Smallmouth Bass
The upper reservoir is where the rock story starts: a bedrock-and-boulder bottom the 1977 survey mapped where the Grand pours in. That hard substrate is a crayfish factory, and crayfish are what these bass hunt. Add the islands and rocky shorelines strung down the main body, and the smallmouth have hard cover most of the length of the lake — cleaner rock over the murk they'd rather avoid.
← Back to Belwood Lake conditionsHow it fishes
The bass don't open until the fourth Saturday of June, a post-spawn harvest opener under the zone-wide rule, and from there it's a hard-bottom game through summer into fall. Work the rock: islands, rocky shorelines, and the boulder-strewn upper reaches where crayfish and perch stack up.
The narrows where the lake tightens into the Grand River channel are the sleeper spot, and they fire best as the light fades — time the last hour before dark. Stained water is a mild handicap for a sight-feeder, so favour the harder, cleaner rock edges over the murkiest flats.
Then fall drawdown changes the math: as the reservoir drops, the productive rock shrinks to fewer spots and the bass pile onto what stays wet — fewer places, more fish on each. The season runs to November 30.
Structure
Classic smallmouth ambush structure through the main body, named as proven bass water — hard cover the bass hold on all summer.
Where the lake pinches into the river channel up north; a productive stretch that fishes especially well on evenings through spring and summer.
The hard rocky bottom at the Belwood/Concession VIII–IX inflow area, documented in the 1977 survey — prime crayfish habitat and the anchor of the upper-lake bass game.
Regulations
This is a summary, not the legal regulation — confirm current rules with the official source before fishing.