oakeybassin

I'm originally from the Plymouth meeting/Conshohocken area and I grew up fishing the Schuylkill. I spent many a summer evenings wet wading that river right near the Fayette Street bridge. Most of my luck was on tubes, Dingers and spinner baits. Next time I am visiting family I'd like to get in and wade. The only thing that is a bit unnerving is seeing the size of some of the catfish that I wade next to. Makes me think I might be the victim on the next episode of river monsters. While it is wider, the Schuylkill seems to fish very similar to the Conestoga that I fish near Millersville. The Conestoga is much narrower though.

We headed up as far as we could comfortably take the boat. No luck at the time we were there though. It looked like prime area though for sure.

I was going out for the second time with a guide on the Delaware river and it was supposed to be miserable rain, but hot. My dad had recently bought some cabelas guidewear so I got the same setup, but black and red (KVD was my idol at the time). This has been the BEST purchase/investment in gear I have made. I got the uninsulated version, and I just layer up during cold weather. This is an absolutely bombproof setup in my opinion.

I love the reaction innovations skinny dipper, little dipper and big dipper depending on the bite. I've caught quite a few smallies and some largemouths on a little dipper. The largemouth were on a highly pressured lake where most guys throw worms and creatures. When nothing else worked I tried the little dipper and that was the ticket. I love fishing the statutory grape and sexy shad colors. Statutory grape seems to be the hottest one for me in PA. Imitates a lot of baitfish colors. Most of my fishing has been on some ball head swimbait jigs in 3/16 and 1/4 oz. that my local pro shop makes, but I just ordered some VMC Ike approved swimbait jig heads to try out. They are due in tomorrow and hopefully I can try them out this weekend. I've also had success fishing the dippers t-rigged weightless. It all depends on where the fish are and how they are biting. I went fishing with my neighbor this past Saturday and he threw a little dipper and a couple of smallies completely choked on it.

This Saturday, my neighbor and I took his dad's boat out on the Susquehanna. We were fishing the Conowingo pool in the PA section. We launched out of Dorsey Park right next to Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Station. The weather was perfect for a day out on the water. There was some cloud cover that gradually gave way to sun during the day. The air temp was around 75 degrees and the water temperature hung right around 69 degrees. We were on the water by 6:30 AM and I landed the first fish at around 6:45 AM. We started off by fishing rip rap banks around the power station. The fish were holding pretty shallow still. Our entire day consisted of fishing right near the banks of islands and the power station where a ledge formed. We caught almost entirely on a square-billed, shallow crankbait. I was fishing summer sexy shad and my neighbor was fishing sexy shad. I had 11 bass for the day plus 3 rock bass and my neighbor had 8 bass for the day. Right after lunch time, the wind really picked up and started hammering the areas we were fishing and the bite turned off. It was great to find that cranking was the hot technique right now. It was also very encouraging to see some healthy bass being pulled from a struggling river system. I hope to see the same thing in the next couple of weeks when the River opens back up to bass above the Holtwood dam.

I like ripping a lipless crank bait through grass. That is my go-to crank for weedy, grass-type cover. I will say that I was using a shallow, square-billed crankbait on the Susquehanna River on Saturday and there were some great transition areas where I went from rock to some grass, and the largemouth absolutely annihilated the crank bait as I ripped it through the weeds. I generally stick to a lipless crank though in the cover that you describe. I'd encourage you to keep experimenting and find what works. Don't be afraid to lose a crank bait here and there, you may be missing out on the bite of a lifetime. Cranking is my favorite technique! I'd also have to argue this statement. Any time you catch fish on a new technique, even if it is by accident, it is significant. Pay attention to the conditions, your color, and your presentation. Document it and it will help you remember what worked when the fishing got tough. It wasn't huge, but my first bass on a crankbait immediately made me a cranking addict!!

I absolutely love this section. I haven't been online in a while to see if you can read it there, but for me I think this be one of the most valuable pieces of information. I have been finding and fishing a lot of new water recently, and most from the bank since I don't have a boat yet, so I have had countless successes on new bodies of water that I credit to reading this section of the magazine.

I subscribed after being given some "archive" issues from my uncle. He has been a loyal subscriber for years and has a special library of all of his issues, meticulously organized by year and issue number. I love flipping through the pages. I can honestly say I have learned a lot by reading through and then rereading a second and third time. I have been a subscriber ever since. I like that I can flip through the pages when I go camping with no internet to hop on the forums. If I have a question about a technique or tip for the next day I have it on paper right with me.

Second this post exactly. I loved city limits fishing and I grew up across the river from Ike. I read his book and realized that him and I fished a lot of the same water, so I'd love to do that with him. He is such an addicting personality and his love for the sport and desire to help others fall in love with it almost mirror mine. I'd also love to spend a day on the water with KVD because I love his techniques and feel like he inspired the way I fish today. I'd love to meet Zona because he cracks me up.

Ditto. Painfully slow, but catches fish nonetheless.

My uncle always fished top of the line gear. He would spend big bucks to have brand names. While I do agree that reputable brands my be of higher quality, I think that some of the big dollar items are just hype. We fished multiple times with a guide on the Delaware River and my uncle needed to fish Senkos. The guide was sponsored by Yum, so he recommended the Dinger. I watched my uncle go through six packs of senkos to our two packs of dingers. Dingers, which are about half the price of senkos held up much better to the abuse from the smallies that were hammering our lines all day. Ever since, I always fish a dinger instead of a senko because I saw that it actually did work and this was a perfect example of a guide standing behind his sponsored product because it was great. Other than that, I'll try to just pay attention to technique and style.

This is exactly how I got into bass fishing many years ago and this is how I just got my girlfriend into bass fishing. Needless to say both of us became addicted right away. For her birthday I bought her a nice Diawa spinning combo, already loaded with 10lb mono, a pack of Yum Dingers (cheaper than senkos, and more durable IMHO) and some 4/0 hooks and that got her started. Yesterday I taught her how to fish with Zoom flukes and that was awesome. I have never had any problem with green pumpkin or watermelon dingers and white or natural colored flukes. Take it slow and in the words of Mike Iaconelli: "never give up." Also, ponds are a great way to get into bass fishing. There is plenty of info on the forums on how to fish ponds successfully. My grandmother has a winter place in Florida and I have spent a lot of time fishing the many ponds and canals that run through such communities. This is actually where my PB comes from. Most all of my catches there came on dingers and flukes. Welcome to the addiction my friend!

Many times I have written off small ponds thinking there is no way they will hold bass only to be proven completely wrong when somebody pulls out a lunker. Living in Lancaster County, PA, we have so many farm ponds that I would have originally written off, but I am starting to get addicted to small pond fishing. The best way to find out is to give it a shot and take the time to pick the pond apart with a variety of your hot lures.

Changing technique can be huge. I have fished days where some guys are catching and other guys aren't and they are all fishing the same exact lure. The only difference is the way the guys are fishing that lure. When fan casting, instead of switching lures right away, try switching your cadence, retrieve, etc. A lot of times presentation can be key on turning the bite back on. I fly fish as well and some will tell you that the hatch must be matched perfectly, and you can have the perfect imitation but if the presentation isn't right you'll end up walking away empty handed.

That would be great. I'll have to free some time up for sure!

There is a small river, and to me, it actually is more the size of a nice creek, but it is still classified as a river that I fish in Lancaster. There is a place to put in to wet wade right behind the campus of the college I graduated from, so I spent quite some time learning the river. My go to was tubes and the smallie beaver from Reaction Innovations. There is an abundance of crawfish in this river, much like the Susquehanna, so fishing tubes and the beaver are great options that produce quite often. Most of my fish have come from right on the edge of where a pool meets the outflow of some faster water. I was surprised by the quality of some of the fish that were pulled out of this little "river." I like to fish the creature bait on either an offset hook with a bullet weight or on a shakey head.

I fish the Susquehanna River quite a bit. Most of my fishing on that river so far has been from the bank since I don't have a boat yet and just made friends with someone who does! My go to baits are a swim bait, a lipless crank bait and tubes when fishing slows a bit. Although their names for lures and colors might be a bit on the lewd side, I love fishing Reaction Innovations little dipper in statutory grape color either weightless or on a ball head jig. I was directed to this by our local bass specific tackle shop when the fishing was tough and it was an immediate producer. Also, I fish a lipless crankbait in sexy shad color with great success. I've even pulled in a few walleye while fishing this lure. For tubes, I like using a green pumpkin or watermelon tube with some type of natural colored flake. Generally speaking, each time I have gone out one of these lures has worked in my favor. When all else fails, my fallback is a green pumpkin Yum Dinger or crawfish pattern, but this is usually my last resort.

Hi all. New to the forum. I live in Lancaster County, PA, about 5 minutes from the Susquehanna River. I've been fishing since I could walk, starting out on a local trout pond and graduating to a bass lake at my family's camp in New Jersey. I caught the bass fever when I pulled in a lunker on a Mickey Mouse rod while fishing with my dad. I love largemouth fishing, but my all time favorite is the Smallmouth. When I was in high school, I took my first smallmouth trip with a guide on the Upper Delaware River. Needless to say, once I hooked my first smallmouth, on a spinnerbait at that, I was addicted and it still is my favorite fish today. I work as a safety and health specialist for the PA Game Commission and remain passionate about the outdoors. I love learning and I feel as though no matter what skill level, there is always more learning to be done. I look forward to studying the forums on here to help me become a better, more proficient bass angler. I also love teaching others and writing about my experiences, so hopefully I will get to contribute to some posts as well. Tight lines!