Bear with it....

So it was supposed to be a bowhunting trip with a little bit of fishing mixed in. That was before it hit the low nineties every afternoon. So my weekend bowhunting trip to my hunting property became a fishing trip with a bit of early morning hunting mixed in. No deer were seen. BUT it does make my land a lot more exciting knowing there is a bear around. Yep, a bear. In southern Ohio. Scioto county to be exact. A BEAR!!!
The smallmouth came out of some very swift water in a  large creek that runs into the Scioto. Right now it seems the faster the water the better, which is hard to find with everything running extremely low. On a clear with glitter three inch grub. The hybrids I caught below a dam on the mighty Ohio river. Also in the swiftest water I could find. For them I used a rig I learned from some guys last year who absolutely tortured me and everyone else including the bait guys with it. A Carolina type rig using a two ounce egg sinker, a barrel swivel, about a foot long leader and a floating rebel minnow. Yeah the shallow runner you might use in a farm pond for largemouth. Turns out it will run without spiraling out of control in very fast water but it's cheap which is good since you are going to lose some.. The huge sinker will keep it on the bottom where nothing else will fish and the floating plug swims just off the bottom. You chuck it out in the swift water and just barely move it, taking several minutes a cast, or heck just leave it in one spot. the plug swims on its on in the heavy current and then suddenly the rod just loads up on its own when the fish strikes and the drag goes screaming off.
Beautiful country, a bear sighting and lots of nice fish. It was definitely one of the highlights of this years fishing to be sure.