we are accustomed to consider
every spot as the possible site
of a house." ...Henry David Thoreau
The miles between the junction bridge below South Lebanon and the campground riffle at Morrow are as close to home water as it comes for me. Every grown male in four generations of our family has fished there. Most are buried somewhere in this watershed. And the heart of this home is South Lebanon. South Lebanon is idealy suited as a base for some quality river fishing. Good access, good water, and the comfort that comes with the familiar.
The new Oeder Park and the rebirth of Turtle Creek's water quality have combined to make these the "good old days" for fishing in South Lebanon. Cincinnati Milacron used to dump copper ans ammonia into Turtle Creek which joins the river here at South Lebanon. Finally n 1998 Cincinnati Milacron ceased dumping crap into Turtle Creek. A 2007 study of the river by the EPA using their scale, which measures the ability of the physical habitat to support a biotic community, now rates the Little Miami thru my home waters as anywhere from excellant to exceptional. Less than a decade ago these waters would have rated half as well.
A two minute walk from the park and the truck and your across Turtle Creek watching minnows skip wildly as smallmouths chase them up on the rockbar. A white or silver roostertail fished straight out from the mouth of Turtle Creek is money.
Turtle Creek was named not for plentiful turtles but after war chief Little Turtle of the Miamis. General Harmar marched an army up the Little Miami in a mostly unsuccesful bid to quell the Indians in 1790 but couldn't conquer Little Turtle. Little Turtle defeated General Arthur ST. Clair a year later. General Mad Anthony Wayne marched a third army up the Little Miami and finally fared much better defeating the Indians at the battle of fallen timbers. Later in life Little Turtle preached peace with the US and met General Washington in 1797.
From the mouth of the creek looking downriver you can see just ahead the big bridge where ST. RT. 48 crosses the river. The water in between is way too shallow for quality fishing when the river is in it's best shape but is a great place to cross. I usually head across and down to the bridge for right below the bridge starts a fine run. River right looking downstream has a broken rocky bottom and in July and August gets alot of shade early in the afternoon. A little deep for a spinner or rapala here so I mostly fish an 1/8 ounce jig head and plastic grub. The first hundred yards below the bridge has consistently produced some of my best river smallmouth. My dad says this stretch of river was called the "stoneygrounds" and was a popular fishing and camping spot. Now I pretty much have it to myself.
River left here is a broad long shallow rock bar that I wade while casting across river to the far bank.I continually find myself poking around on this shallow bar trying to wade as softly as I can to watch the multitude of minnows streaming by underfoot. My father also says in the old days you could seine dozens of crayfish from a shallow river bar like this. For many years this was no longer the case but now this rockbar is simply covered in crayfish. Turn over two or three rocks and an inch or two long crayfish will shoot away backwards to hide again a few feet further on. The explosion of life in the river here has mostly taken place in just the last few years as the water quality has simply jumped off the charts.
Oeder Park isn't the only easy access to river in South Lebanon by a longshot. Upstream in Rogers Park there is a canoe access with ample parking to fish the riffles around the big island in the river here. Looking back across Rogers Park towards town in summer with the river knee deep it's hard to imagine the big floods that have covered the hundreds of yards across the ballfields and up into town along here. Growing up along the river I have a few times seen water up across the ballfields and into town but nothing like the big flood where my father rode all thru town in a canoe. The really huge flood of 1913 that took out bridges and destroyed homes and lives here has kept the riverbank mostly ballfields and park and has in a way protected the river from the town. Pictures of various floods over the years in town...
Across the river where the old train depot once stood there is more parking for the bike trail that follows this side of the riverbank. The old railroad dumped literaly hundreds of tons of concrete and rock rubble into the river here to protect the railline fron riverbank erosion. These stones and slabs range anywhere from basketball sized to car sized and give this section of river it's name "the big rocks". The extreme downstream end of the big rocks has several rock bars that jut straight out into the river and each has a strong eddy behind them that's home to some pumpkinseeds and channelcats. The seam where this eddy hits current holds a few smallmouth and sauger when the river is in good shape and once provided me a three pound smallie on an inline spinner.
Upstream the river deepens in front of the big rocks and the current, depth, and cover provide homes to smallmouth and rockbass. Here I throw a small crankbait or spinner with small trebles instead of single hooked lures like jigs or grubs because panfish and rockbass are as common a catch as bass. I've heard that oldtimers used to fish here freelining a minnow with a long cane pole, catching bass and catfish. Dunking a minnow here and there among the rocks makes perfect sense here and is on that long list of things I've allways wanted to try but have just never found the time.
South Lebanon started out as Deerfield and is actually the oldest town in Warren County. The town was layed out in 1795 and lots in the pioneer town were given away for a bit just to get people to settle and clear land. After 29 lots were given away lots were then sold for two dollars each on average, though records show a James Cory bought three lots for a grand total of five dollars. Around 1800 Deerfield was the most important place north of Cincinnati as early pioneers often left their families here as they cleared farms in wilder places up and down the river.
Deerfield/South Lebanon has been home to some extraordinary business ventures such as one of the first canning operations in the country. In my youth I can also remember the buildings of the old "mushroom factory" that raised mushrooms till mushroom farming in old mines became popular. My own family ran a large fur operation and bought fur from hunters and trappers for miles around. South Lebanon also was famous as the home of Cash's Big Bargain Barn, a furniture store ran by the fundamentalist preacher Cash Amburgy. Family legend has it that my great grandfather threatened to kill Cash because my grandmother was a member of an early church that practiced snake handling and he was afraid for her safety. Probably South Lebanon's most famous resident was one of it's first. David Sutton was one of Deerfields earliest settlers and became Warren Counties first clerk of courts. During the war of 1812 he raised a company of soldiers and rose thru the ranks becoming a general in the militia. He also served in the legislature in 1816,1818, and 1823. He died in 1834 and was buried in Deerfield. He also ran a tavern on one of those two dollar lots and I sometimes wonder what he would of thought of people wading the same river he knew with hundred dollar fishing poles throwing five dollar lures. Though now boasting its own huge shopping complex just outside of town, downtown South Lebanon remains remarkably similar to the South Lebanon of my youth. Thankfully still a place where it's no great surprise in the grocery store to overhear two guys talking about their coon hounds, how the garden is doing or how the fish are biting.
