Is The Susquehanna one of the more scenic rivers that holds large numbers of quality smallmouth?

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25 it is mountainous but, there is a highway on one side and a train line on the other. Actually there maybe a train line on both sides. Once you get to the statute the wall of the highway is right there. It’s a good stretch to fish but, to me you don’t escape into nature. It’s not like a train once a day either. There is a rail yard just down from there.

[Ohioguy25]

7 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

@Ohioguy25 it is mountainous but, there is a highway on one side and a train line on the other. Actually there maybe a train line on both sides. Once you get to the statute the wall of the highway is right there. It’s a good stretch to fish but, to me you don’t escape into nature. It’s not like a train once a day either. There is a rail yard just down from there.

So which stretch would you recommend that feels more wild and scenic? Is sunbury south good?

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25yes I would say it is. Just watch the low head d**n at Selinsgrove. I do not have to much experience with that area. Route 15 pretty much follows the river the whole way.

[heavyduty]

Duncannon to the statue is good fishing. There's mountains on both sides but as said, heavily traveled highway and RR tracks each side. This section is loaded with islands, rocks, and ripples. 

I can't help much with island camping as I don't do this. We rent a house, we're in jet boats, and travel to different ramps each day to fish different sections. 

You can google island camping on the Susquehanna and you'll find info on public island campsites.

It's less noisy, good fishing, and more scenic in my opinion around Selinsgrove, Liverpool, and Montgomery Ferry sections. You can also stay at Ferry Boat Campgrounds. Good fishing all around that area and I'm sure primitive sites at this campground are fairly cheap.

If looking for wild, you are gonna have to go further up on the west and north branches. 

[padon]

2 hours ago, heavyduty said:

Duncannon to the statue is good fishing. There's mountains on both sides but as said, heavily traveled highway and RR tracks each side. This section is loaded with islands, rocks, and ripples. 

I can't help much with island camping as I don't do this. We rent a house, we're in jet boats, and travel to different ramps each day to fish different sections. 

You can google island camping on the Susquehanna and you'll find info on public island campsites.

It's less noisy, good fishing, and more scenic in my opinion around Selinsgrove, Liverpool, and Montgomery Ferry sections. You can also stay at Ferry Boat Campgrounds. Good fishing all around that area and I'm sure primitive sites at this campground are fairly cheap.

If looking for wild, you are gonna have to go further up on the west and north branches. 

yes i fish duncannon to the statue often. good fishing and mountains BUT there are train tracks on both sides and a highway. i would do sunbury south ,maybe take out at riverview camp ground.

[Ohioguy25]

On 7/20/2023 at 9:21 PM, padon said:

yes i fish duncannon to the statue often. good fishing and mountains BUT there are train tracks on both sides and a highway. i would do sunbury south ,maybe take out at riverview camp ground.

Yup we ended up doing Duncannon to Harrisburg, I tried my damnedest to talk my buddy into Sunbury down but he was dead set on this stretch. I knew just from the advice given here and Google Maps that this was way more developed and less “immersive” but I went with it because he planned it.
 

Still a great float, plenty scenic in the first half but it flattened and widened approaching Harrisburg and the ledge systems transitioned to grass that was out of control.  Next time we will definitely be going north.

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25You fished probably the most popular and well known stretch on the susky. I think the river was running around 4.5. I am sure there was a good amount of boats out at that level. It’s a perfect level to run a jet boat.  The thing that makes it hard in a kayak in that stretch is how wide it is. There was probably a decent amount of current  for you. 
 

how did you do?

[padon]

yeah come on man how many did you get?

[Susky River Rat]

@padon the suspense is killing us lol

[Ohioguy25]

18 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

@Ohioguy25You fished probably the most popular and well known stretch on the susky. I think the river was running around 4.5. I am sure there was a good amount of boats out at that level. It’s a perfect level to run a jet boat.  The thing that makes it hard in a kayak in that stretch is how wide it is. There was probably a decent amount of current  for you. 
 

how did you do?

 

1 hour ago, padon said:

yeah come on man how many did you get?

 

1 hour ago, Darnold335 said:

@padon the suspense is killing us lol

Lol we did ok, I got one 18.5 that was pretty chunky and a lot of healthy medium sized fish. Lost one that was definitely over 18 the second day.

 

My buddy fared a bit better, caught 5-6 over 18 but he fished a bit harder. Like when I was at the campsite gathering wood he was going back out to catch the evening topwater bite. I guess my shoulder can only take so much lol. Beautiful place, incredible fishery. I couldn’t believe how many smallmouth were in that river.

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25 yes there is a ton of fish in there. Glad you had a good trip.

[padon]

22 hours ago, Ohioguy25 said:

 

 

Lol we did ok, I got one 18.5 that was pretty chunky and a lot of healthy medium sized fish. Lost one that was definitely over 18 the second day.

 

My buddy fared a bit better, caught 5-6 over 18 but he fished a bit harder. Like when I was at the campsite gathering wood he was going back out to catch the evening topwater bite. I guess my shoulder can only take so much lol. Beautiful place, incredible fishery. I couldn’t believe how many smallmouth were in that river.

yes there is a ton of fish in the river.it seems to be just loaded with 12 to 14 inch fish. the bigger ones are there in good numbers just spread out. reat place to fish and just relax and get bites. i should fish it more than i do.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ohioguy25]

On 7/25/2023 at 5:29 AM, Darnold335 said:

@Ohioguy25 yes there is a ton of fish in there. Glad you had a good trip.

The scenery alone made it worthwhile, which to me is equally or more important than catching trophies.

15 hours ago, padon said:

yes there is a ton of fish in the river.it seems to be just loaded with 12 to 14 inch fish. the bigger ones are there in good numbers just spread out. reat place to fish and just relax and get bites. i should fish it more than i do.

 

 

 

 

 

Ditto on the above 

[casts_by_fly]

I just drove along some major lengths of the upper susky from Sayre up through the New York reaches until it crosses back into pa south of Binghamton. I don’t know about the fishing but it was beautiful mountains. Obviously there was a highway along one side of the river for a lot of it but it’s beautiful area. 

[TnRiver46]

The opposite of scenic, but it appears Detroit might have some of the best SMB in the world. Craziness watching the tournament 

 

if you told me when I was younger that Detroit was great bass fishing, I would have just laughed 

[Ohioguy25]

27 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The opposite of scenic, but it appears Detroit might have some of the best SMB in the world. Craziness watching the tournament 

 

if you told me when I was younger that Detroit was great bass fishing, I would have just laughed 

LSC?

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25yes

 

@TnRiver46 LSC is an incredible fishery for musky and smallies. I think the average depth is around 15ft.  It’s a bucket list fishery for me to get to. It’s nothing to get double digit days of musky there. I smallie fish because of the susky but, my heart will always be for the toothies.
 

The bass have learned to eat the zebra muscles. Which is an endless food supply for them there.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

LSC?

Yep. Wild 

[Ohioguy25]

16 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Yep. Wild 

Yeah, does Erie still hold the crown for average size just LSC has insane quantity?

[gimruis]

19 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

The bass have learned to eat the zebra muscles. Which is an endless food supply for them there.

Bass don’t eat zebra mussels. They are a rock hard invasive shell about the size of a dime. Zebes filter the water which creates a more suitable habitat for sight fishing predators like smallmouth. Clearing water does the exact opposite for walleyes, as they prefer it darker. I’ve seen that transformation first hand here in several lakes, including Mille Lacs over the past 15 years. The meat hunting walleye anglers hate it.

[Susky River Rat]

@gimruis grace university published a study that smallmouth do eat them. I also believe jon bondy talked about this.

[gimruis]

I’d be shocked if there was evidence of smallmouth actually consuming the zebes. Their mussel itself may be edible, but they can’t crack the protective shell and their stomachs can’t digest it. If you have the link to that study please post it, I’d like to read it.

[Ohioguy25]

9 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

@gimruis grace university published a study that smallmouth do eat them. I also believe jon bondy talked about this.

Either way I think the overall impact on their diet is negligible compared to gobies, the primary influence of zebras is water clarity.

[Susky River Rat]

@Ohioguy25 I do not think it’s a main source of diet but, they can and will eat them.