Dave Neuman displays a nice Susquehanna River smallmouth bass caught and released during a trip earlier this month.

The lower Susquehanna River was running a bit high and off color as Dave Neuman and I launched his boat in the mouth of Conewago Creek, just below the York Haven Dam.

The prior day, Neuman, a veteran guide on the Susquehanna, and his guest, had caught several walleyes, flathead catfish, and a 39-inch musky from the area.

It was mid-morning when we hit the water. We were hoping to repeat things, with the option to fish farther up the river for smallmouth bass if the walleyes were not cooperating.

York Haven Dam, a hydroelectric dam built over a hundred years ago, stretches 5,000 feet across the Susquehanna, in a diagonal direction, bridging the west bank of the river with the western bank of Three Mile Island. The dam sits within Conewago Falls, where the river drops 19 feet within a quarter mile.

The powerhouse is located at the western end of the dam, near the mouth of the Conewago. The river stretch to the northeast of the powerhouse — the tailrace section — is a series of rocky ledges (some submerged, some above the surface) and deeper holes, all within the rapids of Conewago Falls, interesting water to say the least.

Neuman anchored the boat below one of the exposed humps of bedrock, a formidable obstacle that deflected the fast current. The still pool was about 20 feet deep. We each tipped our jigs with river shiners, ones Dave had trapped from Conewago Creek.

I made a short pitch out from the boat, and then allowed the Northland Fireball jig to settle to the bottom. About the time, I’d worked it to underneath the boat, I felt an unnatural weight and solidly set the hook.

Walleyes typically give you a distinct tick when they eat a jig, which hadn’t happened. That, combined with the significant weight, suggested something other than an ‘eye. A few moments later, my suspicion was confirmed as a flathead catfish in the seven to eight-pound range sloshed on the surface.

We worked several other similar spots, fishing each from an anchored position. A couple more flatheads were caught – even larger than the first – but the walleyes seemed to have vacated the area. Neuman said the river had risen a few inches overnight, and that the change in flow probably pushed them out of the spots that had been productive the day before.

By lunchtime — with only one sub-legal walleye to show for our efforts — Dave suggested a move upriver to an area that had been producing good numbers of smallmouth bass.

Early afternoon found us back on the Susquehanna River, not far below the Dock Street Dam in Harrisburg. A short boat ride and we were soon along a bank section with slight current, the main force deflected by a shallow flat upriver. Drifting slowly, a cast’s length from shore, I soon connected with a two-pounder, one that had hit a rabbit fur jig.

In typical smallmouth bass fashion, the ruckus of catching that first bass seemed to activate the school. We continued to take smallies up to the three-pound range. Dave caught most of his on a jig-grub combo, while I took mine on a suspending jerkbait.

The smallmouth bass population in the main stem of the Susquehanna River (as well as the lower Juniata) has been under scrutiny for at least a decade. Bacterial infections and widespread die-offs of fingerling-stage smallmouth bass has occurred with alarming regularity, leading to restrictive regulations including a no-kill status for smallmouths, and a ban on targeting the species during the spring spawning period.

Per a recent Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission news release, surveys conducted from 2013-2016 reveal increasing numbers of adult smallmouth bass compared to severely reduced numbers collected from 2005-2012.

Though encouraged by the recent findings, the Fish and Boat Commission continues its push to have the United States Environmental Protection Agency list the Susquehanna as an impaired river, a status that would initiate legally required actions to address the river’s water quality issues.

The same news release stated that last year the state Department of Environmental Protection and the PFBC released findings from a multi-year study indicating the most likely causes of the smallmouth bass decline are endocrine-disrupting compounds and herbicides; and pathogens and parasites.

“The Susquehanna River’s smallmouth bass fishery once attracted anglers from all over the world,” said John Arway, PFBC executive director. “I am confident the results from last year’s study, along with a continued commitment by DEP to identify the causes and reduce the sources of pollution, will provide for the eventual recovery and return of that once world class recreational fishery.

“The impairment designation is critical to this effort.”

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle