[20,000 acres]
Go back in time about five years and ask just about any bass angler not from Texas their thoughts on O.H. Ivie. It’s fair to say you’d get some blank stares and shrugged shoulders. Now, everyone knows all about this absolute beast of a bass lake located about three hours from both the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio-Austin metroplexes. Ivie has produced 30 Toyota ShareLunker bass through the first four months of 2025. Amazingly, that number is lower than the 35 ShareLunkers caught in Ivie during the same time frame last year, but there’s been no significant falloff here. Of the 30 ShareLunkers (8 pounds or greater), a total of seven of those fish weighed more than 13 pounds, putting them in the prestigious Lew’s Legend Class. The biggest of the bunch (as of early May) was a 16.39-pound hog hooked by Cullie Belveal on April 2. The Lindsay, Okla., resident’s giant bass measured 27.75 inches long, too. A few days earlier, Mechelda Criswell of Hobbs, N.M., caught a 14.56-pound beast that measured 26.75 inches. Those two fish alone are enough to make an angler’s eyes bulge, but catches like those have become practically commonplace for Ivie. That’s why, after all, it was voted the best bass lake in the U.S. in 2023 and second in both 2022 and 2024.
Top 100 Lakes 2025: Top 10 | Central | Northeastern | Southeastern | Western
[27,690 acres]
How is it that this lake continues to impress so greatly given the natural wax and wane of fisheries and the significant number of boats that crisscross Lake Fork pretty much daily in search of big bass? Call it fate. Call it nature smiling on this water. Call it great management by Texas Parks and Wildlife. But whatever you do, call on Lake Fork early and often. The powerhouse fishery east of Dallas produced 36 Toyota ShareLunker bass (fish weighing 8 pounds or more) between Jan. 1 and April 30. That’s more than any other fishery in Texas, which is saying a lot in a state known for liking everything large. The biggest of the catches was a 12.56-pound, 26-inch-long toad boated by Sterling Pfeifer of Commerce City, Colo., on March 27. At the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork held May 8-11, each angler in the final-day cut caught more than 100 pounds over four days — the second year in a row the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series has seen the entire Top 10 earn Century Club status.
[132,500 acres]
The name means “thousand lakes” in French. It might as well mean “thousand bass,” seeing that most anyone — regardless of age or expertise — seems to hammer the smallies on this sprawling spread in central Minnesota. The City Auto Glass Bass Classic is one of the biggest tournaments held at Mille Lacs annually — in very late summer, to be exact. That’s prime time for smallmouth action in these parts, and the weights in the 2024 event prove it, with five smallmouth sacks weighing 27.22, 26.43, 26.2 and 25.43 pounds. Perhaps even more impressive, every single bag in the Top 10 had at least one smallmouth bass that weighed more than 5 pounds. It’s not just the adults having fun up here, either. Thirty-one teams entered a recent youth tournament, and the winning limit weighed 19.52, with the heavy of the day a 5.48-pound, 21.25-inch smallie. The only thing small about Mille Lacs is the window of good weather to fish a lake this far north. Still, if you time things just right, this place often resembles the best bass fishing lake in the U.S. (a title it held in 2017).
[114,000 acres]
If you ask the folks who live on this storied lake, they’ll tell you that it’s fishing better than Toledo Bend right now — and the numbers back it up. Just look at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN held here in February. The event was shortened to one day due to high winds, but Chris Miller showed what Rayburn is capable of. He won with a 28-pound, 10-ounce limit, beating second-place finisher Garrett Paquette by nearly 5 pounds. Anglers still needed a 20-pound bag just to crack the Top 15. Chasing a personal best? Zack Fogle landed a 13.11-pounder here in March. Last November, Riley Harris caught a 13.79. Unless you dislike giant limits and PBs, Sam Rayburn should remain high on your bass bucket list.
[2,200 acres]
Bussey Brake is tiny, and it’s tucked away in the extreme northeast corner of Louisiana. You kind of have to look for it to find it. Well, anglers from all over the country are looking for Bussey Brake, and they’ve been finding gigantic bass since this pearl opened to the public in 2020. Look no further than the Bussey Brake Lunkers Facebook page, which has photos of all those double-digit bass being caught throughout the year. There’s also a steady stream of lodging listed for rent — proof that if you have big bass, people will come. No bass caught this year has approached the 15.78-pound monster caught by Sid Wilde of Robert, La., last March. But recent posts on the site show a verifiable 12.47, a 10.14, a 10.4 … it just goes on and on. One other thing noted on the social media page — get there early if you want to find a parking spot. Word is out on Bussey Brake and its bucketmouth bass.
[185,000 acres]
This 65-mile-long impoundment of the Sabine River is a big-bass factory. How good is it? How about the 13.24-pound Legacy Class ShareLunker that Lumberton, Texas, resident Curtis Melvin lugged from the depths of Toledo Bend on March 25? That’s just one of six ShareLunker bass caught and registered in the Texas program in the first four months of 2025. Recent winning bags on “The Bend” include 26.71 pounds in the Louisiana Oilmen’s Bass Invitational, 21.05 pounds in the Louisiana B.A.S.S. Nation Spring Invitational and 27 pounds in a Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament.
[5,000 acres]
How good is this little spot in Jimmie Davis State Park in north-central Louisiana? Consider that bags of 26-2 and 26-4 were not enough to win a high school tournament held there in February (the winning duo from tiny Rosepine High School caught 28 pounds, 11 ounces to win that day). A week later, a pair of prep tandems caught 22 pounds each and tied for first in another high school tourney. Five of the biggest bass caught in Bayou State history have come from this small treasure tucked into the piney woods, and the lake continues to produce some of the country’s best bites.
[3,850 acres]
Two things are crystal clear at West Okoboji: the water and the realization you might catch some really fine bass. This little lake is a bass-fishing oasis in the nation’s heartland. One only needs to see results from the 29th annual Okoboji Open Fishing Tournament held in May for the clues. The winning duo caught a five-bass limit for 22.8 pounds and the Top 5 tandems all weighed more than 20 pounds in the benefit event. The big bass tipped the scales at a very respectable 6.64 pounds, too.
[7,820 acres]
Sometimes a fishery comes out of nowhere and makes everyone take notice. Maybe the locals knew Thomas was about to explode, but no one on the national level predicted that this fairly small lake would produce a remarkable 110 ShareLunker bass between Jan. 3 and April 9. The heaviest of the bunch was a 13.01 Legacy Class bass caught by Abilene, Texas, resident Christian Gladfelter on Feb. 6. In fact, Gladfelter caught 22 of the 110 bass weighing more than 8 pounds in that time frame. In a sport often decided by hunches, here’s one to consider. We’ll be hearing more about Lake J.B. Thomas (and probably Gladfelter) in the near future.
[46,500 acres]
Everyone knows Grand is a favorite destination for B.A.S.S., with the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour and the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance both held there in 2024. Coincidence? Not at all. A limit of 58 pounds, 3 ounces over three days might not make the eyes bulge from their sockets, but it was enough for Justin Hamner to win the 2024 Classic. Ditto to the 42-14 Blake Capps weighed in last November to win the Nation title. The biggest bass from both tournaments didn’t go higher than 6-12, but that’s a beautiful fish, no matter where you’re wetting a line.
[6,400 acres]
Claiborne is yet another pearl in a chain of bass fishing beauties that dot the landscape along I-20 in north Louisiana. Those in the know say that what makes Claiborne special is that it’s about as consistent a fishery as one will find. It is, after all, one of the five most productive tournament lakes in the Bayou State in terms of the number of bass caught per boat, according to the LDWF. Take for instance a recent team tournament where the top three limits weighed 24.78, 24.4 and 20.33. The big bass in those creels weighed 7.87, 8.42 and 9.01 pounds, respectively. Those are huge fish in bags that didn’t crack 25 pounds.
[54,000 acres]
Two of the most recent tournaments held at Lake of the Ozarks have had some eye-popping catches. During an April Big Bass Bash, an 8.28-pounder hit the scales and earned the winning angler a $100,000 prize. It was the first time in 19 years of Big Bass Bash events that an 8-pound bass was weighed, but amazingly, another angler had an 8-0 in the same event to lock up second place and $20,000. Third place was a not-so-shabby 7.7-pounder that was good for $10,000.
[approximately 200 miles long]
Bass are here in spades, which is why B.A.S.S. makes its way to the La Crosse area often. Last year, it took 65 pounds, 4 ounces to win a three-day Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier presented by Lowrance event held here. Four months later, 53-1 was the winning weight in a St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN on the same stretch of the Upper Mississippi.
[374,000 acres]
Let’s be honest — Oahe is a hard nut to crack. However, one only needs to cast back to the 2024 Governor’s Bass Cup to realize why this place is special. That team tournament, held in late spring, required a two-day total of 45 pounds, 2 ounces to win. Keep in mind, the competing tandems could catch six bass per day, so that weight is a bit inflated by normal B.A.S.S. standards. Still, a 3.1-pound average for smallmouth bass is pretty darn impressive.
[71,240 acres]
Locals say the water level has stayed higher than usual in this part of the Ozarks for a couple of years now, and that’s made for some fine fishing at tried-and-true Bull Shoals. It took just under 20 pounds to win an Ozark Mountain Team Trail event here in March, and the big bass of the tournament weighed in at 5 1/2 pounds. The Joe Bass Team Trail reports similar numbers, with 20.88 pounds needed to win there in mid-February (and a 5.5-pound bass the heaviest of the competition). Even in the frigid climes of January, 16 of 20 teams in one Joe Bass derby managed a five-bass limit at Bull Shoals (17.71 pounds won the day).
[18,700 acres]
This fishery, tucked just inside the Texas state line west of Shreveport, La., isn’t known for producing huge bass, but it certainly is a consistent spot, with average limits anywhere from 17 to 25 pounds. The winning duo in a Texas B.A.S.S. Nation College Series stop in March, however, caught 32.15 pounds, and they were followed by limits of 26.14 and 25.48. A visiting bass club held a team tournament at Lake O’the Pines in March, and that derby was decided by 0.03 ounces — 21.51 to 21.48.
[42,400 acres]
This state has helped set the pace for bass fishing in America as long as anyone can remember, and Table Rock Lake is quite likely the best fishery in a state rife with them. Take, for example, the Joe Bass Team Trail, whose members always seem to fare well at national-level championships. This year, winning weights at monthly Joe Bass derbies at Table Rock were 19.08 in May, 25.9 in April, 21.88 in March and 22.57 pounds in February. The big bass in each event topped 7 pounds.
[16,526 acres]
This Texas treasure has never made Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes list, but there’s a reason for that — Bois d’Arc is pretty much brand-new. It is the first major reservoir built in the Lone Star State in 30 years. Turns out it also has some mighty fine fishing, which is not surprising considering Bois d’Arc was stocked with selectively bred “Lone Star” largemouth trophy bass as part of the ShareLunker program. Three ShareLunkers were caught in 2024, and in April 2025, a pair of 10-pounders came from Bois d’Arc. It’s likely only a matter of time before this is one of the most talked-about fisheries in the entire state. Check that — it already is.
[25,400 acres]
Here’s another of those picturesque swampy spaces where the scenery is rivaled only by the beautiful bass pulled from the iced-tea colored water. And what about those fish, you say? Winning weights have been steady recently, with a 19.54 total and an 8.35 big bass among them. It took 29.06 pounds to win a team tournament on Caddo last year (with an 8.09 big bass anchoring the bag), and a Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series presented by Native Watercraft event here last October required 198.5 inches to take the tournament title. In late March 2025, 8.88- and 8.14-pound largemouth bass were entered into the ShareLunker registry.
[29,260 acres]
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said Black Bass Program managers were not surprised at all that Millwood placed as one of the best tournament fishing destinations in the Natural State. The ranking is based on fishing quality indicators like number of bass caught, total weight, winning weights and number of fish weighing 5 pounds or more, state biologists said. The anglers who fish Millwood have numbers to back up the report. At a high school tournament in March, Griffin Ralph lugged a 13.43-pound giant from the lake. Days later, Levi Whitman caught a 10.56-pound largemouth in another sanctioned high school event. Those catches might be exceptions to the rule, but any place that has double-digit bass is worth consideration on this list. Pair those numbers with the consistency noted by the AGFC, and Millwood is a potent place.
[1,750 acres]
Bass fishing might not be the first thing that jumps to mind when one thinks of the great state of Illinois, but there certainly are viable options for dedicated anglers who want to wet a line in America’s Midwest. A pair of local tournaments held in February resulted in fairly meager catches (one winner had four bass for 14.84 pounds and another had two bass for 9.64). When things started warming up in the spring, however, the results were much more impressive. Winning limits in March totaled 19.78 and 15.86, respectively. By late April, the winning number was 21 pounds with a heavy of 5.34 pounds.
[21,000 acres]
Lake Conroe has a lot going for it. For starters, it’s just north of Houston, which makes it easily accessible to millions of people. It’s played a part in angling history, having been the site of the 2017 Bassmaster Classic (won by Jordan Lee, who caught a 27-4 limit on the final day to win). Conroe’s still producing big sacks of largemouth bass, the kind that earn it a spot on this list. In the first four months of 2025, 11 ShareLunker bass were caught on Conroe. None of them cracked double-digit weights, but that speaks to the quality of the overall catch here more than anything. A total of 13 ShareLunkers were caught in 2024, which means this popular fishery might be on the climb once again.
[7,460 acres]
Hamilton, located south of the resort area of Hot Springs, has been a bass-fishing hot spot for as long as anyone can remember. An 18-pound, 12-ounce limit was needed to clinch a Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Hamilton in March. Then, a team trail event there later in the month required a 21-7 limit and a 7.9-pound largemouth anchoring the sack to win first place. Not to be outdone, the Arkansas Youth B.A.S.S. Nation Facebook page highlights a 10.55-pound monster caught in late April by Lakeside (Hot Springs) High School’s Billy Allison.
[12,000 acres]
Like Grand, Tenkiller is a centrally located lake in an area that tends to have four distinct seasons. That means it’s prone to consistency. When the climes were more agreeable (March 30, for instance), a one-day total of 18 pounds, 3 ounces was tops in the Strike King Bassmaster High School Series event held here. The Bassmaster Junior winners managed 15-7 the same day. Just about every bass club or team trail in the Sooner State will hit Tenkiller during the course of a year. It’s pretty much a rite of passage, and rightfully so.
[1,600 acres]
The LDWF reported that anglers entered in tournaments on Black Bayou (Hosston) had the highest number of bass caught per boat in the entire state in 2024 — more than Toledo Bend, Grand Bayou, etc. And that says quite a bit about what to expect on this small fishery north of Monroe. Truth be told, the good folks at LDWF know this is routinely one of the best bass fisheries in the Bayou State (just about every north Louisiana lake has been hyper-productive thanks to excellent stocking programs and smart management). Black Bayou Lake is no different, with the winner of an 18-boat derby in March catching 17 1/2 pounds, including a 7-pounder.
