Summertime and the living is easy....

Spent part of the last couple days fishing,hiking, and exploring the upper Little Miami River and Great Miami rivers. The fishing has picked up considerably for me over last week. I've been catching channel cats consistently on both cut bait and lures,Today I got out before daylight and made a cast into a likely looking spot and the rod snaps right in the handle. I've probably took it on 75 trips and it's bounced around in the truck, the jon boat and the yak so I can't blame the rod. The problem was this was a quickie trip and it was the only rod I had along, AND a fish hit! About a three pound channel that was a handful trying to land with the rod broken and my reel falling off. Finally I got it in after a bit of a clown rodeo and surveyed the damage. HMM... I whittled a stick to jam in the two pieces and tied the whole thing together with the tow rope for the kayak. The stick was wedged in tightly enough that it didn't wiggle and wasn't too bad actually. Which was cool because the smallies were hitting well. I thought I was going to catch my second 20" smallie this year out of a SW Ohio river but she ended up being just a bit shy. Then I caught another nice fish in the 17"+ range and a few smaller fish. About nine another dandy hit and went airborne. At the top of a jump that seemed head high my clear with silver glitter grub went one way and a big smallie went the other. The stick repair was working loose and the sun was getting on the water pretty strong and I'd had a swell morning so it seemed like as good a time to quit it as any...