My son wants to go catch smallmouth this summer+

[Bahala]

So my son sent me a text today with his itinerary for a summer trip. I asked him where is the time blocked out for oil changes and a new set of tires on the trailer! If you were driving up from Houston, TX to go catch some smallmouth, which of these places would you go?

Day 1: 10h drive to Table Rock Lake, Missouri
Day 2: Fish Table Rock Lake then drive to Stock Lake, Missouri
Day 3: Fish Stockton Lake, Missouri
Day 4: 10h drive to Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota
Day 5: Fish Mille Lacs Lake
Day 6: 8h drive to Moran Township, Michigan
Day 7: Fish Lake Michigan
Day 8: Fish Lake Huron
Day 9: 5h drive to Saint Clair Shores, Michigan then fish Lake Saint Clair
Day 10: 30m drive to Lake Erie, New York then fish Lake Erie
Day 11: 8h drive to Kentucky Lake
Day 12: Fish Kentucky Lake then 3h drive to Memphis, Tennessee
Day 13: Fish Mississippi River then 3h drive to Hot Springs, Arkansas
Day 14: Fish Lake Ouachita
Day 15: 7h drive home

[ajZX225]

The only problem I see is your not on the lake long enough to figure the fish out. I would fish 2 days at minimum on each lake but that's me. It does sound like a fun trip.

[dean c]

I'm cringing at out of state fishing license cost's alone! But tell him to have fun...will be a blast!

[wvbassmaster]

Presque isle in erie pa. place is a blast!!!

[Okiekev]

Wow that is quite the smallmouth bucket list, except day 13 where you wont find much other than catfish.... or you could just go to Texoma.

[back_lash]

Summer and MO, KY, AR would be off the list for smallmouth. Just spend more time fishing MN and MI.

[Bahala]

I would need 15 weeks to do all those. We need to narrow it down to say MN then hit something else on the way up or back.

[jbassman87]

I would drive straight to MN and spend more days there. Skip MO that time of year.

[bassworm1]

That wore me out just reading it LOL if it was my trip and i wanted smallys i would focus on the southern states they pull like fright trains and theres some monsters out there!! I know the northern states would be better for numbers.

[Fish Boy]

I'd spend your time on Green Bay and mille lacs for numbers and size and cooler more comfortable weather. I can also help you on both tremendously.

[Les Young]

I think i’d fish Erie & st. Clair.

[RangerTim619]

Day 10 drive time is off a bit

[vaw121]

Skip to day 9. While here maybe hit Burt/mullet, Elk, Torch, Glenn.

[glfgd82]

Stay in Minnesota/Wisconsin and spend multiple days on a body of water. If your set on coming to Michigan, stay in northern Michigan and fish Burt/Mullet and Traverse area, skip Lake Michigan, skip Huron. St. Clair is ok but depending on what time of year your looking at you may just want to stay north.

[RazorCat]

Go to Crooked Creek in Yellville, Arkansas. The “blue ribbon smallmouth stream of the state”. https://www.arkansas.com/river/crooked-creek/24
My son and I use to fish it all the time when he lived in Mountain Home which right down the road a few miles. And world class trout fishing in the White River nearby. Norfolk Lake, Bull Shoals, the White River, the Northfork, the Buffalo. All capable of producing smallmouth.
It’s about a 9 hour drive from Houston, and one of the most beautiful drives you’ll ever make. Stop outside of Little Rock in Conway and eat at the Marketplace Grill. Once you leave Conway, no more interstate. Just beautiful Arkansas countryside.
If you decide to go that way, let em know. Be glad to give you some more places of interest along the route. And since you’ll pass through Texarkana from Hwy 59 to I-30 you can stop and have a cold beverage along the way.

[Pick]

Day 10 drive time is off a bit

Off by about 5 hours.

[SSComanche]

Take a couple of days to drive to Rainey Lake, fish Rainey for 10 days, take a couple of days to drive home.

[kandybass]

Just go straight to Mille Lacs!

[Klinger N Ok]

Just drive to MI or MN and spend your time there. A mix of inland lakes and the big water, depending on weather.
We have a few decent smallie fisheries here in OK, but they do not compare in ANY way, shape or form to what can be experienced up north.
It's ruined me. I sit around fantasizing constantly about my next trip up north.

[bwank1124]

If you are fishing Mille Lacs you might as well go north and fish Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin for Lake Superior. It is only 3 hours north. Then I would drive across the U.P. and go to Big Bay De Noc, MI for smallies there.