My first trip will be an ‘End of July’ trip. We are still in the initial planning stages (this will be July ’10) and are still narrowing down an area before hooking up with an outfitter, etc.

Do any of you have advice on good fishing lakes/rivers for the end of July? I used to fish Crane/Vermillion river/King William’s Narrows area during the summer as a kid (cabin camping on Crane).. but it was either early june or late august.. never in the middle of the summer. I’d love to get into some good smallie fishing for fun and crappie fishing for dinner..

Any help coming up with location ideas would be very helpful.. there are waaaaay too many to choose from having never been there myself.

*side note: we used to catch tons of killer smallies near an island just past King William’s narrows and dubbed the little bay behind the island ‘The bass hole’.. anyone familiar with it? As a kid my brother and I would call it ‘Wannatakeapee takeapee’ Island. We had run ins with deer, bears, and beavers all in that little bay.. Ah, the memories.*

If you like Smallie fishing try lake Alton, any place there is a sharp drop off. go out from shore till you can't see the bottom (30 or 50 feet from shore, about 15-25 feet deep of water) then drop a crawler piece in till it disappears and have a blast hauling in 3-6 lb smallies all day.

The b-dub is full of places like the bass hole, fortunately. What you do is find another one. Hunt around and make some memories. You'll get 'em. Try smallies on poppers like the rapala skitter pop in the evenings and mornings, and slip bobbers & leeches from shore if you find a campsite with access to 8' - 10' of watwer for walleyes.

Smallies are everywhere. End of July, I like to troll a buzzbait and paddle along the shore - especially at dawn and dusk. Hang on to your rod, you'll get some great hits.

(I have no idea why they hit noisy Buzzbaits - lime green is a good color - perhaps they just find the noise and surface splashing annoying)

Hey everyone,
I leave to go on a trip starting July 18-26. We leave out of entry point 16. I plan on staying south of Canada. West of the Northern part of Crooked Lake. And prolly East of Ge-be-on-e-quet. Any fishing hot spots or historical/more secluded lakes, side lakes- please give some suggestions.

Thanks- Matt