Took Kara on a 7 mile float a couple days ago. Did the whole shuttle with the bike thing only to get back to the parking lot after a 4 hour float and find my bike disassembled and riding away in the bungee-corded trunk of a stranger’s white 2 door hatchback. Took off after them, but there was 2 cars involved. 1 with the bike in the lead with a trailer that I suppose was keeping watch. The car in back slowed down in the road and kept us from getting close enough to jot down the license plates off the hatchback, but I got the other car’s plate and filed a police report. Sucks, but oh well…kind of glad I wasn’t 5 minutes earlier or there would have a confrontation to put it politely. Maybe we’ll hear back that they caught the scumbags – one can hope!

Anyways, the fishing was great. I’ve caught a precious few smallmouth in my life (when I mean a few, I mean literally a few) all coming from northwest Pennsylvania in my early teenage days. Excited to start the float season here in Ohio and start capitalizing on all the available fisheries around here. We were floating at Mach 5 because Kara’s parents are in town (thanks again!) and we didn’t want to push our luck with the volunteer babysitters. Only stopping to cast at the prime runs, holes, rocks, and logjams, we landed about 8 bass – filleted three 13″-14″ spotted bass, catch and release everything else.

Our only double featured Kara’s first ever and largest smallie of the trip – 18.5″. She threw a weedless weightless 6″ Senko the whole time while I fished a 5″ white Zoom fluke rigged the same way. Tried to weed out most of the little fish and it worked pretty well throwing a bit larger baits than the customary tube or twister tail. No bonus fish other than a couple pesky rock bass attacking lures bigger than they were.

What a great trip though for my first central Ohio float trip! Can’t wait to try that spot again along with a bunch more I’ve got scribbled down a map.