Susquahenna Smallies

The first faint glow of morning was just peaking above the trees as Rod Bates (owner of Koinonia Guide Service and fellow ‘Plano Pro Staff’ member) and I slipped his custom built ‘Snyder Jet Boat’ into the cold, clear water of the Susquehanna River, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

When the weather man called for ‘heavy overcast’ for today, Rod and I knew it was going to be a GOOD day. Little did we know HOW good? We only had about four or five hours to squeeze into our busy schedules today, but we figured that was way better than working.

We decided to fish in the immediate area until there was sufficient light to ‘run’ the river. It has been an extremely dry couple of months and navigating the rocks and ledges was hazardous at best. As we drifted downstream from the boat ramp and almost simultaneously missed a strike on our topwater lures. Rod was tossing a Tiny Torpedo and I was using my ‘ole stand by, the Rebel Zell Pop. A couple of cast later and Rod said “Fish on” as he leaned into a scrappy Smallmouth Bass. He barely had the words out of his mouth when another ‘Bronze Bomber’ unloaded on my Zell Pop. Soon I was posing for a photo with two 16 in. ‘Twins’. We continued fishing and boated a few more ‘Smallies’ on topwater, YUM Craw Papi, Cabin Creek Salty Spiders and tubes.

When the light was sufficient, Rod fired up the 200hp Evinrude ‘Jet’ and we headed up river at a slow pace. This boat of his never ceases to amaze me. It has a one-half-inch sheet of some type of plastic on the bottom that is not only indestructible, but ‘slick’ to boot. It’s like having a ‘four-wheel-drive’ boat. It has a tunnel hull and a hydraulic ‘Jack Plate’ and can maneuver in only inches of water. Get stuck on a rock or ledge? Just ‘goose’ it and it slides right off. We spent about a half-hour working our way through the rocks and thru spillways, until we reached an area about 2 miles above the ramp, filled with ledges, rocks larger than my house and deeper water holes of 6 to 18 feet deep scattered here and there.

Areas where the current swept between the rocks proved very productive, as did the deeper water pockets, eddies and the ‘push’ above the rocks and ledges. The topwater bite fell off after high sunrise, as the light increased. The jigs and soft plastics proved to be the ‘winners’ though. We also tried Spinnerbaits, Salty Sinkin’ Worms, Jerkbaits and a few other lures, but always went back to the proven producers.

We called it quits about noon. We were shooting for 50 fish, but fell two fish short of our goal. DARN! Hardly worth getting out of bed for… Unless you count the 6 ‘HAWGS’ I boated, that ranged in size from 18.25 inches, up to 20.5 inches. Check out the photos in my photo archive and give Rod a call, at Koinonia Guide Service, if you wish to experience the BEST River Smallmouth Bass fishing in the nation. You can also check out his bio here at Plano Molding Company’s “Pro Staff” page.

Safe boatin’… Good fishin’… Keep your net wet and ………………

Tight Lines,
Will Whitehead
"Pro Staff" Director

And Jesus said to his disciples… “Follow me and I will make you fishers’ of men”!