Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Juniata River a good bet for smallmouth bass this year
As our Pennsylvania bass season picks up steam, some of our local bass anglers who fish our nearby bass waters like the Brandywine Creek or the Schuylkill River might be shopping around for productive new fishing grounds to explore. In that case I’d heartily recommend taking a long look at the Juniata River’s smallmouth bass fishery. For years the state’s hotspot for smallmouth had been the storied Susquehanna, but back in 2012 the river was listed as “impaired” due to contaminating pollutants.
Unfortunately, that river’s impairment has had a devastating effect on the smallmouth population there. A recent study of the problem indicated that pollutants such as herbicides have impacted the immune systems of Susquehanna smallmouth.
This has resulted in widespread disease among the river’s bass causing their once thriving population to collapse. But while the Susquehanna struggles to recover, the Juniata River’s bass fishery appears to be going strong.
I learned this first hand on a recent Juniata fishing trip courtesy of Jeff Woleslagle of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). Woleslagle counts himself very fortunate that back in 2009 his parents, Betty and Len, moved into a house conveniently situated on the banks of the Juniata. Their home, near the Juniata/Perry County line in Millerstown, boasts a commanding view of the river some seventeen miles upstream from where it empties into the Susquehanna just north of Harrisburg.
In fact, Woleslagle’s parents keep a telescope mounted on their back deck that lets them keep a close eye on their son’s Juniata fishing exploits. When I arrived they were zooming in on him and another fishing buddy, John Annoni, as they reeled in a smallmouth. “They just got another one,” announced the elder Woleslagle as he peered into the magnified optics. “Take a look.” I put my eye to the ‘scope and, sure enough, they were already catching bass.
Notified that I had finally arrived, albeit significantly late, Woleslagle piloted his bass boat, an 18-foot aluminum Fisher model 1700 powered by a 40 horsepower Honda jet outboard, back to the dock to pick me up. He and John Annoni, the founder of Camp Compass which Annoni describes as a program that helps “grow” inner city kids in the outdoors, were so eager to fish that they couldn’t wait any longer for me to show up.
I hopped aboard, grabbed one of Woleslagle’s spinning rods, and we made our way upriver. “They’re hitting on the Fat Alberts, the black ones with red flakes,” Woleslagle nodded. “You’ve already got one tied on.” A Fat Albert, by the way, is a soft plastic lure that attaches to a lead jighead.
We jetted upstream for a few hundred yards, quickly arriving at a likely spot near a tangle of waterlogged branches. I threw the lure toward the riverbank and, lo and behold, I hooked up with a feisty smallmouth on my very first cast! I cranked the fish to the boat where Woleslagle masterfully netted and measured it. “Sixteen inches!” he declared, making it the largest smallmouth of my entire angling career. We took a few quick photos and then immediately released it back into the Juniata. The river water that day was just a little bit discolored and running at an average depth of around five feet.
That quick catch was a sign of things to come, and for the next three hours we collectively caught and released over fifty smallmouth bass on that stretch of river, sticking with the same lures the entire time. Of course it helped to have someone like Woleslagle at the helm, a man who is intimately familiar with the river and seasoned by decades of Juniata River bass fishing experience. “I’ve caught smallmouth here up to 20 inches in length, walleye over 20 inches, and channel catfish over 30 inches,” he reported. Woleslagle believes that, unlike Susquehanna smallmouth, the Juniata bass haven’t been significantly infected by the debilitating culnaris virus, and so the river’s fishery remains relatively vibrant.
And it was seriously vibrant that afternoon. It was a rare moment that one or more of the three of us weren’t hooked up. Woleslagle knows this stretch of the river better than I know my own backyard pond and piloted his craft to hotspot after hotspot. We caught plenty of bass while drifting along the river’s eastern shoreline, and even more when we anchored near the heads of eddies. That’s where Annoni managed to horse in the biggest bass of the day, a hefty 18 inch bruiser. Like every other fish we caught that afternoon, we immediately released it. It would have been illegal not to.
“When it comes to smallmouth, this stretch of the river is a no kill zone,” Woleslagle advised. “It runs from the Port Royal Bridge downstream to where it dumps into the Susquehanna at Duncannon. They created the no kill zone years ago just to give the smallmouth a chance to bounce back from a potentially serious decline.” If our experience that day was any indication, these Juniata smallmouth
have already come bouncing back in a big, big way.
JUNIATA ACCESS POINTS
If you plan to trailer your power boat, canoe, or kayak to fish the Juniata, you’ll find access points at Mifflintown, Mifflin, Walker, Muskrat Springs, and Thompsontown. For more specifics, Google “Juniata River Access Points.”
HUNTING LICENSE UPDATE
Pennsylvania hunters, specifically pheasant hunters, are about to discover that their pursuit of the long-tailed bird is about to get pricier (a LOT pricier). That’s because, just as the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission charges ten bucks for a trout stamp on top of the regular license fee, the Pennsylvania Game Commission will now charge pheasant hunting enthusiasts an extra $26.90 for a pheasant permit in addition to the $20.90 charge for a basic adult resident hunting license. These pheasant permits are brand new this year and are required for all adult and senior hunters, including senior lifetime license buyers (surprise!), who want to pursue or harvest pheasants. Junior hunters do not need a pheasant permit to hunt or harvest pheasants. Licenses and permits for the 201718 hunting seasons are now on sale. Current 2016-17 licenses expire on June 30.
Another change fueled by the agency’s ongoing budget crunch this year is that the printed paper version of the full 2017-18 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest will no longer be distributed free by the PGC with each hunting license purchase (which had been the practice up until now). License buyers who wish to view the full digest can still do so online or they can opt to purchase a printed digest for $6. Digests will be sold over-the-counter at Game Commission Region Offices and Harrisburg Headquarters. When purchased elsewhere, the digests will be mailed directly to license buyers.