Species · 03
Ontario smallmouth bass trips: the best in North America
Legendary angler Al Lindner calls Northwestern Ontario smallmouth the best on the continent. Little pressure, endless rocky shoreline, and fish that fight above their weight.
Species · 03
Legendary angler Al Lindner calls Northwestern Ontario smallmouth the best on the continent. Little pressure, endless rocky shoreline, and fish that fight above their weight.
Why smallmouth
Pound for pound, few fresh-water fish fight like a smallmouth bass. They rip line off the reel and leap clean out of the water — and Ontario has them in numbers that spoil you.
The reason is simple: sheer abundance plus low pressure. Most northern anglers chase walleye and pike, leaving trophy smallmouth almost untouched on the same lakes.
Smallmouth gravitate to rocky shorelines, reefs, and main-lake points, and they love crayfish. A tube or a jig with a brown or orange grub is a deadly imitation. For pure fun, throw a topwater like a Pop-R along a shoreline flat at first or last light — a surface strike is heart-stopping every time.
Drop-shot rigs, tube jigs, and crankbaits around rock cover the rest. Summer through fall is your window, with fish schooling heavily on deep structure as the water cools.
Match a low-pressure lake to a warm-weather week and you'll lose count. Here's where to start.
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