November 29, 2009 - Susquehanna River

Got out with Dad on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. It was bright and sunny...post frontal, but hey...we gave it a shot.

One good thing was that due to the 2 days of 30 MPH winds, the river a pretty dirty. If the sky is going to be bright, I'll always take some dirty water, over clear...anyday. Main river water temp was between 46-49 degrees.

We had a pretty good day...something like 20 fish. Dad had one that was about 19". Unfortunately, it had lost an eye (recently) and wasn't in the best of shape. She only weighed 3.8 lbs. I'm sure she will bounce back and get back up to a healthy 4.5 lbs soon.

Nov 20, 2009 - Susq River

I decided that I wanted to check out some new areas and maybe learn a few new tricks, so I called up my buddy Dave Shindler and hooked up for a trip today.

We met up at Fort Hunter at 7 am and hit the water. The day started out decent. We were on a slow but steady bite and landed ~ 18 fish by 10am or so. Unfortunately, the wind just got out of control and made it very difficult to detect strikes (keep in mind that the water temp was about 47 degrees), so we decided to make a run to an area less influenced by the wind...Goldsboro.

So, we pulled the boat and made the ~ 30 minute drive downriver. Well, it was certainly less windy, but still post frontal conditions and a tough bite. We managed another 10 or so fish and ended up just short of 30 fish for the day.

No monsters today, but a few in the 3.5 to 4 lb range.

Daved worked his butt off as he always does, to get us on fish, even with difficult conditions. Thanks Dave, and we'll get on them better next time.

If you are interested in fishing with a top-notch guide on the Susquehanna, I would strongly encourage you to give Dave a call. You can find his contact info over in the list on the right side of my blog.

Nov 14, 2009

Finally, a cloudy day on the weekend! Did better today. Still haven't located any real big wintering holes, but did find pods of fish here and there.

Fish were caught on variety of lures, including suspending jerkbaits, tubes, senko's and even swimbaits.

Saw a few fish chasing bait out in the distance, stalked them and was able to get off one cast before they busted...got a little wiper.

No pic's was solo again, see video at video bar on right...

Nov 8, 2009 - Susq Rvr

Bright, sunny, tough day. Got a few though. Main river is in the high 40's to 50 degrees. Still trying to find the wintering holes, but not alot of luck yet.

Short video:

Nov 7, 2009 1st day in new boat

Well, today was my first day fishing out of my new boat. Debbi is still nursing her knee, from the surgery and Dad was sick...so I was solo on the maiden voyage.

Not many fish today, as I spent alot of time running the boat and I've not been out for awhile, so I dont have the fish figured out yet.

Short video for today

11/6/09 - My boat is done!

Finally, after many moons of waiting, my new 2010 Snyder is done. Friday, I took off of work and headed to Snyder's to work with Tom and Jason to finish the boat up. There are a few minor odds and ends to finish, but for the most part...it's done.

I love this boat. It's rock solid. It will take some time to get used to the bigger/heavier boat. It's not as agile as the G3 and take a good bit longer to turn in. Had a couple of close calls where the boat slid further than anticipated and I came close to hitting rocks.

Not many good pic's yet, but here are a couple (forgive the porta-potty in the background, LOL)

Finally! The Snyder boat is being built!

In June of 2008, I put a deposit down for a new custom Snyder Jet Boat. Finally, 15 months later, the build process has begun.

The boat will be a 1866 model. 18 ft long, 66" wide bottom, modified V. This will be a center/forward console boat, like my G3 was. One really important feature of the Snyder is the UHMW poly that is glued and screwed to the entire bottom side of the boat. Not only does this protect the bottom of the boat, but also the really damage prone areas, like where the sides meet the bottom and the lowest part of the transom.

These boats are built by hand and are full-on customs. Tom can/will build anything you want.

My boat will be the first of the "gen 2" reverse chine design, which helps the boat get up on plane and stay on plane, at lower speeds. We are still trying to nail down the motor decision, but it's between a Suzuki 140, E-tec 150 or a Yammy 150 4-stroke.

I promised Tom that I wouldn't post any "build" photo's on the internet. He works hard on these designs and I dont want to give away any of his "secrets", so to speak. I'll post pictures once it is done.

River boat is up For Sale!

SOLD! Congrat's Ted!

Well, it's time for me to get a new boat and I just listed my G3 for sale. This has been a fantastic boat for me. I can honestly say that this boat is the reason why I have caught SO MANY 4-5 lb smallies in the river. I've gotten this boat into places that you would never believe, without seeing it yourself.

My Snyder boat is supposed to get started in a week or so, so it's time to get this one advertised.

2005 G3 1860 CCJ
18' long, 60" bottom
all-welded, tunnel hull, jet drive
Yamaha 90/65 4-stroke Jet
Galvanized trailer with removeable tongue
Fully padded floor, front to back
Minn Kota 101 Pro trolling motor (w/lift assist)
Humminbird color sonar with temp
Real nice boat and runs perfect.

JUST LOWERED THE PRICE: $12,700 or Best Offer

July 18, 2009 - Catfishing

Last night, Debbi and I hit the river for a few hours. We're still figuring this thing out, so give us some time and I'll start posting the "big fish" pics :)

We fished until about 11:30 pm and managed to land three. My biggest was 8 lbs 5 oz. Debbi got one about 7 lbs and we got a dink around 4 lbs as well.

Just like last time, we missed a bunch. Using live bait is foreign to us and I think we are setting the hook too soon. I just can't stand the thought of the fish swallowing the hook...even if we are using circle hooks.

I'm confident that we'll get the hang of it and increase our hooking percentage.

We had a good time and look forward to the next time out...probably next weekend!

Catfish envy...

So, I keep hearing about these big flatheads in the Susquehanna. Per my last post, we fished for them last weekend and caught several, up to 8 pounds...but nothing big.

My buddy, Dave Shindler sent me an email on Wednesday with a picture of a fish that his client caught Tuesday night (7/14).

What a pig! Dave's scale only goes to 25 pounds, so we don't know exactly what it weighed...certainly over 30.

They are in there! Do you have catfish fever, yet? I do!

Hook up with Dave at http://www.jstfishin.com/ !

July 10, 2009 Catfishing on Susky

Catfishing is just not "my thing". I rarely do it. But, this Flathead fishery on the Susquehanna got me intrigued, so I called Dave Shindler, grabbed the family and hit the river.

We met up with Dave just before 8pm on Friday night. Dave had a livewell full of bluegills and was ready to run the 19 ft Snyder down to the catfish hole.

Within 5 minutes, we had our first bite and Matt landed what turned out to be the big fish of the day... an 8 pound flathead. As the hours passed, we missed fish after fish. It was frustrating, but Dave kept his cool and stayed focussed on making a good night of it.

Dave even pulled the boat and ran to another location, several miles up the road...trying his best to get us on a few good fish.

We ended up with something like 12-15 fish, mostly small flatheads in the 4-6 pound range, with some channels mixed in as well (up to about 6 pounds).

All in all, it was a good time. Dave is a super nice guy, who really knows the river well. I would highly recommend him to anyone that wants to learn more about this great fishery, the Susquehanna River.

Summer Time Blues

I don't fish much in the summer. The fishing gets pretty tough here on the Susquehanna, it's hard on the fish (low DO content) and it's just uncomfortable.

I generally start fishing again in September, when things start to cool down. By October, things will be hot, right on through the winter and into spring.

Tomorrow night, Debbi, Matt (my son) and I are going fishing for Flathead catfish. This will be our first time, so we'll see how it goes. If it proves to be fun, it may be the new "summer thing" for me. Will post pics and video if we get anything.

Also, it sounds like my Snyder jetboat will be getting started within the next few weeks...very exciting! Will keep you posted on that as well.

Fish on!

Thursday, May 28 - Back on the river

Came home early from vacation in Vermont, due to weather.

Hit the river at a little before 8am. We had heavy fog...perfect!

Found fish in typcial post-spawn areas. Since water is still rather cool (64-66 degrees), the "mass exodus" from the shallows hasn't happened yet. This area is famous for the smallies disappearing once the water temp hits about 70 degrees. But, they are still here, as of today.

Landed 15 Smallies with the biggest being 4 lbs 5 oz.

See video as well.

Tuesday, May 26 - Lake Champlain

Finally, a decent weather day!

It was too cold (52ish) in the morning for Debbi, so Dad and I hit the water. We headed for Mallets Creek, since we were able to get on fish there yesterday. 2nd cast...nailed a decent Pike!

We ended up getting about a dozen Largemouth in the first 30-45 minutes. We left there and hit a spot that looked good on the map. Dad ended up slipping off the back of the boat and got soaked. So, I took him back to the house and picked up Debbi.

We hit Mallets Creek, then Inner Mallets Bay. We found Smallies and Largemouth starting to bed on the west side of the bay.

After searching around a bit, we ended up at Lamoille River and got on a really cool pattern. This is a slow river with decent depth (to about 10 feet). Where the river meets the lake, there are downed trees all along the banks. It took a little while to put it together, but here is the pattern...

Outside bends on both sides of the island (more current). Downed trees that extended to the drop off. At first, it seemed the trees were random, but the trees that extended to the drop from 3 feet to 7-9, were definitely the ticket. In these trees, we found packs of post-spawn smallies in groups of 6-30 fish. If you snuck up on them, you could actually see them in the branches.

Long casts with spinnerbaits as we approached and then tubes and drop shots as we got closer, put smallies in the boat.

We also picked up a couple of nice Pike on the spinnerbaits.

Monday, May 25 - Lake Champlain

Geeze, another tough day! This time, it blew like a hurricane all day. Seriously...20-30 sustained, all day long.

We hit Mallet's Creek first, and each caught 5-6 largemouth. Nothing big, but we got our lines tugged.

Next, we ran into a beautiful little river, named Lamoille River. Unfortunately, it looked better than it turned out to be. Full of wood, plenty of depth...it looked fantastic. We ended up picking up a couple of smallies and pike. The pike were 25-30 inches or so...nothing big.

We ran around a bit, making the long run up to Keeler Bay and tried to make it to the Gut...but it was just too rough. Didn't do much at all.

Finally, ran back into Mallet's and found a few smallies on beds in a bay out near the sea wall.

Total for today was something like: 10 smallies, 12 largemouth, 2 pike and 1 pickerel.

The weather forecast looks pretty bad for the latter part of the week, so we may actually go home early. Wish us luck tomorrow!

Sunday - May 24 - Lake Champlain

Our first real day on the water at Lake Champlain...

On one hand, it was a nice day, as we met a really cool guy and guide, named Mickey Maynard. Mickey really knows the lake and is a super cool guy to fish with.

On the other hand, Mother Nature wasn't kind to us. The day started out raining. It rained steady, for the first couple of hours. Not a great way to start the day, because we were wet the rest of the day. Of course, to add insult to injury, it got windy for the rest of the day. Debbi just couldn't deal with the cold/wet conditions, so we took her back to the launch early.

Dad, Mickey and I kept working at it. Through the day, we fished many areas within Inner and Outer Mallets Bay, as well as Keeler Bay and around Savage Island.

Water temps generally ranged from as as low as 52 in the Inland Sea to 58 or so in some areas of Mallet's Bay. The smallies were just starting to move shallow. We found a few males up shallow around Savage Island. Females were out in 12-15 feet and could be caught, if we slowed down enough.

Didn't keep real good count, but I guess we caught something like 10 smallies and 10 largemouth.

Tough day, but we learned a little bit about Lake Champlain and made a new friend in Mickey Maynard.

You can learn more about Mickey and his guide service through his website: http://www.angelfire.com/home/lake/fishingcharter.html

Vacation begins! Lake Champlain

We arrived today...in Colchester, VT. Debbi, Matt, Mom, Dad...and me.

We have a nice little house on the lake...right on the water. Check out the view...

We are fishing with a guide tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get a good idea of some current patterns and be able to get on the fish much faster for the rest of the week.

Will post pictures tomorrow...

Mother's Day Madness (5/10/09)

Got out for some fishing on the river Sunday morning. Was on the water at 7am and fished until noon or so.

Morning started off pretty cool...about 54 degrees. Water temps were around 62-63. Water was pretty darned muddy, about 12-18 inches of visibility.

Started out in my usual spots between the bridges in Columbia. I got about 6 fish in the first 2 hours, so it was pretty slow. Of those, only one was over 3 lbs. I had to really work the areas slow with MANY casts, since the water was so muddy.

As the morning went on, it got very windy. 15-20 MPH sustained. It was very difficult to control the boat because the wind was coming almost directly down the river. The wind and current together were really tough to deal with.

I worked the lower rocks, down near the 3 islands and caught a couple more.

Then, I made a long run upriver to the west side, where the wind was partially blocked. Only caught one fish...but, it was 5 lbs 3 oz!

No pic's today, since I was alone, but there is some video. As my luck would have it, when I caught the 5-3, I thought I was recording, but it was on pause. After I let the fish go and hit the record button again (to pause it), I realized that I didnt get any of it recorded. I'll post the video later and you can see my reaction...it's pretty funny. This explains the "Madness" in today's title, LOL.

Smallies are definitely post-spawn now. I still have not found any beds or bass that look/act like they are protecting beds...very strange.

Total for the day was: 10 smallies (5-3, 3-6 and 3-0 were biggest three)

Until next time...FISH ON!

Post spawn, already!?! May 2, 2009

You may recall from my post last week, that I mentioned the near 90 degree air temps and how this would mess up the fishing...well, I was right.

Last weekend, the fish were still pre-spawn. Water temps were in the mid-50's and the fishing was fantastic! Well, we had about 4 days in a row of 80-88 degree air temps. This made the water temp rise very quickly.

The result was this...

The water temps prior, were not high enough to push the males to the shallows and start making beds. But, the females were ripe. I believe that the spike in water temps caused a false spawn. The big females that I caught last week that were full of eggs, were spawned out this week. I looked everywhere and did not find a single bed. Nor did I catch a single male that I think was protecting a bed.

Hopefully, I'm wrong. If I'm right...hopefully not all of the females dropped their eggs. Generally, not all of the fish spawn at the same time and the bigger fish typically spawn first.

To add to the problem, we are supposed to get about 4 days of rain, which will bring the river up considerably. These up's and down's in water conditions are the reason why we have such huge swings in year class success and failure. It's the nature of a shallow river.

No pictures from yesterday, as I was by myself. One video posted with a few of the smallies I caught.

Totals for yesterday were: 18 Largemouths, to 2.5 lbs and 9 smallies, to 4-0.

Great end to a great weekend of fishing...

Strange weather. We got a string of days in the mid-80's. While many people think this is great (including Debbi), I think it stinks. This will warm the river up very fast, push the fish to the beds and bring a quick end to this fantastic spring fishing.

Oh well...quit your whining, right?

This morning, Debbi and I hit the water by about 7am. Air temps were already in the 60's and water temp started out around 59.

We headed upriver into the rocks to try to get some more big female smallies. We each managed (4) smallies. My biggest was 3-10, Debbi's was 4-0.

At about 11 am, we decided to make the long, 30 minute run to the largemouth/crappie areas. We struck out on crappie, but boy did we have fun with the Largemouths! We found a stretch of bank where the largemouth were piled up. My best guess was that the fish had a wad of baitfish pushed into this spot. We caught them, one after another...Debbi landed about 9-10 largemouths and lost at least 4 at the side of the boat. I landed 15 largemouths...including a 5-0 beauty!

Great weekend with (2) bass (1 smallie, 1 largemouth) over 5 lbs! We caught MANY over 4 lbs and didnt even bother weighing most of the 3's. For those that measure by length, we're talking about dozens of bass, 17-21 inches caught over the last fews days.

It just doesn't get any better than this on the Susquehanna River.

Wow, what a morning :)

Debbi and I got out this morning for some fishing on the river. We launched at Columbia. Air temps started in the high 50's and warmed to about 80 by the time we called it a day. Water temps ranged from 56 to 60, depending on where we were.

We flat out, hammered them today!

It wasn't a huge numbers day, I think Debbi got around 10 and I got something like 14. But, the big fish were biting...

Debbi had 3 smallies over 4 lbs. (4-6, 4-0, 4-0) and several over 3 lbs.

My (5) biggest were: 5-8, 4-6, 4-4, 4-3 and 3-15 (over 22 lbs)

You will notice that the date and time is wrong on the pictures....will get that fixed for next time. It's a new camera.

Fantastic Friday - 4-24-09

Yesterday, I was able to get out for a couple of hours after work. Glad I did, because it was fantastic!

In 2 hours, I caught eleven (11) smallies. That in itself is not that big of a deal...but of those (11) fish, (6) were 4 lbs or more! Biggest was 4 lbs 11 oz.

No pictures, since I was by myself, but I did get a few on video before my camcorder croaked. I'll be getting a new camcorder soon, so no excuses next time. Check out the video on the bar to the right.

Water temps are around 54-56 right now. It's perfect! Females are still pre-spawn and catchable. Males are not even up looking for bedding spots yet.

Get out there guys...it's great right now!

Blast from the past - May 2008

Debbi and I got married last May, in Key West. We stayed in Islamorada for a week and did some fishing while we were there.

One day, we went fishing for bonefish and permit. Well, we didn't catch any permit, but we did catch a few bonefish. I also lost (2) 100 lb + Tarpon...dang! We fished out out of Biscayne Bay.

We fished with Capt Dave Sutton

Another day, we fished out of Flamingo, for reds and snook. It was rediculously windy that day and we struggled to catch a few fish that day.

Tough morning, but can't complain

Got out this morning, since Matt has an awards event at 2pm today.

Started at about 6:30 am and fished until about 10:30 am. Water temps were 55-56. Air temp started at 48 and warmed to about 65.

Not sure why I didn't do better, other than I fished the same areas as Friday and Saturday. There doesn't seem to be alot of fish in the shallows yet. Females are still egg laden, no bucks up snooping for bedding areas yet.

Only got (4) in the boat. They went: 3-11, 3-5, 2-8 and 2-0. Oh, I caught a little 14" walleye too.

Can't wait til next weekend!

Saturday - April 18, 2009 - Susq River

Beautiful day today...got up to mid-70's. Started around 10 am and fished until about 3:30 pm. Debbi joined me.

Water was still pretty muddy, but a little clearer than yesterday. Water temps ranged from 54 to 58 degress.

We started up river and caught smallies, then made the long run down river to catch a few largemouths.

Total for Brett: 5 smallies and 2 Largemouths - biggest: 4 lbs 10 oz smallie

Total for Debbi: 3 smallies and 2 Largemouth - biggest: 3 lbs 8 oz largemouth

Friday - April 17 - Susq River

I sold my Mustang today and took a half day off. After transferring the title, I hooked the boat up and hit the river.

I launched at about 3:30 pm and fished until about 5:30 pm.

Air temp was in high 60's and water temp was 52-53 degrees and pretty stained.

No pictures today, because I was by myself, but there is a video...see link on right.

Caught (7) smallies. Top (5) were as follows: 4-9, 4-3, 4-2, 4-2 and 3-8

Fish were in slack water areas, near spawn sites. Males are not up shallow yet, almost all fish caught were egg-laden femals.

Blast from the past - April 2007

It's spring, and appropriate that I might post a picture or two of a big 'ol crappie.



This is a 16.5" Crappie that I caught in Mid-April, 2007. It was caught in the Susquehanna River. Debbi and I landed 5 crappie 14" or better that day! All the big ones were released.




Please don't ask me "where", cuz if I told you, I'd have to kill you :)

Unfortunately, the crappie population is pretty small on most of the river and these big fish would disappear very quickly, if the location was made public.

It's that time of the year...get on out there!

Lake Anna, VA - April 11, 09

Debbi and I made a trip down to Lake Anna, VA this past weekend. The plan was to hook up with a guide and catch a mess of crappie. It's that time of the year!

We drove down on Friday, which was Debbi's birthday. We took the "scenic route" and avoided Rt 95 and 81 altogether. It was a great drive. Took about 4 hours.

On the way, we stopped in Culpepper, VA. Cool little historic town. We ate at a really nice restraunt called Hazel River Inn. The food was really good. Debbi got to eat some fried oysters...she LOVES those :)

We spent the night at Lake Anna's Lighthouse Inn. Not a very fancy place, but it was clean, quiet...and right at the marina where we met our guide.

We fished with Chris McCotter of McCotter's Guide Service. Chris is a really nice guy and knows the lake very well. We will definitely fish with him again.

So, we get out on the lake, it's calm, about 55 degrees and overcast...not too bad. We got to the first spot and wouldn't you know it...Miss Debbi catches a crappie on the first cast! Oh boy, it's going to be one onf those days that she kicks my butt! We catch a few small fish and move on...

About an hour into the day, a dark cloud came into view. Clearly, there was a storm getting very close. Chirs made a quick and good decision, to high tail it back to the marina. We literally beat the storm by just minutes. So, we hung out in the marina store for 20 minutes or so and let the storm pass. I was pumped, thinking that the rest of the day would be clear...well.

The temp droppped about 10-15 degrees and it stayed windy the entire day. Poor Debbi froze her butt off and actually stopped fishing. Chris and I kept banging away at it, but this was a typical spring cold front that really makes fishing tough.

We ended the day with something like 30-4o crappie. We took 15 home to eat.

Although the fishing was pretty tough, we met a new guide, made a new friend, ate some good food and enjoyed another adventure together.

Let the blogging begin!

Well, here goes...

Anyone who knows me, knows that this isn't my "cup of tea". I've never done anything like this.

My goal...to create an easy way for Debbi and I to share our "adventures" with friends and family.

I want to try to go back to the beginning of the year and post some stuff. But, if that doesn't work well, then we'll just go from here.