Page 7 - Fishing Report | 10-11-17

Allegheny River
Gene Winger (Oil City); filed 10-9: With water temperature dropping
into the low 60s, the smallmouth bite has really been heating up
with the big boys hungry for a fight. Hitting the river for a few hours
every evening, I’m landing a lot of nice sized smallies, most over 16

inches with some pushing 20 inches…really great action just before
dusk. Finding some bass scattered around structure in shallow water
but most have been stocked up at the tail end of larger pools in 3 to
4 feet of water. The killer bait has been Winco 3.75 inch Amazing
Dace Swim Bait on a 1/8-ounce jighead. Floating weeds are a prob-
Gene Winger / Winger photo
lem, so most of the time the hits come on the initial drop. If you can
keep out of the floating weeds, a very slow retrieve with a pause
every few feet works. (See photos here and in Livewell)

Jeff Knapp @ Keystone Connection Guide Service; filed 10-6: Be-
tween guide trips and fun trips with friends & family, I’ve been on the
river nearly every day the last two weeks. The continuation of sum-
mer-like weather, shorter days combined with a scattering of cold
nights, has the river smallies in a variety of locations. We’ve been
catching them in slower, deeper pools, and extended tail-outs, typical
Jeff Knapp photo
of fall fishing. But also we are still getting them along shallow riffle
areas, especially later in the afternoon after the water has warmed
up some. Rapala X-Raps, soft jerkbaits and soft swimbaits, and Z-
Man’s Hula Stickz fished on a 1/8-ounce jighead have all been pro-
ductive. We are getting lots of smallies (plenty of 15 to 20 inch bass)
and some quality-size walleyes as well. Gamma Torque combined
with a Gamma Edge leader of four feet has been the delivery system
for these baits. Looks like we’re off to a great fall! Although I have lots

of dates booked, I still have some open dates as of right now.

Pete Cartwright @SmalliesontheYough.com; filed 10-9: We fished
th
the Allegheny on Oct 4 . The bite was good in the morning, but ta- Pete Cartwright / Cartwright
pered off in the afternoon. We caught a few nice smallies. (See pho- photo
tos here and in Livewell)

Bill Logan (Pleasantville); filed 10-9: Fishing upriver north of Oil City has
been tough. I have found bass on shallow, slow pools – with a 4-inch Dinger
rigged weedless the go to bait amid the floating weeds. The last three trips
I have averaged a dozen fish, but no really big bruisers.

RJ Graham (Tionesta); filled 10-7: My buddy and I fished the Oil City pool
today. We caught around 30 smallmouths mostly on tubes. (See photo) RJ Graham photo