love them fall smallies

You can observe a lot just by watching." —Yogi Berra

Having the whole day free, it seemed the only sensible thing to do was spend it on the Little Miami. Walking in two beautiful does just stood frozen and let me walk right by them at twenty yards. How they know when I do or don't have a bow in my hand is one of life's great mysteries. The river is in gorgeous shape low and clear. With the fall colors and the sun peeking in and out of the clouds I found myself over and over fumbling in my waders for the camera. I started out with a super spot and right away caught a couple bass.

But the spot was running too deep and was constantly fouling with leaves. Moving upstream to the run I'd caught the fish ohio smallie two weeks ago I tied on a minnow plug that ran shallower than the spot. That seemed to be the trick for the day. I'd switch minnow plugs to find one that I could work slowly over the bottom without running too deep and fouling on leaves. Find the right combination during midday when it was warmest and the smallies would nail it.

Including this pig that stretched the tape past the 18 inch mark...

The fish were all fat and beautifully marked and I found myself wanting to take a picture of every one.

Oddly enough I didn't catch any other fish than bass, usually I catch a bit of everything fishing here. I did catch one odd fish though, a largemouth about a foot long. When I first caught it I was sure it was a nice spotted bass but try as I might I couldn't make it anything but a small largemouth in the middle of a herd of smallmouth bass. During the middle of the day the fish hit very well and the average size was great. I must have caught a dozen smallies over a foot long. As it cooled in the evening the bite slowed. I dropped back into deeper water and dredged up a few more bass on a 3" grub and then later on an 1/8 ounce marabou jig but the best action was definately midday on minnow plugs. I also found out I talk aloud to fish sometimes. I was standing midstream trying to calm a fish to unhook it when a doe snorted loudly on the far bank. She had came down for a drink unseen by me and spooked back up into the woods as I talked to the bass. Total deer seen-four. Total fishermen or canoes seen- zero. Simply a wonderful fall day. Walking out bone tired at dark I was treated to a great horned owl making the woods ring with hoots...

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