Post by yihunt on Jul 25, 2010 11:22:03 GMT -4
Smallmouth bass around in area waterways
By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 25, 2010
It's hard to think of bass fishing in these days of high-stakes tournaments and outdoor television shows without images of super-intense anglers racing around huge impoundments in sleek, decked-out boats.
But there's another game out there.
Western Pennsylvania is home to countless streams — bigger than your typically stocked trout water, but smaller than a river — that hold eager, acrobatic and feisty smallmouth bass. And now is a good time to fish them.
According to information compiled by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission over decades, smallmouth bass catch rates for anglers fishing rivers hit their peak in August and September and stay strong through October.
There are no such statistics available for smaller streams specifically. But it stands to reason that they would be equally productive at the same time, said Allen Woomer, the commission's area 2 fisheries biologist.
"They're warmwater in character, and most important, they have enough size. They're big enough to start to support a nice forage base," Woomer said. "And as for habitat, they start to get some real nice, big, deep pools to hold fish."
"Any stream that's got a lot of rocks, a little bit of current and some deeper pools will hold smallmouths," said Mike Depew, a fisheries biologist in the commission's area 8 office in Somerset. "They aren't overly tolerant of pollution, but if you can find a stream with good habitat and lot of forage like crayfish and minnows, you'll find smallmouths, too."
There are plenty of such streams around.
The commission has studied a few, like the South Fork of Ten Mile Creek in Greene County, Buffalo Creek in Armstrong and Butler and Oil Creek in Venango. It plans to look at some others this year, like Cox's Creek in Somerset, Redstone Creek in Washington and Blacklick Creek in Indiana.
But there are far more smallmouth streams out there than that, including everything from Crooked Creek to Redbank Creek to the Loyalhanna.
"Every stream I've got over here has smallmouth bass in it," said Tom Crist, the commission's waterways conservation officer in Greene County. "The South Fork of Ten Mile, Brown's Creek, the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek, same thing.
"I don't know of too many people who fish them specifically for smallmouths. Most of the fish are probably caught incidentally by guys fishing for trout. But they are there."
Oftentimes, the fish in such streams are accessible by wading or floating in canoes and kayaks, and can be caught on light gear, like spinning rods spooled with 4- to 6-pound test line. They typically hit a variety of baits, too, from nightcrawlers and crayfish to tube jigs, crankbaits like Rebel crayfish and small Rapala minnows, Twister Tails and soft plastic minnow imitations, like Fishbelly Hawg Shads.
All of those baits are best fished in a stream's deeper holes, in deeper moving water or in the pockets behind rocks.
Stream smallmouths won't get as big, on average, as their counterparts in a place like, say, Keystone Lake, Woomer said. That's not to say there are no big fish there. Crist has seen and heard of some 3-pounders, so bigger fish are possible, but smaller fish are the rule
But they make up for that with their aggressive style.
"In smaller streams, a 15- to 18-inch smallmouth is a real nice fish," he said. "And they're just so much fun to catch in those kinds of waters because you know how they fight. They are in the current and they fight so hard, they're just an awful lot of fun."
The commission hasn't always publicized the smallmouth fishing to be found in any one particular smaller stream for fear that the resulting pressure might be too much for the fishery to bear, said fisheries biologist Tim Wilson of the area 1 office in Linesville. But that shouldn't be taken to mean there isn't good fishing out there for those willing to look.
"Those kinds of waters, we've always kind of left it to the anglers to find them for themselves," Wilson said. "But it can certainly be worth it to explore."
How heavy and old?
So you go out and catch a smallmouth bass on a mid-sized stream this summer. How much does it weigh and how old is it?
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has answers.
The commission has studied a lot of fish over the years and has come up with estimates for smallmouth bass. Typically, a fish caught between July and September that stretches 10 inches will weigh 0.5 pounds and be three years old. A 12-inch fish will weigh about 0.8 pounds and be 4.2 years old. Catch yourself a 15-incher and you've got a fish that will weigh 1.7 pounds and be 6.4 years old.
And an 18-inch smallmouth? That's a fish with some real age on it. They will, on average, weigh 2.9 pounds and be 9.3 years old
By Bob Frye, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, July 25, 2010
It's hard to think of bass fishing in these days of high-stakes tournaments and outdoor television shows without images of super-intense anglers racing around huge impoundments in sleek, decked-out boats.
But there's another game out there.
Western Pennsylvania is home to countless streams — bigger than your typically stocked trout water, but smaller than a river — that hold eager, acrobatic and feisty smallmouth bass. And now is a good time to fish them.
According to information compiled by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission over decades, smallmouth bass catch rates for anglers fishing rivers hit their peak in August and September and stay strong through October.
There are no such statistics available for smaller streams specifically. But it stands to reason that they would be equally productive at the same time, said Allen Woomer, the commission's area 2 fisheries biologist.
"They're warmwater in character, and most important, they have enough size. They're big enough to start to support a nice forage base," Woomer said. "And as for habitat, they start to get some real nice, big, deep pools to hold fish."
"Any stream that's got a lot of rocks, a little bit of current and some deeper pools will hold smallmouths," said Mike Depew, a fisheries biologist in the commission's area 8 office in Somerset. "They aren't overly tolerant of pollution, but if you can find a stream with good habitat and lot of forage like crayfish and minnows, you'll find smallmouths, too."
There are plenty of such streams around.
The commission has studied a few, like the South Fork of Ten Mile Creek in Greene County, Buffalo Creek in Armstrong and Butler and Oil Creek in Venango. It plans to look at some others this year, like Cox's Creek in Somerset, Redstone Creek in Washington and Blacklick Creek in Indiana.
But there are far more smallmouth streams out there than that, including everything from Crooked Creek to Redbank Creek to the Loyalhanna.
"Every stream I've got over here has smallmouth bass in it," said Tom Crist, the commission's waterways conservation officer in Greene County. "The South Fork of Ten Mile, Brown's Creek, the Enlow Fork of Wheeling Creek, same thing.
"I don't know of too many people who fish them specifically for smallmouths. Most of the fish are probably caught incidentally by guys fishing for trout. But they are there."
Oftentimes, the fish in such streams are accessible by wading or floating in canoes and kayaks, and can be caught on light gear, like spinning rods spooled with 4- to 6-pound test line. They typically hit a variety of baits, too, from nightcrawlers and crayfish to tube jigs, crankbaits like Rebel crayfish and small Rapala minnows, Twister Tails and soft plastic minnow imitations, like Fishbelly Hawg Shads.
All of those baits are best fished in a stream's deeper holes, in deeper moving water or in the pockets behind rocks.
Stream smallmouths won't get as big, on average, as their counterparts in a place like, say, Keystone Lake, Woomer said. That's not to say there are no big fish there. Crist has seen and heard of some 3-pounders, so bigger fish are possible, but smaller fish are the rule
But they make up for that with their aggressive style.
"In smaller streams, a 15- to 18-inch smallmouth is a real nice fish," he said. "And they're just so much fun to catch in those kinds of waters because you know how they fight. They are in the current and they fight so hard, they're just an awful lot of fun."
The commission hasn't always publicized the smallmouth fishing to be found in any one particular smaller stream for fear that the resulting pressure might be too much for the fishery to bear, said fisheries biologist Tim Wilson of the area 1 office in Linesville. But that shouldn't be taken to mean there isn't good fishing out there for those willing to look.
"Those kinds of waters, we've always kind of left it to the anglers to find them for themselves," Wilson said. "But it can certainly be worth it to explore."
How heavy and old?
So you go out and catch a smallmouth bass on a mid-sized stream this summer. How much does it weigh and how old is it?
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has answers.
The commission has studied a lot of fish over the years and has come up with estimates for smallmouth bass. Typically, a fish caught between July and September that stretches 10 inches will weigh 0.5 pounds and be three years old. A 12-inch fish will weigh about 0.8 pounds and be 4.2 years old. Catch yourself a 15-incher and you've got a fish that will weigh 1.7 pounds and be 6.4 years old.
And an 18-inch smallmouth? That's a fish with some real age on it. They will, on average, weigh 2.9 pounds and be 9.3 years old