Heading out next Tuesday for a 3 day trip on the buffalo river!!!!!!!! Any advice on catching the smallies on the river is appreciated. We are floating from Maumee to Rush, which you can do in 2 days but we plan to do a lot of fishing.

Man am I jealous!!! I did a 5 day trip on the Buffalo a few years ago and still think about that trip every day. So much fun.

We caught smallies after pretty much every set of rapids. They seem to set up in the fast moving water and wait for the food to come to them and they can catch it while it's disoriented from the rapids. Pretty much anything RED would work. Red Rattle Traps, Red creature baits and especially the artificial crawfish. Throw them into the rapid and let the water carry the bait to the fish. Pull over next to the rapids and throw up river and just let it float down.

Get extras of each of these too. You will lose lures in the rocks and debris and can't run to the store for more. I lost my red rattle trap on day two and was pissed about it the rest of the trip.

Check out the Buffalo River thread from just a few days ago. Lots of responses on there with good info. I think the lower section is the best fishing on the river.

I hope you enjoy it. We're in Beavers Bend in a nice big cabin until Friday. Paddled the bend today with my wife and daughter. Caught 8 trout, none over 14". Caught 2 bass from the boat on Broken Bow this evening. It was pretty hot today. I wouldn't want to be sleeping in a tent tonight. I'm gonna sleep good tonight, and do it again tomorrow.

I just went May 20-24 but I was floating Ponca to Carver. I saw the biggest bass swimming in deep pools, but I usually caught the most fish behind rapids. Specifically, in the small and slower pockets behind obstructions in moving current. Then again, everything I thought I figured it out they were not where I expected.