“See that fish in front of the flat rock?” fishing guide Jake Villwock asked, pointing to a bass finning about 30 feet from the boat.
“Toss your fly just above it, but make sure it hits the water quietly.”
Virginia angler Scott Einsmann made a series of false casts with his 9-foot flyrod, before sending a small popper fly sailing above the submerged bass.
When the fly hit the Juniata River, a dark line darted upstream past the fly into parts unknown, indicating the fish Einsmann was casting to had spooked.
“That wasn’t quiet,” Villwock said with a laugh.
Fall is prime time for smallmouth bass fishing on the Susquehanna River and its tributaries in southcentral Pennsylvania.
But this fall, so far, water levels have been low, and the water gin clear.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officials say that’s not a problem for the smallmouths preparing for winter.
But it can be a problem for anglers chasing those fish during what is normally one of the best times of year to fish for smallmouth bass.
“I think the biggest problem right now is the inconvenience to anglers just trying to get around the rivers,” said Geoff Smith, Warmwater Unit Leader, Division of Fisheries Management for the Fish and Boat Commission.
“River conditions right now are fine for bass – temperatures are good so little stress from that standpoint.
“To some degree, the low flows create little sanctuaries because we can’t get to (the bass) so in some respect they may have seen less pressure recently than they typically do.
“This is a popular time for angling and the typical drivers for that will still be occurring despite the flow conditions, but fish may not be in some places anglers would expect them to be this time of year.”
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Scott Einsmann holds a hefty Juniata River smallmouth bass.
P.J. REILLY | Staff Writer
The fall season is when smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers migrate from summer to winter habitats, and when they feed heavily to fatten up for the coming cold months.
Smith noted that, while water levels look low on both rivers – cross the Susquehanna on the Route 30 bridge at Columbia and you’ll see more rocks exposed than you have all summer – they are not critically low, and fish still have plenty of water to maneuver.
“Conditions we are seeing are typical for late summer and early fall, and river discharges are around the medians for these dates so this is expected and common,” he said.
The U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge on the Susquehanna River at Marietta last week was around 33 feet.
Based on historical data, USGS considers that to be about 27 percent of normal for this time of year.
The USGS stream gauge on the Juniata River at Newport was around 3 feet last week. As an indication of how low that flow is, minor flood stage for that area is 22 feet. Major flooding is expected at 30 feet.
The low flows “shouldn’t affect (smallmouths) much, and if anything, it may actually consolidate their prey and make foraging slightly easier,” Smith said.
And fall is the season when southcentral Pennsylvania rivers tend to recharge before winter.
“If you look at historic daily median discharge values, you’ll see they start to climb in October as rainfall tends to increase seasonally in the fall,” Smith said.
“Generally, weather patterns change with changes in temperature, so we expect to see rain events become more frequent soon and change river conditions.
“We are talking about weather, though, so there is no guarantee, but historic patterns are a pretty good indicator – we have over 100 years of data to reference – so we hope to see that soon.”
The Fish and Boat Commission also has good population data for smallmouths on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, according to Smith.
“Surveys were completed on both the Juniata and middle Susquehanna River last week and populations looked good in both instances,” he said two weeks ago.
“We have additional surveys planned later this fall in some of these areas and will be collecting more data as well.”
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Fishing guide Jake Villwock, left, points out a casting spot on the Juniata River to Scott Einmann.
P.J. REILLY | Staff Writer
Those additional surveys will be helpful to the agency in assessing smallmouth populations, because the low water conditions had an impact on the surveys that already were conducted.
“Just like angling, these conditions affect our survey conditions as well, and our catch rate of large fish was low which commonly happens when we survey during low flow,” he said.
“The later surveys we have planned, which typically happen under higher flow, will give us a better appreciation if those larger fish are there – which I fully expect – and what their abundance looks like.”
Villwock, owner of Relentless Fly Fishing, which offers guided fishing trips for bass, trout and other species throughout southcentral and southeast Pennsylvania, says the low flows this fall are both a blessing and a curse.
Low, clear water makes conditions great for sight-fishing – drifting downstream and casting to fish you can see – as opposed to blindly casting to water where you have no idea if there are any fish there.
Indeed, smallmouths on the lower Juniata were easy to spot on a recent fishing trip my buddy, Einsmann, and I took with Villwock in early October.
Villwock’s unpowered drift boat only sinks about 4 inches under water with three people aboard, so he’s able to navigate some pretty skinny conditions and get to those bass Smith said other anglers might not be able to reach.
But when it’s easy for anglers to see fish, Villwock said, it’s also easy for those fish to see the anglers.
“You just have to be super careful casting to these fish, because they are so spooky,” he said.
We spooked a ton of smallmouth bass over the course of a 6-hour drift on the Juniata.
But we also hooked and landed 60, with the largest measuring 19 inches long.
“That’s a decent day,” said Villwock, who personally guides anglers on the Juniata a couple days a week from March through November.
“But we probably would’ve caught more numbers, and more big fish, if the water wasn’t so low.”
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