Susquehanna River Fishing Jst Fishin' Guide Service

With the Scorching heat the Smallmouth Bass fishing has been slow. We have caught some fish on Spinnerbaits, Crankbaits and Sinking Stick Worms, but it has not been the kind of bite that gets one too excited. 

The Catfishing on the other hand has been fun. We have managed to put many clients on the biggest fish of their lives and thats saying something because of lot of those people have done a fair amout of fishing in various places. To have those "Personal Best" fish come out of our boats on the Susquehanna is pretty cool.

One of those personal best ranks up top for me is a certain young man with a giant 43" 36lb Flathead caught a couple weeks ago.  His focus has been on Baseball and for some reason GIRLS lately, but on this night he was all about his fish!!  There is nothing a Dad likes better than to see a smile like that on you kids face.

Anyway, I have recieved quite a few emails this week about the tackle we use for Catfish and thought I would share the info here. Here is the short list of exact tackle specs:

Rods:  Shimano Trevala  6'6" med or7' ML Spinning and Casting
Reels:  Shimano Baitrunner Spinning Reel  or Cardiff 400A Baitcasting Reel
Line:    Power Pro Braid in either 65 or 80 lb test
Swivel:   1/0 Crane Swivel
Leader:  30-60lb Mono or Flourocarbon Leader dependent on type of cover
Hooks:  Here is the tricky part!!  Try Circle Hooks and Kahle Style Hooks in sizes from 4/0 to 9/0 dependent on Bait sizes and the bite that particular trip. I switch quite a bit and have found that in most cases I like the Kahle in a 6/0 for most situations but vay that quite a bit.

I have tried other tackle including some less expensive reels in the baitrunner style and find that the Shimano is smoother and much more reliable but more costly. The other baitrunner I have used with OK success is the Okuma Avenger.

Hopefully this helps with tackle selection. Susquehanna Fishing Tackle in Lancaster Pa carries a very nice selection of Catfish gear. They Stock all the gear I use so if you want to see some they can help.

Hope to see you all on my boat this year and make your own memories!!

Fall is coming fast and my available dates are booking fast so if you want to see some awesome fall Susquehanna action give me a call.

Dave

Dave 

Susquehanna River Fishing

Well the past month or so has been a blurrrrrr. After the spring rains and nasty conditions, I have been on the water nearly every day for the past month and a half.

Last week we made our yearly vacation to Ocean City MD for some family fun (and FLOUNDER FISHING).  I typically get up early and fish till noon and most mornings were really decent. Most days I had the boat to myself, because the kids couldnt pass up the beach!! On a normal morning I  caught 20-40 flounder with a nice mix of keeper sized fish.  All the fish came on bucktails tipped with gulp swimming mullet, shrimp, or jerkshads.  If youve never tried jigging for flounder you have no idea what you are missing.

Anyway back to the Susquehanna. The Bass fishing has been unusually good for this time of year. Most of our fish area coming on tubes, Craw D'oeurves, spinnerbaits or crankbaits.  The bass have moved toward their summer time haunts but will still chase baits for now. The Walleye bite has backed off a good bit. We can still catch a few but that is quite typical for June.

The Catfishing has still been good. Right now the mix of Channel Cats and Flatheads is pretty even. We haven't boated any real giants in the last couple days, but the action is constant and the fish are all stong fighters. Most of our fish are coming on Cut and live baits. You can catch some small fish on Dip or Punch Baits, but I usually try to elminate that small fish bite if possible.

Remember Summer time offers a variety of opportunities for you and your family.

The Kids are out of school, why not put them back into a school.. of fish??.

From Panfish to Catfish or Bass, or a mix of them all. Call for available options.




Hope to see you all soon,

Dave 

Susquehanna River Fishing Smallmouth Bass

The Susquehanna River is Fishing very well the last week. Smallmouth Bass are being caught on a variety of different baits including Spinnerbaits, Bomber and Bandit Crankbaits, Power Team Craw D'oeurves, and Various tubes. We have also caught a few on jerkbaits but not many and am anxiously awaiting  a good topwater bite but it just hasn't happened yet.

The water is clearing and is currently in the 5' range on the Harrisburg Guage.

There is also loads of Small Walleye being caught on Small Jigs and Crankbaits, but most of them have been very small to just barely legal sized.

We have caught some rally big fish this week with the biggest being 21 1/2" and a few others over 20". These fish are fighting like crazy and even the 15" fish are a handfull.

We are out again all week so I will keep you posted as to what transpires as we go.

Be safe and I hope to see you all soon,

Dave

http://www.susquehannariverfishing.com/

Susquehanna River Fishing Jst Fishin Guide Service

This week has been pretty good for most of the week.  Bass on Spinnerbaits and Jigs were located in the current breaks as well in some pretty strong current. Look for the warmest areas and you will find the fish.

The big story this week was the Flatheads getting started in a big way. Our first 30+ lb Catfish of the year was caught this week. Last year my clients boated 34 fish over 30 lbs. Were off to a good start to break that this year.

http://www.susquehannariverfishing.com/ 

Susquehanna River Smallmouth Bass and Flathead Catfish

Mother Nature sure is throwing us some wicked spring weather. The Susquehanna has been at or near caution stage a good bit the last few weeks. The only fishing we have had is Largemouth fishing in the local lakes. The Catfish bite is finally here and should continue to get better as the water warms.

Hopefully these spring rains are soon done and we can get back to fishing. 
Dave

Check out the Jst Fishin Guide Service Page on Facebook. I will be updating on Facebook with reports daily.

http://www.susquehannariverfising.com/

 

Susquehanna River FIshing

Well it  looks like Mother Nature is going to throw us another big curveball this week. 80 Degrees on Monday and 50s the rest of the week. These nasty fronts are not making is easy to pattern fish and at 10+ feet at Harrisburg it becomes almost unsafe to be on the river.

Most of our fish the last few days have come on either 3.5" tubes or the Craw D'oeuvre in green pumpkin wth the tails dyed in Chartreuse.  A couple days we had a very good Jerkbait bite as well. Numbers late in the week and over the weekend were not good. Our worst day was 5 fish including a HOG at 20 1/2 ". Our other trips boated 20+ fish with a couple Walleye mixed in. We also had a couple Muskies hooked and I now onw a couple less Jerkbaits.

This week should trigger the fish to begin to move away from the west banks and begin to spread out considerably.

On another note:

I attended the Fish Commission meeting today in which they finalized the Catch and Release regulation on the Susquehanna and Juniata. While we all realize that we need to protect the adult fish that are in the river, my big concern is the inability of the fish commission to address the issues that are causing our young fish to have survival issues.  When politics and large special interest groups dictate how the resource is regulated, no one wins. I hope that this change does not cause more division between groups. If everyone can work together and push the PAFBC to attack the issues we can make a difference.

Be sure to contact your legistators to express your concern about the pollution issues. Nothing will get done if we all sit back and do nothing.

See you on the Susky,

Dave

http://www.susquehannariverfishing.com/

Susquehanna River Fishing with Dave Shindler

The Susquehanna has been full of surprises this week. early in the week it was beautiful and "snowmelt" green with a level around 6' and within hours there was trees and debris coming downstream. The levels on Wednesday alone experienced a rise of almost 3'. 

With that in mind the fishing had been good early in the week with small jigs rigged with a 3" Grub, 3.5" Tube bait or a Power Team Craw D'oeuvre http://www.powerteamlures.com/ .  A couple days we found a very good Jerkbait bite as well. Lucky Craft Pointers, Rapala X Raps and Spro McSticks http://www.spro.com/  all caught fish. We also caught a few on Small Swimbaits rigged on a 1/4 oz Ball Jighead crawled slowly along the bottom.

Tha majority of the fish have been on the western side of the river. They are typically in the slower moving pockets with depth and current nearby. As the water continues to warm, start your search with more aggressive baits and slow down from there.

Good Luck and until next time...

See you on the Susquehanna

http://www.susquehannariverfishing.com/