Early

I started up the bike trail long before the first streaks of dawn brighted the sky. Lightning bugs twinkled on and off. Drawn to the openess of the trail compared to the woods on each side, I had a flying, moving set of runway lights to guide me on down the trail. The woods grew thicker and the lightning bugs subsided. In the dark woods I had to look at the open swath of sky above to guide me. Something scurried in the bushes and I flicked on the flashlight to find a surprised coon climbing to safety up a small tree, his eyes shing back like twin flashlights of their own. I'd timed it right and the sky was brightening as I found my path that led away from the bike trail and down to the river. Crash! I startled a doe that then froze and let me walk by at twenty feet, her eyes shining even brighter than the coons. The Little Miami was muddy and somewhat up. I'd been expecting that and had some nightcrawlers tucked away in my pack. The GMR was lower and clearer than here but I was missing my home water. I managed a few channel cats but that was almost beside the point. Sometimes the fishing is just an excuse to greet the day outside. My tackle was pointedly simple. Just a baitholder hook and nothing else. I'd throw the unweighted nightcrawler in the foot of the riffle and let in swirl and spiral down into the gyre below the rapids. Every now and then the line would quit floating free and easy and I'd be fast into a small catfish. Downstream I could see a great blue heron only in silhouette as it joined me trying to catch its breakfast. As I left, from the path I could see another doe on the riverbank downstream. The river and woods was alive with life this morning. Too soon I was back at the truck and off to start a too busy day.