When air temperatures cool, freshwater fish should go on the feed

This lucky angler caught and released this lunker bass by wading the shoreline at Ontelaunee Reservoir in upper Berks County, Contributed photo

When air temperatures stabilize towards the cool side, fresh water fish traditionally go on the feed as cooler water temps signal the feeding frenzy, says our local fishing reporters. 

Willie, from Willie’s Bait & Tackle in Cementon, reports Leaser Lake is the hot spot with customers picking up muskies on jumbo minnows while bass anglers are nailing largemouths on large shiners. As for Lehigh River, Willie said it’s dead of late although one avid angler picks up an occasional trout or two but no smallmouths, which is rare for this time of year. Another avid trout angler persistently fishes the Hokendauqua Creek and continues to catch and release 5-6 trout from the various deep holes. 

Chris, from Chris’ Bait & Tackle in Mertztown, says the usual productive Ontelaunee Reservoir has been slow. Two weeks ago  customers were picking up largemouths there on 7-10-inch worms in the lily pads, but the crappie action suddenly died. Down at Blue Marsh Lake, bass action is good. Water temperature was 77 degrees last week and has only dropped three degrees over the past two weeks “We fished there last week and had 11 bass, with 5-6 of them over 15 inches. We threw swim baits, Senko worms and green pumpkin tube jigs with red flakes and rubber skirts,” said Chris. 

Mike, from Mike’s Bait & Tackle in Nazareth, said the Delaware River is yielding some nice catfish. Flathead catfish were falling for 6-8-inch bluegills while channel cats were eating minnow-tipped jigs intended for walleye’s. An occasional small striper is caught and released, but most of the big ones are gone. River smallmouths were hungry for tubes and minnows and one customer caught a 20 incher. But that action has slowed as well. 

Otherwise Mike hears good largemouth action at Mauch Chunk Lake where they can be caught all day long, but they’re mostly 14 inches and smaller. For trout, the lower end of Bushkill Creek around 15th Street has been productive. Mike thinks with the temperatures dropping, fishing will only get better. 

On the Water Magazine reports that the Francis E. Walter Reservoir is being drawn down and the fish there are beginning to school-up. They say, “find the fish and you’ll find success.” A pair of anglers fishing there reported good crappie action on marabou jigs and and fathead minnows. Up at Lake Wallenpaupack, striper fishing has been good from the Pike and Wayne County sides and from Briar Hill to Mangan Cove using live bait suspended in 8-15 feet of water. They too believe fishing will continue to be good as temperatures cool. 

SUNDAY HUNTING BILL BEING CONSIDERED

A bill introduced by Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) and Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny) have introduced SB147 and was passed by the state senate, will go to the House of Representatives to allow the PGC to permit Sunday hunting in the state. 

If passed and signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, it would allow Sunday hunting on three Sunday's a year. More specifically, one Sunday during the firearms deer hunting season, another during the archery hunting season and the third date to be determined by the PGC. 

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