Page 6 - Fishing Report 12-15-14

Steve Udick (Oil City):
- 11/23 – “This cold spell really put the fish in a hibernating state…I got one
small bass. Barely 10 inches. Not even a strike the evening before. However,
the weekend before the temp drop, I got 21 smallmouths when water was 14
degrees warmer. Water level dropped 10 inches and I think the fish moved
towards center of river beyond my cast from shore.”
- 11/30 – “Caught this bass (pictured) today and I noticed the split in the tail
and the anal fin is also red and eaten away as is the tail. Do you know what is
wrong with this fish?” Steve Udick photo

BONUS RIVER INFORMATION

Allen Woomer, PA Fish Commission Fisheries Manager for the Middle Allegheny River, responds to Ste-
ve concern about the condition of the smallmouth bass: “Regarding the Smallmouth Bass photos, while
we do occasionally see Smallmouth Bass from the Allegheny River and other waters with heavily eroded
fins such as the ones in this picture, I do not think it is a sign of major disease problem such as the one
currently affecting bass in the Susquehanna River basin. Ever since I started work on the Allegheny River
we have seen a small number of bass of various sizes showing a variety of lesions, hemorrhages and ero-
sions of fin tissue. While I am not a pathologist, I think in most cases bacteria is the primary cause of fin
erosion. It may start out as a physical wound of some kind…then there is a secondary infection of bacte-
ria that continues the damage by eroding the fin. Even with these types of problems many of the affect-
ed bass survive the trauma, eventually overcome the infection and heal.
“Because of the situation in the Susquehanna River drainage, we are actually paying pretty close atten-
tion to any Smallmouth Bass disease problems in the Allegheny River. We annually sample both young-of
-the-year (YOY) and adult Smallmouth Bass in the Allegheny River and we check the condition of all bass
we collect looking for any signs of disease, parasites or injury, and repot this information to our
pathologist. So far the YOY Smallmouth bass do not appear to be affected in the Allegheny River and we
hope this continues. This year I do not think we saw even one YOY bass with a problem so we keep our
fingers crossed on that.”

Keith Eshbaugh @ Dutch Fork Lures reports having good fishing in the Three Rivers areas: “On November
25, we caught over 50 walleyes, sauger, saugeye, wipers and one small flathead on Dutch Fork Bucktail
th
Jigs in 22’ to 35 feet wintering holes. The walleyes ranged from 6” to 5 pounds. On December 6 , we
caught between 15 and 20 walleyes and sauger on bucktails and Jigging Rapalas; fish were in deep
holes.”

Jeff Knapp @ Keystone Connection Guide Service provided his end-of-year report:

“The 2014 year was a challenging yet rewarding season on the Allegheny. Things got off to a late start
thanks to the extended winter, but when spring weather finally arrived river smallies really turned on.
During a warm Easter Sunday afternoon we caught bass after bass on hard jerkbaits on the first produc-
tive outing of the year.
“Just when bass were setting up near spawning areas, rain and high water arrived, setting a pattern that
continued throughout the spring and summer. Most summer outings the water temp struggled to reach
the low 70s. But the off-colored comparatively cool water was the perfect venue for spinnerbaits. All
summer long we caught many bass in the 18 to 21 inch range on Terminator Spinnerbaits.