Bass Fishing in the Great White North

We packed up and left Saturday morning (9/5) around 7:30. We made our way up to Scranton and then up through New York, going through Binghamton, Syracuse and Watertown. We had heard there wasn’t a long line at the Canadian border, but after we crossed the first Thousand Islands Bridge we got in a huge line waiting to gain entrance to the Great White North. Part of the problem was a broken down car, but that didn’t account for the volume of traffic and our 1.5-hour wait.

Once across the border, traffic was much smoother and we crossed the second Thousand Islands Bridge with ease. We also picked up our fishing licenses at a spot just over the border.

As we made our way on back roads through small towns, I noticed lots of Canadian flags in front of the homes. Funny, even though I knew I was in Canada, I still expected to see the old Red, White and Blue.

We drove to the tiny town of Delta, Ontario on Upper Beverley Lake; I don’t even think they had a traffic light. The downtown, if you can call it that, consisted of a diner, a post office, an old mill museum, a grocery store and a liquor store. That’s actually right where we were headed. The lane for our cabin cut right between the grocer and the spirits vendor. Down the end of a short gravel lane were four small cabins and three boat docks.

We pulled in and unloaded then went around to the boat launch and put the boat in the lake. Pops brought the boat around to the dock and I drove the trailer back. First time driving the trailer, I think.

As it was now after 4 p.m., we decided to take it easy and start fishing early the next morning. I picked up some beer at the liquor store, wow was it expensive. Some 12-packs were more than $22.00! I picked up some Creemore Springs Lager, brewed in Creemore, Ontario, and some Alexander Keith’s India Pale Ale (IPA) from Halifax. The Creemore Lager was very good. It was very smooth, very tasty and as fresh as the description on the can. The IPA was good, but didn’t have the huge hop taste that American IPAs have.

After a long day, we went to bed early and were up before the sunrise on Sunday. It was a very chilly morning; it went down to 45 degrees overnight. The lake water was much warmer than the air, and mist rose from the water’s surface like steam.

We motored about halfway across the lake and started fishing some rocky areas around some islands. We had some hits early and I caught my first bass. We weren’t catching many, and ones we did bring in were small.

We came in after a few hours and had a meal of eggs, bacon and toast. Afterwards, I went for a run. There was a park for camping near the old mill museum, so I started there. I thought the town was pretty empty until I saw the park loaded with campers. They had enough people to have their own zip code. As I ran through the wooded park, I don’t think I saw an empty camping spot. They were packed in there like a NYC tenement with everything from tents to huge touring campers. I got about 4 miles on my run then showered and changed, and we went back out on the lake for some afternoon fishing. We had some luck at first and I caught two more small bass, but then we weren’t getting any hits at all.

Lots of Labor Day Weekend revelers were out on the lake on their jet skis and gathered around their cottages. We called it a day and headed back for some drinks before dinner at the cabin. I made a salad and grilled a couple filets for dinner. We went to bed early again and hit the hay by 10 p.m.

Monday, Labor Day, was another early start for fishing as we made our way through the morning mist to our first fishing spot. The fish were hitting and I caught 10 that morning.


I noticed it was more difficult to get the hook out of some more than others. Pops said I could crimp down the hook’s barb flattening it and making it easier to unhook the fish and get them back in the water. That did the trick. The majority of the fish I caught were on a barbless hook and all fish pictured were released.


Later that afternoon the air was still and the sun started to warm things up. We decided to work our way along a shady coast. This turned out to be one of my favorite spots.


We were fishing grey rubber worms that Pops usually had luck with. To mix things up we tried some black and dark colored worms and wham! They started hitting. Caught eight more fish that evening, even had a couple 15-16 inches long. You could feel them take the bait and pull the line, and then you had to pull them in and keep them from diving into the weeds trying to escape. When they started hitting, that’s when I caught the fever. I couldn’t wait to get after it again the next day, and little did I know what a fishing day was in store for us.


The next morning, Tuesday, started out slow, but steadily picked up as we continued working the black and dark colored worms. We started along the northwest shoreline and caught a half dozen or more fish. Then we moved out to the middle to fish a spot between two islands that Pops liked. I tried a dark grey and white worm infused with general fishiness and caught one. Threw the line out again and caught another, and another and another. It seemed like I pulled one in every time I cast out my line. Honest to goodness, I must have caught 20 or more fish that morning. My thumb even started to get sore where I held the fish. Bass don’t have big teeth, but they have these little nubs that feel like a coarse sand paper when you hold them.

I had one small one hit that morning that struck my line as soon as I pulled it off a lily pad. It was really cool to see them either jump up to hit the line or come out of the water as you started to reel them in.

Things slowed down when we went back out that evening, and only caught a few fish. Guess we met our quota in the morning. We motored back to the dock at sunset.


Sunsets were really nice up there. Most evenings the water was calm and reflected the sky and all its colors like a mirror. The weather was like autumn with warm sunny days and chilly evenings. Mornings were downright cold. Leaves were only just beginning to change, but there was a good scattering of reds, yellows and browns.

Wednesday was a slow morning only caught a few, but caught a good size chubby fish. Then we got 10 in the evening. Funny when that seems like a slow day for fishing.


Thursday morning, last day of fishing, took awhile, but fish started slowly biting and I caught eight that morning.

Leave it to Pops at the start of the last hour of fishing on the last day to haul in the “big dawg.” He caught a 19-20” bass and we finally got to use our net.


Then that was it. We took the boat in and packed up in the afternoon. First thing the next morning, we started back for the U.S.


It was a good trip. We had great weather and caught lots of fish. It was good to spend time with Pops, and now I have plenty of memories and photos that I’ll never forget.


- Salud!