 MAT EICHINGER, UNCLE JESSE, & NORB ROEGER HAD A BLAST FISHING WITH ALEX & ALAYNA IN 49 DEGREE SMALLMOUTH WATERS IN MID-OCTOBER  EDUCATED IN PHILADELPHIA MIKE BREEDING OF GRATEFUL GUIDES IS A FANTASTIC TEACHER & BRINGS AN INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE ON THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER IN HIS CUSTOM JET BOAT FISHING THE ULTRA-CLEAR SUSQUEHANNA RIVER  As an aspiring fishing guide in the very near future, I planned on educating myself by hiring some of the best guides in the country, watching closely as they use their personal teaching methods, as well as understanding how each guide has a unique way of locating fish for clients, and how they handle the stress of a tough bite as they try to present a successful day for their customers. I feel very blessed to have shared the boat with Hall of Fame angler Dale Stroschein of Sturgeon Bay, WI few years back. The knowledge gained during that trip was huge, as we analyzed our extremely tough day that resulted in several trophy smallmouth by sunset in late-October. Also a treat with a highly-respected and high-priced guide in combination with their knowledge is the fact that you get to use top-notch boats and equipment. Dale has worked so hard over a legendary career to land a solid sponsorship with Nitro boats. Being in his 450 hp Nitro SZ-21v is such a treat on the brutal waters of the Great Lakes. An extra deep walleye boat design such as his can handle the rough waters so well, and the huge outboard can push his heavy boats at high speeds. At the opposite end of the spectrum is riding in the custom jet boat owned by Grateful Guides guide service of Hanover, Pennsylvania.  GRATEFUL GUIDES TREATS THEIR CUSTOMERS WITH A 250 HP INBOARD JETBOAT As a a long-time avid Mike Iaconelli fan, I have always enjoyed his work on tv, such as CITY LIMITS FISHING, GOING IKE, & FISH MY CITY on the major tv networks. One episode really caught my attention, as Mike fished the Susquehanna River with professional guide Mike Breeding and Bassmaster Elite Fletcher Shryock for smallmouth bass in a jet boat. I have never experienced riding in or fishing from a jet boat, and with the multiple rivers present in Wisconsin, it is something that I am interested in learning about. My expectations for the Susquehanna River was a dirty, or stained river around 8-12' deep running through a small village town out in the country. The education started as I neared the Capitol City of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, to meet Mike. I felt like a fool not knowing that I was fishing the capitol of the state in ultra-clear and super shallow waters. A lack of rain had brought the average depth of the river down to around 1 foot deep! The river is fed from the crystal-clear waters of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, NY. I have never seen a clear river before. It was very intense flying across 1 foot of water in a large boat and not hitting bottom. It was actually an absolute blast! I found it very hard to believe that these waters could possibly hold smallmouth bass in such low depths. Mike handed me some finesse plastics and we got to work. We fished a short time and Mike had a very nice 3 lb class smallmouth bass to the back of the boat, that threw his lure. Seeing a bass in this shallow water gave me the confidence to cast anywhere he instructed me to knowing that we were around them. Mike said to expect a brutally tough day in the low water conditions. He also spent the majority of the day focusing on teaching me how to read river currents, looking for very subtle structure changes my looking at the differences in bubbles on the surface near eddies and underwater cover such as rocks and boulders. FISHING SUPER TOUGH CONDITIONS CAN PRODUCE QUALITY BASS WITH PATIENCE AND AN ULTRA-FINESSE PRESENTATION - THANK YOU GRATEFUL GUIDES! Mike and I cycled through a few finesse plastics, and one that I was very excited to throw was one of my confidence lures - a plastic jerkshad. Mike said that there wasn't much for wood cover present in the main river, so nose-hooking the lure is a better choice than fishing it weedless. I began casting and didn't take long to hook up on a quality Susquehanna River smallmouth bass.  MY FIRST OF 8 QUALITY SMALLMOUTH BASS BOATED WITH GRATEFUL GUIDES As we continued covering some key locations, we found it very difficult finding a pattern or a school of fish. It seemed that the fish were holding very tight to hard bottom with very minor depressions in the super shallow water. Mike pulled up to a grassy flat and instructed me to cast as far as I could across the river channel, and I instantly hooked up to a very nice fish. We didn't bother to use a scale or ruler, but I would guess throughout the day we landed several fish around or just over 3 lbs, and this one was approaching closer to 4 pounds.  OUR BIGGEST CATCH OF THE DAY - A NEAR 4 POUND SMALLMOUTH BASS! After flipping from a swing shift at work, and the late-night flight from Minnesota to Philadelphia International Airport, I was feeling absolutely exhausted through the later part of our day. We had a stretch of a few hours without a bite, then Mike turned it around by finally getting us on the board with our 10th smallmouth bass of the day. Minutes later, I thought I felt a tiny bump on my lure as it hit the surface. I looked up and saw a boil where I had casted and felt sure that there was a fish present. I began to twitch the jerkshad as erratic as possible. I thought I may have felt another light bump so I kept the jerkshad darting at a high speed. Finally, my lure was absolutely clobbered as I pulled back and stuck the hook into the roof of the bass's mouth. The fish was probably our second biggest of the day and easily over 3 pounds, giving me an awesome battle all the way to the boat. Within a few casts, Mike hooked up on a smaller bass that would end up being our 12th and final fish of the day.  THANK YOU MIKE BREEDING & GRATEFUL GUIDES!  Fishing with Mike Breeding was an absolute treat! Mike has a lot of enthusiasm and makes your fishing outing feel like a party as he is out for a good time. But he also is a very talented angler and really understands his water in which he runs his guide service. Mike has spent 17 years running the Susquehanna River in his jet boats and has very strong teaching skills. It was quite the experience being in such clear water with super low levels. And riding over that in a jet boat was so fun! Thank you Mike for helping this Wisconsin boy boat 8 of your prized beautiful smallmouth in conditions that most anglers wouldn't understand where to begin or how to generate a single bite all day. I understand why Mike Iaconelli chose to feature your service on his tv show and I was extremely impressed with the entire experience. Mike has very affordable rates for his top-notch, unique service, and you can find more information by clicking on the button below. ATTENDING BASS UNIVERSITY WITH IKE LIVE'S BTC & PETE GLUSZEK |
AuthorJesse James is an avid fisherman that loves smallmouth bass fishing, loves spending time with his family, with other family-orientated people, and loves seeing children fish. A huge fan of BASSMASTER Elite Mike Iaconelli, like Mike, he is known to be a little strange, and obnoxious, but only to have fun and make people laugh.
Archives
January 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed
