Introduction to the river.

My little story is not meant to be an exact cast here, throw that, fishing guide to the Little Miami. Instead it's more the ramblings of a guy who has grown up around the river and seen most of it in a lifetime of fishing. There are individual sections on some of my favorite areas and a little background on each with a few fishing stories thrown in. Most of the people in the old photos are either relatives of mine or places they worked or knew on the river. Again this is not a dry history from a textbook but more along the lines of local lore and legend. And while I've tried to be as accurate as possible don't take me as the gospel on these things. After all, it is just possible that the Loveland Frog, the Shawnahooc or “River Demon” might not exist. One nice thing about fishing the river is that you don't need a twenty thousand dollar bass boat and thousands more in equipment to have a quality experience. Steal your kids book bag, throw inside a peanut butter sandwich, a water bottle, and a small box of lures, grab a spinning rod and your all set. Do put on some old tennis shoes that you won't mind getting wet. After all, that is probably the best way to experience the river, wading wet on a hot summer's day. As for lures you don't need thousands, while the rivers bass may be picky according to size or presentation a dozen or so lures will cover just about every situation. In my river box I carry eighth ounce jig heads and smoke metal flake grubs, inline spinners like the Roostertail in mostly shades of white or silver, the smallest size of floating rapala, a tiny torpedo topwater plug, and an assortment of small crankbaits. My selection for the flyrod leans heavily towards topwater bugs made out of deerhair because they are so much fun and catch fish. A more practical selection would lean more towards clouser minnows and crayfish imitations. As far as live bait goes, the Little Miami is a river's river and abounds with fish that will jump on a nightcrawler or live crayfish. In fact a hellgramite or small crayfish might just be the best option for smallmouth on the river too. That's one of the nice things about the river. Not only is it perfect for classic flyrod fishing where you can get as fancy as you want and spend more on a flyrod than you might on a decent used car but the river is also ideal for just getting away and relaxing and fishing it the way Huck Finn might have. Wading in old jeans and catching channel cats and drum on worms. A day on the Little Miami is a step back in time to the way fishing used to be, when the object was to get away and enjoy yourself. If you look around you will also find yourself seeing things that you had no idea existed here in today's rushed world. Turtles digging nests in the sand, eagles flying overhead, a deer coming down to the river at dusk. Try it, you just might like it...