Smallmouth Bass Fishing can be good along the shorelines on the south shore early in the season, but once the summer patterns set in, these fish will usually be found offshore along the reefs anywhere from 15 to 30 feet of water. Some nice smallmouth bass are reported every year on the south shore, but the better smallmouth bass fishing occurs in the Northwest Angle and on the Canadian side of this lake in Kenora, Sioux Narrows, Nestor Falls and Morson
If you’re looking to stay in this area and want to target smallmouth bass along the south shore, your best bet is to fish the Rainy River or the smaller rock reefs out on the main basin. This part of Lake of the Woods has a mud bottom, but there are some rock reefs scattered around with some near shore and others farther offshore. These spots are usually targeted by walleye anglers, but if you are in this part of the lake and you run into some of these spots, you may want to fish the tops of these reefs to see if any smallies are hanging out. The smallmouth bass that are caught out here usually run fairly large, so don’t be surprised if you end up running into some 3 to 5 pound fish offshore.