Got out Saturday between 2:30 pm and 6 pm. We had had 3 days of  fall weather....Mid 50 during the day and mid to high 30s during the night with lots of wind and scattered rain. Saturday was temps in the low 30s in the morning, and warming up to 63 at 5pm. When I went out at 2 pm, the temp was 45, mix of sun and clouds, and wind at 5-10 mph. The water temp had dropped from the mid 60s last week to 58 today. I was thinking I could have a top water bite, but there was so much debris and leaves in the water that that was impossible so I started with a weightless 4" fluke in ghost green color on a 4/0 wide gap hook, thrown on a Diawa AridX 7" spinning rod with an old Rapala Spider spinning reel with 8lb mono. I caught 4 dinks...Smallmouth in the 8-10 inch range. They hit very aggressively. Not what I was looking for, but fun none the less. I switched over to a Caustic Jerky J (4' in black with gold flakes). That got me a couple of 1 1/2 pounders and one smallie that was a solid 2 1/2 or 3. Then the bite shut down. I tried several other baits with no luck. I packed up and moved to another location. When I got there I started with the last bait I had tired at the previous location, which was a Mepps spinner with a silver blade and a white feather dressing. On my second cast, I thought I had snagged...the lure just stopped dead. I gave it a jerk to pop it free and to my surprise it started swimming. I worked the fish for a few minutes and saw that I was into a good sized Musky. I was still using the spinning combo with 8 lbs mono, so I figured the odds of me landing the fish were slim to none but when I got the fish close I could see I had hooked it in the corner of the mouth, so it could not bite me off. The fish did several more runs with me gently playing it. I finally managed to get it to the bank, and I was lucky enough to have a fishing buddy show up with a large net. He got the fish into the net, and just as he lifted it up the lure popped out of  its mouth. Anyway, we admired the fish and measured it....42 inches on the nose. I revived it and watched it swim away none the worse for wear. A check of my spinner showed he had bent out two of the three legs of the treble hook. I am amazed I landed that fish. After catching my breath and regaining my composure, I fished for another half hour or so and managed 2 more decent smallies on a fluke (white/silver), and a couple more 1 pounders on a wacky rigged worm on a drop shot set up. That ended my day. Altogether a pretty good day.

Nice!!! Congrats on that monster 

36 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice!!! Congrats on that monster 

Thanks. It was a nice fish. Not my best from the Susquehanna... that was a 48"I caught several years ago. In both cases they were incidental side catches while fishing for Bass. I catch between 4 and 10 each year. Most are in the 30-35" range. Whenever I get one that goes over 40" I consider it a "trophy sized" fish. They are a ton of fun on light tackle, but they also have a bad habit of stealing lures. I have a bunch of times each year where I am reeling in a lure and all of a sudden it is just gone. When I check my line, it is cut like someone took a knife to it, or it feels like someone is grabbing my line and shaking it, and the line comes back shredded like someone took a grater to it. Either way I know it is a Musky or a large pike.

Great report!

Whoa! Lotta fish on thin line!