A Wildy Good Time (part 2)

As the sun crested over the horizon I found myself getting ready to dip into yet another new body of moving water: The Juniata River. The Juniata, being a tributary of the Susquehanna, is sort of a "mini Susky". Where the Susquehanna is almost a mile wide in spots, the Juniata is more like 1/4 to 1/8 of that size. Still a good size river, but a little more familar for a guy like me. My home rivers are much smaller than even the Juniata, but I have a lot more experience fishing these size drainages.

It was immediately evident that this river was stained, even muddy would have been a good description. I would say that it was only 12-18" in visibility, which for me presented a challenge. Some people like fishing more stained conditions, but for me, the clearer, the better. I have never been much of a dirty water fishermen when it comes to smallmouth. The aspect of fishing stained water that is most challenging to me is not that the fish can't see my lure. It is the fact that I can't observe the fish themselves as well, or better yet, the finer details of the river. Granted, there are some positives to stained water such as fish not being as "spooky", but for me, this does not weigh out the disadvantages. This was probably why I was on the struggle bus for the first couple hours of this trip. Two hours in and I had only boated 1 or 2 dinks. It was frustrating, but I was determined to put the pieces to this puzzle together.

After paddling through a more slack water portion of the river, we came to our first set of rapids. The river was dotted with exposed pieces of chunk rock and boulders, all of which created current breaks on the back side. After picking up a couple smaller fish in the beginning of this section, the current was picking up steam and it soon became too fast to fish while moving. I approached set of the exposed boulders and swung my kayak on rear of one that had a nice current break on the back side. This provided me access to several targets to my left and right while my kayak was stationary. The first cast I made was into an adjacent smaller boulder. As soon as my spinnerbait passed through the fast current and hit the rear of the rock, BANG! A fish loaded up on it. I had approximately 30 yards of line out and a lot of fast current between me and this fish. I knew it was going to be a fight. This was an old, smart fish, and she knew exactly how to use the current to her advantage. She took run after run, testing the effectiveness of the drag on my Curado K. After finally deciding that she had given a good fight, I was able to bring her to hand. A nice healthy 18.75" bronzeback was on the board!

Just as I put this fish in the net, I noticed Chase up ahead of me making a racket. He had a monster on as well! After he landed his fish, we decided to try and link up to get the coveted "double" photo op. Juan was gracious enough to come over and play photographer on this one. It is a cool moment anytime you get simultaneous hookups, and even better when they are 2 trophies. Chase's fish bested mine by about 1/4 inch and claimed citation status, but that's alright, I'll take 18.75's all day. Nothing a little long-arm cant solve in the photo ;)

We had a spotty bite the rest of the day, with the last part of this stretch being a paddle through section of flat water. Probably the most underrated part of the entire trip was Juan's impromptu paddle course on the way to the take out. Juan is a certified ACA kayak instructor, and took time to show us some tips on how to better paddle a large fishing kayak. Even for a guy like me that has been paddling for nearly a decade, this was extremely helpful. I had been neglecting some pretty basic stuff that will make my time on the water much more efficient and productive. For those who are in the PA area, I highly recommend taking one of Juan's classes. His company and class information info can be found at Kayakfishpa.com.

After getting back to camp from this outing, everyone was pooped. Barry and I were the only ones that decided to go out for the evening bite, but we were not rewarded with a typical magic hour. I was able to boat another 18, but only had 6 or 7 fish total in the evening. Tomorrow was going to be the last day of fishing, so we were all determined to make it a good one.

On our last day we all got up super early and were on the water at first light. We were floating a different section of the Susky which started in a long pool, that would be highlighted by it's raw beauty. I typically don't take much time to admire scenery when I am locked in on fishing, but man, this was something to behold. On the opposite side of the river, a mountain range straddled a low hanging cloud with fog pushing off the water. It was something that anyone, fisherman or not, would marvel at.

Although it looked pretty, I paddled out most of this section as there was little to no current. About a mile in I came to a ledge system with an island present just downstream. After docking my kayak and doing a little wading with no luck, I got back in my boat and fished the back side of the island. It wasn't long before I struck gold. A solid 17.5 crushed my spinnerbait about a foot from my kayak. After landing a few more around this island I took off downstream to the next set of islands. As I allowed my kayak to float freely, I had switched over to a nose-hooked fluke and was letting it drift downstream with me. I tossed the fluke up into a current seam and was floating along side of it only a few feet from my lure. Standing up in my Atak, I could see the fluke being pushed in the current about 2 feet below the surface. Just as I was about to reel it in and toss into another spot, I saw a flash of bronze make my pearl white fluke disappear. I pulled the line tight and braced for a fight. I immediately dropped my bow anchor so that my float would slow. This fish was a nice one, and gave my St. Croix ML rod all it could handle. Stripping drag, and making dolphin like leaps, she was doing everything in her power to throw my hook. I was lucky enough to get her in the boat and add another beautiful 18+ inch smallmouth to the tally.

After catching a couple more fish I linked up with the rest of the group. The heat of the day had kicked in and the bite was slowing. I floated alongside of Barry Davis for awhile and found that he was crushing them on a small crankbait. I promptly tied on a crankbait as well and started hitting fish. As we were floating into an area where current was pushing the width of the river, I hooked into what I initially thought was a snag. Only this snag started moving. For the first few seconds my heart hoped that I had just hooked into a 23-inch smallmouth, but my instincts told me this was a much larger creature. My moderate action crankbait rod had doubled over, and I was in for a long ride. Whatever was on the other end of my line was next level. It spun my kayak backwards in the current, and started having its way with me. What proceeded was 20 minutes of me just hanging on for dear life. I had contemplated just breaking off whatever it was to get back to smallmouth fishing, but the $17 Evergreen crankbait on the end of my line was keeping me in the fight. After yelling for help to Barry, he assisted me in docking my kayak on a small grass island, so that I could have a better chance at landing this beast. After finally wearing this fish out, Barry was able to scoop it into his net with little room to spare. What we estimate to be a 35-40 lb flathead catfish was in hand. To top it off, I had snagged this fish in the dorsal fin, so the fish had exponentially more leverage during the fight. I honestly had my doubts that I would ever see that crankbait again, but with Barry's help, I was able to get it back!

A bizzare twist to this story, the very next fish I landed was a 5 lb channel cat. I seriously thought this was a nice my 20-inch smallie, but was majorly disappointed when I spotted the river kitty. What are the freaking chances!?!?

The rest of this day was pretty uneventful for me. I did catch a couple nice 17's, but also a lot of time with no bites. Chase and Juan on the other hand killed it. Juan got the first and only 20 of the trip and Chase nailed yet ANOTHER 19. I had caught more total fish than them on the crankbait, but they were only targeting the isolated grass islands, which were yielding pretty much all the upper end fish.

We all loaded up and made it back to camp. Chase had decided to call it a trip and headed back home to VA to be with his family. I wanted one more shot at the mighty Susky though. I had banked my chances on that magic hour that had produced some memorable moments thus far in the trip. After an afternoon snooze, I headed back out on the river to see if I could get one more good outing before I headed home.

I only had about 2 hours before it turned dark, so I spent the first 45 minutes paddling as far up river as I could get. My plan was to spend the last hour floating back down hitting every good spot I could manage. Like clockwork at about 8:00 pm, the river exploded with activity. Similar to my experience from the first night, the fish were chasing all over the place. After picking up a couple nice fish including one 18"er I saw an area where the fish seemed to be going extra crazy. I decided to paddle over and investigate. With fluke in hand, I threw out into the madness. It took about 1/2 second for my lure to disappear into a toilet bowl type swirl. After landing this 16" fish, I was anxious to throw back out into the still active area. Boom, another one, then another one, then another one. I repeated this excersize for 17 straight casts yielding 17 fish. This is what it's all about. These fish weren't huge all being 15-16 inches, but what they lacked in size the made up for in tenacity. It was a freaking blast. I even held a fish on my grips so that I could get a kayak double photo!

With the light fading fast, I decided to abandon this spot for one last chance at a trophy. I fished until I could fish no more, but wasn't able to get the 20 I so longed for. While that is a tiny disappointing, this trip will not be remembered for any form of disappointment.

The journey from Indiana to Pennsylvania was well worth the 18-hours of solo driving. I will remember this trip when I'm old and grey for many reasons. While I'm sure I will be back before long to visit the Susquehanna River, this first trip will hold a special place in my heart. Not only for the amazing experience of fishing there, but making new friends with whom the trip was shared. Juan, Chase, Troy, Barry, Adam, and Tom were now a part of my fishing family, and I hope to share the water with all of them multitudes of times. If this portion of the team is any indication, the Wilderness Systems Brand is in good hands. These guys are true professionals, and love kayak fishing with every bone in their body. I look forward to being a part of this team that I admired for so long, and helping promote a company that makes quality products I believe in. Wilderness Systems for life baby!