Boleau Lake

Fly-in Ontario bass fishing.

Boleau Lake is actually two small lakes connected by a narrow navigable channel. Their combined length is three miles, and they are much less than a mile wide. Boleau Lake features clear, warm water and extensive weedgrowth, especially in the shallower, soft-bottomed back bays which interrupt the shoreline. In those same areas, many logs and blowdowns litter the bottom and shoreline, creating excellent cover for largemouth bass.

Bucketmouths to six pounds are caught every season, with most groups topping 4-1/2 pounds over the course of a short stay. The biggest bass caught during our 2-day stay was a hefty 20-inch, 4-3/4 lb. beauty taken on a plastic worm

Jottings left in the camp journal made it clear that many visiting anglers used live-bait tactics at Boleau - worms, minnows, craws, leeches, frogs. This assessment was further confirmed when, upon our departure from the camp, the incoming group brought in with them, buckets of live craws and frogs.   Rigging live baits on snelled hooks, Lindy rigs or beneath floats / bobbers is a very effective means of putting bass in the boat. Fishing along a weedline or dropoff, over a submerged weedbed, or adjacent to good shoreline cover will put anglers in touch with Boleau Lake bucketmouths.

Tossing spinnerbaits is one of the simplest, yet most effective approaches to bass fishing, especially for shoreline or cover-oriented fish. Good choices for Boleau Lake would include 1/4 or 3/8-ounce, white, single spin or tandem willowleaf spinnerbaits tipped with a pork chunk or plastic trailer. Use steady retrieves near cover or in the open, pump and flutter baits down weedlines and breaklines.

In the heavily weeded back bay near the cabin site, a weedless spoon tipped with a pork chunk is an exciting way to go after bass that have buried themselves in pads, cabbage or coontail. On top, a weedless plastic spoon or creature bait is best; in pockets of open water, a metal spoon (Johnson Silver Minnow) will tempt bass.

Whether you prefer worms, crawfish or lizards, impregnated soft-plastic baits are terrific bass baits and ideally suited for fishing in weedcover or timber. For Ontario bassin', stay with dark 6 or 7-inch worms and lizards or 4-1/2 inch craws in blue/black or pumpkin/orange. Flippin' jigs, either the rubber-skirted or soft-plastic types, are designed to be pitched or flipped from close range into the thickest cover - blowdowns, sunken logs, weed clumps. Worked slowly, repeatedly, flippin' jigs catch bigger bass.

An effective approach to shoreline or object fishing is for two anglers to adopt a tag-team approach - the guy up front tossing a spinnerbait to pick off aggressive bass; the angler in back tossin' a plastic worm or flippin' jig to less active and/or deeper bass. On small lakes like Boleau, there is a tendency to fish only shorelines and visible cover. However, don't overlook the possibility of mid-lake spots - humps, shoals, weedbeds, islands. At Boleau, one of the best spots was a weedline adjacent to a small island point. On three separate occasions, our group caught and released limits of bass from this one small area.