Susquehanna River / Hallstead\Conklin\Binghamton Area

[scj6771]

Picked up a fishing kayak and have spent the last 3 days on the Susquehanna river between Hallstead PA and Conklin NY.

I am fairly new to serious fishing and could use some advice, I have been using the tackle (linked below) and have not had a single bite in 3 days, I understand that it's harder to catch fish in the dog days of summer so I have been getting out on the river around 6:00 AM and fish until around 9:30 AM.

What other tackle should I be using for the river in the summer? Thanks all for your time

https://scj6771.smugmug.com/Absolute-Randomness/i-tppm7q4/A

[Lipripper]

Hello and welcome to Ultimate Bass. If you would stop by here and introduce ytourself to everyone and tell us a little about yourself. Let Us Get To Know You Thanks

Them are some nice looking bats and not sure why you haven't caught anything on at least one of them. You might try fishing at different times of the day and maybe do a report in your state section and tell about how your day went and how and where in the river you were fishing. I'm sure we can help you figure something out with just a little more information. 

[bigjim5589]

Yep, not a bad group of lures, so the only thing I'll say is, location, location, location! No lure will catch anything if you're not getting it where there are fish. Even when you do, there's no guarantee's.

For the Susquehanna, and I've never fished that far up, but have been up in that area, I would add some jigs. Jigs that are dressed & some bare ones for plastics. 3" or 4" curltail grubs are good bass lures, particularly for SM bass. I like hair jigs too, and tie my own. I'll use them any time of year, but most folks only use them in the colder months.

If you are attempting to fish from a moving yak, then perhaps consider stopping & fishing different areas more thoroughly. 

[zippyduck]

Find the eddies and fish them thoroughly. Jigs, senkos, inline spinners, and small jerkbaits will get the job done.
Smalker baits in that section of the river are key.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[Oldfart9999]

SCJ, welcome aboard!!! Always good to have new folks!!! While you're here check out the site, pull up a chair, pop a cold one and check out the site. Don't forget to enter the new members contest, you could win a really neat prize!
I'm not a river fisherman so I won't be much help, I do know there are a few folks in that area who would be willing to help you out, check out a local club.
Again, welcome aboard!!!
Rodney

[fishandkamp]

Welcome aboard. I spent 5 years living next to and fishing the Susqy just above Harrisburg and fished it all the way north to where the two sections of the Susqy come together. That would still be far below you but near Selinsgrove PA. I use a lot of the Bass Pro Bass Pro Shops Perfect Finesse Worm Jighead with either a 5 inch kalin or Yamamoto grub on it. You could downsize to a 3.5 inch one as well. If the water is clear like it was down south fish a root beer colored one and a light green colored one.  I would use 1/8 and 1/4  oz heads. You want them to be weedless so you have a chance to get them out of the rocks.  I also loved throwing pop r and tiny torpedoes behind rocks or in slack areas just below riffles or rock ledges. 

[bigjim5589]

Welcome aboard. I spent 5 years living next to and fishing the Susqy just above Harrisburg and fished it all the way north to where the two sections of the Susqy come together. That would still be far below you but near Selinsgrove PA. I use a lot of the Bass Pro Bass Pro Shops Perfect Finesse Worm Jighead with either a 5 inch kalin or Yamamoto grub on it. You could downsize to a 3.5 inch one as well. If the water is clear like it was down south fish a root beer colored one and a light green colored one.  I would use 1/8 and 1/4  oz heads. You want them to be weedless so you have a chance to get them out of the rocks.  I also loved throwing pop r and tiny torpedoes behind rocks or in slack areas just below riffles or rock ledges.

Great advice and can apply to other rivers or streams too! 

[scj6771]

Sorry it's been so long since I have responded, I am back in the Kayak this season and have a few more follow up questions to all of your responses.

I have yet to try the "wacky-worm method but would like to do so, do you suggest a particular color of worm? And I am assuming they are standard sizes? What about the brand? I also like the Texas rig, what size bullet weight do you recommend?

And Jigs, what size and model do you suggest, it seems like I don't have a good understanding of the sizes of my tackle.

[coldfront]

look into ned rigs.  and as for worms, possibly the zoom finesse worm.  4.5 inches of magic there.

green pumpkin, watermelonseed as places to start.

one more worm to look into:  conquistador makes a great one.  friend of mine introduced me to them.  soft, hand pours and good buoyancy.



(take a look over on landbigfish)

[Tatsu Dave]

Grew up in Maryland and the Susquehanna was my favorite from the flats to Pa. I would suggest a few color 4-5" grubs on 3/16 and 1/4 oz jigheads. Pearl white with silver flake is a standby, watermelon candy, pumpkin red flake, junebug, and something orange to brown to mimic crawfish works well. Cast behind rocks and wood and let come down with current, eddies and pools are good also, sometimes working shoreline where it transitions to deeper water can be good. Good Luck and enjoy those bronze bomber's

[bigjim5589]

I fished below Conowingo Dam as often as I could, but that's a deeper water & heavier current area when the gates in the dam are open, than the river may be up in NY. I've used jigs in weights from 1/8 to 1/2 oz there for bass, and would have used lighter at times if i had the gear with me to toss them. I've also used heavier bucktails there but more so for chasing Stripers.

I've known a bunch of folks who fished the Susquehanna in various areas, mostly PA, and doubt there's any single jig type or weight that they used. You really should have some variety to fit the conditions at the time. That rivers goes up & down with weather changes and that will affect which tackle will be the best choice at any given time.

However, you also need to have the rod/reel setups to use the variety, so light to medium heavy for the most part. Pick colors that fit the forage, craws & baitfish. You'll want some with different profiles too, so look at length & hook sizes. Probably 3/0 to 5/0 will be the most used hooks, but plenty of fish are caught on lighter size 6 to 2/0 hooks too.

I've only ever wacky rigged senko type plastics, and they're made in different lengths. They're a "do nothing" type of plastic, so you'll need to learn to allow them to drift with the current and let the action of the worm do it's thing. I like to use the owner Mosquito hooks for wacky rigging them, but there's other good hooks too. Get some of the O-rings to fit the senko's and they last longer. I really like the Gary Yamamoto Senko, but they don't last. So I've used various brands, They'll all catch fish. The Ned jig was mentioned here, and I've been buying 6" & 7" senko type plastics and cutting them in half to use them with the ned rig jig heads. I'm sure that you'll find plenty of plastics from the site sponsors here.

I had mentioned in my previous comments, almost a year or so ago, that I also liked hair jigs. Again, they can be made in various weights and profiles. They're often used in colder water situations, but they work in warmer conditions too. As do marabou jigs. This would be marabou jigs that are generally a little larger than what folks use for Crappies & other panfish, but don't have to be. I made some recently that were just under 4" long with a stout Owner Deep throat hook. I've posted various hair & marabou jigs in the Tackle Box forum that might give you some good ideas. They can both imitate a variety of things that bass & other fish will eat.

[scj6771]

Thank you all for your tips and advice, I am doing a lot of research and wating lots of YouTube videos.

I just came back from kayak fishing Cayuga lake (finger lake here in upstate NY), and it was not a good day, I mean the trip was great. the lake is beautiful, but I couldn't catch a d**n thing other than weeds, it was frustrating, story of my life really, if there are weeds to be found, I will find them, I don't understand, I had what I thought was a weedless setup?,  What can I do to fish the weeds beds but not become entangled with the?

I mean is there a general rule of thumb or some guideline for what size jig head, weight and hook size I should be using for a particular season\depth\species of fish?

Is there even such a thing as a weedless jig head? Maybe in the dog days of summer I should be fishing deeper and out of the weeds anyway?

Its so disappointing to not be good at something that you really do enjoy .... thanks all ....

[bigjim5589]

I've said many times, that failures often teach more than successes. When I was a lot younger, and had much to learn, my focus was always on catching fish. That's the purpose to be out there fishing. However, once I decided I needed to get better at it, and learn more, I changed my focus on learning, rather than catching. The learning part should be a life long endeavor, but you can learn a lot in a short time if you're out there on the water often. Then, the catching part will come together. It can be difficult not to get frustrated, but focus on learning, and don't worry about not catching. Getting mad or upset won't change it.

There are no lures that are completely, 100% weedless. Even if the lure comes thru the weeds without getting hung, usually there's some weeds on the hook or the line. Deal with it. It means that you clean it off after every retrieve and keep fishing. Your lure, no matter what it is, won;t catch anything when it's not in the water.

Be patient! Weed beds in the water attract fish, but doesn't mean they're there all the time.  Other factors may cause them to move in & out. That's something you need to figure out. They certainly may be in deeper water, but not too far away from those weeds. Light & water temperatures may be a factor that moves them deeper, as can food availability.

Depending on the type of weeds you're dealing with, a jig may not be the best choice. Give some slim plastics a try, such as the many worms, and Texas or Carolina rig them. I still use some lead worm weights, but a lot of folks are using tungsten now because they have a smaller profile for the same weights and will come thru weeds better. They're not cheap to buy, but are worth the expenditure.

If you have the rods/reels and can rig a few different ways, make sure that you're covering the waters thoroughly. I stress that to folks who are taking up fly fishing for bass, as getting a fly where the fish are is not always as easy as getting a lure in front of them, so again some patience has to be applied. It's a gut call to know when to keep fishing an area and when to move on.

The fact is no matter where you're fishing, you have to find the fish. So, you may not suck at fishing. It just may be that you're not fishing in places where there are any to be caught.

I have often fished from a Gheenoe, which I paddle. I've tried to cover a lot of water with it, but it's not practical to attempt to cover as much as someone fishing from a power boat. Try to pick an area and cover it as well as you can, then move to a different area, but don't attempt to always cover a large area every day. If that's what you're doing you may be spending more time paddling and not enough time finding the fish. It's usually best to become as familiar with a body of water as best that you can to be successful fishing there. You may stumble upon some fish but doesn't mean they'll be in the same place the next time. It will take time, and again is a learning process, but try to dissect the water and learn it while you're fishing. If you're just paddling around hoping to find fish, then you're not really learning much about where you're fishing.

I hope this helps! 

[Tatsu Dave]

I use a 3/0 EWG swimbait hook with an owner screw loc to hold the lure on. No weight just a 5" stick bait or 4" grub, Works in 1-8' of water and tied directly to hook no swivels or snaps to snag weeds. Throw it out and come over or twitch thru weeds, keep it moving with twitches along the retrieve. Takes a bit but you'll get the speed right where you will get thru the weeds pretty good. Or throw on pads and skitter across the top to the edge and let it fall, hits come on the fall mostly although some will blow thru the pads from below. Good Luck and keep at it, time on the water is the best teacher.

[scj6771]

Thanks all for the great advice as always, I think I'll start focusing on just a couple of techniques, such as the Texas rig and the wacky worm setup, so one question I have:

1. As for the offset hooks and bullet weights (Texas rig), what size for each generally? 2 or 2/0 for the hooks and maybe 1/8 ounce for the weight?, same size hook for wacky rig?

[Tatsu Dave]

I texas rig but don't use the offset worm hooks, instead I use swimbait hooks either J bend or EWG and use an owner CPS or screw loc for bait holding. Fish can't pull it off like offset every hit and rigging is real easy. Don't know where you get your hooks but tackle warehouse shows pics on their site and you can look at the swimbait hooks, some already come with the spring loc on them. Owner, VMC, and Gama. sell them.

To answer your question on size, I like 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hooks and use 1/8-3/16-1/4 oz for weighted hooks where the weight is already molded on the hook shank. If you use the weighted swimbait style hooks all you do is screw your plastic bait on the spring and push hook thru and just bury the point in the plastic to make weedless.

OK it took quite a while but I have conquered pic posting  Here is what I use and how they look rigged.

[Tatsu Dave]

Sorry tried to post compressed pic for ya but they are still too large