When I wasn’t chasing carp in early August, I was chasing smallmouth bass on the Schuylkill River and the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers. A majority of the bass I’ve been catching have been in the 8"-10" range, and their numbers are surprising. Like I mentioned in a post back in July, I think there’s a lot of promise for smallmouth fishing in Pennsylvania, specifically on the Juniata and Susquehanna. One recent trip that went against the small bass trend was one I made to the Susquehanna just south of Selinsgrove off of Rt. 11/15. There are many great access points along this stretch of river that follows the highway from Duncannon to the split of the river in Northumberland. One of these access points is the Hoovers Island parking lot at the confluence of Penns Creek. There are hundreds of yards of wadeable river here that don’t see a lot of fishing pressure.
Read moreCarpocalypse On The Juniata River
I’ve officially become addicted to catching carp on the fly rod. This weekend I wanted to fish bigger water in the hopes of finding some larger carp and I was on the fence about where to go. I was considering either the Schuylkill River north of the Auburn Dam, or the Juniata River. When faced with a dilemma like this I’ll reference the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s Best Fishing Waters website and see which location is ranked higher. I figure it makes sense to trust what the regional fisheries specialists think because they are out on the water a lot, talking to people and seeing pictures all the time. The Juniata is second on the list of carp waters. I’ve spent a lot of time fishing the Juniata for smallmouth bass, but I’d never been there to specifically target carp.
Read moreCorn Flies And Carp On The Conestoga River
A couple weeks back when I was fly fishing the Conestoga River for smallmouth I ran into some schools of large carp. I got it in my head that I was going to go back and try to catch one of these brutes. I have caught carp on a fly rod before, but I never went out fishing to specifically target them. I did a bunch of research online and learned more about carp than I ever wanted to know. For example, I had no idea how big carp fishing is in Europe. They have all kind of rigs they use for putting these things called boilies (a gumball sized boiled carp bait made up of all kind of stuff you’d never want to eat) on the bottom of lakes and catching giant carp. I wasn’t about to tie up a boilies fly, but as I have known since I was a kid, carp like to eat corn.
Read morePA Smallmouth, Rebounding But Not Rebounded
Over the past two weeks I’ve started to focus all my fly fishing energy on warm water, specifically for smallmouth bass. I’ve been on the Juniata River twice, I headed east to fish the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, and most recently I did some exploring on the Conestoga River in southern Lancaster, County. While all of these bass fisheries are slightly different in size and habitat, there was one similarity—the number and size of the bass. I was impressed with the number of smallmouth that each one of these bodies of water held. Fishing in the heat of the afternoon isn’t going to net you a large number of fish, but get there early or stay for the last two hours before dark and you are in for some action (with the right pattern of course).
Read more