Susquehanna River Fishing: Smallmouth and Big Catfish

The Susquehanna is Pennsylvania’s biggest river, and between Sunbury and Holtwood Dam it is a wide, shallow smallmouth and catfish water where one rule matters more than any other: you cannot keep a black bass. That is the thing most guides, forums and old notices get wrong, and it is why this page starts with it. Below the bass rules we cover tournaments, nest fishing, the catfish, the advisory by segment and the hand-off to Maryland’s reservoir below Holtwood Dam.

The bass rule

Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass are catch and immediate release only, January 1 to December 31, on two reaches in the 2026 Pennsylvania regulations book:

• the Susquehanna River, 98.0 miles, from the inflatable dam near Sunbury downstream to Holtwood Dam; and
• the Juniata River, 31.7 miles, from the SR 0075 bridge at Port Royal downstream to its mouth.

The rule includes tributaries up to a point half a mile upstream from where they join. It is not a violation if a bass is returned unharmed to the water where it was caught. Other species keep their normal rules.

Older notices tell a different story. Search results still show a 2017 closed season and a history of “no targeting” rules, with different dates. We use only the wording in the 2026 book. If you read something older that contradicts it, trust the current book and check the Fish and Boat Commission.

Tournaments and nests

Catch-measure-immediate-release tournaments are allowed from January 1 to April 10 and from June 13 to December 31 on these reaches. No tournaments are permitted April 11 to June 12. A tournament that lets anglers harvest bass is unlawful on the North Branch, West Branch and main stem of the Susquehanna.

It is also unlawful to cast repeatedly into a clearly visible bass nest to catch or take a bass. If you can see a nest, move on.

Catfish and other fish

The river holds large channel and flathead catfish. The Pennsylvania record flathead, 66 pounds 6 ounces, came from the Susquehanna at Lake Aldred in Lancaster County on May 14, 2023, on a live rainbow trout on a large circle hook with a heavy surf-style rod, according to the Fish and Boat Commission’s release. The angler released it. A 2016 to 2018 PFBC survey found channel catfish from 12 to 31 inches and reported good numbers of fish 24 inches and longer in both sections sampled, with no evidence of overfishing. That survey is old, so treat it as background.

Catfish, carp and other fish without their own entry follow the statewide inland limits: no minimum size and 50 combined with other panfish and gamefish. American shad may not be taken from the Susquehanna or its tributaries, and river herring and hickory shad are closed.

Fish advisories

The 2026 DEP advisories in the book are by segment, and they matter on this river.

• From the West Branch confluence to the Maryland border, which includes Lake Aldred: channel catfish over 20 inches and flathead catfish over 30 inches are one meal a month, for mercury and PCBs.
• From the Route 92 bridge at Falls to the West Branch confluence: smallmouth bass are two meals a month for mercury, and channel catfish, quillback, carp and walleye are one meal a month for PCBs.

The book has no smallmouth entry downstream of the West Branch confluence. The default of one meal a week applies where there is no entry. Bass are catch and release anyway on the main reach.

Access

We did not read the Commission’s public-access list or water trail for the Susquehanna, so we do not list ramps, fees or hours. The river is wadeable in many places at low water and boated at higher flows. Check the Commission’s water trail pages before you launch. A Pennsylvania or Maryland license is valid on the Conowingo Reservoir from a boat only, and not from shore or in coves and tributaries.

Below Holtwood Dam: the Conowingo Reservoir

Downstream of Holtwood Dam, the book lists separate rules for the Conowingo Reservoir, including striped bass at 18 inches with two a day (only one over 30 inches) and bass at 12 inches with five a day in two seasons. We summarise it only. For the dam, the reservoir and its rules from the Maryland side, see our Conowingo Dam guide and our Susquehanna Flats guide.

Gear that works

Smallmouth on a river like this respond to a medium spinning rod with eight to ten pound line and jigs, tubes and small crankbaits, but since you must release every bass, use barbless or crushed-barb hooks and handle fish quickly. For flathead and big channel catfish, a heavy surf-style rod, 25 pound line and a large circle hook with live bait is close to the setup the record flathead was caught on. Tell us where you fish, and we can build to it. For how the same release rule compares with the rest of the state, read our Pennsylvania smallmouth guide.