I am going to Quetico the first week of June (starting on the 6th). I am a little worried about the cold spring keeping them deep. I always seem to go a little early for smallies. I will be fly fishing. Should I be worried about finding smallies in shallow water then?

I wouldn't worry to much. The water temp seems to warm up by the middle of June and if you have a variety of water structure to look at you can find the right water temp to have the fish on the beds. I would start by looking at the shallow bays that gets lots of direct sun. These should warm up first and give you some good action. If the fish have already spawned and have moved back into deeper water, you can start to work shallow bays that don't get a lot of sun and work your way toward deeper water. Good luck and throw a few poppers for me!

This year may have started like a "cold spring" but it has warmed up quickly....bass are active...black flys are out...warm weather setting in. Check out the weather forcasts for June 6th ...80's with thunderstorms.

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like I should not worry about the fish but worry about the weather. Almost every fishing trip I take includes unusually bad weather.

For the next 5 days the predicted highs are 5-14 degrees below the historical averages and the predicted lows are 7-15 degrees below the historical averages. Of course any forecast over 72 hours out is more of a guess anyway. The nice freeze the next few nights in canoe country should humble the bugs a bit. As far as the surface temps reaching that 60 degree mark to get the big female bass up on their spawn beds by June 6th. That might not happen on the bigger lakes. The small stained lakes warm up quicker.

I like what you say walleye_hunter! Our entry is June 8th ;-)

As of today zero smallmouth bass are even thinking of spawning it is just too cold. June 8th has a chance if it gets real hot this next week. Spawning is at least a week late this year.

I'm hoping it stays cool up north. Last year with the record ice out and very low water levels the smallmouth had already spawned and hatched early the first week of June. Fishing for larger females was slow. 2009 with a more normal ice out and cool spring saw many big females active and not spawned out yet into the 3rd and 4th week of June.

Dave

I remain hopeful. I can bet that if the fish are there, then the wind will be 30mph every day!

What was a game changer last year was a day of 90 degrees about May 25. Up to that date the water was cool for that time of year.