River Walleye Action - HOT HOT HOT!

Anglers fishing the river this week are catching some incredible numbers of walleye up to 20 inches. Best areas are below the Dock Street Dam in Harrisburg and below the Brunner Island Warm Water Discharge. Best baits are suspending jerkbaits, 2 and 3 inch white twister tails and medium/large shiners. Anglers are reporting catches of over 100 walleye each! Between 3 am and sunrise is the best time followed by 8 pm to 12 am.

Tim

Pinchot Crappie

It's that time of year again when the crappie action picks up on Pinchot lake. Anglers this week are reporting finding decent numbers of good size crappie up to 16 inches down near the dam. Small shiners and soft plastics are the hotter baits this week. Try fishing off of the face of the dam or off of the shore on the other side of the lake from the dam for the best action.

Tim

Susky Fishing Trip

My buddy Ron came up this morning from West Virginia and we floated the Susky in my ODC1624. The wind was nothing short of brutal today and every muscle in my body is hurting tonight! My drag chain was worthless and I have 3, 2 foot sections of heavy chain. It just wasn't enough to slow us down.

We got out on some grass islands so I could take a break from rowing and fish a little. Ron caught the most smallies today. Somewhere around 20 smallies or more. He was using a green pumpkin/junebug tail 3 1/2 inch Right Bite tube. He caught all of his fish on that tube.

I got 5 or 6 smallies due to not being able to get off the oars much. Most of mine came on a 1/4 oz gray shad spinnerbait. I did get lunker of the day towards the end of the float on a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait in color TNG that a good friend gave me for my birthday (THANKS HAROLD!). The smallie hit the lure so hard my wrist hurt! Man what a friggin strike. That fish was around 17 inches.

Ron had one just a little smaller than that for his big fish. I'm glad we only did a 2 1/2 mile float today as a longer float would have been killer with the wind. We took our time as much as possible and did the float in about 5 hours.

Tim

Special Fall Sale Sept 21st Through Oct 2nd

HAWGHEAD BAITS
WWW.HAWGHEADBAITS.COM
1-800-559-HAWG

SPECIAL FALL SALE

September 21st through October 2nd

All In Stock Rapala - 3 for $10!
All In Stock Bandit Crankbaits - 3 for $10!
All In Stock Bomber Crankbaits - 3 for $10!
All $3.99 Rebel Lures - 3 for $10!
All Cotton Cordell Crankbaits - 3 for $10!
Xcalibur Jerkbaits/Topwater Baits - normally $12.99 each, now 2 for $20!

**Walk-in customers, phone orders and internet orders will receive sale pricing.**
**If you place an internet order for sale items, sale price will be calculated when your order is processed.**
**(Free shipping over $75 offer does NOT apply to sale items, sorry. Shipping charges will apply.)**

Pinchot/River Updated Report

Anglers fishing the Susquehanna River from Sunbury down to Goldsboro are reporting some awesome days on the water. Average catch per angler for 8 hours on the water is over 50 smallmouth bass being caught. Average size is ranging from 10 inches up to 19 inches with many over 15 inches. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and tubes are the best baits right now. Look for the bass to start migrating toward their fall hangouts. Deeper holes below ledges, along current, should be great areas to target.

Crappie fishing on Pinchot is starting to pick up. Bank anglers fishing near the dam are reporting catching some crappies up to 16 inches on small shiners, fathead minnows and soft plastics. Anglers fishing off the bank near the main boat ramp are reporting catching smal hybrid stripers up to 15 inches and many channel catfish up to 18 inches.

Bass anglers fishing Pinchot are finding some good bass action in the 4 to 10 foot depth range using crankbaits, spinnerbaits and a few on jerkbaits. We haven't heard of any musky being caught lately but that should change too as the water gets cooler.

Look for action all over the area to really kick into high gear with the cooler nights that are forecasted for our area the next week and beyond. Lows in the mid to upper 40's at night should continue to drop the water temperature into that magic range of low 60's and 50's.

Water temp right now on Pinchot is in the mid to upper 60's, same for the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers.

Tim

Crappie Fishing - Sayers Lake (Bald Eagle State Park)

I went up to Williamsport Sunday evening so I could take my Dad crappie fishing at Sayers this morning (Monday). We fished off of the handicap pier from 7:30 to 11 am. We caught well over 100 crappie but they were all small. We only had one over 9 inches, the rest were between 5 and 8 1/2 inches.

We also caught a few nice yellow perch. We used all kinds of different crappie jigs - soft plastic twisters, Gitzit Tough Guys crappie tubes, hand tied marabou jigs, hand tied feather jigs and some Panfish Assassin soft baits. Had a good time out with Dad as we always do. Hope to get back up there at least one more time with Dad in a few weeks.

Tim

Pinchot/River Report

Anglers fishing Pinchot the past few days are finding a good number of crappie, hybrid stripers and channel catfish. Crappie are being caught off of deeper brush piles still, in the 10 to 20 foot depth range. Hybrid stripers from 12 inches up to 27 inches were caught the last two days using shiners and nightcrawlers. Channel catfish are being caught on a little bit of everything - stinkbait, shrimp, shiners and nightcrawlers.

The Susuquehanna River is really fishing well this week, primarily above Harrisburg. Several anglers are reporting catches of over 60 bass per 8 hour day for two anglers with many fish over 17 inches. Buzzbaits, spinnerbaits and rat-l-traps are the hotter baits right now. Expect the river smallmouth and walleye action to really pick up the next few weeks as the water continues to cool down. As the water cools down, look for jerkbaits like a Pointer 78 or Pointer 100, Smithwick Rogue, Bomber Pro Long A and Rapala Husky Jerk to really turn on big time! A couple of anglers have also been catching some nice river smallies on a MegaBass Vision 110 jerkbait.

Have a great weekend! As always, we are stocked to the gills and ready to meet your needs for your upcoming trip. We just got in a large shipment of live bait including the fast-selling large shiners and are fully stocked up on all the great fall jerkbaits you need. So stop on by and say hello as you stock up for some great fall fishing!

Tim

Opossum Lake Crappie Trip

My buddy Harold and myself fished Opossum Lake this morning from about 6:30 to 11 am. We used small shiners and fathead minnows targeting crappie. We caught largemouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass, bluegill and crappie with more crappie caught than anything else. Harold got the biggest of the day mid-morning on a small shiner, a real nice 14 inch white crappie. Thanks for the trip Harold! I also took pictures of just a few of the numerous turtles that were sunning on logs and trees along the bank.

Pinchot Report

Several anglers stopped by the shop today when they were done fishing for the morning. They had fished the lake at Pinchot. One angler reported catching several bass on spinnerbaits. But most anglers reported good catches of largemouths and smallmouths on white soft jerkbaits and deep crankbaits. Bandit 300's with some shade of Chartreuse is the best crankbait they are using.

Tim

River/Lake Fishing Reports

Despite higher than normal levels recently on the Susquehanna River, some anglers are tearing up the pig smallies. One angler has been emailing us almost daily, pictures of his catch from the night before, that he released. He is averaging over 20 smallies in 2 hours of wading using spinnerbaits, buzzbaits and oversized plastic grubs. He is getting many smallies over 18 inches at the mouth of a creek below Harrisburg. I'll post some of his pictures once I get his permission to do so.

Pinchot has been picking up with the cooler weather. Many more crappies are being caught in depth ranges of 10 to 20 feet using small shiners, fat heads and twister tails. Bass anglers are reporting more bass are being caught as well. The lunker tournament this past Tuesday was won with a 2.5 lb largemouth. Less than half a pound seperated the top 3 lunker fish weighed in.

Anglers fishing Opossum Lake are finding the crappie to be hitting very well on white twister tails, small shiners and fathead minnows. I'll be out there Sunday with some small shiners, fatheads and soft plastics to see if I can find some of the big crappies. I'll be with a buddy in my ODC Sunday from about 6 am to noonish. If you see me out there, say hello!

Tim

NEW FALL HOURS

Starting Monday, September 11th we will change over to our fall hours for the tackle shop. Hours will be Monday through Saturday open at 7 am and close at 6 pm. Sundays open at 7 am and close at 3 pm.

Tim

Opossum Lake Crappie Fishing/River Level Forecast

Monday evening I took my wife to Opossum Lake to do a little fishing for a couple hours from my ODC 1624. I landed several crappie up to 9 inches and lost one over 12 inches at the side of the boat. All crappie hit a 2 inch white twister tail on a 1/16 oz jig head. They were suspending out from shoreline brush piles and got more active the last half hour of daylight. I also snagged a snapping turtle that was over 20 lbs and was able to pop the hook out and let it go.

The Susquehanna River is forcasted to crest below 9 feet.

Tim

Another Susquehanna River Level Forecast Update

QPF FCST 8AM 2PM 8PM 2AM.E1 :
0902:/ 6.0/ 5.8/ 5.6/ 5.5.
0903:/ 5.4/ 5.5/ 5.8/ 6.5.
0904:/ 7.8/ 9.4/ 10.3/ 10.6

Tim

Updated River Forecast

Here is the updated Susquehanna River forecast from the NOAA.

QPF FCST 8AM 2PM 8PM 2AM.
:0901: : 6.6/ 6.5/ 6.4.
:0902:/ 6.2/ 6.3/ 6.4/ 7.0.
:0903:/ 8.8/ 10.7/ 12.3/ 13.5.
:0904:/ 14.2.
Remarks EXCEED CAUTION STAGE SUNDAY.

Tim