Bassmaster 100 Best Bass Lakes
AS PROJECTS FOR this magazine go, ranking the Top 100 lakes in the nation is by far our most ambitious. For over a decade now, we have sifted through the thousands of bass fisheries across the nation to bring to you the cream of the crop. We know most anglers have precious little time to pursue their favorite gamefish, so our goal is to point you to the most productive water near your home (or across the nation, if you are up for a road trip), so that your time is spent with rod bent.
We are always amazed at both the fluctuation of fisheries that make the rankings and then fall off, as well as those lakes that always make the list. There are some impresssive moves, like the surge of Florida’s Fellsmere Reservoir and O.H. Ivie in Texas. Lake Amistad, once a fixture in the rankings, failed to make the cut. And others, like Pickwick Lake, had surprisingly tough years but managed to beat out other lakes in their region. We hope you enjoy the rankings this year and, more importantly, find time to put this list to the test.
1. St. Lawrence River (Thousand Islands), New York [50-mile stretch, plus eastern Lake Ontario] To be completely transparent, this fishery was basically tied with St. Clair in the Northeastern Division up until the moment the Elite Series started weighing in fish this past July. After the ninth bag over 25 pounds hit the scales, eyebrows were raised. After all 90 anglers weighed in on Day 1 and the average limit checked in at 20.90 pounds, jaws hit the floor. To put an exclamation point on the abundance of big fish swimming here now, seven of the Top 10 anglers on the final day weighed more than 25 pounds, with Cory Johnston’s 28-8 bag leading the way. And it certainly didn’t hurt the case for St. Lawrence being the best lake in the country when two anglers (Jay Przekurat and Cory Johnston) topped the 100-pound mark with solely smallmouth, a first-ever feat for the Elite Series.
2. O.H. Ivie Lake, Texas [20,000 acres] Oh my, O.H. Ivie! Seems like only last year (Hint: It was.) that Ivie crept into the national spotlight with a 10-day stretch in February that produced six Legacy ShareLunkers weighing more than 13 pounds and a five-bass stringer that totaled a mind-boggling 60 pounds. The central Texas reservoir hasn’t let up one bit since those eye-poppers, with 11 Legacy ShareLunkers reported through early May 2022, including beasts of 17.06 and 16.10 pounds caught within a week of one another in late February/early March. Two more ShareLunker Legends (13-pounders caught from April through December) came from Ivie this year, as well as 19 more Elite ShareLunkers (10 to 12.99 pounds) and nine more that weighed 8 to 9.99 pounds or measured 24 inches long. Make no mistake, the O.H. Ivie bass are proving things really are bigger in Texas.
3. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California [1,100 square miles] The record drought taking place in the West sadly continues to add to a long list of adverse impacts. From drinking water shortages to public health issues, the implications are far-reaching. The long-term consequences for bass anglers are unclear. In the short term, however, the resulting reduction in outflows through the California Delta’s myriad rivers, tule-lined sloughs and flooded islands are having a positive effect on the largemouth community. With the system’s already big fish getting even bigger thanks to increases in vegetation and prey, these tidal waters remain one of the best fisheries in the nation. It took five bass averaging almost 7 pounds apiece to win an early April Best Bass Tournament Trail event. Big fish at that one went 10.04. At the end of the month, at a two-day NewJen Bass contest, pros and amateurs weighed in 30 largemouth over 6 pounds. The winning pro locked up the victory by bringing 39.37 pounds to the scales on the second day of competition.
4. Lake St. Clair, Michigan [430 square miles] St. Clair almost edged out the St. Lawrence River as the top Northeastern fishery due, in part, to how it continues to produce trophy smallmouth throughout the season despite enormous fishing pressure. Of course, the St. Lawrence was not having any of that. Still, Tom Goniea, fishing tournament specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, collected data from 85 tournaments here in 2021 that averaged 36 anglers. Nearly 90% of the bass were smallmouth; the rest were largemouth. The average weight per bass was 3.13 pounds. The average big bass weighed 5.12 pounds, and 1,867 bass over 4 pounds were weighed in. An amateur team championship here in August 2021 yielded limits of more than 20 pounds for 45 of the 222 teams, with a winning weight of 24 pounds and a big bass of 6.15.
5. Fellsmere Reservoir/Stick Marsh/Kenansville Lake, Florida [10,000 acres; 6,500 acres; and 2,500 acres, respectively] If you ask bass fishing legend Roland Martin to tell you the best bass lake in his home state of Florida, he will quickly answer “Headwaters.” If you aren’t a local, you may not know that Headwaters is another name for Fellsmere Reservoir (some even call it Lake Egan). The confusion is likely purposeful, as Floridians want to keep this fishery a secret for as long as possible. But, the secret is most definitely out. If you add up the number of bass over 8 pounds caught on this man-made bass paradise this year, it will almost triple every other fishery in the state (if you don’t include Rodman). This lake was designed by the state of Florida to be an ultimate destination for bass anglers, and they succeeded. And because it is just a long cast away from Stick Marsh (seven bass over 10 pounds in 2022) and Kenansville (three bass over 8 pounds in 2022), you could spend a very fruitful vacation week plying these waters for the bass of a lifetime.
[43,785 acres] With more trophy largemouth weighed in here than at any other Western lake or reservoir, the Golden State’s largest natural body of water remains the ultimate big-bass factory. Clear Lake provides ample opportunities
