September 14, 2020 – Soft Rock and One Hundred Smallies – Susquehanna River

Fall temps, low water, but cooperative bass in the Endless Mountains

Kenny may not invite me along ever again, but I know Chris Gorsuch of Reel River Adventures thoroughly enjoys both DJing me the soft rock and our subsequent sing-a-longs.  Bee Gees falsetto last year, I believe, but we went all over the place today, even into classic rock of an arguably more macho appeal—arguably, I repeat (Boston, 38 Special?).  And we had reason to sing today.  The river is historically low, but we had cool, partly cloudy conditions, even a bit of wind that got out of hand for a while, and yet we landed over 100 bass between Kenny and me.  Chris keeps track on a pitch counter, and we could have counted a dozen or more YOY and toddlers too.  We also landed a big channel cat, a 28-inch pike, and an average size walleye during our productive 8 hours (and change—more on that below) on the water.  It was a brilliant day and well worth the two and a half hour drive in the wee hours of a Monday morning and the long caffeinated ride home.

The battle for Kenny's pig, a nice one for me, and a slime rocket.

I had never seen the river so low. Without a jet, many places were impassible in a boat, and even in the jet, we glanced off at least one rock during a full throttle run, even while on plane.  Some other jet boats had declined to cross this particular spot, according to Chris.  He does spend nearly every day on the water, however.  We had the most success on soft plastics like ned rigs and paddle tails and grubs.  The vast majority of my share of 100 took naturally colored ned rigs.  We had to go heavier when the wind kicked up to 15 MPH in the afternoon, and things got challenging as a result, but we ended strong too.   We dropped three fish in the 16 inch range (two Ken, one me) earlier in the day while fishing softer seams in riffles and the gravel bars nearby, but the two largest fish came toward the end of the trip in deeper water in front of, behind, and among very big rocks.

The net came out more than twice.

Kenny’s best was measured at 20.5 inches, so likely a four pounder or more, just a pig.  I was lucky enough to land one from the same stretch of water that was over 18 inches, so 3-ish pounds, which is still a great river fish.  Even at 12 or 13 inches, river fish fight, so we certainly had the net out more than twice today.  We even had to pull a slimy pike into the boat for a pic.  At about 8 hours into the trip, Chris said we had 98 fish, so we were not heading to the ramp until we got to 100.  I think we could have called it a few times with little fish, but since bigger ones were coming to net while in the 90s, we kept going at the captain’s urging.  We did find a few more 12- to 14-inchers in the last group, so we could quit with a real fish or two to mark 100.  Chris’s FB page needs this well-deserved content, as he does do this guiding thing for a living even if he seems to have a great time while doing it!  Man can’t live on soft rock alone, although tell that to Barry Manilow?  Awesome day with a couple of awesome dudes, and very few hat jokes, honestly.

Well worth the drive and a lot of fun