Fishing Report: Curwensville Lake, Clearfield County

My first time fishing Curwensville Lake in search of smallmouth bass presented the toughest challenge I’ve experienced this year. I darn near got handed my second shut out of the season on this lake. If it weren’t for a 10” largemouth I caught near the remnants of an old trestle bridge, I would have gone home with a big fat “goose egg”.

Based on some observations I made today, I truly believe this lake has potential. The photo’s in the local bait shop bare proof of that. Curwensville Lake gave me a new respect for the meaning of “home field advantage”. I’ve fished many, many new waters and have almost always found a way to come up with some decent fish. Not today! That being said, I will definitely visit this lake again during October.

Time
8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.


Baits
I threw almost every piece of tackle I own at the fish but still came up empty. If I hadn’t just purchased a new trolling motor I would have thrown that at them as well! My fishing partner and I threw crank baits, swim baits, soft stick baits, and various other worm baits such as Yum Dingers. The only bait that produced a fish was a white 6” slug-go. The monster of a fish is pictured at the left.

Pattern
no fish = no pattern

Since I knew very little about the lake, we moved around a lot. We marked depths in stream channels up to 35 feet. Most of this lake is very narrow and winds with the path of the old stream bed. We fished bluffs that dropped almost straight down into the old stream bed in an attempt to locate suspended fish. These efforts bore no fruit. We tried searching weed beds for baitfish in hopes that we would also find bass fallowing. We did locate several schools of perch and minnows but found no fish associated with them At least non that would hit our baits.

I had a gut feeling that the most active smallmouth would be farther up into the feeder stream of the lake. Based on the boat traffic that blew by us on the way upstream, I would say my hunch was probably correct. I was just too hard headed to make the commitment.

NOTE TO SELF: Next time pay attention to your gut feeling!

Water Conditions
Visibility about 3 feet. Water is still very warm but I had not way to measure temp.

Weather Conditions
Sunny, blue bird day. Air temps mid 70’s.