The best smallmouth fishing in Pa. ?

[Action]

With the exception of Lake Erie, where do you folks think the best smallie waters in Pa are ?
I like the Allegheny River but I haven't tried as many Pa waters as I would like.

[Grizzly Gary]

jjsjigs should have some answers to this question. The Susky is well known for smallies.

[AFISHN]

From 1982--2000,I used to fish the Susquehanna about 2 times a week from late June through early Septemeber.Mostly around Dauphin and Middletown,PA.(home of the legendary Bob Clouser)

It was truely a great S?M fishery.
The past years have seen a fairly steep decline in the fishery
and I would be surprised if it was even in the PA top 10 anymore.

If it's come back,I'd appreciate it a Forum Memeber would post up some info as to what stretches are fishing well.

I still want to fish Erie and maybe Firemedic will show me some spots

[zenrider]

I know, but I can't tell you. Not until Grizz comes to try it at least.

[AFISHN]

If you can get GG to come 'south",let me know and I'll join you.
i'll buy lunch & beverages and also sign an oath not to tell my
fishing buddies where I was fishing

[jjsjigs]

Hands down. No contest... it's the North Branch of the Susquehanna River from the PA Border at Sayre PA to Tunhannock, PA 75 miles of the best smallie fishing on the East Coast. 15-18 inch smallies are actually the norm around here. Lance Dunham is the only full time guide on this 75 mile stretch of water. Below are his daily fishing report entries for July 2009 and his June summary catch rate:

L.D. Guide Service Newsletter
July 15th: Went fishing with Jerry Smith and Norman Baker today. The sky was mostly sunny and the water was dark stained and 72 degrees. Another good day. We caught 83 fish with 4 walleyes and 2 rock bass in the mix. LD All Fish Spinners and JJ's Hair Jigs caught most of the fish along with small crank baits and Alluring Baits 3" Trick Sticks.

July 14th: Went fishing with Ed Bardzel today. The sky was mostly sunny and the water dark stained and 72 degrees. We had a great day! The two of us caught 66 fish with 6 walleyes in the mix. We used small crank baits hand painted a special color. The big fish of the day came on the LD "All Fish Spinner" that we were using. And quite a few were caught on JJ's Jigs.

July 13th: Had an evening charter 4pm to 7pm with Doug Denure and his grandson Dan. We caught 21 fish with 1 walleye and Dan caught a channel Catfish on crankbaits and JJ's Jigs.


July 13th: Went fishing with Lew Bolinger and Joe James. The sky was parlty cloudy and the water was dark stained and 72 degrees. We caught 47 fish with 2 walleye in the mix. Crankbaits and JJ's jigs caught the fish.

July 12th: Went fishing with Gary Beyer and Debbie Rowe. The sky was partly cloudy and the water was dark stained and 71 degrees. We caught 48 fish today with 3 walleyes in the mix. Crank baits and JJ's Jigs caught the fish.

July 11th: Had a no show, no call from a good client. No answer when I called him. He did 5 charters this year, and booked 5 for next year. Hope he's all right. Meanwhile I'm doing lure orders today.

July 10th: Had an evening trip with Andy Kuzma and his son Drew. The clouds came in somewhat and made for a very pleasant evening. We caught 37 fish with 4 walleyes in the mix. All on 3" Back Trick Sticks.

July 10th: It was just me and Dick Rivers today for a 5hour trip. The sky was mostly sunny and the water was dark stained and 72 degrees. We caught 45 fish with 2 walleye in the mix. It was mostly JJ's Jigs, Alluring Baits 3" Trick Sticks, both in black and crank baits caught some.

July 9th: Did what I was going to do yesterday.

July 8th: Had a scheduled maintenance day off but didn't expect this. Took the boat up to Snake Creek Marine and Alan Coy repaired my motor in about 3hrs so I could get back on the water with no delays. He's the best marine mechanic I know. I already called and rescheduled tomorrows charter and it was too late to call again.


July 7th: had an evening trip with Steve Demarest along with his 13yr old neffew and his 13yr old buddy. We took off up river for about 2 miles and the motor came to a screeching halt. A bearing seal broke leaking water into the bearing which disintedgrated. We floated back to the access catching fish along the way.


July 7th: Went fishing with Dale Moyer and Don Lechner today. The sky was overcast with severe thunder storms and the water was dark stained and 70 degrees. We got chased off the water twice with thunder storms. Once, it was severe with thunder, lightning, and hail for about an hour! We still managed to catch 59 fish with 4 walleyes in the mix. Crank baits and stick worms caught the fish.

July 6th: Today it all came together. Went fishing with Barry Buchecker and Marv Dengler. The sky was partly cloudy and the water was dark stained and 71 degrees. We caught 119 fish with 6 walleyes in the mix ! Mostly on crankbaits and JJ's jigs. Marv caught a 20 1/2" smallie and we all caught some big quality bass.

July 5th: Had a 4hr evening charter with Chuck and Dick Galley. We caught 40 fish with 2 walleye and 1 channel cat in the mix. LD Thumpers , JJ's Jigs, and Alluring Baits Trick sticks caught the fish.

July 5th: Went fishing with Ryan Huff and his dad John. The sky was partly cloudy and the water dirty brown, fast, and 70 degrees. We caught 48 fish with 1 channel cat and 1 rockie in the mix. LD Thumper Spinners along with JJ's hair Jigs and Alluring Baits Trick Sticks caught the fish.

July 4th: Had an evening trip with Reble Edwards and Hugh Ridenour. After the first charter left early I called the guys and they got there in a half hour. The bite was on, in 3 hrs we caught 32 fish with 1 walleye in the mix. Alluring Baits Trick Sticks, JJ's Jigs, and LD Thumpers caught the fish. A great evening!

July 4th: Went fishing with Mike Bray and his son Mike. The sky was semi cloudy and the water brown and 69 degrees. The bite was slow for the guys and they finished early with 31 fish. We used Thumpers and JJ's Hair Jigs. They should have waited because after they left the fish turned on!

July 3rd: Evening trip with Mike Bolan and his son Kevin. Had to wait out a heavy rain then went out. We caught 14 fish with 2 nice walleyes and a channel cat in the mix. All on LD Thumpers.

July 3rd: Went fishing with Dick Rivers and Jack Coyningham. The sky was mostly cloudy with some rain. The water came up again slightly with more mud and 69 degrees. We caught 32 fish with 2 walleyes and 1 channel cat in the mix. I caught a few on JJ's jigs and the rest were caught on LD Thumper spinners..

July 2nd: Evening trip with Bill Parks. We caught 18 smallies on LD Thumpers and I got a couple on JJ's Jigs.

July 2nd: Went fishing with Jeff and Gary Hartman. The sky was overcast with heavy rain several times. The water was muddy brown and 70 degrees. We caught 65 fish with 2 nice walleye in the mix. LD Thumper spinners and JJ's Jigs black booger jigs caught the fish.

July 1st evening: Went fishing with Ed and Andy Yordy. We caught 12 smallies and missed several more.

July 1st: Went fishing with Dennis Snyder and Mike Freer. The sky was mostly cloudy and the water came up 6" during the day, still muddy and 70 degrees. We caught 64 fish with 1 channel cat and 1 walleye in the mix. LD Thumpers caught all the fish.

June totals: Smallmouth bass-869, Rock Bass-8, Walleye-34, Northern Pike-2, Hog Nose Sucker-1, Channel Cat-2. Total # of fish= 916 fish. Total charters including evening- 21charters . Ave/charter= 43.6 fish. 22 days of rain!


So you can see... LD and his clients catch a LOT of smallies on the North Branch Suskie. Actually he normally guides in a 20 mile stretch of river from Wysox PA to Wyalusing PA. He generally doesn't go up the 16 mile stretch from Towanda PA to Sayre PA or the 20 mile downstream section from Lacyville PA to Tunkhannock PA. So that is a whole lot of smallies caught in a 20 mile stretch day in and day out. And you gotta figure that since he is guiding clients he is not fishing all that much when running the jetboat... so that's pretty impressive numbers in my book. So if you want to fish the North Branch Suskie.. give Lance a call. He fees are REALLY REALLY reasonable!!! He even offers a "workingman's" charter from 4pm to 7pm. Tell him JJ's Jigs sent ya! Oh BTW... He also is now offering a flyfisherman's charter. Each flyrodder who books a charter with Lance gets a flybox with some of my special smallmouth bass flies... made by yours truly!!

[jjsjigs]

From 1982--2000,I used to fish the Susquehanna about 2 times a week from late June through early Septemeber.Mostly around Dauphin and Middletown,PA.(home of the legendary Bob Clouser)

It was truely a great S?M fishery.
The past years have seen a fairly steep decline in the fishery
and I would be surprised if it was even in the PA top 10 anymore.

If it's come back,I'd appreciate it a Forum Memeber would post up some info as to what stretches are fishing well.

I still want to fish Erie and maybe Firemedic will show me some spots

The mainstem Suskie is suffering badly with class years of smallies entirely wiped out. 30% of the smallies on the mainstem show ugly lesions on thier scales. Very very poor fishing... I just fished the mainstem around the Safe Harbor/Wrightsville/Shanks Mare, PA area... it was terrible. Just terrible. Local anglers in that area also told me the same exact story... sadly, it will take years for the mainstem to bounce back. I'm fortunate that the North Branch of the Suskie is healthy and productive!! (and I live 500 feet from it... so I'm fishing almost every morning and evening!!)

[Action]

It's almost a year since I did this post and I was wondering if the Susqehanna is making any kind of comeback yet ?

[Forager]

I'm fortunate that the North Branch of the Suskie is healthy and productive!! (and I live 500 feet from it... so I'm fishing almost every morning and evening!!)

I used to like you...

[rob1812]

WE used to float french creek around Franklin PA and had a blast catching smallies. Also the Alleghany in that area was always good for Smallies. Never fished the Suski but would love to. My friend used to fish the juniata for smallies also and caught a bunch everytime he went.

[The Boat Guy]

I like the Clarion River and my sleeper is Redbank Creek

[Lance Dunham]

Well you could check out my web site. For the last 4 years my clients and I have C&R over 10,000 documented fish a season. Mostly smallies. www.ldguideservice.com I guide about 65 miles worth on the North Branch. Very shallow(6" at spots), pretty much jet boats only and know the channels. I usually fish a different 10-12 mile section each day from the NY boarder to 65 miles South.

[zenrider]

Depends I guess on what you consider best. If big is best then I don't have a good answer. If fish every cast is best, I can tire your arm out with my sleeper hole.

[Action]

I'll take catching one good smallie over 50 little ones. We've pulled them out over 5lb. on the Allegheny and that's what we're looking for.

[John Lorenzo]

I can tell you this it's not Kinzua by a long shot!

[Lance Dunham]

I'll take catching one good smallie over 50 little ones. We've pulled them out over 5lb. on the Allegheny and that's what we're looking for.

I'll personally agree with you . We've got lots of 3 and 4 lb smallies but out of the 11,920 fish that were C&R last season I dare say only 20 smallies went over the 5lb mark and we never saw a 6lb. A 5lb smallie here is at least 10 years old and most anglers here that don't get to fish much will keep a big fish like that for the wall instead of getting a reproduction done. Therefore there are very few. The big fish are so easy to catch in the early spring and late fall.

[elkhunter]

I like the Alleghany River below Irvine & the Tionesta creek below mayburg

[Action]

We've never kept any fish out of the Allegheny but we have turned 2 back over 5lb. in the last 4 years and lot's of 4+. We've never had them come to easy but it does get pretty busy at times.