Lower Manitou Lake has some of the best Smallmouth bass fishing around. We have a Fly-in quality fishery with a boat-in resort. There is only 1 access to the 55 miles of water that we fish and it is only 11 miles south of the camp. Because of the very limited access you will find outstanding fishing and Smallmouth are king. We have guests from all parts of the country coming to fish for these feisty fish. It is not uncommon to catch a 100 in a day with one of our local guides.

Smallmouth Bass fishing on Lower Manitou Lake is especially fun early in the season when you can sight-fish them. The waters on Lower Manitou are so clear that when they are up in 4-7ft. of water you can see them and just pitch plastics towards them. Inevitably they are going to bite. The fishing is great all year long; it's just the patterns change with the seasons.

If you find a few of our many water falls on the lake early in the year, just about any top water lure will give you hours of excitement.

After they spawn and start moving to deeper water we like to cast various colored plastics as well as a variety of crank baits and top water baits into 7-12ft. of water. You will find the bass on rocky rubble shorelines and points staging to go into deeper water for the summer months.

In the summer you will find many of the smaller 1-3lb. bass still on the shorelines or in the remaining waterfalls that are still running. If you go to deeper water like 15-20ft. main lake rock reefs that come out of 40-50ft. of water you will find the bigger ones 3-5lbs. You can catch these fish by going deep with plastic tubes in a watermelon or motor oil color or if you want to use live bait leeches are deadly and you will be catching SMB one after another until you're tired of catching them.

If you want to have some really great off the beaten path smallmouth fishing come give us a try.