Old Lake CottageSmallmouth Bass fishing near Chatham, ON
924 documented waters within 300 km, 12 of them with smallmouth bass as the primary species.
Where they are biting today
- Grand River77
- Spencer Creek77
- Thames River (rivière Thames)77
- Teeswater River76
- Saugeen River (Denny's Dam, Southampton)76
- Long Point Bay (Port Rowan)76
- Miller Creek76
- Hickory Creek76
- West Humber River76
- Frenchman's Creek76
Fishing smallmouth bass around Chatham
Finding smallmouth bass around Chatham does not have to be guesswork. This page tracks 924 documented waters in the surrounding area where smallmouth bass are documented, then re-ranks them every day as conditions shift. Below is the local picture: which waters stand out right now, and how anglers actually fish for the species here.
Grand River leads today's ranking at a score of 77 (about 202 km from Chatham). Spencer Creek follows at 77 (about 207 km from Chatham). Thames River (rivière Thames), scoring 77, rounds out the current leaders. Each number compresses the day's weather, modelled water temperature at depth and how well those conditions suit smallmouth bass into one comparable score.
Smallmouth relate strongly to hard structure - rock, gravel, and boulder shorelines, rather than the heavy vegetation largemouth favor - and pound-for-pound are widely considered among the hardest-fighting freshwater fish, with acrobatic jumps that test light tackle. Ontario smallmouth concentrate on the rock-and-rubble structure Canadian Shield lakes are known for - rocky points, islands, offshore humps and boulder reefs, often in strikingly clear water. Local anglers lean on tube jigs and 3-4 inch soft plastics in crayfish colours worked slowly along rocky bottom, switching to jerkbaits and pause-heavy topwater lures around low light. Bass season in most southern Ontario zones opens the third Saturday in June and runs into late fall, with exact dates and any catch-and-release windows varying by Fisheries Management Zone.
Everything above is recomputed daily - the numbers on this page reflect September 14, 2026 - so check back before committing to a water: the leaders genuinely change as weather systems move through.