Oct 23, 2010 - Susquehanna River

Finally got out on the river today (Susquehanna). It's been 5 months since I was out in my jetboat, ugh!

Anyway...did ok. Caught 7 smallies and lost a few. Biggest was 4 lbs 8 oz. Caught most of the fish on a swimbait and a couple on a jerkbait (LC Pointer).

Pattern took me most of the day to figure out. Active fish were right at the front of major neck downs, in the strongest current. Not in the seams, not in the eddies...at the head of major rapids...very strange for this time of year. Once I figured it out, I got on them pretty good.

Water temps ranged from 54 on the east side to 61 on the west side. Temps need to come down 5-10 degrees before the fish will really get serious about the fall feed.

Stay tuned, will post video soon.

Fish on!

Brett

New River, VA - Sep 17-19, 2010

Our new friends, Todd and Alicia from Ohio, set us up for a great trip down to south western VA to fish the New River. This is one their favorite places to fish...and now one of ours as well.

Each day, we averaged 30-40 smallmouths each. While most of them were in the 8-12" range, there were enough larger fish (up to 21"+) to keep it exciting.

This is one of the prettiest places that we've been fishing. We fished out of rafts...like the kind for white water rafting. These rafts were set up for fishing though, with seats and even motors!

Along the way, we saw beautiful landscapes and wildlife. We even saw a bobcat pounce on a mink and kill it! VERY COOL! Debbi liked seeing the deer swimming across the river too.

We highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves fishing, wildlife and water sports.

You can book a trip through New River Outdoor Company. Tell Britt and Leigh that we sent you: Guided Fishing Trips

You can also rent beautiful, yet affordable, cabins, see here: Cabin rentals

Check out the video

May 27, 2101 - Permit Fishing - FL Keys

For years, I've had an itch to catch a permit. We tried two years ago, while we were in the keys, but didn't even get to cast to one.

So, we decided to dedicate the day to getting one...

The day started out with Bob poling us on a big flat, way on the outside keys out of Cudjoe. Very little activity, but we did finally spook a couple of fish. We made our way to an edge between the flat and a channel. 2 ft of water on our right, 8 ft of water on our left. There were LOTS of tarpon cruising and rolling. It was tough, but I tried to stay focused on finding a permit. Debbi tossed a crab to a small tarpon (~30 lbs) and got it to the boat.

After hours of searching, and making a VERY long run through the keys to a flat up north of Marathon...we finally found a few. This flat was COVERED with Cuda's. If I wasn't so dead-set on a permit, we could have had a blast with the Cuda's. I threw to one cuda, hooked him up and gave the rod to Debbi. While she was reeling it in, sharks swarmed in and a 6-7 ft lemon tackled the cuda in about a foot of water....woo wee, that was cool! (Not so much for the cuda).

Bob literally said..."ok guys, this is our last drift". And there they were, 2 permit coming right towards us. Bob said "make it count!". I tossed the crab, one permit moved off to the right...but, where did the other one go???? Wait, I think...yea, he ate it...FISH ON!

Permit fishing - Florida Keys - May 27, 2010 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

May 25, 2010 - Tarpon Fishing at Cudjoe Key

We met up with Capt Bob from Double Haul Charters and headed out in his Maverick HPX skiff. Debbi had never caught a tarpon before, so she was first on the rod.

It didn't take long to get bit and Debbi reeled in her first Jack Crevalle. Soon after that, Debbi was in for a 1 hour battle with a tarpon in the 80-90 lb class.

Later, I hooked into a tarpon as well, but after a hectic battle around the bridge pilings, the hook eventually pulled.

Here is a short video

Tarpon Fishing - May 25, 2010 - Cudjoe Key from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

May 24, 2010 - Key West

Our first day of fishing on this vacation, turned out to be our best.

We hooked up with Bill Wallace from Fish Key West Florida Charters on a 33 ft Sea Vee. This was a very nice, dry and comfortable center console with a head and twin 250 4 strokes. You can find their info here

The plan was to bottom fish and see what we could catch. Within minutes of dropping the first chum bag, we had fish all around the boat. It didn't take long for the Yellow tail snappers to show up and boy were they big!

As the snapper fishing heated up, we started dropping heavy rods down for mutton snappers and grouper. We got one big mutton to the boat, but lost a few larger fish...presumably grouper.

Then the sharks got thick and we lost 6-10 fish to them. So, we used a snapper head that a shark left us and dropped it down. Debbi has always wanted to catch a shark, so there was no question as to who got to reel it in :)

Check out this short video...

Key West Fishing - May 25, 2010 Outcast from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

May 7 & 8, 2010 Susquehanna River

Friday morning was supposed to be cloudy and the river level was looking good. So, I took off of work in the morning and hit the river. The plan was to fish until about 11:00 am, but the fishing was cut short because I broke my trolling motor prop on a rock...ugh! I know, I know...you should always have a spare, but I didn't.

Anyway, the fishing was pretty darned good for the 2 hours or so that I fished. I ended up with something like 10 smallies. Caught several in the 3-4 lb range.

The pattern was post-spawn, moving water, super shallow, in all of the normal feeding positions.

Caught fish on spinnerbaits and swimbaits, as usual. No reason to throw tubes and senko's when they are this aggressive.

Saturday, Debbi and went out. We did well with spinnerbaits from 8 am until about 10 am...then it got REALLY windy! It was so windy that we had no time to take pic's or video's, or risk banging into rocks. We finally gave in to the wind and went home. Again...something like 10 fish, only got a couple of video. Debbi got the biggest fish at 4 lbs 1 oz.

Smallmouth bass fishing on Susquehanna River 5-7-10 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

Sunday, May 2, 2010 - Susquehanna River

It's been so darned hot for 3 days that I decided to get out there at sunrise today. I got up at 5:00 and was in the water by 6:00 am.

Only fished until about 10:00 am, because it had already gotten up to over 80 degrees and boy was it humid.

It was a pretty morning and started off really well with a fish on my first cast! Ended up with 10 smallies. Nothing real big. Also caught 2 walleyes.

I sure hate when the spring time fishing comes to an end. I'm afraid we're only about a week or two away from summer patterns.

Susquehanna River Smallmouth fishing May 2, 2010 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Debbi wanted to go fishing, but refuses to get up early on the weekends...I'm working on that with her, LOL

So, we didn't get to the river until almost 9:00 am. It was ridiculously hot for May 1st...about 88 degrees.

Water temps were in the 61-63 range. Water is still dirty on the eastern half.

Debbi ended up with 4 smallies and I ended with about a dozen. We worked hard for those 16 fish! Covered ALOT of water and made ALOT of casts.

Only took a couple of pic's today.

April 30, 2010

Decided to leave work early today and take Dad fishing. We got to the river at about 2:45 pm or so and fished until about 6:30 pm.

Got on some fish. I ended up with 15 and Dad had 8. No monsters....biggest fish were in the 18-19 inch (3.5 lb) range.

Water temps were around 60.
Air temps were in the 70's

All fish were post spawn and in moving water. Most were on spinnerbaits with a few on swimbaits.

Hard to get excited with no big fish, but it's better than working...that's for sure. Didn't even bother taking pic's today.

Til next time...fish on!

April 24, 2010 - Susquehanna River

The post-spawn smallie fishing is on! Today, I should have boated about 40 fish, but only ended up with 28. My shoulder has been hurting and I just wasn't setting the hook well or keeping them buttoned up.

Anyway, the conditions were as follows...

Air temps: 50-60 degrees
Water temp: 58-61 degrees
Hbg Gauge: 4.3 ft and steady
Lures: Spinnerbaits and swimbaits

Susquehanna River Smallmouth Fishing April 24, 2010 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

Trip Trade #1 - Todd and Alicia Theodore

Well, my first trip trade turned out to be a great one. Todd and Alicia came all the way to PA from Cincinnati, OH.


























They started their trip on Saturday morning and drove over 8 hours straight to get to York around 5pm. We met up and had dinner at Fiesta Mexico in York. The food was really good and the Captain and Diet was cold and tall :)

Sunday morning, we met at 9 am and were on the water by about 9:30 am. Mother Nature wasn't very kind to us today. The high was in the low to mid 50's, but we had had winds in the 15-25 mph range all day long. The wind chill was in the low to mid 40's. Pretty uncomfortable and definitely challenging from a casting and boat control point of view.

























Enough of the whining...so how did we do? Pretty well, considering the weather and post-spawn conditions. We boated about 35 smallies today. Approx 6-8 of those fish were 18" or greater....not too terrible. Top 3 that we weighed were: 4-3, 4-1 and 3-15.

Here are a few pictures:






























































So...Debbi and I made a couple of new friends. We ate some good food and caught some nice fish. It doesn't get any better than that! Debbi and I are looking forward to fishing with Todd and Alicia on the New River in VA, sometime later this year.

Thanks!

April 10, 2010

This spring, fishing has been very hit or miss. The the high flows through March and into April, I don't think the fish were able to get to their normal places. I've found fish in all my normal spots...but not in the numbers that I usually do.

Some females (larger ones) have dropped their eggs, but no signs of any beds yet. I think the main group of spawners is yet to come and should be soon.

Water temps have been in the high 50's to just over 60 on the warmest days. Air temps have fluctuated from high's in the 70's to high's in the 50's...again, very unpredictable.

But, I am catching some fish and having a good time.

Here is a little video of some of the fish for the day...

Susquehanna River Smallmouth Bass Fishing 4/10/10 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

April 11, 2010 - Fishing with Debbi

Well, I thought that we would have an awesome day, but it turned out rather slow. The day started out with Debbi breaking her baitcasting rod and that kind of bummed her out.

The fish have proven to be difficult to find and catch with the water levels receding so fast.

Surprisingly, some of the bigger fish have dropped their eggs, but most of the fish have still not spawned.

Water temps are hovering right around 60 degrees, with air temps mainly in the 60's during the day and 40's at night.

Did manage to get a few nice fish. Best for the day was this post-spawn female that weighed 4 pounds on the button.

April 7, 2010 - It's on!

With the warming trend and the falling river flows, I just HAD to leave work early and hit the river. While I was launching, I met some guys at the ramp that told me that the fishing had been pretty tough and between the 3 boats of guys, they didn't have much success...

Ugh, I started to wonder if taking off of work was a good idea.

But, I stayed optimistic and hit the water...and I'm glad that I did. It started off slow, as I found that only the small males had made it to the shallow spawning areas so far. But, once I started hitting my winter to spring migration points...I was on them pretty good.

Fished for 3 hours and caught (16) smalles. Biggest (5) were: 4-3, 4-1, 3-13, 3-11 and 3-0.
A 18 lb 12 oz bag...not bad. Not great, for spring standards, but not bad.

Here is a quick video

Susquehanna River Smallmouth Fishing - April 7, 2010 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

April 4, 2010 - Susquehanna River

Finally...the river is coming down. It's still high and muddy, but at least it's fishable again. The gauge at Harrisburg was about 7 ft and falling.

Debbi and I hit the water at about 10:00 am and fished until about 2:00 pm.

It was an adventure today...
We saw a Bald Eagle on a nest along the river.
We heard little frogs in a bog, singing their hearts out.
Debbi caught her first Tiger Musky!














While we were taking pics of the musky, the boat drifted under a large overhanging branch of a tree. The limbs were so long that they reached into the water. As we drifted under it, the branch acted like a giant muddy mop and got mud all over the boat...what a mess!

After we released the musky and were cleaning up the boat, I found out that apparently there was a snake in that overhanging branch...and now it was in the boat, LOL. So, I had to catch the little guy and toss him back on the bank.















Debbi ended up catching (2) smallies and the Tiger Musky. I ended up with (10) smallies. Biggest smallie of the day was just about 4 lbs. (didn't weigh it)

Raging River - April 2, 2010

The Susquehanna has been raging for a couple of weeks now. I took the day off and hit the river, to scout it out for the weekend. The river gauge at Harrisburg was at about 8.5 ft and falling.

No surprise...it was tough. It was tough just to keep the boat moving slow enough to fish.

I did manage to get two fish in the boat... (1) 18" walleye and a 4lb 3 oz Smallie.

Susquehanna River April 2 2010 - Smallmouth fishing from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

March 28, 2010 - Susq River

Got out on the river again. It's high and muddy and this cold front stinks...but hey, it's better than watching TV!

Ended up doing pretty well...21 fish in the boat and lost a few as well. Big fish for the day was a chunky 3 lb 13 oz female.

If the river will settle down a bit, the fishing will get VERY good.

Susquehanna River Smallmouth Fishing March 28, 2010 from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.

March 27, 2010 - Susquehanna River

Got out for a few hours in the afternoon after picking up a new (used) Suburban to use as a tow vehicle.

Cold front is blowing through over the next 2 days, bring cold, wind and rain by tomorrow.

Did OK...only got (4), but (2) were over four pounds.

Water temps were 48-52 degrees...warmer on west side.

March 7, 2010 - Pocomoke Perch Jerkin

The new In-Fisherman Magazine came to the house, so I thumbed right to the "Hot Spots" section...

There was a blurb on Crappie fishing in the Pocomoke River on the Eastern Shore of MD, so I gave the contact a call.

Capt Walt is a full time guide out of Pocomoke City, MD. His website is www.ltcharters.com. I gave Walt a call and booked a trip for Crappie and Perch...something different.

Dad and I drove down Saturday night and met up with Capt Walt Sunday morning at 7 am. The river is cool! It's part of a bald cypress swamp. It's slow and windy, has lots of wildlife and boy is it full of fish!

We really enjoyed fishing with Capt Walt. He is very professional and a pleasure to fish with. Ontop of that...he really knows how to catch fish! We highly recommend booking him.

If you are interested, here is a short video:

February 2010 - Reports

Wow, what a February! Not from a fishing point of view, but from a snow point of view. We had back to back storms in the middle of the month that left us with between 3 and 4 feet of snow!

I was able to get out fishing just about every weekend. A couple of the trips forced me to launch at far away places, because the ramps that I usually use, were snowed in.

Quit your whining! Right? LOL

Anyway, I didn't take alot of pics or video during this time. Quite frankly, the fishing was just mediocre. But, here are a couple of video's, in case you're interested...

Jan 23 & 24 - Susquehanna River

Got out again to hit the river. Saturday, Dad went with me. Temps were around 40 degrees and comfortable. River conditions seemed good and I expected that we'd do pretty well...wrong. It was very tough. We fished for a few hours and managed only a handful of smallies. My guess is that the blue bird skies had them turned off.

Sunday, the weather was better (cloudy), but the river was almost 10 degrees cooler than yesterday...ugh. Caught some fish (about 6), but really had to work for them. All fish were on tubes. Ran into my buddy, Dave Shindler (www.jstfishin.com) out on the river as well. If you ever want to go with a guide that REALLY knows the river...he's one of the best.

It was good to get out. Who can complain when it's January in PA and your're getting your line wet, right?

I commented to Dave, while we were drifting side by side that it's funny how many people think that this warm water discharge fishing is so easy. Sure, there are days when it's hot, just like anywhere else. But, if you fish this area alot, you will learn that this warm water fishing in the winter is every bit as "hit and miss" as any other fishing...maybe even more so. The water temo is up and down, not only day to day, but sometimes hour to hour. Add that to the normal fluctuations of a river with rising and lowering levels, changes in water clarity, etc...it can be frustrating. Again, I really can't complain...I got my string pulled :)

Until next time...fish on!

Brett

January 16, 2010

Well, I got out for my second time this year. The temp was an amazing 50 or so degrees. The river was iced over, so I drove to the west side and launched at a dirt ramp that I know of.

I fished from about 11:30 am to about 3:30 pm. Caught something like 10-12 smallies plus 2 largemouths. Didn't catch a single walleye, but that was no big surprise with all the sun and clear water.

Water was low and clear...probably 4.5 ft at Harrisburg or so.

Had fun...can't wait to go again. Video is coming...uploading now.

Jan 16 2010 Susquehanna River from Brett Dunn on Vimeo.