Bass fishing options coming
Despite winter’s apparent strangle hold on our area, spring will arrive, and with it an abundance of bass fishing options.
Here’s a look at three of them.
Pymatuning LakeWhen it comes to black bass, Crawford County’s sprawling Pymatuning Lake manages to fly under the radar, as most angler attention is directed toward walleyes, muskies and panfish. But this 13,000 acre border lake (shared with Ohio) supports a dense bass population featuring both largemouths and smallmouths.Most of the bass fishing pressure on Pymatuning happens during the spring, often in the form of bass tournaments, since this lake has no closed season. As a testament to its productivity at this time of year, during the Keystone Bass Buddies Circuit event held there last May, 40 of the top 50 teams had six-bass limits (the balance had four or five fish bags).Though fish over five pounds are possible, the norm is chunky two- to three-pounders, of which the lake is teaming.There’s an axiom about Pymatuning’s largemouths that says “if your trolling motor isn’t kicking up mud, you’re fishing too deep.” This certainly applies to springtime fishing there.Bass-fishing expert and tournament veteran Deron Eck finds Pymatuning largemouth in both back bays and main lake shorelines in May.“One of the key areas in May is flats with old lily pad stems,” noted Eck. “Also, black bottom areas draw in largemouths, like ones around Red Cross and Padanaram. And they set up on sandy bottomed main lake shorelines.”Laydowns sitting in a foot or two of water can be picked apart with a jig-n-pig, or Brush Hog-style baits rigged Texas-style.Smallmouths, Eck has found, tend to be a bit more nomadic during the pre-spawn. He uses a spinnerbait or Zoom Super Fluke around spots near Tuttle Point, and near Stocker Island, for smallies.
Susquehanna RiverThe North Branch of the Susquehanna River continues to provide some of the finest river smallmouth bass fishing in the state. This reach of the river hasn’t been negatively impacted by columnaris-caused young-of-year die offs as has portions of the main stem to the south.Many year classes are well represented. f particular significance to 2011 anglers is the outstanding 2007 hatch. These four-year old fish should contribute heavily to this year’s catch. Above average hatches were also experienced the two prior years.River Guide Greg Smith suggested anglers concentrate on the lower end of the North Branch, which seems to contain plenty of above-average sized smallmouths. Danville, Berwick and Bloomsburg all sit close to good smallmouth water, and have good boat access.Boaters should understand that the Susquehanna (other than impounded sections downriver) is a shallow water river, suitable for non-powered boats and jet-driven boats.For information on guide services on the North Branch of the Susquehanna visit www.northbranchoutfitters.com.
Keystone LakeArmstrong County’s Keystone Lake is a great venue for a springtime bass outing. By summer, many of Keystone’s bass move to off-shore structure and deep weeds. But in May, they populate the shallows, making them more accessible.Keystone contains decent numbers of both largemouth and smallmouth bass. Trophy class fish of both show up each year, smallmouths especially. The lake covers nearly 1,000 acres and is five miles long.Many bays and coves break up the western shoreline of the lake, which generally is the shallower side. Though both largemouths and smallmouths will be caught in close proximity, odds favor green bass back in the bays, and their bronze counterparts along sandy/rocky main lake shorelines.Soft jerkbaits like Case Plastic’s Salty Sinkin’ Shad are great for working over the shallows, as are no. 8 Rapala X-Raps. When the bass aren’t quite willing to move for a jerkbait, they’ll usually take a Senko-style four- or five-inch worm fished weightless on a 1/0 to 2/0 light wire wide gap hook.Jeff Knapp is a fishing columnist for the Butler Eagle
