I've frequently shared how the best fishing of my life was for small mouth in northwestern Ontario and I've unsuccessfully urged Bass Resource anglers to sally forth into the wilderness too. I didn't take many photos up north because I was often alone, but one trip, I'd attached a ruler to the bottom of my canoe and thought it would be a good idea to lay the bass on the ruler and photograph them. Well, it was a terrible idea as the photos looked so sloppy because a canoe is a wet boat and especially so in northwestern Ontario where it seems to rain several times a day many days. However, you can see the size of the bass I caught one afternoon. These are some of the bigger ones from that afternoon. I think I caught about six over 19 inches that day. Ignore the ugly bottom of my canoe and you can see that they're thick, dark, beautiful bass:

Here are some bass from the next day, along with a photo of where I camped:

@Swamp Girl Katie, you have had some great adventures! I'm glad you forged ahead with your dream trips. I've said before; If you got a dream, do it. Don't wait until it's too late in your life.

52 minutes ago, Lottabass said:

I've said before; If you got a dream, do it. Don't wait until it's too late in your life.

So true, Al. Father Time is whittling away at all of us here at Bass Resource. If there's someplace we want to fish, we should go if at all possible.

If you look at the photo of my island, you'll see my tent. Of course, I was the only one on that lake and to me, that's Heaven, being alone on a lake. I understand that it wouldn't be Heaven for most people, that they'd be lonely or afraid.

"I understand that it wouldn't be Heaven for most people, that they'd be lonely or afraid."

YOU have a lot of backbone. I admire you for that.

On 1/22/2026 at 4:09 PM, Swamp Girl said:

I've unsuccessfully urged Bass Resource anglers to sally forth into the wilderness too.

I can’t imagine how someone on BR would portage the Range bass boat into the lake you go to! 😜

The picture are so so but what an amazing day for you!

Maybe I will head north next year.

13 minutes ago, BassinBrett said:

The picture are so so

They're terrible, but if you zoom in, you can see they're all 19" to 20" and without zooming, you can see they have big shoulders.

14 minutes ago, BassinBrett said:

Maybe I will head north next year.

If you do and you want some lakes chock full of bass, I can share their names and how to reach them. You'd need a four-wheel drive vehicle that you're willing to scratch. Drive with boots because when you come to water, you'll want to walk through it to test for depth and what's under the water. If it's solid, you're good to go as long as you go slow. If it's mud, you're best to avoid that.

16 minutes ago, BassinBrett said:

I can’t imagine how someone on BR would portage the Range bass boat into the lake you go to! 😜

Yeah, huh, and that's the beauty of those lakes.

They're so dark. What depth were they at?

What lake/river were you on?

I don't fish with electronics, but I could see the bottom, so five to eight feet deep, I'm guessing. They were all caught on a lake north of Kenora, right off the road. I pulled my car off the asphalt road, launched, paddled to my island campsite, and started fishing.

Northern Ontario is bucket list for me.

My first exposure to bass fishing was on tv shows like Fish’n Canada when I was a kid. Hooked me instantly.