Susquehanna Flats Fishing Update

We started fishing on the Susquehanna Flats this week.  Despite being open since March 1, the fishing is just now getting under way due to turbid water and cool water temps. Each year we deal with the same condition issues on the flats so you get pretty used to the unpredictable nature of the fishery. This week surface water temps hung in the mid 40’s to just over 50 degrees in a few spots yesterday afternoon.  The water clarity ranged from one foot of visibility to an easy 2 feet in other areas.

The fishing was spotty to say the least.  As typical the folks who choose to fish with cut or live baits are managing to catch some fish.  The bait fishing was pretty consistent  from all reports I recieved and from what I saw this week.  Catching them on lures and flies, however, was another story.  I had to cover lots of water to catch some fish.  Most of our success was in shallow water, from 3 to 8 feet.  We caught all of our fish this week on lures, large lures.  The biggest swimming plugs we could throw brought the most success.  All of the fish we landed were large, 34 inches+.  We landed one Friday close to 35 lbs.  Bites were few and far between.  Hopefully this is just the beggining of some good fishing to come.

 

This nice 20 lber fell for a 7″Bomber  swimming plug in chrome/blue.

 We have yet to land one on a fly yet this week, but I’m sure it’s only a day away.  Water conditions are improving daily, and with a little luck we’ll have some awesome fishing this coming week. 

Gunpowder River Quick Update

I have guided several trips on the Gunpowder River in the past week or two.  Though water flows are still low, the fishing in areas has been great.  We saw some awesome midge fishing on the upper river last week and were able to land good numbers of fish on each outing while fishing a variety of midge patterns.  Dark midge patterns in gray and black fished dry on a 7x leader worked well on risers, as did pupae patterns fished short under an indicator.  A bead head zebra midge in a 22 gray worked great.
I ‘ll keep you posted.