Largemouth bass are secondary here, however, there are anglers here every year who catch some nice largemouth bass. Some anglers specifically target them in the big Kenora fishing tournament that is held here every year. If you fish the shorelines, weedy bays and docks, your odds of catching more largemouth bass will go up immensely. If you fish off the shorelines, you’re not going to find very many largemouth bass if any.
Most anglers will catch largemouth bass while fishing for northern pike in the areas with vegetation. Don’t plan on consistently catching a bunch of them throughout the lake though. This is smallmouth bass country.
Fishing Kenora in the Spring
| Month | Avg. Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| March | 31° / 8° |
| April | 48° / 26° |
| May | 63° / 40° |
The largemouth bass fishing will heat up in the area bays and along the shorelines around rocks, wood, weeds and docks. Most of the better largemouth bass fishing will be found in the shallow, weedy areas as water temperatures warm up towards the ends of May and into the summer.
Fishing Kenora in the Summer
| Month | Avg. Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| June | 72° / 49° |
| July | 78° / 56° |
| August | 74° / 53° |
As many species of fish will move towards their deeper water hangouts as the summer progresses, the largemouth bass population tends to hang close to shore in the shallower, weedy areas.
Even though there are a good amount of northern pike in Lake of the Woods, most of the bigger northern pike will go deeper during the summer which explains why most of the largemouth bass tend to stay in the shallows throughout the summer. Largemouth bass like the the shallow weedy areas and the water temperatures stay comfortable, which allows these fish to thrive in these spots in the summer.
Fishing Kenora in the Fall
| Month | Avg. Temps °F (Hi/Lo) |
| September | 62° / 43° |
| October | 49° / 34° |
| November | 30° / 17° |
In the fall, your best bet is still fishing the shallower green weeds for largemouth bass. As the green weed start to die off, the bass will move out of these areas. However, the population of largemouth bass is fairly small in Lake of the Woods, compared to other species of fish, so it can be challenging to find these fish once they head out into deeper water.
More Fishing Tips
Fishing the Bays
There are so many bays in the Kenora area. Some of these bays will have some good weed growth and others will not. This area is definitely home to an incredible smallmouth bass fishery and there are a lot more smallmouth bass here than largemouth bass. However, if you are going to target largemouth bass here, fish the bays that have some good weed growth and you’ll have better success. You may also find plenty of largemouth bass up shallow here as they try to stay away from the many northern pike that are found here as well.
Fishing the Shorelines
Because largemouth bass like to hang out in many of the same areas as northern pike, you can find a lot of largemouth bass up closer to the shorelines. You may find largemouth bass in the bays, but you can also find some of these fish along the rocky shorelines as well in just a few feet of water. You will most likely run into more smallmouth bass than largemouth bass though if you are fishing rocky shorelines.
Fishing the Weeds
The weeds attract lots of pike and some areas will have plenty of largemouth bass here too. If you’re looking to target largemouth bass, finding the weeds is a good place to start.
