A Bass Fishing Adventure in Trent Hills

Ashley Rae of SheLovesToFish.com shares her experiences fishing near Hastings

by Ashley Rae / Published July 8, 2025

I recently visited Hastings for a day of bass fishing on the Trent River and Rice Lake with my partner, Eric. We have both fished Rice Lake in the past as well as various sections of the Trent-Severn Waterway, however this was our first time exploring the Trent River out of Hastings. We enjoyed an excellent day out on the water and also treated ourselves to some tasty local meals. It was a perfect way to spend a hot summer day!

Traveling from the Ottawa area, we decided to spend the afternoon and evening on the water. We launched our boat at Hastings Village Marina, which conveniently has free boat launch access and parking. Right across the river from the marina are public boat docks where we moored up for a few minutes so that I could grab take-out lunch at McGillicafey’s Pub and Eatery, which was just a short 2-3 minute walk from the docks.

A view of Hastings Village Marina from the water.

The public boat docks include designated areas for both daily use and overnight docking.

Upon pulling up to the docks, we saw a few families enjoying the beautiful summer day fishing from shore, along with other boaters who had moored at the docks to grab lunch at various local restaurants. We ordered brisket cheesesteak focaccia and chicken parmesan focaccia sandwiches, each with a side of fries from McGillicafey’s. Lunch was delicious! It was a hot day, so I also picked up ginger ale and a bag of ice from the nearby Hastings C-Store on my walk back to the boat. We were now set for our afternoon of exploring.

Casting along the edge of the river channel, we caught smallmouth bass around rocks and structure using the Ned rig technique. We landed several smaller fish as we made our way up the river towards Rice Lake. Once we began to see lily pads and floating mats of vegetation, we switched gears to focus on targeting largemouth bass. I tied on a hollow body frog, which allowed me to efficiently work the expansive sections of lily pads. Eric went with a punch rig to penetrate the dense matted cover that had collected along the outer edge of the pads.

A largemouth bass caught in a section of lily pads.

Brisket cheesesteak focaccia and chicken parmesan focaccia with fries from McGillicafey’s Pub and Eatery.

Eric with a largemouth caught in matted vegetation.

I threw my frog several times over some prime looking areas and wasn’t getting any reaction, however Eric had picked up a couple of largemouth in the same areas. I was just about to switch to a different technique when, at the same moment, Eric hooked a fish on his punch rig and a bass exploded on my frog! It was a chaotic double header, but we managed to get both fish in the boat. This largemouth would turn out to be my biggest catch of the day!

We continued up the river and into Rice Lake, continuing to focus on areas with lily pads or matted vegetation, ideally a combination of both. We landed several more fish along the way. Depths varied, but we found the most success fishing in very shallow water between 2-4 feet deep.

My largemouth bass was caught on a Scum Frog Launch Frog.

Eric with a smallmouth bass caught and released in the Trent River.

As the sun began to set, we made our way back down the river to Hastings, having reached as far down the lake as Harris Island. After a hot day on the water, we decided on cooling off with milkshakes from Bridgewater Coffee & Pizza, which serves Kawartha Dairy ice cream. I am a big fan!

Eric dropped me at the docks and took the opportunity to fish while waiting for me. Just before I got back to the boat, he picked up his catch of the day, a beautiful smallmouth bass! He placed it in the livewell briefly until I returned and could snap a photo. This fish, along with all of our other catches, were released to be caught another day.

The milkshakes definitely hit the spot! I also picked up some butter tarts to bring back to my family. It was a wonderful day of fishing and enjoying great food in Hastings!

Find more of Ashley’s work at SheLovesToFish.com

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