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kayak
Kayak: top baits from Susquehanna River
Let’s see the top baits used to catch the “bronze beauties” on the Susquehanna River from this tournament.
The Susquehanna River is well known for its incredible smallmouth population. This major waterway passes through central and eastern Pennsylvania with its final destination into the Chesapeake Bay. At more than 400 miles long its the longest river on the East Coast.
This fishery is unlike any other as the water fluctuates daily and you can find different shades of water clarity from one side of the river to the other. Current plays a big part in the smallmouth fishing here and we hit these waters at the perfect time of the year with average temperatures in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s which enhances the smallmouth bite greatly. Topwater baits are widely used this time of year and as you will see below this was not an exception with these top anglers.
The Bassmaster Kayak Series hosted its fourth event of the season in subsequent years much to the delight of 224 kayak anglers who attended from 31 states. When you bring in some of the nation’s best anglers and combine them with a fishery like the Susky one can only think of what the results will look like. Just like the year before, the section of river that hosted these anglers showed out once again with numerous 90+ inch bags. In fact there were 35 anglers over 90 inches! The top 7 spots were only separated by a mere inch! Ewing Minor, a hammer out of Virginia took top honors by a quarter inch over female angler sensation Kristine Fischer of Nebraska. Let’s see the top baits used to catch the “bronze beauties” on the Susquehanna River from this tournament.
Bill Durboraw focused on the dirtier water on the east side of the river because those fish were less pressured. Both of his daily limits came out of a foot or less of water around grass islands and wood. The buzzbait and plopper played heavily on Day 1 and the morning of Day 2. By mid-morning on Day 2 with the water level slowly falling the fish weren’t as aggressive wanting the topwaters so he gave them a different look with a swimbait waked on the surface. This got Bill some key bites to round out his limit. He used a ½ oz. Teckel Maxqueaker Buzz Bait in white with a 4” ZMan Scented Jerk Shadz in pearl on a St. Croix Legend X 7’1” Medium/Heavy X-Fast rod and a Daiwa Tatula Elite 8.1:1 gear ratio reel with 16 lb. Sunline Shooter Fluoro. He also threw a River2Sea Whopper Plopper 110 in bone on a St. Croix Legend Tournament 7’2” Heavy Moderate Rod with a Daiwa Tatula Elite 8.1:1 gear ratio reel with 19 lb. Sunline Defier. The swim bait presentation was a ribbed Undercover Baits 5” on a 4/0 ⅛ oz. weighted wide gap screw-lock hook on a St. Croix Legend X 7’ Medium/Heavy Fast rod and a Diawa Tatula Elite 7.1:1 gear ratio reel with 14 lb. Sunline Sniper FC. Drew Gregory from Ohio used a 7 inch ZMan Jerk ShadZ on a custom weighted double hook setup. He also tied on a ½ oz. Jackhammer in chartreuse and white with a 5 inch Diezel Minnow paired with a medium heavy Yakrod and 30 lb. Sunline SX1 BraidEric Thomason from Tennessee doubled up with a pair of topwater baits using the Berkley 120 Choppo and the River2Sea 130 Whopper Plopper. His 20.75 inch monster smallie came on the Nichols Pulsator Solid White Spinnerbait. He also caught key fish on the Spot Sticker Bluegill Spinnerbait paired with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper. His ZMan Chatterbait paired with a Yamamoto Cowboy rigged vertically also gained him a key bite in some deeper stretches of river. Ewing Minor of Virginia used a 6th Sense Wakebait paired with a G Loomis IMX-Pro 855 and a Shimano Bantam reel to catch many of his smallmouth bass. He also tied on a Nichols ¼ oz. Buzzbait tipped with a Rage Menace trailer. His Buzzbait rod was a Shimano Curado 6’10” Medium and a Shimano Metanium reel.Jordan Marshall of Tennessee practiced in an area he was hoping most people would not motor to due to some rough rocks between the ramp and his target areas. He had a great practice putting up 92” fairly easily while throwing a black 120 Choppo at pretty much anything including grass islands, laydowns, and big eddies. Jordan’s first day was a slow start, but got better as the day went on. Grass Islands were the main pattern contributing to all but one of his fish. Late in the day he caught a solid upgrade in a shaded laydown. On Day 2 the grass island bite was not happening. There were a handful of 90+” limits caught in the area he was in and multiple anglers cashing checks from there. The fishery showed some signs of real pressure on day 2 and he spent the rest of the day trying to fish places that other anglers weren’t. He targeted very shallow shaded chutes between bigger islands with the same black Choppo. All of the fish were caught off stumps, or places where floating eel grass and trash were piled up. He only had one bite on a grass island all day and it was his last and largest fish he landed on day 2. Marshall credits most of his success to fishing “clean” and landing just about every fish. He had replaced all of the stock split rings and trebles with Owner Hyper Wire split rings and Owner ST36 (Size 2) hooks for the tournament. He would also take a short break and eat lunch while replacing hooks midday since he was catching large numbers of fish and making lots of casts into tight places. His rod of choice was a Lews Custom Speed Stick Magnum Cranking Rod and a Lews American Hero 7.5:1 reel spooled with braided line. Mickey Pfortsch from the homestate of Pennsylvania took advantage of an early morning topwater bite by throwing a ⅜ oz. Boogerman Buzzbait and a Keitech trailer around smallmouth ambush points. This technique drew aggressive strikes from big fish. When the sun came out later in the morning he downsized to a ¼ oz. Buzzbait with the skirt removed and a smaller Keitech trailer. In the afternoon hours, he used a Berkley Choppo 105 to cover water quickly around shade and faster chutes on the river. When the topwater bite slowed in the morning he burned a ⅜ oz. STC spinnerbait just below the surface to locate fish. His spinnerbaits are custom made by Snagler Tackle Company to mimic bait fish native to the Susquehanna River. Rus Snyders of Tennessee used his signature IRod Snyders Sniper to cover a lot of water with a ⅜ oz. Crock-O-Gator buzzbait and a ZMan Billy Goat as a trailer. Once the sun came up he kept using the buzzbait around areas with trees and shade., but also threw a Senko along shallow flats that had boulders and eelgrass. He spent a lot of time in practice just looking and not fishing. He marked waypoints anywhere he saw fish, or areas where there was isolated cover. During the tournament he did his best to hit as many waypoints as possible and not waste any time fishing dead water in between way points. It should come to no surprise that Steve Baker from Ohio had the most production of bites from the 120 size Berkley Choppo and the ½ oz. ZMan Jackhammer. He would switch up the colors of the Choppo from black in stained water to Perfect Ghost in the clearer part of the river. Similarly, with the Jackhammer, he would throw a white 7” Pearl ZMan scented Jerk ShadZ for a trailer in the stained water and a Golden Shiner Jackhammer with a Redbone Jerk ShadZ in the clearer water. Stephen Sisto with the Berkley 120 Choppo in the open island eddy’s and shaded mud banks. 3/8oz boogerman Buzzbait through sparse grass and wood lay downs.
