My friend and I have made a tradition to do a week of fishing/camping/canoeing in the summer where fishing is the primary activity. Last July, with this forum's help, we had a fantastic experience in the Boundary Waters with both of us landing PB smallmouth! While we loved it, we want to try something new and I figure people on this forum have probably done similar trips across the country/world.

Where would you recommend we go in early June this year? We are decently experienced in fresh and salt (each of us used to fish over 200 days a year) and can use both conventional and fly gear. We have also done central Maine smallies and most of Florida.

We have considered the Buffalo River smallies in Arkansas, Colombia River smallies in Oregon, trout in Montana (though it would probably be blown out from spring melt), salmon in Alaska (though it is a bit early), and even international (though we are getting a bit short on time for planning an international trip).

Given fishing is our primary objective, we would love advice about where early June is peak for a given fishery. We also don’t mind if some amazing scenery is included either!

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Early June is a favortie time of mine to go after walleye. I would target the bigger lakes. LLC, Iron, Crooked, Knife, Insula, Alice, would all fit the bill. There are other lake options for sure, but it's harder to miss on these lakes.

I still like minnows this time of year - I bring in salted shiners or chubs, and troll lindy rigs.

If you haven't booked a permit - i'd look know and see what's available, that might make alot of decisions for you.

I like the Driftless area in Wisconsin and the Ausable River in Michigan for trout fishing.

The Salmon Fly & Goldenstone hatches on the Deschutes River in central Oregon start mid-May and run for about two weeks. If either start a bit later, early June would work. Every flyfisher should experience this famous hatch. The Metolious and Fall rivers will be fishing well too.

If the salmon fly hatch is early, and run-off is too, western Montana might see this hatch start Mid-June. In 2021 I fished this hatch on the Gallatin River starting on June 23 and I’m sure this hatch stared a week earlier in western Montana.

An easy international trip would be to fly fish Ascension Bay in Mexico for bonefish, permit, tarpon, and snook. I used Pesca Maya outfitters for a day trip from my Playa del Carmen resort during a family vacation and got the grand slam - permit, bonesfish and snook. Some tarpon were around but I wasn't able to connect on that trip. (Got my tarpon in the Isla Blanca area north of Cancun last Spring).



Smoky Mountains would be a good domestic trip. There are some remote trout streams, well away from the traffic of the main Smoky Mountains NP tourist spots.