The Susquehanna River is clear and in good condition. Water temperatures have been hanging around the mid-40s.

That's about perfect for walleye, and smallmouth bass bite surprisingly well in water that cold. You have to slow down and even stop for smallies, but walleye seem to like the colder temps and will lash out at a passing lure.

Jigs and twisters are very popular among cold-water anglers. After dark, many walleye anglers opt for floating stickbaits, like the F11 Rapala and Smithwick Rogue. I like throwing suspending jerkbaits this time of year.

Rapala makes several effective suspending baits. Their husky jerks and x-raps come in numerous color patterns that work well. You can fish them a lot of different ways. Jerkbaits can be simply retrieved steadily like a regular crankbait, but I like a slow retrieve with short snaps of the rod tip, followed by a several-second pause. Often when you are getting ready to give it another twitch, a fish will have taken it on the pause and you actually set the hook instead of twitching the bait.

ON THE MOVE: Archery hunters are starting to score more. Bucks are on the move now, searching out and chasing does.

You have to be more careful on the highways during this time, but you certainly don't have to worry about it as much as you used too. With the lower deer numbers, I'm sure car insurance companies are paying out fewer claims than years ago.

Since there must be less deer damage to cars, that would mean that we are all paying less for car insurance. Ha! Since there are less deer, we should all get to charge the insurance companies a deer surcharge.

Why not? We all got hit with fuel surcharges when fuel went out of sight. Hunters ought to be able to charge a deer surcharge to the insurance companies since most of the deer are now out of sight.

Oh that's right: we are now managing them correctly. Or you could call it pandering to certain groups, with the hunters being the last guy in line with his hand out. Science must perservere over social-economic interests, "they" say.

We are starting to see wisps of common sense. Does are not legal now in some areas during the first week of firearms season. Many hunters think that antlerless tags are still too numerous in some areas.

What am I complaining about? I got a deer. True, but I have also spent too many deerless days in the woods in recent years, watching deer trails fill up with undisturbed leaves.

There used to be crowds of hunters at the Pennsylvania Game Commission's stand at the Harrisburg Outdoors Show, wanting an explanation. No crowds there last year; I guess everybody is still sore.

n Ken Maurer, Herndon, is a licensed fishing guide and a regular contributor to the Outdoors section. Contact at kenrose@tds.net