This big largemouth bass hole is way back in Sand Bay & can be full of largemouth & smallmouth bass at times that readily take surface lures. We have taken a lot of really big largemouth in this area so fish it throughly & especially way bay at the end where the creek runs into it as big largemouth sometimes hold in this warm shallow water. Also know that a nine pound smallmouth was caught in Sand Bay on a live crayfish fished 35 foot deep by the Windmill Cottage. It was taken two days before bass season opened & had to be released.

Over the years we have gone out to the French River where it dumps into the Georgian Bay at Dallas Rapids.

There used to be a fishing camp out there called Camp Mc Intosh & that is where people stayed that liked to troll for large yellow pickerel with seven-inch silver & black floating Rapalas at night-time & big musky with large silver flatfish in the day time.

I took the picture of the forty pound musky years ago.

Some of the best big smallmouth bass fishing in Georgian Bay is also to be found in this area but mostly out on the shoals & rocks near the bay itself.

This is without a doubt the best big yellow pickerel (walleye) fishing in all of Canada that equals what The Moon River Basin used to be.

Thousands of big yellow pickerel in the fifteen to seventeen pound range have been taken here trolling seven-inch floating Rapalas at night.

Years ago you had to camp out on the islands as all of the lodges were booked when the big pickerel made their annual spawning run around June 10 of each year which usually lasted for about ten full days & nights.

A hundred boats would be slowly trolling The French River each night & all of them would be taking trophy sized fish.

Camp  McIntosh was full of pictures of the big walleye, pike & musky taken in this area.

I have no idea whether this lodge remains in business or not but when it was it was booked solid.

At the base of Dallas Rapids you can catch walleye, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, sturgeon & musky & do this from the bank when the water is low enough.

I have never caught many yellow pickerel trolling this area in the day time as the water is clear & not real deep for the most part so it is mostly a night-time affair only for the serious fishermen.

However, out around the bay in this area is a different story as it is full of trophy fish & they do hit well trolling or casting lures in the day time.

If I were going to fish this area for a week or more The Georgian Bay Fish Camp would be a good place to stay if you do not like wilderness camping.

This is bear country out here & they can be a problem for campers at times.

There are many areas to explore out here & it is a large area far away from civilization.

You can also go to the Bad River Channel from here which can also be good for yellow pickerel night-time trolling at certain times & The Bustard Islands are not far away either.

The Bustard Islands are full of trophy fish but one should not venture out that way unless properly informed & equipped as bad weather could get you stuck out there or killed if your boat is to small or not safe enough for the big water you must cross to get there.

Boats loaded down with camping gear, gas & food for a week are not safe in big water & a ship to shore radio is a must unless you can get a cell phone to work out there.

I always wanted to go out there & camp for a week but it was never in the cards & we just never made it mostly because of safety concerns.

There used to be fish camps out there but I was told they closed down because of the bad weather problems & fishermen getting stranded & not home on time & all that.

Best to get a guide to take you out there the first few times or forget it just to be safe.

This area is a long way from the road at Route 69 & Key River Junction but well worth the trip as the scenery & beauty of the area is something to behold & especially on a clear day when you can see the Killarney Mountains in the background.

Fox Bay on the way out can be excellent fishing at times along with many other long bays out there.

When you get to Dead Island which is an active Sacred Native Peoples Burial Ground you have to choose to take the inland route to the right which is marked with buoys & winds in & out of islands & bays to protect you from big winds or bad weather or go straight across the big open water if the weather conditions permit.

Use caution here as wind whipped waves can get up to fifteen high in the big open water & do that in an instant.

There are also shoals all over the area & many of them are not marked well after you get off the channel markers & buoys.

The big water is trout & salmon water & very cold & will kill you in a hurry if you go in so keep that in mind when making choices & decisions about trying to cross big water in small boats or canoes which are heavily loaded with camping, gear, gasoline & food.

Kayakers know how to do this & they also have the right equipment on to avoid hypothermia in case of a rare dumping.

A Kayak is one thing & an open canoe another.

If you venture out this way be careful & enjoy it as it will be one of the most exciting parts of your trip to Georgian Bay.

You will be out where people are few & wildlife abounds.

The beauty of the area will take hold of you & you will always long to return for more exploration & adventure.

There are several places out there I have never been to & now I am thinking about them & what they will be like.

I look at the new satellite maps Google put out & I see inland lakes I never knew were there & I am wondering?

Is this where the record largemouth lurks?

A place where virtually no one goes to find & fish for them?

I think I could hike back in there & catch them from the bank.

I can not wait to get up there again to see for myself.

And what about Tower Lake?

Do big largemouth lurk there also?

It goes on & on & on with me.

It’s in my blood.

The Georgian Bay.

Ivan told me about a lake out near Dallas Rapids that you have to hike back into that is full of trout.

He used to take people out there to fish for them.

I could never figure out which lake it is but I have talked to fishermen he took out there & they came back with trout.

One of them said a six foot rattlesnake crossed right in front of them hiking in there with Ivan & he just stepped right over him & kept moving on like it was no big deal.

They say massasaugas do not get much over three feet long so was this a timber rattler?

There is a picture of a massasauga 4 1/2 foot long that showed up in a Chicago pond & they were thought to be extinct in that area for many years.

Ivan was a full blooded Native Indian that spent his whole life exploring all the islands & lakes in this area & he also worked with the Canadian Wildlife people stocking these lakes with fry from float planes.

He actually stocked this spring fed cold water inland lake with these trout.

It seemed to me they were called speckled trout.

He guided fishermen in this area for years & years for The Key Harbour Lodge.

Lucky for me all the times he allowed us to follow him around.

He used to take people places that would take years & years to find or discover on their own.

Years ago a fishermen that used to stay at Key Harbour Lodge told us all about The Walleye Spawning Grounds & allowed us to go fishing there with him in his boat.

He had an eighteen foot big lake boat with ten horse power trolling motor & down riggers hooked up.

He carried cases of Helin Flatfish in his boat & that is all he used in Georgian Bay period as did many of the best big musky fishermen of the time.

I was brought up bass fishing with the F-7 yellow flatfish with swivel & two treble hooks & red & black dots.

We would put a split shot eighteen inches ahead of the lure & it would absolutely murder smallmouth bass in Southern Ohio Creeks.

I caught, scaled, cleaned, cooked & ate the World Record Rock Bass that I personally caught with this lure & had no idea I did that until several years later when I was looking up world record fish in Sports Afield Magazine.

The record rock bass was only 2lbs. 2 ozs. & the one I ate was 3 & 1/2 pounds & all black from old age.

All the witnesses are now dead so you will just have to take my word on it or simply dis-believe.

The old time Flatfish fisherman showed us how to take the swivel hooks off & then put a single hook in the end of the lure to put a piece of nightcrawler on.

He would use a three way swivel & attach a heavy sinker that would drag along the solid rock bottom & keep the Flatfish a foot or less off the bottom.

He would let it down to the bottom & then troll backwards with his boat in reverse gear very slow.

He would do this going into the wind.

He would hook a nice yellow pickerel every thirty feet or so & had his limit in less than an hour & took us back to Key Harbour Lodge.

Since that time I have personally caught & released hundreds of yellow pickerel using this deadly method in The Old Walleye Spawning Grounds.

The small floating Rapalas also do well using this bottom trolling rig back trolled into the wind & also Mr. Twister Grubs.

The Walleye Spawning Grounds used to be a hot area for Big Yellow Pickerel & Pike not to mention hundreds of trophy smallmouth bass.

To get there you have to go through quite a few shoals so it is best to get someone to follow the first time you go by yourself.

The unique thing about this area is the banks are relatively flat & you can walk around & fish off the banks much easier than many other areas of Georgian Bay.

There are also largemouth bass back in the creeks that run into the spawning grounds & also in The Henvey Inlet where the spawning grounds is located.

One man caught a 28 pound pike almost every year he fished this area & he kept the locations secret.

I fished The Henvey Inlet all the way to the road one time & we caught a lot of really big largemouth bass on Rapalas & the perch color seemed to work the best.

Try this area out if you get a chance as it can be some of the best fishing in this area at certain times & one of the best big pike areas of the entire Georgian Bay.

Go way back in & up the creeks that feed the spawning grounds & there you will find largemouth in the deep warm water holes.

If the water is real low the spawning grounds is not as good as when the water is up high.

Troll the mouth of the area where Henvey Inlet dumps into Georgian Bay as there you will occasionally find really big muskie & pike.

Fish & troll along the steep deep cliff faces & rocks for big smallmouth & pike.

This is the best fly fishing area around as the banks are flat & smooth in the spawning grounds & perfect for long backcast.

You can get a lot of nice pike & smallmouth fly fishing there & you can do that walking around on the flat rock banks.

You will also find flat camping spots here & plenty of black bears.

This is a large area that would take many years to explore throughly.

I basically just touched on it & have only been there several times over the years.

Each time we caught plenty of smallmouth, yellow pickerel & pike plus a few largemouth.

Long before Fritts & I started to fish for largemouth bass in this area we used to troll Rapalas & Daredevils from sun-up to sun-down & do this all over the area.

I had a very light & shallow twelve foot Sea Nymph boat at the time & 9.5 H.P. Johnson Motor.

The fishing was really slow that whole week as we had gone in the middle of the hot month of August which is not the best time to fish this area.

We had a good time irregardless as The Georgian Bay is absolutely beautiful & rewarding whether one catches fish or not.

The very day we were scheduled to leave we packed up the boats & headed out towards the bay.

It was our custom to troll Rapalas all the way back to the road.

We got a half mile up the bay & started hooking one large pike after another in the ten pound range.

Evidently a large school was moving into the area off the big water as we were leaving.

Fritts was at least a half mile ahead of me & I was trolling a middle sized silver & black floating Rapala that ran shallow along the rocks & shoals of the bay that lead to our campsite.

I did not use a wire leader hoping to catch a yellow pickerel to take home for family food.

When I went around a rock that was in my path & swung the boat to the left I thought I snagged up on the shoal I was trolling over so I put my motor in neutral gear & pulled back on my rod & then this huge pike that looked to be at least five or six feet long took off to the races & headed for the deep water of this bay with me & my little boat being towed by him.

I only had fifteen pound line & no wire leader & my heart was racing as I had never hooked anything this large before.

He went down deep & got into a large sunken weed bed & took on more weight for me to try & handle.

I hung on for a half hour or so & Fritts had kept on going & had the only landing net in his boat.

A canoeist passing by stopped to help me try & land this fish which simply hugged to the bottom in 15 to 20 feet of weed filled water & sat there.

The water was clear & we could see him down there & estimated his length at 5 to 6 feet.

After about an hour I started to pull & tug hoping to get him out of the weeds & up to where I could get him near the boat & the canoe so one of us could grab him & pull him over the side into the boat or canoe.

He finally started to come up & when he was two feet from the surface the line slacked & he was gone.

The line broke where it was tied to the eye of the Rapala & that was it.

Fritts missed the whole thing & to the day he died he figured I was lying about the whole affair.

I don’t know who the guy was in the canoe but if you are still out there & remember this let me know.

That pike could have been the Canadian record for sure.

It had to be over forty pounds & much longer than the twenty to twenty-five pounders routinely caught in this area.

I caught & released a thirty-three pound pike & this one was much larger & stronger.

I will never get over that feeling I had when the line went slack & I knew I had hooked & lost the fish of a lifetime.

Especially so when my friend was not there to witness it & fluffed it off as just another worn out fishing story.

The Indian guide Ivan had warned us to never use less than twenty pound line & always use a wire leader.

Now I know why.

This woodpecker is very large & beautiful & seen on the islands where we camp.

When a woodpecker is working the area you are camped in you will hear the constant wood pecking sound.

The holes they put into dead trees are always facing south.

They are a thrill to watch & even get to see as they are very sneaky & elusive birds.

Prevailing winds come from the west & go east & when a warm south wind comes fishing is good & when north winds come fishing is bad.

South winds also mean thunder storms soon.

The woodpecker holes always face south.

The tree tops all point to the east or northeast.

When you get up in the morning & everything is dry with no dew on it expect rain soon by noon.

If there is dew on the grass or your canoe no rain that day by noon.

If it is raining when you retire for the night & raining when you get up in the morning like it often is in The Georgian Bay I have no idea what to tell you except make sure you bring good rain gear with you & rubber boots.

The weather in this area is basically unpredictable to the extreme.

The weather forecast from Parry Sound, Sudbury or Killarney are basically useless as the weather is always different in The Key River area.

Thunder storms in this area move around in circles at times & it is really hard to tell whether they are coming your way or not so off the water is your best bet & wait them out.

Fog can be a real pain & problem out off of Dead Island at times.

Dead Island is a sacred Local Native People Burial Ground & there are Native People laid to rest there to this day.

Make sure you have a compass & know how to use it or you can get lost in a fog bank in a hurry & end up out on the big water out past Dead Island where it may not be safe for you to be if your boat is to small or shallow.

Fritts & I got stuck out there in fog once & it took us a couple of hours to figure out exactly where we were as we had no compass or map with us & we could not find land.

The fog just popped up out of nowhere & we ended up right in it.

The big blow is a major concern on Georgian Bay as they can & do kick up in a hurry & without warning & sometimes last quite a few days.

When this happens it may be impossible to get very far safely in small fishing boats.

There are back ways & routes small boats can take when the wind is up but there will always be stretches of water where this is not possible & it is always dangerous because of this fact.

There is no safe passage out past Dead Island in high winds & storms period.

Not for small boats.

There is one stretch of open water that has to be crossed & no way to get around that or avoid it & I have seen fifteen foot waves there many times.

Lightening is also a major concern as the whole area is solid rock & when lightning strikes it goes off in all directions & bounces from island to island.

Best get off the water when you see electrical storm activity & do that immediately just to be safe.

A few years back a man in a bass boat behind us coming in off a lake here in Ohio was struck by lightning in a fiberglass bass boat & all that was left of him was a pile of ashes.

They were just a couple of minutes behind us.

The other person with him was burned badly but somehow survived.

The cold water in Georgian Bay can kill a person in a hurry if they go in & can not get out & warmed up in a hurry.

Best to wait storms out just to be safe in this respect.

Fifty mile per hour winds can flip any boat over in rough seas & the wind in A Georgian Bay Storm may exceed that & get up to 70 miles per hour & do that instantly.

I have heard there are over 10,000 sunken wrecks in Georgian Bay & I don’t mean small fishing boats.

Commercial vessels to be exact so that should tell you something.

Caution is order on Georgian Bay at all times just to be safe & enjoy your trip & make it back home in one piece.

Watch the birds & animals up there closely & observe how they behave.

If they fly low to the water or seek shelter in low lying places or wind sheltered places you can be sure something is blowing up.

Camp fire smoke that does not rise straight up is a good sign a storm is on the way.

When the cold north winds come you need heavy warm clothes the same you would wear in the winter so always take them with you even in the middle of summer just to be safe as it can get really cold there at any time of the year when these un-welcome breezes visit from the arctic.

I have seen it snow in June & July.

I have seen it rain for days on end without stopping.

I have seen big winds that stay all week.

Always go prepared for the worst & buy the best rubber boots & rain gear you can get your hands on.

Tarps are a must if a long rain comes in that will last for several days & nights.

Wool sock hat,  gloves, sweaters, jackets, long under-wear & wind breakers are needed at all times in Georgian Bay just to be safe & to keep you warm when boating out on the cold wind whipped waters of the bay in the early morning & evenings & they also help to keep the bugs off your skin when neccessary.

You also need a good sun hat to keep from getting sunburned on your head, face & nose.

When I go to Georgian Bay I always expect it to be raining when I get there & a lot of the time it is.

To remedy this situation I purchased several water proof plastic barrels to put all my clothes & camping gear in or anything I don’t want to get wet & they work like a charm & also float in a capsize which gives you a better level of safety.

They also keep most animals out of your food stores with the exception of the big black bears who rarely raid occupied camps anyway.

I have made sails out of nylon that are held high by two boat paddles that can be used to move along with the wind in case of a motor breakdown.

They work well with canoes when the wind is favorable.

This video shows a jet ski going from Rte 69 & Key River Junction to Key Harbour & then all the way to The Bustard Islands & back.

This video was made in 1960 & shows the materials used to build a cabin being hauled out The Key River.

This video shows a boat with 225 H.P. motor going from Key Harbour In Georgian Bay to Rte 69 & Key River Junction Bridge.

This trip is 8 miles & there are no roads.

This video has some good footage of the area but no sound.

This video is about Diamond Key Lodge & if you want to see more of them search You Tube Videos for Diamond Key Lodge or click on the video below & it will take you to their You Tube Videos.

The sportsmen in these photographs live in Sudbury, Ontario & they have a cabin out past Key Harbour over towards Henley Inlet & they also have a fishing & hunting cabin up in Northern Ontario which is great brook trout & smallmouth bass fishing & as you can see moose hunting.
They catch a lot of nice pike & muskie in Georgian Bay & also big yellow pickerel.
What a life!
I envy them & their youth.
They know what they are doing & do it well.
I would love to be up there hunting & fishing in all the different places they know about & go to frequently.
Pictures say more than a thousand words.

The Key River Area of Georgian Bay has some of the best big smallmouth & largemouth bass fishing to be had in all of Canada.

You can expect to take largemouths & smallmouths up to six pounds on surface lures if you are there at the right time & place.

The right time means if the bass are hitting surface lures as The Georgian Bay is no different than any other fishing area in this respect.

Sometimes they simply do not cooperate & simply will not take surface lures.

The right place means where the big bass are & sometimes you have to do some searching & experimenting to figure this out depending on weather conditions & water levels in any given year.

Both the Canadian record Largemouth Bass & Smallmouth Bass lurk in this area.

Nine pound smallmouth bass have been caught & released in this area along with largemouth up to ten pounds.

The big largemouth are sometimes difficult to locate as they will always be where the water is warm & deep enough for their liking.

The smallmouth are much easier to locate & catch as they like colder & deeper water areas such as shoals, boulder piles, steep cliff faces & rivers & streams with fast moving water & currents nearby.

Coves sheltered from North winds facing South always seem to be the best place to find the largemouth.

All sheltered coves with deep warm water in them or close by hold largemouth in this area.

I have never caught a big largemouth in warm water areas where there were no deep holes of at least six feet or more.

Some areas look fabulous but do not have any deep holes in them & all you will catch there is small largemouth.

The largemouth & smallmouth bass are not legal in Canada until the fourth week of June when their annual spawning cycle is over which means you have to release them unharmed if you catch one by accident fishing for other species which are legal at the time.

Many rivers that run into Georgian Bay are off limits to fishing certain species in the spring months of the year.

Check the law on this before you go after them.

The Georgian Bay Bass Hole is located in an off limits fishing area for most species in early spring.

We discovered the bass hole fishing for crappies there in early May one year & caught & released one largemouth after another on crappie jigs & round weighted bobbers with 6 pound Stren line.

The weather kicked up out on the bay so we went way back in to go after big black crappies in an area we had caught them in before.

We were drifting the jigs behind the boat & allowing the wind to drift us along & we started hooking one big largemouth bass after another up to seven pounds.

In early spring they all gather in warm shallow water areas way back in & up the rivers to the back bays where they spawn.

After spawning most scatter all over the area with the exception of a few that stay in these areas all year.

The best method is called ”Walking The Dog” With The  Zara Spook.

Big surface lures with spinners often produce a lot of big bass & big hits.

Toss them back in the pockets & ledges along the cliff or rock faces where the water is warm & 5 to 6 feet deep or more & that is where you will find most of them laying.

Each big bass has its own little hole in Georgian Bay.

Please release them to fight another day.

My grandson Logan has a secret carp method. He puts canned corn on a treble hook with no weight & throws it out on the bottom & then throws hand fulls of corn where it lands. The carp come to get the corn & then they pickup his bait.

He is going to The Georgian Bay Bass Hole for the first time this year 2010 being we did not make it in 2009.

I think the fish in the bay are in big trouble.

This kid is very confident & acts just like the cocky carpers in UK.