Jiggin' for bats 8/30/2014

August 30, 2014

Welcome back to the Steeler Fishin' Blog everyone!  I'm sure you will enjoy this newest next post.

It was Saturday night and the plan was to hit Beltzville for some striper fishing.  We launched from the main ramp around 11:00PM and headed to our normal sweet spots.  However, only 2 largemouth bass decided to join us for a little CPR (catch - photo - release).  Water temperatures hovered between 74-75 degrees and water clarity was tough to determine as it was darker than Dikembe Mutombo out there.  Around 3:15AM I was ready to pack it in.  I was literally casting and falling asleep while my lure sat at the bottom of the lake.  I deserve a pass though as it was our first week back in school with students.  I'm not used to waking up at 5:30AM and heading into work!  I know ... BOO HOO!

Did I mention we spent 4 hours "ducking and weaving" from the killer bats?  The bats followed us around the lake and were nose diving at us.  It was insane!  I actually had one bat that flew into my line and became entangled momentarily.  It was quite interesting to say the least.

Anyway, we are quite the dedicated fishermen and rather than packing it in decided to put the trolling motor on "automatic anchor" and take a quick power nap.   Three hours later :) we awoke and started chucking lures again.  NOTHING!  NADA!  Time to head home.  It was about 6:35AM and we were cruising back to the ramp when all hell broke loose.  I kid you not ... the entire lake erupted.  Schools of stripers were breaking the surface everywhere.  Chad connected first with 4 stripers in about as many casts.

We picked a school of fish and spent the next 4 hours chasing them from one end of the lake to the other.  Talk about fun .... It didn't take us long to figure out what these guys wanted.  FISH ON!  

We found a school of 30 plus inch stripers and you can see why the smiles were "ear to ear!"

This frenzy was so incredible we were waving other boats over to us.  At one point, we had 5 other boats with us.  All of us had a pod of stripers circled.  It was like fishing into a pond.  We offered everyone advice on what to throw and after catching his first-ever striper, one guy yells out loud "I could kiss you right now!  All the boats got a nice chuckle out of that one.  Hey, glad to help!  

It's tough to get all the boats in the frame but this should help you paint that "mental picture!"

 

This was the smallest striper caught!  Yes, we are spoiled!  

           

I had to show the "incidental" largemouth bass.  There was one more but not sure where that picture is?  Maybe I will edit this post later?  Probably not though ... this is about stripers!  Haha!  In total, our count ended at 17 stripers.  We don't believe this whatsoever.  We were chucking fish back in so quick because this was an opportunity we couldn't miss.  Heck, there were many similar fish we didn't take a picture of.  Great day on the water!  Still not sure why they call it the "Dead Sea?'  

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Until next time .... 

                                                 
                                                                         

Tubing on the Susquehanna River 7/25/14

Headed up the North Branch of the Susquehanna River again this past Friday.  The morning started off with 52 degree air temperatures.  It was a little cold and the fog covered the entire river.  Water temperatures held pretty steady around 76 degrees.  If the cold was unbearable, we could always just jump in the river to warm up.  The water was still slightly stained and we knew it would be a decent day of fishing.  

    

It sure didn't take long to find some nice underwater treasure!  We know tubes would be the way to go today.  In fact, we were able to land fish on 4 different colors during this trip out on the Susquehanna.    

Caught this one in the fast water directly behind me.  I was able to entice this pretty lady with a spinnerbait. 

Sometimes you have to go "Bill Dance" on the fish and give a "thank you" kiss before saying good-bye.  :) 

Billy landed two walleye today on SPINNERBAITS!  That's a first in my books.  Always a bonus though.  

The BIGGER fish were definitely on vacation today.  We caught a few chunky girls but for the most part it was "cookie cutter" day on the Susquehanna River.  Hey, the future looks bright though.  The BIG gals will return soon.  We landed nearly 80 fish today.  There was even this bonus channel catfish ....

Here are a few other fish from our trip! 

  

Until next time, thanks for checking out the "steeler" fishing blog.  Have a good one!  - steeler

                                                                                                                                          

Susquehanna Catchin' 7-19-14

It's been way too long since my last visit to the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.  The "rain" gods and the "fishing" gods have been punching it out this summer.  Finally, the "fishing" gods prevailed and my opportunity to chase a few smallmouths became a reality.  Chad arrived at my house at 3:30AM and we were on our way north.  Once arriving at the river, we were welcomed by thick fog, stained water (1-2 feet visibility) and 73 degree water temperature.  We knew today was going to be a good one!  It didn't take too long to get the first North Pennsylvania smallmouth bass into the boat.

Tubes were the way to go for DINK fish today.  The BIGGER fish wanted spinnerbaits and crankbaits!

A majority of our fish were in the 12 - 16 inch range.  There were a few CHUNKS at 17 but nothing much bigger than that today.  However, it was an OUTSTANDING day of fishing!  We landed 70 smallmouth bass during this trip.  There was also this rare find -

Chad broke out the in-line spinner and landed this nearley 3lb. - 18 inch largemouth bass.  Nice catch!

Most of our fish were found in fast current seams today!  We caught fish on a multitude of lures.  This was a nice and feisty 18 inch little mouth caught from a spot we often frequent.

We contribute the nice stain to our success on the river today.  However, we were a little disappointed by the "fishing etiquette" or lack thereof displayed by other fishermen.  On three separate occasions during this trip, we had boats literally float 20-30 yards in front of us and "attempt" to steal our drift.  Two of the boats watched us catch fish and simply bullied their way in.  Again, the "fishing" gods were on our side. Neither boat caught a single fish as we kept hooking up with fish after fish.  In another instance, one older guy started his float about 30 yards behind us.  His drift was going pretty quick.  We actually had to move so his boat didn't crash into us.  AMAZING!

Regardless, it was another great day fishing on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.  The bass were more cooperative than our "fellow" fishermen.  That's how it goes sometimes!  The eagles, deer, osprey and various other resident animals watched as we hooked into one gorgeous fish after another.  Life was good today!  Life was real good today!  Until next time ... thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed!

steeler

You got my ear wet! 6/26/2014

Last week, Kenny V. from Reel River Adventures extended an invite to fish the main stem of the Susquehanna River.  Kenny had some clients coming up the following day and wanted to pre-fish the river.  After thinking it over for about 2 seconds, I accepted the offer and spent the days leading up to 6/26 excited like a fat kid in a candy store.  Whenever the opportunity to fish the "main stem" presents itself, the words "NO" and "CAN'T" disappear from my vocabulary.

So, on 6/25, I met up with Kenny and we headed to the main stem.  Our plan was to pre-fish that night for a few hours before spending an entire day chasing bronzebacks.   Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  Thunder and lightning engulfed the mountains and we played it safe.  When the skies finally cleared we were able to get out and fish a few areas for about an hour.  We successfully boated 7 fish and knew the smallies would be "juiced up" the following day.  Before we decided to hit the sack for the night, we were joined by Dr. Chris Smith from "everything smallmouth."

Friday - 6/26:  We hit the water around 5:00AM.  It didn't take long to find a few fish.  Water temperatures hovered around 75 degrees.  Both the east and west sides of the river were chocolate milk.  However, the middle of the river produced some "slightly stained" water.  I almost started my very own WWE version of "yes, yes, yes ..."  Here are just a few of the fish from our day:

Most of today's fish came on various spinnerbaits and tubes.  Color didn't seem to matter much! 

     

Today was an OUTSTANDING day of fishing.  We landed 90 smallmouth bass and 1 walleye today.  At least 20 of our fish were 18 or 19 inches.  It's even better when you spend it with good company.  Thanks to Kenny V. from Reel River Adventures for taking Dr. Chris Smith and I out on the Susquehanna River.  If you are ever looking for someone to put you on the fish just check out his website: 

 http://reelriveradventures.com/

There were some great times during this trip.  One in particular was when Kenny had to use the bathroom.  Too bad we were on the river and there were no facilities available.  Sometimes you have to pull out your "portable purse" and handled your "business" like Yogi Bear.  Hey Boo Boo ... :)  Yep, that's a toilet seat in Kenny's right hand there.  Notice he's all smiles after unloading the canister of excrement.  

Or there was the close call when Chris inadvertently casted about an inch away from Kenny's ear.  All I heard was Kenny say "you got my ear wet!"  I had to double check these guys were keeping it "G" rated. 

Dr. Chris Smith's 20 inch walleye was a chunky gal!  Just the way many of us fishermen like em.  By the way, if you enjoy fishing for smallmouth bass please check out Dr. Smith out on Facebook at "everything smallmouth."  I'm sure you will enjoy his site and stories.  I've been checking them out since Friday.  

You always have to show the best "photo-bomb" of the trip and here it is:

Great day on the water with some even better company!  A special thanks goes out to my lovely wifey for baking us some cookies.  We had a few while stretching our backs during the hottest part of the day.  Man, life sure is tough when your catching nearly 100 fish in a day.  I'm almost embarrassed to say my forearms were cramping up at one point while I was backhanding an 18 inch smallie into the boat.  Haha!  Thanks for viewing my blog.  I hope you enjoyed this latest adventure of steeler fishin'

Canada Pike Fishing Trip - May 30 to June 2, 2014

It's been way too long since we visited Lake Singleton Campground in Ontario, Canada (3 years to be exact) but we finally ended that drought in 2014!  Yeah baby!  Unfortunately, two of our buddies were unable to make the journey north.  However, Steve and I made it a family affair and kept our plans to chase a few Canadian Pike. 

 

As you can see, the weather was OUTSTANDING!  It was beautiful out there.  It did slow the fishing down somewhat but no complaints from either of us.  All four days of fishing produced air temperatures in the low to mid 80's.  Water temperatures ranged from 69 to 73 degrees. 

Now, the numbers and size of the pike weren't the same as our last trip.  We caught numerous "cookie cutter" pike.  I did have one monster come from the deep depths and nail one of my Husky Jerks.  This thing had to be close to 40 inches.  I almost shat myself the way it appeared out of nowhere as I was pulling my lure from the water.  My heart pumped rapidly for quite some time.  Truth be told ... I had no chance of landing that thing.  I set a hook in it's mouth and the big guy looked at me, laughed, shook the hook, and wandered back into the darkness with this smug look on his face.  We've all been there! Not to be deterred, we continued fishing and found lots of these:

 

Don't get me wrong - we did catch some pike!  Haha!  It's just fun catching "accidental" bass these BIG.  Two or three of these big guys were pushing 8lbs. 

We even had one "Double!"  Steve caught the front end of it and gets the picture with both fish!  Those are the rules, right?

Did I mention there are some NICE smallies in Canada?  I kept saying "if only we could throw tubes at these fish!"  One of these years, we are heading up there during bass season.  Heck, maybe this summer if time permits. 

 

We even had some good eats while in the Great North!  Doesn't get much better than this ....

See that little rock over my left shoulder?  Yep, that's where she was sitting.  This picture doesn't do this fish justice.  She was an 8lb bass.  I should zoom in and edit this picture at some point.  Just look at my hand.  This is a BIG one! 

This was the view from our cabin.  Life was good for a short 4 days.  I want to go back ....

Little pike here but had to show off my "tourist" t-shirt!  Thank you for allowing us to fish your waters Canada.  It was much appreciated, eh!

I have more pictures on my I-Phone and will add them soon.  Be right back folks!  Okay, that didn't take long.  Here is another picture of dinner.  Again .. it doesn't get any better than this!

Catching pike NEVER gets old!  I wonder how these guys bite in July and August?  Anyone?  I'm definitely considering making a return trip this summer. 

Nothing like fishing with the cows!  We took a similar picture last trip.  This time we were a little more creative though. 

Gorgeous scenery in Canada!  This is about 2 minutes before I lost my sunglasses. 

This raccoon followed us around for about 20 minutes.  I'm guessing this guy may have rabies. 

Another year and another slab crappie!  Geez, these things are as big as the stripers in Beltzville. 

Remember how I lost my sunglasses?  I jumped in and couldn't find them.  Oh well ... this was a relaxing dip in the water.  I was ready to catch some fish again. 

Steve was a little envious I looked so cool and relaxed.  Besides, it made for great pictures. 

These little guys landed a nice bowfin (or as they called it ... "dogfish") right at the ramp and 100 feet from our cabin.  We ran over and offered a net and the boga grips so they could successfully land it. 

Good bye C-A-N-A-D-A!  Until next time ...

Thanks for reading my blog!  Hope you enjoyed our adventure to Ontario, Canada.  It was a trip we will never forget.