The outlook for river smallmouth bass across the state is good for next year, including the Susquehanna River. Rod Bates took this Susquehanna smallmouth near Harrisburg.

Recently I spoke with Bob Lorantas, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s Warmwater Unit Leader. We discussed a variety of topics, including the outlook of river bass fishing next season.

“Generally speaking, there should be good bass fishing in most waters across the state,” Lorantas noted. “The assessments that fisheries managers have carried out have shown average to above-average densities. That includes the rivers — the Allegheny, the Susquehanna, the Delaware and their major tributaries. That’s a good thing.”

Rivers tend to experience more fluctuation in bass production that do most reservoirs and lake, as they are susceptible to the whimsical weather often experienced during the spring spawning period. However, things are looking good on all of the river systems.

“There have been some challenges on the Susquehanna,” Lorantas explained. “However, there has been good evidence of three of the last four year classes contributing average, or even above-average, densities of smallmouth bass in that section of the river.”

Lorantas added that the Delaware might be a bit below average, and the Allegheny slightly above that level, but in general, nothing significant.

For over a decade the Susquehanna River has experienced issues with its fabled smallmouth bass population. Successive years of young-of-year die-offs and evidence of disease in adult fish led to restrictive regulations, including total catch and release regulations and a prohibition of targeting black bass during the spring spawning period on both the lower Susquehanna and lower Juniata rivers. However, during the past couple of seasons many anglers have experienced outstanding bass action on the lower Susquehanna, catching many quality-sized bass as well as adult fish of many sizes, indicating a strong population.

“The prevailing suspicions are that it was an episode of largemouth bass virus that affected young fish, and caused the poor survival of several year classes of those fish,” Lorantas said, referring to problems first witnessed at least a dozen years ago. “So, anything anglers can do, particularly mobile anglers that fish multiple bodies of water, to properly clean their gear to prevent the possible spread of disease, should do so. This includes livewell water, which can carry deceased microorganisms, as well as the transferring fish from one waterway to another.”

Excellent advice on cleaning your gear and boat is available on the Fish and Boat Commission’s website. Visit www.fishandboat.com. Simply type “clean your gear” in the search box located on the home page. The intentional transfer of fish species is especially troublesome.

“There are a number of examples of where folks, no doubt with good intentions, have introduced a forage species, gizzard shad for instance, that have not been a part of the food community in that waterway. An example would be gizzard shad in Lake Wilhelm,” Lorantas said. “They tend to compete with young bass.”

This is also the reason you should not discard unused bait by emptying your minnow bucket into a lake or river at day’s end. No telling what you might be “stocking” in that body of water, particularly if you captured the bait yourself.

Lorantas also noted that largemouth bass virus is just one possible factor of many that may be in play on the Susquehanna.

“It would be remiss by me to not suggest that environmental conditions also play a role, as there are a number of stressors during the during the spring that fish experience, including fluctuating water temperatures and flow rates, that can challenge bass, adult bass included,” he explained.” So, we could be looking at somewhat of a perfect storm scenario, starting back in 2005 when these diseased fish and mortalities were first observed.”

He added that biologists are witnessing fewer incidents of diseased smallmouth bass, noting that a “survival of the fittest” scenario could be part of the explanation for such. How the Susquehanna River’s bass population responds in the future will determine if any of the restrictive regulations are lifted, or elevated, as the case may be.

“The Susquehanna River biologist has identified very specific criteria to call for changes in the Susquehanna River bass regulations both if the disease outbreak resumes, or if we continue to see low incidents of disease,” Lorantas stated. He added this includes the abundance of year classes, not just in one year, but over a several-year span, as well as the abundance of adults.

“Ultimately that decision would rest with the Board of Commissioners, but we as the fisheries management division would offer advice,” he noted.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle