Susquehanna Smallie

Type: Tidal
Region: North Eastern
Location: Susquehanna River

I was out fishing for rockfish below the Susquehanna Flats last week and pulled in two smalls about 14 inch. One on the rattle trap in the picture and another on a jig-head with soft plastic. The top water was 50 degrees. I motored up the Susquehanna River past Port Deposit and into the rocks. It was low tide and calm. The temperature raised to 54 degrees. I caught this nice smallmouth (which I thought was just another largemouth) on the 1/2 oz rattle trap. He was sitting in some rocks where it just looked like there would be fish. It is probably the biggest smallmouth I have landed.

I do not know if anyone has done this before or if it is a common practice but I fish a lot of rocky areas. My rattle trap gets hung up regularly so I took off the treble hook on the front and it reduced my hang ups by at least 75%. It still tracks well and catches fish so I may expand this tactic.