Smallmouth Heaven

[John H]

I did a Canada canoe trip in early June that I have done several times. You can paddle and portage through an almost endless number of lakes that are full of smallmouth bass as well as pike, walleye and lakers. From what I have seen the male smallmouth top out around 20" and the females around 22". They get on the shoreline in the spring which makes for good flyfishing. The rest of the summer they stay out in deeper water and are a little tougher to get a fly in front of. We caught lots of bass as well as some pike and walleye on the fly. We also trolled spoons and got some lakers. It is a popular area with gear guys from the midwest but they don't go to the canoe area so you kind of have it to yourself. It is possible to paddle into a lake that is three miles wide, loaded with bass and has not seen an angler for 10 months. I did not take a lot of pictures but I did get a few nice bass shots. It is not for everyone but if you are into bass on the fly and being in the wilderness on your own it is quite a place.


Campsite on a breezy point.


A moose that died on the ice and is now attracting flies and vultures.


Deerhair divers work pretty well.


Cloudy skies.


Lunch eaten with a good case of bass thumb.


Shoreline break angling.


Bass caught.


Fun stuff.

[guido]

Great looking fish John! Looks like a fantastic trip. Beautiful photos as usual...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

John has taken this amazing trip to the Boundary Waters of Canada quite a few times over the past decade.

Andy Guibord and I have dreamed about doing this trip but I think I am too old for it now.

There are outfitters who will rent you the right canoes for this adventure.



I know if you wanted to do this trip, John would surely help you get it planned for next June.

[guido]

I'm sort of borderline old to do the trip solo and don't know anyone interested in this sort of thing. But thanks for the suggestion!

I do have a few smallies around here to keep me entertained...

[John H]

I am borderline and just able to do the trip as well. Maybe a few more years. On this trip I rented a canoe from a place that rents motor boats and has guides. They fish all lakes you can drive to. That might be in my future - stay in one of their cabins, eat in their dining room and drive to lakes to fish.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

John, Let us at the Forum know if you decide to do that trip guided trip and maybe others here will go with you?

[guido]

My compromise is to camp at a state park and fish out of my float tube in drive up lakes in the area. In the spring and fall the weekday traffic at the parks is minimal and the fishing is best. 80% of the pleasure of the more remote destinations without overly concerning the wife...

[John H]

That is a good plan. My wife generally has no idea where I go. I told her once about something I had done which I thought was kind of a normal thing and she said “that’s just not smart.” That sums up how she feels about most things I do.

A pedal kayak would get you covering a lot more water. Transporting and storing it is an effort but it will fish well at drive up lakes. I watch a guy on YouTube who kayak fishes the finger lakes. He does well.

That is a nice bass you have in the net. Looks like it grabbed some sort of bead head wooly bugger.

[guido]

At some point the good ones just give up, kiss you on the way out the door and leave it to confidence...

I love the stealth of a tube. Trout rising less than a rods length away, loons nearly as close, it really heightens the experience for me.

I can tangle fly line well enough by myself that I avoid the pedal drive craft... I have a Nucanoe Unlimited kayak with an electric motor, sort of a micro skiff, that I use on larger lakes. But it still only has so much freeboard so you gotta pick the day carefully and stay away from idiots in speed boats...

Bead head simi-seal leech. It's been the hot fly for trout all spring.

[PV_Premier]

Thank you for sharing your pictures. I have talked about doing this trip for probably 20 years and still not done it. Maybe next year I will forego my usual June one week trip for salmonflies on the HF and do this instead...