PARK FALLS, Wis. (October 10, 2024) – Generally known as “a foot deep and a mile huge,” the sprawling Susquehanna River rises in Central New York’s Otsego Lake and drains over 27,000 sq. miles in three states earlier than dumping into the Higher Chesapeake Bay. Bisecting your entire state of Pennsylvania and containing a wealthy forage base, the Susky is filled with spunky smallmouth bass… for anglers who can get to them.
Shallow and rocky, the Susquehanna is the area of the jetboat; splendid craft for skimming over and round treacherous rocks and ledges that might destroy an atypical bass boat. Susquehanna fishing information, Joe Raymond, purchased his first in his twenties and now runs a 300-HP Rock Proof River Rocket. He’s been guiding anglers on the Susquehanna for over 15 years. In that point, he watched his shoppers catch quite a lot of huge bass. A few weeks in the past, Raymond caught one in all his personal.
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Together with match accomplice and fellow information, Tom Mills, the St. Croix Rod and Z-Man ambassador not too long ago accounted your entire story to Susquehanna Fishing Sort out house owners, brothers Mike and George Acord, on their Sort out Store Dwell podcast.
“For George and me, we checked out this image and have been completely shellshocked,” Mike informed viewers in his intro. That speaks volumes, given the Acord brothers’ some-50 years of expertise fishing on the Susquehanna River, to not point out the a whole bunch of huge smallmouth images they see from their prospects each 12 months.
Raymond described the loopy sequence of occasions main as much as the historic catch.
“Tom (Mills) and I had talked about fishing a Williamsport Bassmasters Charity Event for Toys for Tots,” Raymond mentioned. “We’d solely fished up there a pair instances and it had been just a few years. We remembered each instances being a dinkfest, however we determined to do it and have some enjoyable whereas supporting a worthy trigger. There was a giant thunderstorm the evening earlier than. My roof was leaking and I didn’t sleep in any respect. We didn’t have a lot of a gameplan and simply headed upriver in the dead of night to a spot we’d had some success at earlier than. There was already a ship there so we simply saved going.”
Raymond says they lastly pulled right into a spot and began fishing. “The plan was for me to fish for a restrict and Tom to focus on a lunker,” he remembers. “I used to be throwing a 3-inch Z-Man MinnowZ swimbait on a weedless jighead and I saved dropping fish. Nothing huge, but it surely was aggravating,” he says. When Raymond opted to change to an open jig, a brand new type of distress crept in. “I began to catch just a few small ones, however I used to be getting snagged on virtually each solid. I informed Tom I used to be achieved and we needed to transfer.”
The pair bounced round to some spots within the largely unfamiliar water with out quite a lot of success. “There was an space up there in a type of swimming pools we had handed… it appeared so good,” Raymond says. “We agreed it needed to have fish, however we’d by no means caught something there throughout our two prior journeys to this a part of the river. We determined to strive it anyway.”
The pair arrived on the again finish of the pool and Raymond began fishing his 3” MinnowZ on a 7-foot, medium energy St. Croix Legend X spinning rod paired to a Shimano Vanford 3000 reel with 10-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid and a 10-pound Tatsu fluoro chief. The curse continued. “I broke off once more… like straight away… and needed to tie on a complete new chief,” Raymond says. “Tom was throwing a Ned rig in a present seam and he had damaged off too.”
Raymond was sick of snagging up, so he tied a recent EZ Cash-colored Z-Man paddletail with a weedless jighead onto the recent chief.
“There was a go browsing the underside behind this pool in about 4 toes of water. I made a solid to it and flipped the bail closed after giving the bait a pair seconds to get down,” Raymond says. “I reeled tight and felt weight and instantly thought I used to be snagged once more… then I felt motion. I hit this factor and it got here screaming up and did a backflip in entrance of the boat. The fish appeared big, however I used to be nonetheless attempting to course of what had occurred and the way huge the bass really was. It solely took a pair extra seconds earlier than I noticed what I used to be combating.”
“When a man like Joe Raymond tells you to get the web as a result of he simply hooked the largest smallmouth of his life, you progress rapidly,” Mills says. “The fish was simply digging behind the boat puking up crayfish like loopy. The water was so clear it was like watching the scene in an aquarium.”
“The fish fought so laborious,” Raymond says. “I used to be considering, is that this actual life?” Then the St. Croix took a deeper bend and the fish took off downstream.
Raymond snapped out of his daydream and took the MinnKota off of Spotlock to observe the massive brown bass that was now peeling line and headed for some rapids. “We caught up and netted it,” Raymond says. “Each of us have been staring into the web and going loopy like a pair little children.”
Raymond weighed and measured the fish rapidly earlier than snapping a few images. She stretched the tape to 24 inches and bottomed out at 7.19 kilos. Later, the fish would weigh 7.08 on the match weigh in.
“I simply kinda misplaced it,” Raymond says. “Like all information – or any severe fisherman – I obsess over huge fish. I’ve celebrated with so lots of my shoppers after serving to them catch personal-best bass over time. This fish is the primary over six kilos I’ve ever caught on the Susquehanna, and solely the second over seven anybody I do know has ever heard of from the river. It wasn’t a super-fat fish, simply thick all through and tremendous wholesome. I really know the man who caught the opposite documented 7-1 again in 1981. His identify is Russell Fuller. I heard the story time and again once I was younger and was at all times suspect till I obtained the prospect to fulfill him and converse with him later in life. He introduced the mount into the restaurant just a few years in the past and I used to be blown away once I noticed it. He caught his within the spring, mainly proper behind the home the place I now reside in Duncannon. It was a 23-inch, pre-spawn fish, so it was fairly a bit fatter. Mine wasn’t as deep however was an inch longer.”
Raymond has just a few key suggestions for all smallmouth anglers.
“You by no means know when or the place you’ll join with the fish of a lifetime,” he says. I actually by no means anticipated to run into this fish within the spot we have been fishing. I used to be fortunate that I had simply re-tied my chief. We’ve all gotten lazy about knots and leaders and it at all times bites you. I realized this early as a information. When you cinch down a knot and it doesn’t really feel proper, or your chief knot will get hung up in your guides, otherwise you really feel some nicks in your chief, take the time to re-tie and keep away from disappointment!”
Raymond can also be a agency believer in utilizing the perfect gear you may afford. “I’m not rod heavy; I’m rod specific,” he says. “In contrast to quite a lot of bass fishermen who’ve a devoted rod for each distinct and particular presentation they make, I’m the man who has a handful of various rods that I like and belief with just a few powers and actions that go well with the traces and lures I most frequently fish. There are a ton of nice rods available on the market at present. For me, it’s laborious to beat the standard and efficiency of St. Croix and particularly their Legend X sequence. These rods are made within the USA, gentle, load up nice and are extraordinarily delicate. It’s the identical with the lures I most frequently use. Z-Man’s ElaZtech plastics mimic every part on this river a smallmouth eats and the fabric is extremely mushy with unmatched sturdiness. For me, which means my shoppers can catch a bunch of fish on a single bait earlier than I’ve to interchange it. The Z-Man MinnowZ swimbait is the perfect bait ever for guiding. They are often rigged in a bunch of various methods to match the circumstances and have a shimmy virtually like a spybait on a sluggish regular retrieve. You’ll catch fish hopping them on the underside and burning them by means of the water, too.”
Lastly, Raymond encourages anglers to deal with all fish with care and to launch those with the genetics that make higher fishing potential for everybody. “I believe most bass anglers are in the identical camp about caring for large bass and releasing them wholesome, however we nonetheless have some archaic rules and procedures in some states, particularly on the subject of recognizing report fish,” he says. “In quite a lot of states, you simply can’t get a report fish licensed with out killing it. No report or recognition is value killing an enormous, outdated fish. The exact same day I caught my fish right here in Pennsylvania, a man fishing a match in New York caught a nine-pounder, which might have smashed the state report. He referred to as the DEC and was informed to place the fish on ice till somebody may come out and certify the fish the following day. He would have needed to kill it to get it licensed. That’s an enormous downside. To his credit score, the angler – Dante Piraino – knew higher and had no a part of that plan. After it was weighed and revived, he adamantly directed match officers to place that fish proper again into the St. Lawrence River with all the remainder of them. States want extra protocols and procedures that make it straightforward for folks to certify fish like this with out killing the fish. These are genetic freaks and all of us must allow them to proceed to do their factor.”
Contact Joe Raymond or e-book a visit with him by means of his web site, susquehannasmallmouthguides.com. Observe him on Instagram and Fb.
For up-to-date info on fishing within the Susquehanna River, or for sort out suggestions, contact Susquehanna Fishing Sort out at 800-814-7433 or through their web site, sfttackle.com.
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