World's Best Largemouth Lakes

Leave a comment below with your favorite lakes for bass fishing. Do you agree with us?

Ask 10 expert anglers around the country for their pick of the world’s best bass lake and you’ll get 20 opinions; everybody has one or two or three candidates. And to make things more complicated, some lakes that were great five years ago are not all that good today; changing water conditions can turn a world-beater into an also-ran—and if you arrive on the best lake in the country just after a cold-front, forget it—fishing will be tough, no matter how abundant they are. That said, here are a few lakes where you’ll have a great shot at success if the Fates smile on you.

In Alabama, LAKE GUNTERSVILLE is currently at a peak, and may arguably be the best bass lake in the nation. Anglers who know how to fish the channel edges with a Carolina rig or crankbait routinely catch 40 fish a day, with many of them over three pounds. During the spring spawn, much bigger fish come from the vast grassy shallows on Texas-rigged worms or weedless swimbaits.

If you feel you’re destined to catch the all-tackle world record bass, you can’t beat southern California. Florida-strain largemouths stocked in lakes CASTIC, CASITAS and several others decades ago regularly grow into the teens and sometimes low 20’s on a diet of stocked rainbow trout in the deep, clear desert reservoirs here. Reportedly, several fish exceeding the 22-pound, four-ounce world record have been caught, photographed and released here. Crankbaits and worms on the points are the standard tactic, but some of the experts fish live crawfish crawled along rocky shoals at 20 feet or so. It can be slow fishing; there are not a lot of little fish, but the few giants make these waters worth a visit.

California also has excellent fishing, both for numbers and size, in the SACRAMENTO DELTA, the winding waterway that eventually feeds into San Francisco Bay; weedy shorelines and boathouses hold lots of bass, and there’s often a good frog or topwater bite.

In Florida, WEST LAKE TAHO, KISSIMMEE and OKEECHOBEE are all contenders. These are all grassy, shallow lakes typical of Florida—Toho holds the all-time record for a B.A.S.S. one-day tournament catch. The biggest fish are typically caught February through April during the spawn, often around offshore hydrilla beds on plastic worms. Or if you’re really serious about a trophy, fish live shiners. For a 10-pound largemouth, you can’t do better than Florida in spring.

The LOUISIANA DELTA south of New Orleans is a brackish water tangle of sloughs and creeks where it’s easy to get lost, and where you might catch a bass on one cast and a redfish on the next. You’ll catch at least 20 fish a day here when the weather is mild, and plenty of them will be five pounders. Noisy topwaters are a good bet.

Texas also has plenty of great bass waters, including LAKE FORK, AMISTAD and FALCON. Many of the largest fish are caught in February on plastic worms or spinner baits on these waters. Texas has widely stocked fast-growing Florida-strain bass, and produces numerous fish in the teens each year.

Last but not least, the very unlikely POTOMAC RIVER in and around Washington D.C. is loaded with bass; the tidewaters here provide endless food, and the fish grow fast. Learn to fish runouts through the hydrilla on falling tides and you’ll have all the action you want. Topwaters and spinnerbaits are great April through June.

Click here to join Earth Sports and get more articles like this one every day. It's free and takes only a minute to sign up.