Bass Opener and Crown Land Camping Near Killarney

A bullfrog croaking, a barking dog (not ours), and Darrell setting up the tent. Those were the three things I could hear while sitting in the bug shelter with our three dogs, who were peacefully snoozing after getting harassed by deer flies since we set foot on land.

Three weeks since our Algonquin trip and the bugs had progressed from blackflies and mosquitoes, to deer flies and horse flies during the day, and hordes of mosquitoes at night and during the twilight hours.

We had decided to spend three-day weekend at a lake in the Killarney area for the FMZ10 bass opener, which is the week before bass open in our zone. The lake was one we’ve spent plenty of time at over the years, but this trip held something new, since we were trying a new campsite which was right on water. We’d come across it one of the last times we were on the lake, and thought it looked like the perfect place to spend a couple of nights.

The sun shone and the occasional breeze was welcome if you were in the sun too long. In short, we had beautiful summer weather to start our trip.

It took a bit of driving around in the boat before we finally found the site. For once, my memory beat out Darrell’s! Then we had to find a good spot to land the boat. Once that was done, Molly and Erza wasted no time jumping in the water for a swim, while Panda, Darrell and I walked around the site to see if we could even set up at it.

The thing about crown land sites is they’re often overused and messy, or underused and overgrown. This one fell into the underused category. As some cottagers later confirmed, the site hadn’t been used in a few years. We finally decided on an area for the tent, and another area for the bug shelter. The dogs were frantic to get away from the bugs so we quickly got the bug shelter up and got them inside, where they proceeded to alternate between snoozing and watching Darrell set up the tent.

Once camp was set, it was time to get back in the boat and head out for the reason for our trip – catching bass on the first day of the season.

I began by throwing a spinnerbait, solely because it’s my favourite lure to throw and I had missed using it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t triggering any bites, so I switched to the lure that usually works best for me on this lake, a curly-tail grub. This time in white. That was enough to entice a rock bass.

Then, as I was trying to set up the drone for some pictures, I heard Darrell say, “That’s a big log!” Sure enough, we had just drifted over a nice log that looked ideal for holding a bass. I dropped the drone, grabbed my rod, took a cast, and before I even started reeling, it was fish on! After a quick fight with the spunky fish, I had a pretty largemouth bass to the boat. First bass of the season!

Not long after, Darrell got his first bass of the season, hooking into a nice smallmouth at the edge of the weeds in deeper water.

Next, we headed for our favourite spot on the lake. The one that usually holds the big mommas. Two smallmouth and a few missed fish later, I was reminded about why I like the spot so much. We could have fished the area harder, but with a couple more days of fishing ahead of us, there really wasn’t any need to.

Dinner that night was chicken fajitas, which made more of a mess than ideal. I was spilling mine all over my plate.

The trees at camp weren’t conducive to hanging our food, so we decided to run the food bag back to the truck for the night. That actually worked out well and that’s what we did for the rest of the trip. A Bear Vault is our list of things to buy so we feel better about leaving our food on the ground.

That night we had a nice campfire and explored more of our site. There was plenty of dry firewood to be found, and lots of evidence of previous campers. A BBQ, a milk crate turned into a toilet seat, a pile of buckets, and more.

My plan was to stay up for some Milky Way photography, but at 9:45pm it still wasn’t dark enough and the dogs were waiting by the tent to go to bed. We crawled in with them, thinking we’d go back out in an hour to take pictures. Seconds later, Darrell was asleep, and I followed not long after.

We woke to the sun just starting to peek over the trees. And mosquitoes. So many mosquitoes. They were brutal. We boated back across the lake to pick up our food at the truck, and spent as little time as possible on land to avoid getting eaten alive.

Our meal that morning was breakfast burritos. They’re an easy meal that can be made at home, then frozen, and reheated at camp. Normally we have our Coleman oven with us when camping with the trailer and they reheat nicely in that oven. On the camp stove was a little different. Only 3 of the 4 burned, so we considered that a success!

The bite was on for our second day of fishing.

We started by trolling, and apparently, that white curly-tail grub was a hit. I caught bass after bass. Mostly smallies, with a few largies mixed in. It was to the point where you could even count down to the next bite, which Darrell did a couple of times. Those fish were fresh! Every one of them zigged and zagged and jumped and dove and put on a show. Nothing came out of the shallows. All the fish were coming from deeper water, though we still weren’t finding the giants.

Darrell started having some good luck on a black and silver jerk bait.

It’s always funny to me how I feel like I forget how to handle fish at the beginning of the season. Fortunately, it comes back quickly when you get into that many. I lost count of how many fish we got to the boat.

After returning to camp for a late lunch/dinner, we had a visit from some cottagers who were super nice and friendly. They own one of my favourite spots on the lake. Darrell got to have a great chat with them while I stayed in the bug shelter with the dogs to keep them quiet.

We ended up having a big bass evening that day. They weren’t the true giants that are in that lake, but I pulled one in that measured 18 inches, and Darrell got into an 18 and a 19 incher. Not bad! They were a mix of largemouth and smallmouth, with the biggest being a smallie. At that point the fish were really keying in on Darrell’s Husky Jerk in Tennessee Shad, though he got his biggest fish on a wacky-rigged worm. We were a very happy boat that night.

At 8 pm, despite the how light it still was, we were all starting to fade. We’d had an amazing, but long day on the water. It wasn’t much longer before we headed back to camp. The wind had picked up with some strong gusts, and a quick check of the forecast on our Garmin inReach, there was no cell service, showed a chance of thunderstorms. We skipped a campfire, tightened the lines on the bug shelter, and crawled into the tent. Again, we were asleep in no time.

The night must have been pretty quiet weather-wise, because we didn’t wake up until 5:30am when Erza decided it was time to pee.

We watched a beautiful sunrise over the calm lake and a great blue heron flew by. Earlier in the weekend we’d spotted a loon on a nest and we’d heard bullfrogs nearly non-stop. While having a bathroom break on the first morning, I looked across the bay to see a doe and her fawn. Momma watched me for awhile, while her fawn shook off the water from a swim. We continued to watch each other before she eventually walked off unhurriedly, evidently deciding me and my bare bottom were no threat. I also spotted a grouse in the forest, dancing away for an unseen female.

The heat built early that final day, the start of the week long heat wave that hit Ontario. We packed up camp, then headed out to fish some of our favourite areas, hooking into more bass. Eventually, the heat got to be a little much for me and I focused on sitting under the shade of our bimini top, while Darrell continued to fish. Both of us had some good bass thumb by the end of our three days there.

It was hard to fight the blahs that come with ending one of these trips and knowing we have to head back home. The Killarney area always feels like home to me, no matter which waterbody we’re fishing. I struggle every time we have to leave. However, I was grateful for an amazing weekend of catching fish and camping on crown land. The dogs were nicely exhausted, as were we. After three days of heaven, it was time to pack up and head home.