Delaware River smallies

The smallmouth bass are starting to hit surface lures on the Delaware River near dusk. The river is low and clear and you can see them hitting the surface for bugs so it's starting to get fun. If it's anything like last year, the 45 minutes before dark is the best time. I've been using a torpedo and they tend to miss the lure half the time, but I think it's the most fun type of fishing when you do hook up. Lots of smaller 7-11" fish with a couple of 12-14" mixed in, but hopefully the bigger ones start showing up soon.

Got 7 smallmouth in the boat tonight, bigger fish with several 12-14" and a 16-17" fish and I had another one even bigger on and it literally pulled the hook and eyelet screw out of the lure. That's the 2nd screw pulled out of the lure so I think it's time for a new Torpedo. I had at least 30 bites and had several get off so it was a fun night.

That sounds like a good time.

The shad fry are moving out - they Smallies are gonna go nuts on that!


Try a Rico popper - you will get a much better hook up ratio and more hits!


What part of the river are you fishing?

I have a couple of poppers ready to use as well as a smaller torpedo but they don't cast as far. My boat is kept in the Washington Crossing area. Right now the best time seems to be around 5:30 to 7:15pm but with the daylight hours changing quickly, I'm sure that will shrink. It also needs to be pretty calm to get a smooth surface to watch the fish hitting the surface for bugs. Last year, September was great because we never had any rain to stir things up or raise the water level and so far it's looking similar this year.

Got another 16-17" fish last night and had 2 more on that were at least that big but they threw the hook. I keep foul hooking fish with the Torpedo surface lure so it's easier for them to get off. I got 7 more fish in the boat within 45 minutes and probably had 25-30 bites but the fish keep missing it. Lots of fun even if you don't get them in the boat!

Great job man! Been itching for some bronzebacks this season, let me +1 on your boat one of these trips out!

Can't believe we still haven't hooked up this year, and in all seriousness I would love to hit the D sometime before winter rolls around. Hit me up! We can even hit Ceva or something sometime

I was out of town last week so now I need to see if the rain and cooler temps has slowed the fish down. It was too windy to try yesterday and pretty windy today as well. I will say the spiders have been busy in my boat while I was away! :lol:

Got a 15-1/2" and 17" smallmouth late yesterday so they are still biting. Both fish were not happy and put up a great fight. I need to remember to take my camera!

Went out in the wind today and it was a really slow float with the wind holding me against the river current, but managed to get 5 more smallmouth in the boat in 90 minutes of fishing. A couple of 9-10" fish and 3 more 13-14" fish. It got chilly with the wind and of course I was out in shorts and a t-shirt. I think the river is about the lowest level I can remember in a long time.

Might be the last update of the season if we get the rain they are calling for, but I went out late this afternoon and got a couple of 14-16" fish along with a couple of smaller ones. Both of the bigger fish put up a really good fight so it was worth going out even though I only had 1 bite late yesterday. With the water temps dropping and if we get the rain and it gets all stirred up, it might be the end of the season if I take the boat out of the water tomorrow.

Did a little smallmouth fishing this weekend. So much green algea i could barely fish a jig. Got one 19" bass and 23" walleye on a jig before i gave up cleaning jig after each cast. A bunch more on top water but nothing bigger than 15. This rain should help to clean river out and i dont think it will take long to go back down to decent levels.

Yeah, the weeds, the grass and the algae have been a pain. I bet 60% of casts get something hung up on it.

By me just above eaaron it was 99% of casts had algea on. The only way to fish was top water or slip bobbers. Even with slip bobbers i was constantly checking and cleaning bait. High waters are needed to clean the river out bad up here. Hopefully we get some rain so the river goes pretty high then we get a long enough lull that it receeds to decent levels.

Got a couple more smallmouth on a topwater lure yesterday. One fish was really dark so he's been hiding down low for a while. The river has dropped back down after the rain but still getting weeds/grass on half the casts.

Great reports! Keep them coming!

Got out for a 90 minute float late this afternoon and got an 18" smallmouth (after 5 tries he finally got the topwater lure) and then a 17" striper on the same topwater lure. I had a couple more bites but they kept missing it. It was a really nice late October day but once the sun dropped it started getting cool quick and I was barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt.

Just noticed I never posted to this thread last year. I know it was not a good fishing season last year and we had a lot of grass growth in the river when the temps spiked in March which I'm guessing got the grass growing earlier than normal. This year has been better and the river has been clearer of grass, weeds and algae for the most part. I'm getting ready to pull the boat out for the season and get the dock ready to take apart. But the forecast is for 5-6 sunny days in the low 70's so I went out yesterday with it around 59 and sunny. I had to do some brush cleanup along the river bank at my cousin's house first and that put a hurting on my back. So I ended up using an old topwater lure with propellers on the front and back so I could sit down in the beach chair in the boat and fish. I almost landed a double! I had 2 smallmouth 17-18" on the lure at the same time and a 3rd one was still chasing it! As I reached down with the net, one of the fish got off but I did get one in the boat. I've been getting a lot of 10-12" fish most of the summer/fall and finally started getting a couple of 14-15" fish last week.

Well this year started off slow for me. The river was down in early April but it didn't take long before we had rain event after rain event and it ran high and muddy for almost 2 months. It's finally back down and clearing a bit. This past Saturday I went out in the middle of the day for about 90 minutes between rain showers and got 8, 11, 13 and 18" smallmouth in one float. I went out again Sunday for about 45 minutes and the river was recreation central! Boats everywhere, tubers, kayakers, canoers, people swimming. I got one 16" smallmouth right where a guy had been swimming 2 minutes earlier. He was watching and couldn't believe I caught it right where he was swimming. I told him I think that boats and people in the water will agitate the fish and make them more aggressive. That was the only bite I had before I left, it wasn't worth wasting the gas with all the people out there.

Well, this isn't a good update. My cousin just sent me a picture of a snakehead that someone caught right here at our local ramp. So they are definitely in the Delaware River now. I was hoping we wouldn't see them around here.