..." Boy, it was hot outside!"

After about an hour or so of fishing, we headed to the west shoreline to find some much needed shade and to eat a lite lunch... "Boy, it was hot outside!"

After lunch, we decided, "The heck with this fishing stuff" and we headed into the "big waters" to take a beautiful afternoon boat ride to the Safe Harbor Dam and back, stopping along the way for some pics and to dip our toes in the water.

Josh giving the "Thumbs Up" sign as we head down river and into Lake Clarke...

You can tell by the pictures just how hazy it was today. The heat and humidity were unbearable. There was a warm southwest breeze that kicked up around 10:00 am. That breeze was not a cool breeze, but it gave some relief to an already hot and sticky day.

Can you name the hillside on the right of this pic?

Safe Harbor Dam from the Lake Clarke side. You are used to seeing it from the Lake Aldred side on many of my blog entries...

The RR built these aqueducts to prevent the tracks from being washed out by springs. There are several of these situated along the Lancaster County shoreline.

This particular waterfall cascades into about 9 feet of water.

These two windmills were built by Turkey Hill Dairy to provide power. They only went into operation this past year...

Cooling off the feet after standing on a hot boat all morning long!

By the way, did I mention "Boy, it was hot outside!"?

The temperature hit 92 degrees!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

p.s. I forgot to mention that we saw three mature American Bald Eagles today. Two were hanging together in the rock gaden below Columbia and the other was down by the Safe Harbor Dam. I thought the one by the dam may have been one of the eagles we see down at Lake Aldred during our fishing trips.

Susquehanna River Black Fly Suppression Update (07/09/11)

2011-07-09T19:00:00.000-04:00

John Williams sent me an update on the Susquehanna River Black Fly Suppression Program:

Subject: Black Fly Suppression
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2011 14:09:32 -0400

An aerial black fly suppression operation is scheduled for Monday, July 11 and Tuesday July 12 on the Juniata River, Conewago Creek, Swatara Creek, Conodoguinet Creek, Sherman Creek, Aughwick Creek, Penns Creek, Middle Creek and Mahantango Creek. This operation is scheduled to start at approximately 0700 in the York County area Monday morning. The treatment will continue up the Juniata River valley and end some-time Tuesday in the Selinsgrove area. The counties involved in this treatment include York, Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry, Juniata, Mifflin, Huntingdon, Snyder, Union and Northumberland Counties. Poor weather conditions and technical difficulties can delay or cause postponement of the operation.

Helicopter Applicators of Gettysburg will be conducting the operation with a Bell 206, tail number N653HA. Vectobac 12AS, a biological larvicide, is the control product that will be dispersed. The label and MSDS sheet for Vectobac 12AS are attached should you need more information on this product.

If you have any questions concerning this treatment or the Black Fly Suppression Program in general, please contact me at the number listed below.

Thank you,

Douglas Orr | Water Pollution Biologist III
Department of Environmental Protection
Southcentral Regional Office
909 Elmerton Avenue | Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: 717.705.4951 | Fax: 717.705.4930
www.depweb.state.pa.us

Susquehanna River Black Fly Suppression (07/07/11)

2011-07-07T13:58:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I received this email from my good fishing buddy, John Williams, last evening. So, if you see helicopters buzzing overhead while on the river... Beware! :)

Subject: Black Fly Suppression
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 16:54:46 -0400

An aerial black fly suppression operation is scheduled for Thursday, July 7 on the main stem of the Susquehanna River. This operation is scheduled to start at 0700 in the Selinsgrove area. The treatment will continue South throughout the day ending in York County. The counties involved in this treatment include Snyder, Northumberland, Juniata, Perry, Dauphin, Cumberland, and York Counties.

The treatment should be completed by late afternoon. Poor weather conditions and technical difficulties can delay or cause postponement of the operation.

Helicopter Applicators of Gettysburg will be conducting the operation with a blue and white Bell 205, tail number N658HA. Vectobac 12AS, a biological larvicide, is the control product that will be dispersed. The label and MSDS sheet for Vectobac 12AS are attached should you need more information on this product.

If you have any questions concerning this treatment or the Black Fly Suppression Program in general, please contact me at the number listed below.

Thank you,

Douglas Orr | Water Pollution Biologist III
Department of Environmental Protection
Southcentral Regional Office
909 Elmerton Avenue | Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: 717.705.4951 | Fax: 717.705.4930www.depweb.state.pa.us

Take Care and Be Safe,

Dad

Solo Fishing Trip to Lake Aldred on the Susquehanna River (07/06/11)

2011-07-06T21:46:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Last night's weather report was showing that today was suppose to be extremely hot and humid. I can vouch for the weatherman. He got this one right! :)

I arose at 5:00 am with my wife. She was preparing to return to work after a combination of vacation and holiday vacation. She was off for nine straight days after working 20 of 21 days in a row... She's a total working machine! We ate breakfast together before she headed off to work.

I didn't want to travel far so I chose to go to Lake Aldred today which is only about 15 minutes down the road from my home. Before heading south to the river, I needed to stop for gasoline for the boat.

Have you been noticing that our gasoline prices have started to rise once again? Prices seemed to have started rising during the long 4th of July weekend and they are still rising. I thought President Obama released some of the oil reserve to hold the price of gasoline down for the summer... He did, but I guess the gasoline companies and OPEC are now showing us who's boss!

I arrived at the ramp around 6:30 am and prepared to launch my jet rig... unplug the trailer lights, unsnap the back straps, unhook the rubber straps holding my 115/80 in place, place the key in the ignition switch, place the rods on the front deck, uncover and turn on the front depth finder, turn on the console depth finder, attach the rope to the boat and trailer so I can solo launch, hook up my small speakers to my cell phone... Gotta have country music playing on Pandora! I'm sure I left something out, but as you can see I definitely have a set routine I follow while preparing the boat to launch.

Usually when I'm on the water and preparing to return to the ramp, I'll stow all my rods and tackle before I leaving. This saves me a lot of time when I return to the ramp. The faster I can get on the road heading home, the better, especially on such a hot and humid day like today!

The water level at the ramp was well below "recreational level" this morning. I guess people only recreate on the weekends... LOL!

Since I only caught small fish today and didn't take pictures of 14" and smaller smallmouth bass, I decided to take a few shots of indicators to show you the drastic drop in Lake Aldred's water level from last evening.

This area, on the average, is the worst "Young of Year" (YoY) river site reported by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. During the spawn, things can go south really fast if the water drops like this. If a fish spawns in the shallows and the dams draw down like they did today, the eggs will be left high and dry... It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this may be a major issue for Lake Aldred's smallmouth bass population.

Take note to the water marks on the boulders. The marks were in the range of 4-5' in height.

A closer view of the same boulders. Notice the smaller rock in the front. This rock is normally underwater.

I use certain boulders as indicators for when the water starts to drop. My normal indicators were all well out of the water today.

The water temp was 79-80 degrees today. Water clarity was the typical "Lake Aldred Green". The Safe Harbor Dam was generating from two to three gates and providing a strong current on the east side of the river and along the Conestoga River channel.

It was a very hazy and sultry day. I had started sweating at the ramp while getting the boat ready and I don't think I stopped until I was heading home in my air conditioned truck... Phew! It was seriously importnat to stay hydrated today while fishing. It was 73 degrees this morning when I arrived at the ramp and it rose to 90 degrees by 1:00 pm.

I arrived home just in time to beat an afternoon thunderstorm and down pour. I didn't even see this storm coming when I was preparing the boat for towing at the ramp. It came up quickly and left just as fast.

I used my Big O crankbait, Winco Smallmouth Special Spinnerbait, Cotton Cordell Super Spot (lipless crankbait), and a tube. The only lure that caught fish was the Big O in Firetiger (The Ugly Bait).

Side Note: Dell and I will be attending a memorial service tomorrow for Betty Doan. Betty was an art teacher and elementary principal for the Penn Manor School District. She was diagnosed at the age of 18 with breast cancer. She was not expected to live, but defied all odds and lived an additional 45 years!

Betty was the wife of our very good friend, fellow teacher, and middle school principal, Harry Doan. Harry and Betty had two terrific sons... Jamie and Kurt.

If you find it in your heart, please keep Harry, Jamie, and Kurt in your thoughts and prayers as they learn to adjust to a life without Betty.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Finally... Back On The Water With Josh (July 3, 2011)

2011-07-05T17:21:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

It's been seven days since my last adventure on the Susquehanna River. The last trip I made ended with a "Big Skunking". I was determined not to allow that to happen once again. So, Josh and I chose a site above Harrisburg, Pa. that normally holds a decent number of smallmouth bass during this time of year.

The biggest factor of catching fish is finding fish. That doesn't always guarantee success, but it sure does increase your chances tremendously.

What I found hard to believe, being that it was the 4th of July weekend, was that there was absolutely no one else at the ramp. Not a single shoreline or boating angler.

We did have a terrible set of thunderstorms pass through our area at 3:00 am that may have caused some to give up on their plans. In fact, Josh and I were going to meet at 5:00 am, but held off until 6:00 am until the storms passed through.

We decided to stop for breakfast before running north. During breakfast, we kept a close watch on the weather report on the restaurant's television and also on our cell phones' "Weatherbug" app.

Things seem to be settling down. We hit the road and made it to the ramp by 7:00 am. A little later than we would have liked, but not too bad.

As we were crossing the Clarks Ferry Bridge on Rt. 322/22, we noticed that both shorelines were muddy. The river beyond the shorelines looked much better, but stained. We weren't sure what to expect once we reached the ramp.

As we were pulling into the driveway to the launch, a downpour hit us... Oh, boy! It only lasted a few minutes, but I put my Frogg Toggs on just to be safe and keep my butt dry until the rain water evaporated off the boat.

What we found at the ramp was pretty similar to what we saw while crossing the bridge... muddy shoreline and heavily stained towards the middle. That put a damper on my thoughts about tossing a buzzbait over ledges first thing.

Instead, I opted for a 3/8th oz. Winco Smallmouth Special Spinnerbait with a white/ chartreuse skirt and a large hammered bronze willow leaf blade and smaller chrome Colorado blade. Josh chose to throw a 1/2 oz. War Eagle in a mouse skirt.

I got on the board after about twenty minutes with a nice 15" fatty. It was a good fish, but we knew there were bigger fish to be had.

Within and few minutes, the first of our larger fish, a hefty 18" smallie, nailed the Winco spinnerbait...

We decided to make the productive drift again. In the same area that I caught the first two, another 18" smallie hit and stripped line off my new KVD 7:1 baitcaster reel...

"Okay, Josh, it's your turn."

I told him that once he catches that first fish, he'll have figured what he needs to do to catch more. He finally got on the board and he was off to the races.

It was a hazy, hot, and humid morning. We were both enjoying the solitude of the river and the lack of boats and noise.

Running upriver first thing in the morning...

One of many islands and cuts to be found in the area where we were fishing.

Water level picture showing the coloration and clarity of the water. It had a heavily stained look to it.

Here's a picture of Josh "working" a feisty smallmouth back to the boat. He was in full concentration as his rod bent and the fish pulled hard trying to dig towards the bottom of the river.

I tried many lures throughout the day. As you can see by the picture below, I have an arsenal of stained water tackle to use in search of large smallmouth bass on the Susquehanna River.

Baitcaster Setups - Spinnerbait, Big O (Firetiger), and a Cotton Cordell Super Spot

Spinning Setups - Buzzbait, tube, and Winco Wacky Stick (Green Pumpkin)

Here's a beautiful smallie nestled in Josh's rubberized net. Rubberized nets are great tools to use to protect your catch. There's a slight trick in using them... Place the net downriver and allow your partner to "guide" the smallmouth into the net. Try not to "stab" at the fish. This will avoid the risk of knocking the bass off the hook. Allow the fish to fully lay in the net without lifting it with your rod. Once in the net, Smallmouth tend to "relax" as they lay on the soft rubber.

Josh caught a very healthy looking 17" smallie after changing his spinnerbait and adding chartreuse to the skirt... The Ticket!

The Spinnerbait!

Not only was he now "on fire", but look at this pigbeast... A 19.25" on the same spinnerbait! Way to go, Josh.

Yes, Josh caught the biggest fish of the day and he didn't fail to let me know this... over and over and over... LOL!

I caught a pic of Josh with his last fish of the day as he was carefully removing the spinnerbait from it's lip.

What a great day to be on the water! We weren't sure what to expect when we first arrived and saw the mud line running down the shoreline and no boats in the parking lot. Maybe they knew something that we didn't?

The air temp was a steamy 71 degrees in the morning and rose to 92 degrees by 2:30 pm... Yowser! I was a sweaty mess until a southern breeze kicked in after lunch and help cool us down.

The water was muddy to heavily stained at 79-80 degrees. As the day progressed, the water clarity became better and the very visible mud line dissipated.

There were a ton of kayak paddlers on the river. More and more seem to come the longer we fished. I appreciated that they respected our fishing and stayed a good distance away. I believe everyone up Rt. 11/15 owns a kayak and in a multitude of colors. :)

We ended our day around 2:45 pm and headed back to Lancaster County. I invited Josh over to my home after he put his jet rig in the garage. He accepted my invitation and came down for grilled chicken and corn on the cob, plus a dip in the pool.

A perfect way to end the day!

Side Notes:

Jeff and his wife Penny were fishing Lake Aldred on Sunday in the early evening and got chased off by a terrible thunderstorm that skirted just south of our home.

While on the river, they were able to get some great shots of an immature American Bald Eagle:

Take note to the speckled coloring of the immature...

Here are some pretty "ugly" looking storm clouds that Jeff and Penny had to drive through on their way home.

...and my favorite... Notice the dark cloud line running up and down this pic.

While Jeff and Penny were out on Lake Aldred, they encountered this tremendous water torrent released by the Safe Harbor Dam. Be aware, Jeff uses a few expletives ("Potty Mouth") in his description of what he was witnessing on a "recreational holiday". You will hear him say that the dams lowered and raised the water level approximately 4' in the time he and Penny were on the river... Simply amazing!

After viewing this video, you will have no doubt when I say it can be rather dangerous fishing in this area. If you go to Lake Aldred, be very careful and heed all warning sirens at the Safe Harbor Dam.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Living Vicariously Through My Friends (06/29/11)

2011-06-29T19:44:00.001-04:00

Hell Folks,

Thank goodness I have some very good fishing buddies who I can depend on to keep me informed of what's happening on the river almost on a daily basis... And for that, I thank them tremendously!

I've been kept busy this week with Penn Manor Youth Basketball Summer Camp. We have two sessions per day. In the morning, the younger 3rd to 5th graders attend. The 6th through 9th graders attend in the afternoon.

I always have a lot of fun doing summer bball camp. It helps keep me young. But my age keeps showing through during the evenings and the next morning. Sore as can be, I roll out of bed and like an old race horse, I have to walk a bit before I start to limber up.

Remind me to tell you of an old horse named "Blue" that I used to ride back in a college "Horsemanship" class at Millersville University for Phys. Ed. credits. Blue had arthritis, too. I'll just leave it at that for the moment. :)

Jeff and Matt have been keeping me updated on what's happening on Susquehanna River. We had a spike in the water level this past week, but it is slowly falling once again.

Safe Harbor Dam has been generating heavily almost around the clock... "Mo' Water, Mo' Money!" When I'm fishing with Dell and the safety siren goes off to warn boaters of a new water surge at the Safe Harbor Dam, he jokes with me by asking what does that siren mean and I always yell out, "Mo' Water, Mo' Money!" :)

The water flow below the dam can be quite treacherous and it requires someone with a bit of geographical knowledge and know how to navigate the rock garden safely with a 80 - 101 lb. thrust trolling motor. But if one can do so, they will reap the rewards of some very decent fishing.

What we have been finding this year are largemouth bass up in the rocks. Not that we haven't found them before, but this year we have been catching LM with better size.

Here are two nice size largemouth bass that Jeff and Penny nailed this past Sunday. The first is a 17" and the second is a 16".

For those who are not familiar with the difference between a smallmouth bass and a largemouth bass, please take note of the markings and coloration of the largemouth bass that Jeff is holding in these two pics. Then go back into the blog entries and look closely at the marking and coloration of a smallmouth bass.

You will find that a largemouth has a greener tint to it and pronounced lateral line on it's side. The LM bass' large upper jaw extends past it's eye.

17" Largemouth Bass

Hopefully, I'll be back on the water soon after basketball camp ends. But until then, I want to once again thank Jeff and Matt for keeping me well informed and updated. Their help is greatly appreciated and I love sharing the pics of my friends!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Hello Mr. Stinky... SKUNK! (06/25/11)

2011-06-25T19:16:00.003-04:00

Hello Folks,

No good pics to show today... Nope! Not one bite in four hours of fishing and it made for a very slow day of fishing and a strong desire to get off the water and go home. There will be better days... Guaranteed!

Don't be fooled here. I truly thought for a split second about lying through my pearly whites and telling you all that I caught a ton of smallies today. But alas, I couldn't lie to my devoted followers without feeling a guilt that would once again keep me awake all night. Two nights without sleep would have been a true killer. :)

5:00 am. came awfully fast this morning after a night of broken sleep. I was wrestling all night long with whether I should take the chance and go fishing or not. There was a chance of morning showers. Every time I would wake up, I would check the Weather Channel to see what the Doppler radar was showing. I think I was checking the radar in my sleep. LOL!

As 5:00 am. arrived, there was absolutely no bad weather showing. "I'm going solo fishing!"

The boat and gear was prepped the night before and all I had to do after getting downstairs was to hook up the boat, prepare my lunch, grab a bite for breakfast, and take my morning medications.

The air temperature was 63 degrees on the truck thermometer and the sky was mostly clear. The humidity had broken after the Cold Front moved through last evening... Ah, a Cold Front after a week of hot and humid weather that brought numerous thunderstorms!

Two strikes... Cold Front and Blue Bird Skies in a post-spawn pattern. Sounds like a formula for disaster.

I arrived at the ramp around 7:15 am and readied the boat for launching.

This was my first trip to this spot in 2011. I usually have fished here at least a half dozen times by now, but the high waters and bad weather has kept me away. I guess with the results I had, I should have stayed away a bit longer... LOL!

Even my favorite grass bed failed to yield a single bite. This spot usually gives me a couple of quality bass. Several years ago, I caught two 20" smallmouth bass off of this grass bed. Today... Nothing!

The wind was relatively calm when I arrived at the grass bed and the sky was clear. The middle of the river was dingy brown... Hmmmmmm. Strike three!

The water temperature was 74 degrees and the water level at Harrisburg's river gauge was showing 4.05' and rising.

This is the view I had first thing this morning. Even the background country music didn't entice the bass to bite. Did I ever ever tell you that I have on good source that smallmouth bass love country music?... That's a secret between me and you. Shhhhhhhh. ;)

I tossed everything but the proverbial kitchen sink... buzzbait, spinnerbaits, tubes, Winco Wacky Stick Jrs., jerkbaits, nose hooked soft plastic jerkbaits, crankbaits, and lipless crankbaits.

From top to bottom and I couldn't buy a bite.

Oh, well... I believe I try Lake Aldred tomorrow for a few hours. Despite the lack of success today, I feel drained. Maybe this is a the side effect of a very disappointing day. I waited all week to get a day that was safe from thunderstorms and Mr. Skunk came for a visit. Pee You!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Jet Boat Owners... Beware! (06/23/11)

2011-06-23T19:26:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

How many of my fellow Pennsylvanians have seen jet boat owners running their rigs while standing?

What you see Josh doing here is legal because he is operating his jet rig at a "No Wake" speed. However, had he been standing and going any faster, he would be a candidate for a fine by a WCO. Why? Well read on:

In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to...

Operate a watercraft in a reckless, negligent or dangerous manner. Boats must be operated at a rate of speed that does not endanger the life or property of any person.

Operate a boat at greater than slow, no wake speed within 100 feet of the shoreline, docks, launch ramps, swimmers or downed skiers, persons wading in the water, anchored, moored or drifting boats and floats. Slow, no-wake speed is the slowest possible speed of a motorboat required to maintain maneuverability so that the wake or wash created by the motorboat on the surface is minimal.

Operate a motorboat less than 20 feet in length at greater than slow no-wake while a person is standing on or in the boat.

Operate a motorboat not equipped with railings or other safeguards at greater than slow, no-wake while a person is riding on the bow decking, gunwales, transom or motor covers.

Cause a boat to become airborne or to leave the water completely while crossing another boat’s wake when within 100 feet of the boat creating the wake.

Weave through congested traffic.

Operate faster than slow, no-wake when within 100 feet to the rear or 50 feet to the side of another boat that is underway, unless in a narrow channel.

Operate within 100 feet of anyone towed behind another boat.

Operate a pontoon boat while a person is riding outside the passenger-carrying area.

Operate a motorboat with anyone sitting, riding or hanging on a swim platform or swim ladder attached to the boat.

How about this one:

Operate a motorboat not equipped with railings or other safeguards at greater than slow, no-wake while a person is riding on the bow decking, gunwales, transom or motor covers.

How many times have you seen some go flying upriver with their partner still sitting on the bow deck chair. I see this quite often and cringe every time. In my minds eye, I can see that partner go flying overboard when the boat comes to an abrupt halt after hitting that submerged "goonie".

I guess my advice would be to read and know your "Boating Handbook" before operating any motor craft on your waterway. Ignorance is not an excuse.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Happy Birthday, Tom Jr. (06/23/11)

2011-06-23T19:09:00.000-04:00

Hello folks,

It doesn't seem like 27 years ago, but it was! Julie was admitted at St. Joe's Hospital in Lancaster, Pa. to have a C-section and Thomas Edward Boyd, Jr. was born.

Today, our "baby" is 6'5" tall and we are so very proud of him and the great man he has become. He is kind, loving, and caring. Attributes that will get him far in life.

Happy Birthday, Tom Jr. We love you very much!

Mom and Dad

Last 20 Visitors to "Fishing With Dad" (06/22/11)

2011-06-22T11:21:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

I have said this before and I'll say it again, "I am simply amazed by the locations that my visitors come from!"

Take a gander at the last twenty visitors to "Fishing With Dad"...

1
United States York, Pennsylvania
2
Unknown
3
Taiwan Pingtung, T'ai-wan
4
Unknown
5
Unknown
6
Canada Toronto, Ontario
7
Unknown
8
Unknown
9
United States York, Pennsylvania
10
United States
11
Unknown
12
United States Seattle, Washington
13
United States
14
Unknown
15
Qatar Doha, Ad Dawhah
16
United States York, Pennsylvania
17
Japan Nagoya, Aichi
18
United States York, Pennsylvania
19
United States Sparrows Point, Maryland
20
United States Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

Not only do we have visitors from around the USA, but from around the world! Canada, Qatar, Japan, and Taiwan, just to mention in the last twenty visits. We get approximately 20 hits per day here. I am humbled to think that some of my visitors from other countries keep returning to "Fishing With Dad" to view the reports, enjoy the pictures, and to share in my life experiences.

A big "THANK YOU" to all visitors and friends who encourage me to continue posting entries on my blog.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Happy Birthday, Amanda Marie (06/21/11)

2011-06-22T11:13:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

29 years ago, my beautiful daughter and first born child, Amanda Marie, was born. She had the perfect head because Julie had a C-section. Not only that, but she also had a full head of dark hair. She was just perfect.

After about two weeks, Amanda started to have physical problems. We later found out that her heart's left ventricle was not developed. The "pinhole" between the ventricles was slowly closing and Amanda's blood supply was starting to backup and become acidic.

We had absolutely no idea that she was experiencing such a terrible condition. We took her to the hospital where she was born and a pediatrician met us at the Emergency Room. His initially diagnosis was that she had a cold... Yea, sure. After I told him that she had x-rays taken after her birth due to a small palate, he decided to have another x-ray of her chest taken. That is when we received the bad news.

We had her transported to Penn State's Children's Hospital Neonatal Unit in Hershey, Pa. where she past away the morning of July 6, 1982. She was fifteen days old and ill for only two days.

Our daughter would have been 29 years old yesterday on the first day of summer, June 21, 1982. It feels like this all happened yesterday.

My wife and youngest son, Zach, joined me yesterday evening for a trip to the cemetery to visit Amanda's grave. Afterwards, we traveled a short distance to view the grave site of our first Boyd settler in the United States. His name was Samuel and he was a Quaker. He is buried at the Wakefield (Pa) Friends Meeting Hall.

The Quakers initially did not place markers on their graves. They did keep accurate records of burial sites and in 1936, in honor of Samuel Boyd as a founding father of the Meeting Hall, past descendants placed a marker at his grave.

Unlike most Christian cemeteries, there is a rule in this cemetery that states no marker shall be higher than 22".

It is hard to believe that Samuel made the trek to America from Ireland when he was 53 years old. I can only imagine what this countryside looked like in 1736, forty years before the American Revolution.

Samuel and Agnes had nine children, eight sons and one daughter. A good healthy stock of boys to help farm the rolling river hills of Lancaster County. He had one son, Alexander, who drowned in Fishing Creek.

Yes, my family has been here since pre-Revolution era and we had relatives, such as, Captain John Boyd, who fought for our freedom. His wife has a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) plague on her grave site near Chestnut Level, Pa.

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Jeff and Penny On The River (06/19/11)

2011-06-20T14:56:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

My good fishing buddy, Jeff, and his wife, Penny, made it to the river yesterday for a few hours of late Spring fishing. Summer starts tomorrow and we will be saying "Adios!" to the cold (11 degrees below average at the start), hot (2 heat waves), windy (tornadoes), and wet (flooding river) Spring of 2011.

We had a lot of cold and wet early Spring days. The river rose numerous times into the "Flood Stage" and above. It kept us off the river for quite a large number of days.

I was able to get on the water 22 of the last 122 days. I would have been out even more, but the weather kept many of us from enjoying what we like to do... Fish for smallmouth bass.

Jeff emailed me last evening with several pics of their outing. If you remember from an early blog entry this Spring, I had caught a 19" largemouth in what is normally "Smallieland". Well, Jeff was able to hook into a beautiful 20" largemouth just a bit north of where I caught mine. He told me that it was the one I caught, but it had grown another inch... LOL!

Penny and Jeff caught sight of the mature American Bald Eagle that lives in this general area along with several smaller immatures. Here is a pic that they took as the eagle perched on a railing at guard over the Susquehanna River.

The next shot that Penny and Jeff sent me is that of Jeff holding a very healthy smallmouth bass. Jeff owns a Tracker Inboard Jet with a 175 hp engine... Here he is sitting on the back deck holding the smallmouth.

My buddy, Dell, runs summer basketball camp for the Penn Manor School District. The camp will run from Monday, June 27 through Thursday, June 30, 2011. Because of the problem with my left knee, I'll only be helping him with all the peripheral tasks like t-shirt distribution and snack bar. When the boys are in bball sessions, I'll do whatever I can to assist the coaches.

Camp is great summer activity for the boys. We run a morning session for younger children and an afternoon session for the older boys. We often get some of the JV and Varsity players to assist in teaching fundamental skills to the youngsters. We have a ton of fun.

On one of the camp days, the varsity coach, Charlie Detz, comes into the gym to talk with the boys and promote Penn Manor basketball. the boys always look forward to his visit and inspirational talk.

Sports Illustrated Vault (1994) - Charlie Detz

Charlie Detz Takes Over Penn Manor Basketball 2008

This is one area of my life I need to leave behind after my surgery. At least the playing part. I have played basketball almost my entire life and it will be hard not to run up and down the court with the boys ever again. I am sure I'll mourn the loss in my own way.

I will begin my journey towards surgery starting next Wednesday at 9:30 am. That is the appointment time for my pre-op chest x-ray, EKG, and lab blood work. I will then have a PHC physician appointment on July 7 for a pre-op check-up. If all goes well, it will be a go for surgery on July 26, 2011.

Julie and I have a planned vacation to Wildwood, NJ. the week prior to my surgery. Hopefully, I'll be able to relax a bit and prepare mentally for the surgery which will be the following week.

I better get out there and fish some more before then! :)

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Go North... Old Man! (06/18/11)

2011-06-18T20:55:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

After fishing the last several outings on the Lower Susquehanna River, I was invited by Pete Hanford to "Go North" above Harrisburg, Pa. to fish with him today. I rarely turn down an invitation to fish with Pete and today was no exception.

After the hour and a half drive north, I met Petey at the ramp at 6:30 am. It was quite foggy on the river this morning. The air temp was in the mid-60's and the water temp had cooled to 69 degrees overnight. We also had thunderstorms pass through last evening which assisted in the cooling. But above the fog, there was a nice blue sky.

Because of the morning fog, Petey took it nice and slow as we crossed the river to several mid-river islands. The water was dirty from what the North Branch was delivering into the main stem.

The west shore was relatively clear, but began to stain up as the day progressed.

Petey found a good spot to start fishing, stopped the motor and dropped the trolling motor. He had a quick hit on a bronze bladed spinnerbait. The fish went airborne and threw Pete's spinnerbait. I found that hard to believe since he had a trailer hook attached. But such things happen. From what we could tell, it was a pretty decent size fish.

I soon got on the board with a 16" smallie while tossing a chartreuse bladed Stanley spinnerbait. This blade has seen better days (It's even slightly bent), but it still produces and and is one of my favorite lures in stained to dirty water.

You can still tell there is fog in the background of the above pic.

As we were drifting past one of the islands, we heard the loud shrieks of an American Bald Eagle perched high in a tree. We looked for that majestic bird, but couldn't locate it. However, as we were making our way to finding a shaded spot for lunch, the mature bald eagle flew out from the same island... Just Beautiful!

This pic is of Pete working his spinnerbait as the sun began to brake through the morning fog.

We tried numerous lures today: Spinnerbaits with different manufacturers, colored skirts, and styles of blades, Berkley Havoc, 3.5" Craw D'oeuvre, Winco's Warm Water Smallie Delight (WWSD), Winco's Predator Craw, Winco's Wacky Worm Stick Jr., Several different colored tubes, crankbaits, Cotton Cordell Supper Spot, Case Sinkin' Salty Shad (SSS), and the Zoom Super Fluke.

As you can see by the number of lures we tossed today, the "River Gods" made us work for each and every fish that came to hand. We were certainly up for the post-spawn challenge!

A beautiful and healthy Susquehanna River smallmouth comes to hand with the help of the SSS!

We ate our lunch around 11:30 am. after locating this gorgeous spot in between several islands. Great location and ambiance, Petey! :)

Pete was having a hay day on smaller bass with his tube jig. Here is one of the larger smallies that fell for this legendary lure.

Both Petey and I had good luck throwing spinnerbaits today. Petey even gave a white skirted, three bladed spinnerbait a go and look what happened.

I had success throwing a Winco 3/8th oz Specialty Smallmouth Spinner Bait with a hammered gold blade. This lure brought a number of fish into the boat today.

Clouds were starting to roll in after lunch and gave us some relief from the hot late-Spring sun. The air temp had risen into the upper 70s and there was only a trace of a breeze blowing across the cool water.

We ended our day on the water at 2:00 pm.

I would like to thank Petey for taking me once again on a great adventure on the main stem in the SSS Green Cloud. I always get a kick out of how many lures we go through together as we seek out smallies. I believe that between the two of us, we definitely own a small tackle shop... LOL!

Thanks, Pete!

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Post Spawn and Cold Front Blues (06/16/11)

2011-06-16T17:43:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Post spawn is in full swing. I've been out twice this week with the biggest smallie measuring only 17 inches. A cold front moved in today and Zach and I thought we would try our luck to see if we could time it right.

What we found was that only the smaller fish were hitting.

The air temp on the way to the ramp at 6:45 am. was only 61 degrees. We came off the water at noon and the air temp had only risen to 65 degrees.

The water temperature held steady throughout the day at 70 degrees which is a drop of approximately 4 degrees since Tuesday... Not good with a cold front approaching.

The rain held off until 10:30 am. A light drizzle accompanied by a strong southern wind began and held on for about 20 minutes. It was just enough to make us don our rain gear to stay dry. Showers resumed later at 11:50 am. The second round of showers came on heavier and lasted for an extended period of time. We were already i the process of stowing gear for the ride back to the ramp and glad that we had our rain gear on.

We did find fish, but they were all in the 12 to 14" range... Nothing to write home about. Some were immature bass that were feeding. The big mommas seem to be in the "Post Spawn Blues" and hanging low.

The Safe Harbor Dam was producing a lot of electricity today. There were four generators pushing water through the turbines at a high volume. It was virtually impossible to stay just below the dam and fish today due to the very heavy current.

That suited us just fine as we negotiated the "Rock Garden" in search of bass.

Zach coaxed this feisty smallie into hitting his 1/2 oz. chartreuse bladed spinnerbait.

This little guy came to hand after attacking my 3/8th oz. Big O "Ugly Bait" (Firetiger).

As you can see, these were not the monster fish that we were catching in early Spring during pre-spawn and staging. There are some larger fish being caught north of us, but Safe Harbor seems to be rather slow right now.

I never get too concerned because I know that this "Post Spawn Blues" will only hang around for a few weeks and then slowly leave us for summertime bassin'.

Update: Thirty years ago, I had injured my left knee during a Judo competition. That injury resulted in the reconstruction on my left knee by Dr. James O'Neil.

Fast Forward 30 Years: On March 10, 2011, Dr. Tymon x-rayed my knees and determined that my left knee was definitely in trouble. He gave me a cortisone shot and asked me to keep him informed.

Well, the injection took hold in about a week, but only lasted for about a month... Not Good! Success is usually gauged by a six month period of relief.

Therefore, I contacted Dr. Tymon's office and set up a second appointment which took place yesterday. After reviewing the results of the cortisone shot and re-checking the previous x-ray, Dr. Tymon asked me how I felt about a total knee replacement.

I told him that I would rather do it now while I'm relatively young and healthy. He agreed.

I am now scheduled for a total knee replacement of my left knee on July 26, 2011.

My wife and I will be on vacation the week prior to the surgery... Good timing.

The surgeon's office arranged my pre-op lab work and EKG today. If all goes well, I'll be sporting a new knee by the end of next month. I'll be "home bound" for a two week period afterward. The physical therapist and a visiting nurse will come to my home for aftercare.

As time goes on and if things go well, the knee will feel and perform better day by day... Oh, Boy!

Col. Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man) will have nothing on me! :)

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Finally... Lake Aldred With Jeff (06/14/11)

2011-06-15T12:39:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks,

Finally, Lake Aldred has opened after a three week closure due to the Holtwood Dam placing "safety" buoys and flashboards upon the dam. The buoys are warnings to boaters that they are nearing (Stay Out) an overflow dam and the flashboards actually hold back water so that the lake can reach recreation level of 169.75'.

Yesterday was a first for Jeff and me. Jeff was my guest on the 1860 DLX G3. He told me during our outing that this was his first trip on another boat in over 20 years! I hope he had a lot of fun "riding" along, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful day.

And what a beautiful day it was... 55 degrees on my truck thermometer as I drove to the ramp yesterday morning at 6:00 am. We've been having stifling 90+ degree heat during the last week and that has all changed now. The air temp only rose to 71 degrees yesterday while we were on the water. In fact, as I was driving home at 2:30 pm., I noted on my truck thermometer a 69 degree reading while driving along a hollow and a local creek. It rose to 71 degrees as I climbed to higher heights.

I told Jeff I would meet him at 6:30 am., but I was running a bit late and arrived at the ramp around 6:40 am. I hurried to ready the boat and launched from the east shoreline. I then traveled across the river to pick up Jeff at the Holtwood Dam's York Furnace Launch.

Jeff had his video camera along for the day and although a bit rough, he was able to capture a few decent videos. "Hey, we're amateurs!"

Here is a pretty neat video of us boating up the Conestoga Channel. Take note to the right side of the video. We scared a blue heron out of the trees and then right above it, an immature eagle took off. As the video progresses, you'll see a mature eagle in flight. We were able to see three eagles yesterday while moving in and around the rock garden below the Safe Harbor Dam.

In the above video, we are moving along the water at about 35 mph. I have a 115/80 Yamaha Jet OB pushing a G3 1860 DLX. This boat is now ten years old and well-balanced as you can tell in the first video. It is crucial to balance a jet OB rig to get maximum performace and shallow running.

The Safe Harbor Dam website posted that the water would be at 170' and rising to about 172' by 5:00 pm. yesterday. However, when I arrived at the launch, I noticed that the water was about 1/2 way down the concrete ramp. I knew at that time that the water wasn't quite up to the 170' mark. (Take note to the comment I make at the end of the second video).

Before I arrived at the ramp, Jeff had already caught a smallmouth on a spinnerbait. That, my friends, was a good sign!

"Here's the Proof!"

Jeff got on the board first from the boat and caught a nice 15" smallie. It took me awhile to finally hook up on a Cotton Cordell Big O in Firetiger... "The Ugly Bait"!

The water was 73 degrees and quite dirty. I wouldn't call it muddy, but it was on the cusp of turning that way. I believe that as the day progressed, the water clarity actually became worse.

But we were able to salvage the day with quite a few smallmouth by using a chartreuse bladed spinnerbait and the "Ugly Bait".

Jeff's 16" smallie fell for his spinnerbait!

The "Big Boy" of the day was a 17" smallmouth caught on the crankbait.

Another angle of the 17" taken by the Big O.

We worked our way in and among the many rocks that scatter below the Safe Harbor Dam, picking and bumping whatever we can.

Check out this smallie that was taken on a Lockett Minnow that Jeff dyed with blue Spike-It Dip-N-Glo. He was attempting to match the purple color that we were having success on during several trips. Although he told me that it hadn't worked for him, it sure looks like this fish fell to it's bright and shiny glitter!

We had a N to NW wind all day long. It was blowing b/w 10-15 mph and kept us nice and cool throughout the trip. In fact, Jeff kept his jacket on the entire day. What a pleasant day to be on the water... For Sure!

I certainly hope that Jeff enjoyed his day on "The Barge II" with Dad and won't think twice in joining me again in the near future. It's about time that he sits back and enjoys a day on the water without having to watch for "goonies" (underwater rocks/boulders) or keep his foot on the trolling motor for several hours. I definitely had a ton of fun today with Jeff on board.

"Let's do it again... Real Soon!"

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

First 2011 Trip With Dell (06/10/10)

2011-06-11T10:52:00.002-04:00

Hello Folks,

Our local schools are now out for summer vacation which means my buddy, Dell, is home for the summer. Dell is a math teacher at the middle school where I was a school counselor. We befriended each other years back because of similar interests... education, basketball, and bass fishing!

Dell usually asks me to help him each Spring to get his jet outboard motor up and running. Yesterday was the the first time we had it in our schedules to do this. So, we met at his home at 6:30 am., packed my gear into his boat, and headed to the ramp.

We had a pretty wicked storm pass through the area the night before. Although we got mostly wind and a quick downpour, many areas around us were hammered with major thunderstorms.

This is what we found when we arrived at Riverfront Park in Columbia, Pa. (Picture taken by lwrsusq)

I was shocked to see how much destruction took place there. A number of very large trees and tree limbs were snapped like match sticks. The tree in the above picture is quite large and the wind did a number on it.

Several of the roads that lead in and around the ramp parking were closed due to downed trees blocking them.

Despite the damage, the ramp was still open for us to launch. Dell's OB motor started right up! Dell said to me, "We must have done a something right winterizing it last Fall." LOL!

We had a slow morning of fishing catching only several bass, a couple of legal size walleyes (20+ inches), and two channel catties. Dell just loves eating walleye and was very pleased with the "catch of the day".

My fishing buddy, Jeff (CHRGD) and his wife fished a bit later in the day and south of us. They were able to pick up a few bass and this...

A feisty sunnie who decided that Penny's spinnerbait was just too much to resist! :)

The storms the evening before were spurred by a mild cold front that had passed through. It was enough to slow the fishing down from earlier in the week. The rains had dirtied the water once again. But the water temperature remained in the upper 70s (78 degrees when we launched).

The air temp hit 85 degrees by noontime and the humidity was rather high. Last evening, a major cold front entered our area and there will be thunderstorms sticking around most of the day today. This cold front will usher in cooler temperatures and less humidity for the beginning of next week... Nice!

The river predictor is showing a 9" increase in water level on the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pa. by Monday morning.

Hopefully, I'll be out on the water early next week.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

p.s. I forgot to mention that Dell and I saw a Peregrine Falcon sitting under the bridge munching on a pigeon. Peregrine Falcon are a rare sight, but can often be seen nesting under the bridges crossing the Susquehanna River.

We also caught sight of a mature Blad Eagle as it flew north. There is a nest located just about two miles north of where we were fishing.

Fishing Below Harrisburg, Pa. With Jeff (06/07/11)

2011-06-08T11:40:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Jeff (CHRGD) and I took to the Susquehanna River yesterday morning in search of smallmouth bass. We chose to fish an area that has been producing very nice bass since this past weekend. In fact, Jeff's wife, Penny, put a beautiful 20" bass in the boat on Saturday... "Good job, Penny!"

It was quite cool yesterday morning. I had a reading of 58 degrees on my truck thermometer at 5:00 am. So, I donned my favorite green fleece and headed to the ramp. Our plans were to meet at 6:00 am. and fish until we dropped... LOL!

I arrived at the ramp around 5:45 am. and we launched around 6:15 am.

The river level in Harrisburg, Pa. was reading 4.48' which was a drop of almost a foot since my last trip on Friday. Despite the fact that we had several thunderstorms pass through over the past few days, the water level has continued to drop. However, the clarity was a different story.

The east shoreline had muddied up once again. It wasn't a hard decision to head to the west shore of the river where the water tends to run cleaner and sooner. We had about a about two feet of clarity on the west shore with slightly dingy water.

The water temperature in the morning hours was 74 degrees. It rose to 76 degrees by the time we came off the water at 3:45 pm.

The air temp that was 58 degrees in the morn rose to 88 degrees by afternoon! A thirty degree air temperature rise is quite significant. In fact, the temperature is suppose to rise to 95 degrees today. It looks like we may be in our second heat wave of the year!

Jeff and I stayed with the lures that have been producing since Friday... tubes, spinnerbaits, and a modified worm (Penny-style). I did throw a buzzbait in the morning without success. The tube was by far the most productive bait we used throughout the trip. The spinnerbait took over for a short period of time once we entered into faster moving water.

The biggest fish was caught by Jeff. Check this out...

Yep, it was a catfish. This channel catfish was caught on a white skirted spinnerbait below ledges and in the fast moving water. Sort of caught us by surprise since we were catching smallies all day.

The biggest smallie we landed was an 18"er on a Mudpie/Orange flaked tube.

She sure did have a set of shoulders on her!

Jeff caught two redeyes with a small tube in slack water. The one "little bugger" must have been pretty darn hungry since he took that entire tube into his mouth.

17.5" smallmouth

16.5" smallmouth

Here is Jeff's largest smallmouth of the day - A 16.5" smallie caught on a tube.

The smallmouth were "mush-mouthing" the tubes yesterday. I only had one bass that actually "thunked" the bait. The rest took the bait and just held on. The only way we knew that we had a bass on the line was that we felt the change of weight change.

It's important to get a feel for what your lure "feels" like when in the water. For example, Jeff was throwing a 1/4 oz. tubehead and I had a 1/8th oz. tubehead. His lure held tighter to the bottom in the river current and my 1/th oz. tube gave way to the current. This difference creates a slightly different presentation to the smallmouth. Both of us needed to be aware of the weight of our lures once we cast them and they fell to the bottom. As we lifted our rod tips, Jeff would "feel" his weighted tubehead a bit quicker than I would.

Woo Daves does an excellent presentation on this topic in relationship to worm fishing. If you get the opportunity to hear Woo speak, don't miss his "Worm Fishing" seminar. This topic is covered well.

We didn't get any monsters yesterday, but we caught a good number of fish with a fine representation from our smaller smallmouth population... Always a good sign for our struggling river!

A big thanks goes out to Jeff for taking this "old fart" on the water once again. We always have a good time shooting the breeze and fishing for our favorite sport fish, the Susquehanna River Smallie!

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad

Changing Water (06/03/11)

2011-06-04T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

It took a whole week for me to finally get back on the water and fishing again. I was definitely glad to be back at it. This past week was filled with doctor appointments (PHC and Endocrinologist), mowing grass, and life, in general.

Back on March 10, 2011, I had a visit with Dr. Tymon (LOG - Lancaster Orthopedic Group) regarding my knees, especially my left knee. Over thirty years ago, I damaged my left knee while competing in Judo.

Yep, folks, that's me as a young man in my twenties "playing" Judo. I eventually earned a Nidan, second degree black belt, in the years I participated. But it wasn't without injury.

The injury I sustained in a tournament tore my left knee to shreds. With the help of my surgeon, Dr. James O'Neil, my left knee was reconstructed. It actually took me a year and a half to run on it again. I was going bonkers since I loved to play basketball so much.

So, back on March 9th, I visited Dr, Tymon because my left knee was once again giving me problems... falling out, hitching, and pain. He took x-rays of both of my knees and treated the left knee with a cortisone shot. He said that my left knee had deteriorated and was riddled with arthritis and bone spurs and that I was very close to having it replaced... Great! :(

Well, after two months, that same knee started to act up again.

I wanted to go fishing yesterday, but I told my wife that with my knee paining me all night long that I doubted I would be going out on the water alone.

Luckily, Dave Warholic gave me a call around 8:00 am. He had hooked up his boat before heading to work in he morning and was looking for a partner to go fishing with him. "Hell yeah, Dave!" He had answered my prayers!

Dave would be getting off work around 2:00 pm. and we would meet at the ramp around 2:30 pm. That way we could fish for the evening bite... Just perfect in my book!

I sent my fishing buddy, Jeff (CHRGD) a text message to let him know that I'll be out fishing. He and his wife, Penny, usually head out on Fridays for a few hours. I told him I'll probably meet them later in the afternoon before they leave the water.

I got to the ramp around 2:00 pm. to see what the water clarity would be. The east shoreline was still dirty to muddy and the west was only dirty. I knew where Jeff was fishing and was able to see him from the ramp. I texted him to let him know that I had arrived.

Jeff and Penny were catching some very nice fish on tubes and spinnerbaits. Since Dave and I failed to take any pics, Jeff and Penny emailed their pics to me this morning so I could share them here with you on "Fishing With Dad".

Jeff's nice 18.75" smallmouth

Here is a 17.5" smallie caught on a tube.

I have dubbed Penny "The Queen Of The Susquehanna"... Here's the proof!

Yet another beautiful (16+") smallie taken by Jeff.

I believe that Penny and Jeff were neck-to-neck in total numbers, but Jeff had the size yesterday. Good job, guys, and a big thanks for sharing the photos with us all.

Dave and I launched his Snyder boat around 2:30 pm and headed over to Jeff and Penny to see how they were doing. They gave us the lowdown on their outing and we headed off to find some bronzebacks.

On the way over to speak with them, Dave's motor warning system was beeping. It was indicating that he had low oil in the reservoir. Dave was sure that he had taken care of that, but apparently not. Thankfully, he carries extra oil on the boat and when we finally stopped at our first fishing hole, he was able to grab it and fill the oil reservoir.... No Mo' Beeping! :)

Our choice of lures were spinnerbaits. Despite the fact that Jeff was catching his fish on tubes, Penny was just starting to hit a few some on her spinnerbait. And I'd rather fish the spinnerbait. So, I tied on a 3/8th oz. War Eagle Green Shad tied on and began tossing that around.

Dave tied on a black skirted spinnerbait and almost immediately nailed a nice 17" smallie. That was quick! We then had a lull of about 30 minutes before I finally got on the board with a 16.5". "No skunks in this boat!"

Throughout the evening, we caught several in the 16" range and the rest were smaller.

The air temp was in the low 70's and I didn't get an accurate water temperature, but I would guesstimate that it was in the low to mid-60's. We had a blue bird sky above us.

What I found most impressive last evening was watching the transformation of a muddy/dirty river to a clear river in 5.5 hrs. We hit the Susquehanna just right to watch the tail end of the dirty water leave us and the clearer water start to take over. It was so neat watching this transformation occur before our eyes.

We hadn't had rain in about five days except for a few t-storms that have passed through two days before. In fact, we commented on how dirty the water still was after such a long period without a rain event.

Well, we were both able to enjoy watching the river as it cleared. And not only that, but one of our favorite fishing spots in that area became "fishable" and gave us a few decent bass... Nice!

I was seriously thinking of getting back out there this morning, but I opted to rest my knee today and see how things are by the earlier part of next week.

On Monday, June 6, 2011, I have an appointment with my Hepatologist at Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, Md. I had an MRI done back in early May that showed I had a mark on my right liver lobe. His radiologists thinks it's just abnormal blood vessels due to my liver disease (N.A.S.H.) Let's hope so. I know I'll be having another MRI in three months to determine if it has grown any... Until then, I'll take that as "Good News"!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

High and Muddy Waters (05/29/11)

2011-05-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

Josh and I headed upriver today to fish above Harrisburg, Pa. The river level was 8.95' and still rising to a predicted 9.07' by tomorrow. The water clarity was muddy (possibly a 6" visibility) with a swift current. The water temperature was holding at 68.8 degrees.

This morning temperature was 66 degrees when we arrived at 7:30 am. and rose to 84 degrees by the time we came off the water at 1:30 pm. We had overcast and drizzling skies in the morning hours before the sun eventually broke through the cloud cover making for a very nice day.

The fishing was very poor on our end, to say the least. We were only able to land one 16" smallmouth in the entire 6 hour we were on the water. We fished hard at rock walls and eddies until Josh finally landed this nice Susquehanna bass on a tube.

I believe the river kicked our butts today. Despite the beating we took, we were able to kick the skunk out of the boat. But let me tell you, it sure wasn't smelling good most the day.

I did notice when I got home that the river predictor had dropped the 11' (Action Stage) to 9.07'. I assume that they were predicting more rain on Friday than we actually got.

We have had so many days where the river has been extremely hard to fish. Today was just one of the many we have seen this Spring.

I had two friends who fished the Lower Susquehanna yesterday and did very well. The muddier water had not reached this far south yet and yesterday was most likely the best day to be out fishing locally.

I wasn't able to be on the water yesterday due to family obligations. But there will be many more great days ahead. I promise!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Quick Update On Pool Progress (5/26/11)

2011-05-26T18:31:00.001-04:00

Hello Folks,

This past Monday (5/23), I made a blog entry regarding the ugly green water in our swimming pool. Well, I'm glad to say that after four days of intensive care, the pool is starting to look more like a swimming pool and less like a swamp. Take a look...

You may wonder why I am so concern about the pool. We put the pool in six years ago so that I could exercise without harming myself after I had my hip replacements. I am generally in the pool everyday that it's nice outside throughout the swimming season.

I also use those foam "Noodles" to exercise with and have created numerous exercise routines that work different parts of my body by moving and using the foam noodles for resistance. The water environment allows me to free float and takes the pressure off my hips and joints. Most of the exercises are done in the deep (7 ft) end of the pool (pic: far end at the light) and require balance in order to float. These can also be done in the shallow area for those who struggle with strength and balance.

My wife has been encouraging me write a small book or brochure with all the exercise techniques I use in my workouts. I probably have well over twenty different exercise routines that incorporate the foam noodles. They range in levels of difficulty... from easy to hard (not so easy).

My wife already has come up with a catchy title... "Using Your Noodle" :) LOL!

Take Care and Be Safe!
Dad

Beautiful Afternoon On The Juniata With Josh (05/25/11)

2011-05-25T21:07:00.000-04:00

Hello Folks,

The Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers are dropping and clearing after the eight days of rain we had. The Juniata River clears a bit faster than the Susquehanna River because it is a smaller river and is filtered some by Raystown Lake.

I spoke with Josh earlier this week regarding the NOAA river predictors for both The Juniata and the Susquehanna Rivers and predicted that by mid-week, we should have decent coloration and levels on both rivers. I knew he was excited about getting back out to fish ASAP.

Josh gave me a call around 8:00 am. this morning and asked me what I had planned for later this afternoon. Other than staying around the house and working on the pool, I had no immediate plans. Then he said those magic words, "Do you want to go fishing?"

He had been picking up milk (Milk Hauler) above the Clarks Ferry Bridge (Rt. 322/22) and after seeing the river was jonesing to get back out on the water and didn't care where we went fishing just as long as we got on the water.

A major front moved through last evening and the air temperature was suppose to reach the low 80s today. I wasn't too sure how the fishing would be, but I was game.

We met at his apartment at 1:00 pm., loaded my gear into his boat, and got on the road. We stopped for a couple of burgers since Josh hadn't eaten lunch and we still arrived at the launch by 1:45 pm. Good time for driving through Harrisburg via the interstates.

We fished for about an hour or so when Josh asked me to take control of the trolling motor. He needed to take a short nap since he had been up for work at 1:00 am. He slept for about an hour while I tossed numerous lures without a lot of success.

After he napped, we took a ride to another location and fished for another hour or so before calling it a day.

We only caught a few bass, nothing to brag about (no pics), before heading back to the ramp. Josh was totally thankful I agreed to come along to ease his craving to be on the water. He doubted that he would have come out if I hadn't agreed to come along.

As always, I am happy to join a friend even if it's only for a couple of hours on the water. It's a lot better than sitting at home and watching the grass grow... LOL!

From what we could tell, most the bigger smallmouth have spawned. We did catch a few 14-15" that still had some eggs left in them. They were staging in about 9.5' of water. The spawn will most likely continue into mid-June.

Thanks to Josh for inviting me along today. It was so beautiful outside. The water temperature on Josh's depth finder read 67.5 degrees and the air temp rose to 82 degrees. It was mostly sunny with a few passing clouds.

We tossed spinnerbaits, tubes, Winco Predators, and the Chille Willie today. The tube was the most successful lure, by far.

Take Care and Be Safe,
Dad