Planning my vacation would like to go to great smallmouth destination. Any ideas. I am thinking traverse Michigan

I’ve never made the trip up there. I would think St Clair would be a good one to try though.

Would be hard not to say st lawrence with the weights yesterday

anywhere zona does a smallmouth show with kvd,...

We ought to do it next year. The St. Lawrence has been my bucket list spot for years, and the other pools are just as good or better than what they’re fishing right now. Ratz is going up there this year. It’s river fishing and you can get off the big water, that sea sick [censored] doesn’t sound like much fun.

It is definitely on our Bucket List.

That st Lawrence is something special. I'd like to up there in late May.

It's gonna happen one day for sure!

The Devils River in far south Texas(tributary of the Rio Grande and Lake Amistad) has the most amazing water quality, scenery and smallmouth bass fishing. Not a pleasant mid summer trip but an awesome smallmouth fishery the rest of the year.

We’ve been to Traverse City and used www.northernadventuresfishing.com , Captain Chris Noffsinger. Had a great time but average size smallies were 2.5 to 2.75lbs. We went in mid June but they say the bigger smallies are mid to late May. Still a blast and had several biggens but nothing over 5lbs. We boated 50-60 fish a day. Great guy, great guide. I would recommend. Although, I would say the trips I enjoyed the best was hauling our boat across the border into Northwest Ontario and fishing Lake Rainy. We went three times up there and I still dream about those trips. I would look at St Lawrence and St Clair for the biggest smallies. GL!

Pretty much anything in Mishitigan has a good smallmouth population. To the locals they're trash fish. Walleye and lake trout are king. A few negatives are non-resident fishing licenses are outrageous, and there are very few if any free ramps, and again they charge non-residents a higher fee to use them... On St. Clair the city/ county/ township ramps close at dusk and if you're not off the water you'll spend the night sleeping in you truck because if you don't both rigs will be stripped bare... But the fishing is great at different times of the year... Dan

Mille Lacs and Sturgeon Bay get my vote for best big smallmouth waters but any of the Great Lakes area fisheries have outstanding smallmouth opportunities. There is absolutely nothing wrong about catching 50 2 to 3 lb. smallmouth in an outing! After you've done that a few times you want to target the 4lb. plus population. They are special fish! St. Lawrence is great but it's considerably farther to drive. You can drive straight north to Mille Lacs and be in FANTASTIC smallmouth water with a much shorter drive (roughly 6 hours more to St. Law.)

Lake Champlain up north.. any of the great lakes... BUT... I will tell you.. I grew up in Maine, and you could have 100 fish catch days pulling NICE smallies off of beds...depending on the time of year you go...

Yep, May is the time to go. This past May in mid Maine:






PM me and I'll give you contact info that is affordable for the average guy. I fished 5 lakes in 7 days. This is a great vacation for families as Maine is a destination site.

Now for a disclaimer, the guy I fished with is a registered Maine Guide but also a friend since 1997. I paid no guide fees and slept at his house and ate his food ! But to be sure his prices are way below market guide prices here. Also I have had some great days fishing there and as Jake says, if you bed fish, 100 fish days are easily attainable (my buddy and a friend caught 208 in 8 hours a few years back). Summer can be slow for SM although LM fishing can pick up the slack but that shouldn't be your plan. Go either in the spring (May) or fall (late Sept). Break from that SE Texas heat and humidity will be welcome.

This is NOT Great Lakes fishing so you'll be lucky to break 5 lbs in Maine. My big fish in May was 4.6# but we had lots of 3+ fish. I love Maine and it's diversity of scenery (we once had to dodge a swimming bull moose in the early dawn light running up lake fishing a small open T).

Great pics RayBob, makes me want to take a trip up there...