# Smallie float recommendations?



## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

I've got a group of 4 Kayakers looking to do a day long Lmr or Gmr float next weekend, I usually fish the Wwr and have yet to fish either of the other 2 rivers. We are wanting to target Small mouth and have a variety of boats from my 10ft Tarpon to a 14ft Hobie. Launch spots with parking and take outs would be helpfull too, not looking for your honey holes just want to put a friend on some smallies. I know a lot of Sw Ohio guys fish both rivers and wanted to see what our best bet for this time of year would be. I have waded the Gmr in Miamisburg with good luck but thats about as far North as we would want to travel. I have read in one of Steve Coomers books that the Morrow and Fort Ancient areas are one good section any current info is appreciated Thanks ahead of time.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

On the Lmr I like starting at the Ceasar Creek access area and taking out at Halls creek near Morrow or Halls creek to Carl Rahe access near Landen.
I've never floated it but fish the area from Carl Rahe to Kelly's nature preserve in Miamiville or better Jim Terrel park in Milford, that area fishes okay and should work out good.
I normally float with my wife (she never touches a paddle or gets her feet wet) and those first two areas take us about 7- 10 hrs at near normal levels.
Imo the fishing is probably a bit better on the upper Gmr but that's just my opinion.
Good luck and good fishing


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

garhtr said:


> On the Lmr I like starting at the Ceasar Creek access area and taking out at Halls creek near Morrow or Halls creek to Carl Rahe access near Landen.
> I've never floated it but fish the area from Carl Rahe to Kelly's nature preserve in Miamiville or better Jim Terrel park in Milford, that area fishes okay and should work out good.
> I normally float with my wife (she never touches a paddle or gets her feet wet) and those first two areas take us about 7- 10 hrs at near normal levels.
> Imo the fishing is probably a bit better on the upper Gmr but that's just my opinion.
> Good luck and good fishing


Gmr is chocked full or bullheads and silver carp


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Saugeye Tom said:


> Gmr is chocked full or bullheads and silver carp


 That Good forage base of bullheads and young silver carp would explain the giant size of the smallmouth in that river


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

And the silence is deafining......


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## fishing on credit (Mar 16, 2010)

GMR had less drunk morons...I went from West Carrollton to where we fished. Earlier this year not great but water level was a solid 24 inches deeper. LMR gets tons of drunks which I try to avoid at all costs. I would focus on any area that doesn't have get much livery action. Text me 258-3267 I'll give you a decent stretch that is partially uninterrupted.


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## Chemlab187 (Apr 29, 2007)

My father and I used to always fish the GMR from Rt41 and take out Tipp Elizabeth. Plenty of Smallies, Saugeye, and catfish in that stretch.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

log jams and portages id float west carroliton


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Thanks Guys for all the help, I should of added in my original post, that we practice catch&release and live far enough from both rivers that it would'nt be a regular thing. I have a friend who has never caught a river smallie and I want to show him what he is missing.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Tom
FWIW...I went over the LMR today at the Newtown bridge and then again later in the day down along Kellogg. FWIW both places the water had some color to it from the recent rain. I don't know if there is somewhere to check but I would try to find out levels before you went out there. Some of these recent rains have been crazy. Most haven't really been wide spread but locally could be a couple of inches depending where the storms hit. I would think the conditions could change pretty quick if one hit your target area.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/oh/nwis/current/?type=flow&group_key=NONE
There're gauges here for Spring valley and Milford on the Lmr. Normal level for Spring valley is somewhere around 2.5 and normally if the Milford gauge is much under 6 ft it's normally fishable.
Good luck and good fishing !


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

I’ve been from corwin dam to 
Armleder park and have enjoyed every trip throughout that whole section if that helps


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Thanks for the info John, actually our trip has gotten pushed back a week. I always check water conditions before i fish a river.

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## fvogel67 (Nov 15, 2010)

Good. I fished the GMR today. Levels were good but the water was very discolored


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Tom...Last year, a buddy and myself did a day long trip on the WWR… To keep it simple we just took one truck with both of our yaks and talked to a canoe livery...I wish I could remember the name of the place but I can’t… But we basically drove there, booked the eight hour trip .. and they loaded us up.. and took us right to the put in, and we floated all day back down to the Canoe livery .. it was pretty decent fishing… Our mistake was that we did it on the weekend and there were hordes of cabrewers, despite all the noise and nonsense going on, the fishing was still really good .


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

9Left said:


> Tom...Last year, a buddy and myself did a day long trip on the WWR… To keep it simple we just took one truck with both of our yaks and talked to a canoe livery...I wish I could remember the name of the place but I can’t… But we basically drove there, booked the eight hour trip .. and they loaded us up.. and took us right to the put in, and we floated all day back down to the Canoe livery .. it was pretty decent fishing… Our mistake was that we did it on the weekend and there were hordes of cabrewers, despite all the noise and nonsense going on, the fishing was still really good .


I am not sure what Livery You were at? there is only one that takes you up the river, (Green Acres) in Harrison and they wont transport private boats. At both Morgan's and Whitewater in Brookville You launch from there main locations. The past few years I have been using Morgans for transporting my boat back, fishing is pretty good even if the there are a few cabrewers. I wanted to give the Gmr or Lmr a go for a few reasons, possibly better fishing and my buddy has a yaht like hobbie that might need deeper water then the Wwr has. We have tenative plans for the Gmr this Saturday if its fishable, IF being the key word.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Tom 513 said:


> We have tenative plans for the Gmr this Saturday if its fishable, IF being the key word.


Its certainly going to be a challenge getting out there, I wish you good luck making it happen. 
It seems all it's done is rain since you started this thread. 
My wife and I have been trying to get our yaks out for the last 2 weeks with out any luck either.


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

I will take the blame, bad luck loomes over my head, lol. The weather man said yesterday was the second wettest August day ever, with over 5" of rain recorded at the airport, I cant win.


crappiedude said:


> Its certainly going to be a challenge getting out there, I wish you good luck making it happen.
> It seems all it's done is rain since you started this thread.
> My wife and I have been trying to get our yaks out for the last 2 weeks with out any luck either.


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

It has been frustrating but Hang in there for a couple of weeks, I'm sure It'll dry out soon, we probably won't get a drop of rain for weeks once the squirrel season opens 
Good luck and good fishing !


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## TopRaider15 (Mar 10, 2015)

Tom the fishing from CC down to Milford is fantastic. My suggestion would be to get on the water before 7am that way you can outpace the booze fest that rolls down every weekend...have some choice words for the livery's but not the time or place. One of my favorite short trips that includes quite a few sections that you can pick apart is from Lake isabella to Milford. That float is also short enough that you might be able to hit on a week night. This river has been so dang swollen this summer.


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## SeaBassChun (Jun 3, 2009)

Tom, if you are hitting the WW River the Whitewater canoe livery just South of Cedar Grove will let you drop in there for $2. There is a new park on Campbell Rd (Harrison OH) called Willow Park. We typically have another friend/family member meet us at Willow Park, they leave their car there and jump in with us in my truck with the boats. We then take our yaks up to Whitewater livery and drop in there, friend/family member takes my truck back to their car at Willow Park and locks my ride up. The key part of this plan is we float down to my truck and dont have to drive back to Whitewater Livery. You can also do this trip with two trucks and leave one at the livery. The best part of this route is you only see the cabrewers for the last 1.5 miles!! This route is aprox 14 miles so it is an all day trip. Willow Park closes at dusk so, depending on the time of year, you will need to time your trip accordingly.


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## SeaBassChun (Jun 3, 2009)

here is the link to the Whitewater River Flow Gauge: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/in/nwis/uv?site_no=03276500


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

SeaBass I am familiar with the Wwr, the Liveries and Willow park, home waters kinda. We are just looking to venture to the other 2 main rivers in sw Ohio. obtw can you rent a friend/family member some weekend? lol j/k if not and you dont mind another Yak in your pack let me know, I live close by. For now we are planning on fishing the Gmr in the Morning, I will report back.


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## fvogel67 (Nov 15, 2010)

Tom 513 said:


> SeaBass I am familiar with the Wwr, the Liveries and Willow park, home waters kinda. We are just looking to venture to the other 2 main rivers in sw Ohio. obtw can you rent a friend/family member some weekend? lol j/k if not and you dont mind another Yak in your pack let me know, I live close by. For now we are planning on fishing the Gmr in the Morning, I will report back.


GMR is up a bit.


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## Fish Ohio (Aug 10, 2018)

I put in at Spring Valley Lmr yesterday, water high, muddy, current too fast for me to fish comfortably


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions, we ended up fishing the Gmr water level and flow wasnt bad, but i believe a bit too stained for good fishing. I was happy my buddy caught his first few smallies 15.5" was the largest but still a good time. We both agreed we need to go back when the water is clearer.
















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## Fish Ohio (Aug 10, 2018)

Tom 513 said:


> I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions, we ended up fishing the Gmr water level and flow wasnt bad, but i believe a bit too stained for good fishing. I was happy my buddy caught his first few smallies 15.5" was the largest but still a good time. We both agreed we need to go back when the water is clearer.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thats one colorful kayak. What part of Gmr did you end up fishing? That looks like the same water I had on Lmr but your current is slower.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

IF YOU TELL I,LL TELL......


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