Susky River Rat

If power plants, highways, railroads and cities are scenic sure lol. It is very day dependent on what you catch. It’s either big or small you do not really get mixed bags. Any given day you have the potential to catch those size fish. Fall, winter spring seem to be the bigger ones. Summer tends to be higher quantity but, less size.

It’s true this will be my last report till probably after Labor Day…..When the fishing reports resume I will be on a new rig! I when to blue marsh today. I was to paranoid or a whimp to take it to the river with a trade in looming over my head. I fished for roughly 3.5 hours. Landed two fish and lost two others. So not a terrible day for that body of water. I was pitching a Texas rigged pit boss to cover and bridge pillars. I was cranking out on a flat and managed to lose two on crank baits. (My fault) over all great relaxing morning. I did get out of there before the boat ramp chaos started.

I just fish

I am also thankful that as rare as it is my dog that is a golden/lab mix won’t go in the water either.

I hate even getting my feet wet. This water here is gross

Boat is ordered. Decided for what I do one at the console is best. I can always add later. Hopefully by Labor Day I should have it in my garage!

I have a 2d with gps at the bow and I have a side scan and all the other jazz at the console. I was just thinking about running the two at console in addition to the bow on the new boat. I just do not know how much use I will really get out of the side scan for how I fish since I barely use what I have now.

I am not a big electronics guy. I mainly fish shallow rivers. 5’ and less depth. I am going to be setting up a new boat and am torn about running two console screens. One for side scan only and one with gps/2d. I have side scan on my current one at the console but, barely use it unless I am on a specific hunt for something. I am not looking for brands models etc. I am just looking for if anyone fished similar situations to me and what they do. The cost is not holding me back from doing it. I do fish lakes every once a while mainly 2000 acres and under. I could see me benefiting more at a lake then a river. I also can say I have used my current sonars to catch fish but, I do not believe side scan has ever aided in that.

I hookset everything like I am trying to hit a home run. You want the drag tight enough you get a hookset and let the rod bend. You want loose enough though it still pulls drag and not the hook out of the fishes mouth. Dealing with the small single hooks like a Ned rig is a fine line on drag set up and keeping the rod bent.

Set the hook then let the drag do the work with a bend in the rod.

I enjoy Ike’s enthusiasm. He is smart and worked his butt off. I also watched how B lat got started and he busted his butt as well. It’s refreshing to see hard work pay off!

My dog isn’t stubborn in that way. He doesn’t care if I catch fish or not lol. My dad will put on whatever I tell him to. I like to find something they are eating then get him to use it and I’ll explore other options. I enjoy watching him catch fish.

I use choppos, Ned rigs, rapala DT, flicker Shad’s and spinners. I haven’t had any luck on T rigged stuff yet but, that was new for this year.

Well my wife and I like to have some nights out. We used to have my mom stop over with our dog for an hour. After catching her repeatedly being mean to our dog we do not trust anyone else to be with him. I do also understand he can be very stubborn.

I will have to give this a try

I was thinking the same thing as you and getting on early day on the susky. My wife was off this morning soooo that went out the window. Sounds like an awesome day!

All of it. Fish the Susquehanna. Certain times of year the fish will prefer certain areas more. The biggest factor to river fishing is flow. Learning where the fish move to as the water level goes up and down is key. Smallmouth seem to prefer rock/gravel bottom. Fish at rest with sit facing into current. A lot of times fish will be near current but, behind something to break it so they do not have to expend energy. I bottom bounce a lot in rivers. I also with throw into most Eddies I see.

It seems like that 75-80 degree mark for us northern anglers seems to be when the fishing slows down a bit for most species. Every species has a sweet spot. I have read some studies in the whole hot water musky debate. Some wouldn’t eat some ate and died. While others seem unaffected. Once it gets hot enough for any species their feeding does slow down to preserve themselves was some of the outcome.

I have been very lucky to only get hooked once or twice. Never own the eye which freaks me out. I keep my hook cutters in my boat that I used for musky all the time. I wear prescription glasses or my prescription sunglasses all the time. on a side note when I weld and have some hot spatter go past my eye inside my hood it scares the heck out of me.

Around 80 in the susky seems to start to get tougher. The bigger fish usually do not show themselves either. Smallies may have less of a heat tolerance? I know walleye in the susky become ghosts and we don’t see them till the fall again for the most part.

I try to avoid wind. I will tuck into anywhere I can to get out of it. Yes, fish face into current. If you come up behind one with a bait from the wrong side they will still eat it if they are active. It’s all about opportunity for them. If fish are feeding they will tend to push bait to the bank to eat it which they would have their back into the wind/current.

Here’s what I know. I am in the welding trade. Top dollar jobs around here are $30 at the top roughly. Those welds get ultra-sounded and you must have certs. You also have numbers you need to hit. You can get a job to start around 27 at some warehouses driving a forklift. Other places the top tear welding stops around 27. I am in a supervisor position now. When I did weld everyday I questioned why I put my body through it? Why not go drive a forklift? The burns the smoke etc. Till there is a bigger pay gap between skilled and unskilled workers more and more will leave the trades. The trades used to be the only way to make good money without a college education. That is gone now. Why be proficient at a skill when you can get paid the same for not having one at all?

Update: Thankfully the river rescue was a false alarm. A woman and a man were seen walking, the woman never came back with the man. Someone reported this and called it in. The woman and the man had got separated from each other. The woman returned to the vehicle before the man but, the reporting party did not see this. Everyone is safe and ok.

I was talking about making a bed extender for your vehicle so you could have a longer kayak.

I went to the susky it went from 3.8ft to 4.5ft since my last outing. I was casting shallow rocks with my plan to switch it up about half way through my 3 hour trip. My plan was to hit the islands that have some submerged grass if the rocks did not work. I wish I would have went to the grass first! It was a high action top water day. No big fish but, was just a blast to be out. When I pulled up to the ramp it was shut down. River rescue was there loading up their equipment. I am unsure of what happened all I asked them was if there was anything I should be on the look out for. They told me no. When I got back in from my day I talked to a gentleman who lives by the next ramp down stream. He told me yesterday there was two boating accidents around that area but, did not know why they were there today. If I have any updates I will post them here. Hopefully it was rescues and not recoveries.