Fishing Report

This week the crappie action on the lake continues to be hit or miss. Some days anglers are able to catch quite a few crappie from the dam area. They are fishing from boats as well as from the bank. The high winds have made it tough to detect the crappie bites though. Hardly any anglers are fishing the lake for bass. The bass should be willing to hit a Rat-L-Trap, spinnerbait or jerkbait as the water continues to cool down. Pinchot water temps are in the low 50's right now with some areas of the lake in the upper 40's. Shallow coves may see water temps in the mid 50's from a sunny day.

Anglers fishing the river are finding conditions tough the past few days between the strong winds and high water. The Susquehanna River at Harrisburg is forecasted to be under 5.5 feet by Saturday and close to 5 feet on Sunday. With this cool weather, that should really kick on some heavy feeding by the smallies.

I'll be hunting squirrels Saturday morning on some private land and fishing the Susquehanna River Sunday morning with Harold. I'll post a report next week of how I made out this weekend. Enjoy the fall weather!

Tim

Pinchot Crappie

Crappie anglers are reporting spotty success down in the area of the dam. Days are hit and miss. Plastic twister tails and small crappie tubes are catching most of the fish. Some are being caught on fathead minnows and small shiners. Crappie anglers catching the biggest fish are finding them along drop offs towards the dam in about 15 feet of water. Several 18 inch crappie have been caught this week along with some in the 12 to 15 inch range. Look for action to pick up considerably once we get some stable, colder weather the next few weeks.

River anglers are having phenominal days for smallmouth using spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and crankbaits. That hot bite should slow down quite a bit the next several days as the river in Harrsiburg hits the 8 foot mark sometime on Sunday.

A couple of anglers are fishing Pickerel Pond on the state game lands just outisde of Dillsburg. We would caution anglers fishing that pond to be aware of hunters. Black powder season is now in and the woods have been loaded with hunters.

Also remember that Pinchot Park opens to small game hunting November 1st so be aware of that as a lot of anglers with be fishing the dam area for crappie the next few months.

Tim

Crappie Fishing At Sayers Spillway 10/16/06

I went up to Williamsport Sunday evening and took my Dad up to the spillway Monday morning at Sayers (Bald Eagle State Park) for Dad's last fishing trip of the year. We started at 9 am and quit at noon.

What a day! We landed 143 crappie! I had 75 and Dad had 68. Most of them were on the smallish side of between 6 and 8 inches long but it was a blast. We were laughing like little school girls as we literally got bit on dang near every cast. We used all kinds of soft plastic crappie baits and all colors. Few baits got ignored. The crappie were in there so thick we could see schools of them bumping into each other as they swam around. And the best part was nobody else was around. We had the whole spillway to ourselves.

At the beginning I had Dad shaking his head as I was up 28 to 7. But he switched colors and came back quick. Once he was up 52 to 50 I had to resort to drastic measures. As Dad would reel up a crappie over the wall, I would take my rod and try to knock the fish off his hook. We had a lot of laughs at that. It ended with me being the "winner" at 75 to 68.

It was great to see Dad laughing and having a ball. We were bundled up pretty good because it was 31 degrees when we started. But once we were catching them, we didn't feel any of the cold morning air!

This spillway is quite a walk from the parking area, a good 3/4 of a mile or so and Dad just can't do it like he used to. On the walk back he had to stop and I got the truck and drove down an "off limits" park road to pick him up. He'll be hurting for a few days but by judging by the smile on his face, I don't think he minded the walk one bit.

Tim

Susky Smallie Report

I spent the last two days fishing the Susky for smallmouths.

Sunday I fished with Gerald in his Snyder jet boat above Harrisburg. The day started off very foggy but cleared to a beautiful day around 10 am. We landed 32 bass and a couple walleye. I had 18 smallies. I used a 1/4 oz Gray Shad spinnerbait for most of my fish. I also got a couple on a Megabass SR-X Griffon crankbait in color Pro Blue and a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait in color TNG. Gerald landed 14 smallies, all on a 4 bladed spinnerbait. Biggest bass was just under 17 inches.

Monday I floated the river just above Harrisburg with my buddy Harold. It was a pretty slow fishing day. We landed 16 smallies and 3 walleye. Harold caught all of his fish on a Megabass SR-X Griffon crankbait in color Pro Blue. I got some of mine on a 1/4 oz Gray Shad spinnerbait and the rest on a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait in color TNG. Our biggest bass was just under 17 inches again like Sunday.

What a beautiful two days to be on the river!

Tim

Smallmouth Pictures

Here are some pictures from my trip on Monday with my brother.

Tim

Oct 2nd Susky Smallie Trip

Got together with my brother Petey on Monday and we fished near Sunbury from 8:30 am to about 2 pm. Weather started off chilly and extremely foggy. Cleared off about 9:30 am and was a beautiful, sunny fall day.

We started off targeting mid-river islands. Fish seemed pretty active there while the fog was still thick. Petey and I both landed smallies on spinnerbaits and I got a 14 inch walleye on a Vision 110 jerkbait. Petey used a 3/8 oz HawgHead spinnerbait in color Baby Bass. I used a 1/4 oz HawgHead spinnerbait in color Gray Shad.

Water temps along the islands first thing in the am was in the upper 50's. Once the sun came up, we found the larger, more active fish in 4 to 8 feet of clear water. Water temps there were in the low 60's. Jerkbaits ruled the clearer water with Petey getting a lesson of just how good a Vision 110 jerkbait can be! I ended up with 16 fish including 2 walleye (one 17 incher came home with me for dinner) and 14 smallies. My biggest smallie was 16 1/2 inches but so fat and sassy! I used a 1/4 oz gray shad spinnerbait early in the day and a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait in color TNG the rest of the day.

Petey ended up with 11 smallies including lunker at 17 inches - super tall and fat and thick. Petey kept trying all different colors of LC Pointers while I kept getting fish on my Vision 110. He tried his Vision 110 but it wasn't the right color HA HA!! He got his 17 incher on a Japan color of a LC Pointer. Lots of laughing and ball busting today on the water between us. Especially when I had him at 6 to 0 early in the day.

Tim

Website Updates

We will be working on our website over the next few months to make sure we are up to date on all of the products we carry.

We have been updating our St Croix rod selection on our product page. Anyone ordering ANY St Croix rod (freshwater, saltwater, fly, etc) will receive FREE SHIPPING! Any rod not in stock that it is ordered will be shipped to you directly from St Croix with NO SHIPPING CHARGE! If we have the rod in stock, you still receive FREE SHIPPING! Not a bad deal. Check back oftern to see the latest updates to our site.

As always, we truly appreciate everyone's business and thank you for being our customers. All of us at HawgHead Baits enjoy providing the best service and products we can.

Tim