America’s 10 Best Bass Lakes Revealed (2024)

What are the best bass lakes in America? Kayak Angler’s editors argued the question and came up with the 10 lakes in this feature. Your list is probably different. Largemouth bass live in every U.S. state except Alaska. To choose the top lakes for America’s favorite sportfish, we looked at the most popular locations for bass tournaments. We also considered unique features in diverse locations. We asked our friends and polled our favorite pro anglers. After collecting data and compiling opinions, we put the top contenders in a hat, stirred them up and picked out the 10 best bass lakes. Then, we interviewed experts on the best tactics for catching a trophy bass or winning a tournament trophy in America’s bass hot spots.

10 Best Bass Lakes in America

1 Finger Lakes, New York

Justin Hausner | President and founder New York Kayak Bass Fishing Tournament

Cayuga Lake is gaining notoriety as a world-class bass fishery. I fished the lake for over a decade and it remains my go-to lake any time of year.

When I’m setting my strategy, the wind is always a factor. Cayuga is long and narrow, so a north or south wind makes the water angry. I like a light wind and partly cloudy sky. If the wind doesn’t cooperate, I head to one of the lake’s rivers, streams or coves.

The north end of Cayuga Lake is shallow. Early spring, as the water warms, is the best time to target bass.

I start the day working a topwater lure through the grass. The north end of the lake is covered in vegetation, so I cast a weedless frog imitation deep into the weeds. I also cycle through walk-the-dog, poppers and ploppers until the fish respond.

After sunrise, I skip a Senko under docks or pull a jerkbait down a weed line. Another great tactic is hopping a jig across a large rockpile.

In shallow, weed-choked water, retracting and deploying the pedal system is a prime feature. I retract the Mark IV propeller on my Jackson Kayak Knarr without taking up space in theco*ckpit.

When a big bass comes to the kayak covered in grass, I grab my YakAttack Leverage Landing Net. The forearm support is key for lifting a five-pound bass and 10 pounds of grass.

A NOCQUA battery system powers my GoPro camera, navigation light and Lowrance Hook Reveal 9 fish finder. The waterproof battery is the size of a pack of cards with power capacity to keep my electronics running.

2 Lake Champlain, New York

Jake Angulas | Elite Kayak Fishing Angler of the Year, Kayak Bass Fishing The Ten Qualifier, KBF Trail Series Champion, Kayak Fishing League AOY

NuCanoe, Enduro Power Batteries, Sniper Marine, Dobyns Rods

I fished Lake Champlain for the first time in 2021 with the Elite Kayak Fishing (EKF) trail. Since then, I’ve fished EKF and Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) events on the lake. When I’m fishing Lake Champlain, I like sunny skies and winds less than 10 miles per hour. The lake is massive and stronger winds kick up three- to four-foot waves. Find protection from the wind in rivers, coves and marinas.

The best time of year is June to August. I target smallmouth on 15- to 30-foot-deep flats covered in mixed grass and rock.

To place my lure in the strike zone, I use a drop shot rig. I experiment with lure colors and sizes until I match the baitfish. The drop shot dances the little soft plastic a foot off the bottom. Offshore fishing requires a kayak with stability and seaworthiness. I like the NuCanoe Unlimited with a MotorGuide Xi3 bow-mount trolling motor. Even in rough weather, a trolling motor with GPS holds my position over schooling smallmouth.

To quickly change lures, I keep a Line Cutterz Ceramic Blade Zipper Pull attached to my life jacket. The little blades are sharp enough to cut braid and the tool small enough to keep close at hand and out of theway.

I rely on my electronics to find schools of smallmouth bass in deep water. I use a Humminbird Helix 10 G4 with LakeMaster chip and Mega 360 transducer. I also have a Garmin GPSMap 1022 with LVS34 LiveScope transducer. For waypoint management, side scan and 2D imaging, I use a Lowrance HDS-9 Live.

In one of my most memorable experiences, I was pre-fishing in a northern section of the lake called the Inland Sea. It was early summer and a warm day with light winds and clear skies. Taking advantage of the conditions, I ran three miles to explore new water. I found a rocky hump rising from 60 feet to 30 feet deep. My fish finder displayed a large school of smallmouth bass on top of the hump. First, I cast my go-to drop shot at the group of fish. After trying several different color and size combinations without a bite, I cast an eight-inch soft plastic swimbait, let it sink and slowly retrieved the lure back to the kayak. Bingo! The bite continued for a few hours. I landed 20 fish with my best five totaling over 100 inches.

3 Clear Lake, California

Derwin Chang | Fastlane Sailing and Kayaking, Hobie Fishing Team Member

Each August I make the 10-hour drive from San Diego to Clear Lake to participate in the Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) and Western Bass tournaments. August is an ideal time to fish Clear Lake because the water is warm and bass are chasingbaitfish.

Also, in late summer the weather is more predictable. When the wind picks up, I find shelter in coves and protected areas around Clear Lake State Park.

I launch before sunrise and position my kayak in casting distance of the shore. I throw a half-ounce Booyah buzzbait or white spinnerbait and retrieve the lure slowly. After the sun rises and the air warms up, I switch to a medium-depth 6th Sense Cloud 9 C10 Shad. Midmorning to midday, I tie on a six-inch worm or a brush hog on a Carolina rig and drag the lure off ledges, drops and along grass lines.

My tournament kayak is a Hobie Pro Angler 14 360XR MirageDrive with a Bixpy J-2 motor. The Bixpy battery and motor are lightweight and conveniently mounted to my seat. I use the small motor to power me to the fishing grounds and switch to the MirageDrive 360 to position the kayak while I’m fishing. I can’t live without my fish finder. I use a Lowrance Hook Reveal 9 TripleShot to identify bait, obstructions, depth and schooling bass.

My best day at Clear Lake was the 2022 KBF. On the first day, I launched in the dark and headed straight to a spot I found during pre-fishing. I decided to throw a swimbait. On my second cast, I hooked a bass. The third and fourth cast also resulted in big bass. By 8 a.m., I was culling fish. I ended the day in sixth place, my best tournament finish on Clear Lake.

4 Folsom Lake, California

Joseph Tax

Kayak City, NuCanoe, P-line 1st Gen, N2TW Custom Lures

I have a love-hate relationship with Folsom Lake. Crystal clear water, sharp granite boulders and scattered brush piles make Folsom a difficult body of water to master. When the lake turns on, Folsom produces quality and quantity that makes up for the tough days.

Spring pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn are the most fruitful times to fish Folsom. The lake runs high from early spring through midsummer, providing access to flooded non-aquatic vegetation.

Snow melt brings high, off-color water and world-class power fishing for spotted bass. In the dog days of summer, I move to the river inlets and downsize my lures. By midsummer, the water clears and I bring small poppers, walking baits and finesse swimbaits to the rock piles and walls.

Folsom is chock-full of boulders, steep rock faces and mudlines. When the water is high, the fish gravitate toward flooded non-aquatic vegetation. When the water level stabilizes, fish congregate on long tapering points, isolated rock piles and transitions from chunk rock tomud.

The most user-friendly tactic is slowly dragging a three-inch Keitech Easy Shiner on a drop shot. My drop shot rig starts with 15 feet of six-pound P-Line fluorocarbon. To hold the drop shot hook, I tie a palomar knot varying the tag length from eight to 24 inches. I finish the tag with an overhand knot to hold the clasp-style drop shot weight. Believe it or not, the simple drop shot has produced 100-fish days.

The drop shot produces bass year-round on grass lines, points, creek channels, docks, boulder piles, laydowns and brush piles. As the water cools, I increase the length of my pause to mimic a lethargic minnow. As the water warms, I drag the drop shot faster along the bottom.

Folsom requires me to slow down and pick apart a bite. My style of fishing is suited to wide and stable platforms like the NuCanoe F12 paired with a GPS-connected, bow-mount trolling motor. Covering water while standing and casting is crucial to power fishing.

The coolest accessory is my NuCanoe 360 swivel seat. After a long, hot day, there is nothing better than hanging my feet off the side of the kayak in the cool water. The swivel seat is easy to turn to access rods and gear in my tankwell.

I rely on my Garmin echoMAP 73sv with side scan sonar to find structure that is holding fish. The top half of my screen displays side scan sonar. The bottom of the screen is split between CHIRP and scanning sonar.

Using my side scan sonar, I look for isolated structures such as single rock piles. I also keep my eye open for structures such as a transition of boulders to mud, a line of flooded trees or a grassline. Once I find a potential mark with side scan, the CHIRP and scanning sonar allow me to identify the nature of the structure and the type of fish.

To start the day, I fish with a jerkbait or crankbait in hopes of a reaction bite. When the water is warm, a Whopper Plopper fires up the bass. Once I find the fish, I switch to an Easy Shiner on a drop shot.

A great example of Folsom’s fishing occurred one evening after work. I only had a few hours before dark and the spring snowmelt brought huge schools of shad into the shallow flooded trees. I positioned my kayak along a row of trees in Mormon Ravine. For three and a half hours I didn’t move the kayak. Cast after cast yielded a fish. At 8:15 p.m. I released my 100th bass within sight of the boat ramp. The fishing was so good, I went through four packs of EasyShiners.

5 Guntersville, Alabama

Ryan Lambert | Hobie BOS Grand Champion, Watts Bar Hobie BOS Champion, Hobie Worlds Team USA

The Dugout Bait and Tackle, Z-Man, Cal Coast, Seaguar, Shimano, Pro-Guide Batteries, Gill Fishing, Mustang Survival, Sniper Marine, Old Town

I grew up duck hunting Lake Guntersville, which allowed me to discover hard-to-reach backwaters long before I started kayak fishing. I live 15 minutes from the north end of the lake and I have spent the last decade picking apart the water.

I generally wake up 20 minutes after my alarm goes off, scramble to get the essentials in the truck, grab a Monster energy drink and a Twinkie and hit the road.

Guntersville fishes great from winter through summer. Early spring offers a shot at trophy smallmouth while late spring produces double-digit largemouth. Summer makes for a great ledge bite. Large grass mats on the main channels and bays provide excellent punching and frog fishing.

The best conditions occur in late March with stained water and the floodgates open. The spring runoff produces challenges navigating heavy currents and debris to access the eddies and current breaks where fish are pinned by the flow.

A half-ounce JackHammer with a large paddle tail trailer, a 3/4-ounce spinnerbait or a Ned Rig are perfect on the rocky stretches. For spring and summer, I move into the creeks where flipping a Texas-rig Senko under the overhanging branches and vegetation is a great way to target big fish pushing up a creek in search of oxygenated water.

For stability and boat positioning, I use an Old Town AutoPilot 136. The Spot-Lock function allows me to position on current seams. Using the remote, I can stand and fish to quickly search the water while flipping to cover.

I am lost without my Donkey Leash from Cal Coast fishing. I use the fish lanyard to keep my catch calm while I’m photographing and measuringit.

I run a 12-inch Garmin with Livescope to locate fish on bridges, ledges or grass edges.

One of my most memorable days was fun fishing with my good friends Jody and Garrett Campbell. The floodgates were open and I was meticulously picking apart a current break when I landed my personal best smallmouth. It measured 21.75 inches long. I was so excited I went back the next morning and caught a bigger smallmouth on the same lure in the same spot.

6 Havasu Lake, Arizona

Anthony Garcia | American Bass Kayak Series Angler of the Year, California Bass Nation Kayak Champion, BASS Nation Kayak Champion

Old Town Fishing, Dakota Lithium, IROD, SIMMS, Big Bass Dreams, Defiant Fishing, Boonedox USA and Tackle Shack USA

I launch my kayak at Havasu Landing Resort and Casino to catch the early morning topwater bite. I start fishing shallow with a reaction bait. As the sun creeps up, I target offshore structures. Havasu has a ton of artificial fish habitats holding giant bass.

I can catch bass any time of year, but spring is the best fishing. February through March, the pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn produce giant bass. If I time it right, I catch bass in three stages of the spawn on the same day.

Havasu is windy. Luckily the wind doesn’t hinder the bite. And there are coves and banks to hide from the wind.

The best conditions on Havasu are clear skies with a little chop on the water. Havasu has unbelievably clear water; a little chop encourages finicky fish to drop their guard.

Fishing the river with a glide bait has produced some of my biggest bass. I pick high-concentration areas such as rock piles, bluff walls and isolated brush piles where bass corral bait and find cover.

I experiment with lure size and retrieve speed until the fish respond. Bass will often chase a glide bait several times before committing tobite.

I choose lures between eight and 13 inches long. Larger baits attract bass from farther away. Natural colors such as trout, crappie, shad or carp are key to fooling trophy bass in clear water. My favorite glide bait imitates a largemouth bass.

The Old Town AutoPilot 136 is stable, so I stay comfortable when the wind blows. The Minn Kota trolling motor holds my kayak on a hot bite.

I have a Garmin 93sv UHD paired with a Garmin Panoptix Livescope with a LVS34 transducer. The live sonar scans for structure and fish in the huge lake.

7 Kissimmee Lake, Florida

Buz Bireline | Kingfisher Kayak Adventures, Kayak Bass Tournament championship qualifier, blogger, influencer

NuCanoe, Gill Fishing, Shelta, St. Croix Rods, Stream2Sea, Amped Outdoors, Crosskix Hybrid Footwear, Engel Coolers, Titan Tungsten

According to Florida’s TrophyCatch program, 785 bass weighing over eight pounds have been caught in the Kissimmee Chain.

The best time to target the Kissimmee Lakes is after a winter cold front. As the water warms, trophy bass become active. Cloudy skies with a little wind cause the fish to drop their guard. In the summer heat, under blue skies with no wind, I’ll flip thick vegetation and docks.

My current confidence bait is a Magnum Speed Worm. Its versatility in vegetation makes it an efficient search bait. I caught my personal best bass, a 12-pound, 15-ounce beast, on a Speed Worm.

To rig the Speed Worm, I start with a sturdy Gamakatsu 5/0 Superline round bend hook, pegged Titan Tungsten 1/8-ounce worm weight and Berkley 20-pound Big Game Monofilament Leader. After losing several big bass, I switched to a monofilament leader for more stretch when I’m landing the fish.

I can work the Speed Worm across the surface, swim it through the water column or drop it to the bottom and deadstick the rod. The versatility makes the Speed Worm a great search bait and the seven-inch soft plastic worm weeds out smaller fish.

Another tactic is yo-yo retrieving a lipless crankbait around shell beds. If I snag a shell off the bottom when I’m fishing, I return to the area and work a Rat-L-Trap. If the bass stop biting, I downsize my crankbait to fire up the action.

When the weather is windy and the sky is cloudy, I throw a ChatterBait JackHammer. I use a straight retrieve with slight pauses to run the ChatterBait through the Kissimmee grass or spatterdock stems. When I’m fishing isolated submerged hydrilla, I work the ChatterBait over the grass. If the lure gets snagged, I rip it free, which often encourages a bass to strike.

The key to finding bass in Kissimmee is finding brush piles. The water level in the lake is managed by pumps, locks and dams. When the water is low, I scout for new structures by looking for limbs sticking above the surface.

Another way I find brush piles is by paying attention to the boat that is parked at a dock. If the owner has jet skis or a ski boat, I pass on the spot. But, if I see a bass boat parked in front of the house, I figure the owner has installed a bass-holding structure within casting distance of his dock.

Standup fishing improves casting distance and accuracy, and the NuCanoe Unlimited has an elevated seat and stable hull. The open co*ckpit allows me to customize rigging to match my fishing style.

Most of my fishing is in shallow water, so the Power-Pole Micro anchor is indispensable for boat control. I can stop the boat or slow my drift to sneak up on spooky fish.

My Lowrance HDS-7 and C-MAP with REVEAL charts combines side scan and down-view sonar to find structure. I monitor the side scan sonar to identify structures, then return using down-view sonar to get a detailed view of the structure and fish.

While pre-fishing Lake Kissimmee, I found a couple of beautiful brush piles just off deep water. The fish finder showed fish all over the piles. First thing on tournament day, I was full of excitement as I cruised up to the brush pile. The bass were still there, but I couldn’t get them to bite anything in my tackle box. After an hour, I left in disgust. I fished several locations without any action. In the last 45 minutes of the tournament, I made the long pedal back to the brush piles and caught three quality bass on back-to-back casts. I ran out of time to score a limit, but I was relieved to catch a few qualifying fish before the end of the tournament.

8 Possum Kingdom, Texas

Mark Pendergraf | First Bassmaster KayakChampion

Old Town, Xcite Baits, Distinctive Concrete Concepts, Robohawk, Abu Garcia, SuperNova Lights, Decals Plus, Dakota Lithium, Devil Dog Brew

Between tournaments and fun fishing, I regularly hit up Possum Kingdom. The best time of year is spring andsummer.

The lake water is clear, so wind and waves make the fish more aggressive. Rough water shortens the fish’s field of view increasing the chances of a reaction bite.

When fishing is tough, I attack boathouses and walkways. My favorite tactic is skipping a wacky rig or Neko rig into the dock floats. I slowly drag the lure to keep it in the fish’s face as long as possible.

I look for a fishing rod with a stiff backbone to pull a big bass from the docks and a spinning reel with a fast retrieve to turn the fish before it can run for cover.

In my Old Town AutoPilot, I hit a button on my remote and the boat holds position so I can make a perfect cast under a dock or into pilings.

After I lost my phone, my favorite accessory is a Robohawk phone harness. Not only does losing my phone suck, but it ended mytournament.

My best day on the lake was the second day of the Bassmaster Championship. I started the day with a 9.6-pound largemouth and in over an hour I put over 100 inches on my virtual stringer.

9 Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas

Lance McWhorter | Owner of ETX Paddlesports, Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship Qualifier

Jackson Kayak, Dakota Lithium, Power-Pole, Newport Vessels, Missile Baits, Striker, Dobyns Rods, Traeger Grills, Bubba, YakGadget, Spearpoint Hooks

I started fishing on Rayburn 12 years ago when I read about the consistent stream of big bass. After exploring the area as a novice and several years of tournament fishing, I understand the lake’s diversity. I don’t have to go far to fish a variety of structures and use a variety of tactics. Not to mention the lake’s famous trophy bass.

I launch on the windward side and start on main lake points and breaks with lots of timber. I look for a point with transitions between timber and hay grass. I welcome the sunrise with topwater baits or a Z-Man JackHammer with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad trailer. I have a lot of success with a seven-inch soft swimbait on a keel-weighted hook.

During the midmorning lull, I head into the shallows to flip pads, cypress trees and buckbrush with Texas rigs, jigs and both hollow-body and solid frogs.

Early afternoons reward me with another round of topwater fun. The biggest fish seem to feed late in the day.

I fish fast and aggressively with a buzzbait or Stanley Jigs Ribbit Frog. When a fish misses one of those lures, I clean up with a 6.5-inch Texas-rigged Missile Baits Quiver worm.

I run the frog fast enough to keep it on top of the water. As the frog encounters key pieces of cover or a current seam, I pause the lure and let it sink. Then, I start the retrieve again.

When a bass eats the frog, I drop the rod tip and reel down before setting the hook.

Like most East Texas lakes, spring and fall are exceptional for giant bass. Rayburn really shines in the fall. Cooler temperatures scare away summer tourists and reduced fishing pressure encourages big bass tobite.

The only drawback to fishing in the fall is adjusting to Mother Nature’s mood swings. Weather fronts appear out of nowhere. Shifting winds and cold snaps shut the fish down. For finicky fish, I always keep a spinning rod with a shaky-head or wacky-rigged Missile Baits MagicWorm.

Partly cloudy skies, a light breeze and water levels moderately close to pool, especially when it is rising, make for a magical day of fishing.

On the other hand, high winds running down the lake make it difficult to launch, recover and navigate the waves.

Whether I am fishing in the shallows or battling high winds and waves on the main lake, the 2023 Jackson Knarr FD is versatile, capable and comfortable. ETX Paddlesports rigged my Knarr with a Newport Vessels NK180 motor with foot-controlled steering and a Dakota Lithium 24V 60Ah battery. The combination allows me to cover water quickly in roughconditions.

To complement the motor, two Power-Pole Micro anchors contribute to boat control. When I hook a fish, I quickly spike down and focus on landing my catch. To fish off a shoreline, I drop the poles to a specific depth to serve as bumpers preventing me from drifting into theshallows.

I currently run a nine-inch Lowrance HDS Live for sonar imaging with an ActiveImaging 3-in-1 transducer. For mapping, I have an Elite-7 Ti with a Point-1 GPS receiver. An ActiveTarget Transducer and a HydroWave speaker are mounted on a Fishing Specialties Bowducermount.

My greatest day fishing Sam Rayburn I was practicing for the 2021 Hobie Bass Open Series. The water on the lake was 12 feet high and Jackson Kayak teammate Jamie Broad and I were fishing in a flooded campground catching monsters out of the trees. I was punching Missile Baits D Stroyers with a ¾-ounce tungsten weight into clusters of trees and fighting the fish through the branches. On my sonar, I captured an image of a submerged picnic table.

10 Santee Lakes, South Carolina

Stewart Venable | NuCanoe Regional Director, Content and MarketingSpecialist

For over a decade, I have fished many local- and national-level events on Santee Lakes.

At first light, I fish topwater lures around shoreline trees and emergent vegetation. My primary topwater lure is a frog with a Speed Worm as a follow-up bait. Working a buzzbait around cypress knees is another great option.

Once the sun rises, I work deeper trees with a Speed Worm or creature bait. These lures work from spring through fall. When the water is cold, I slowly work a Senko and spinnerbait around deeper trees. I also fish a jerkbait across deep flats.

The spawn is legendary on Santee. Warmer days during the pre-spawn and spawn provide some of the best bass fishing in the country. Five fish limits eclipse the 100-inch mark. On my personal best day, I caught 107.5 inches.

Even during the spawn, a cold front moves the fish offshore where they suspend in the water column. My go-to lure is a boot tail swimbait with an underspin.

Finding fish can be as simple as locating the closest clump of cypress trees. Or, I might spend an entire day hunting for a solitary trophy bass on a long flat. Spring, early summer and warm fall days, the bass head to pockets with large expanses of emergent grass. During the colder months, a fish finder is key to finding small groups of bass relating to isolated offshore structures or depressions on a large deep flat.

My favorite tactic is working shallow cover with a topwater frog. I like to fish grass lines with a walk-the-dog frog. With the walk-the-dog lure, I dissect the cover and potential strike zones with more control over the lure’s speed and direction.

Standup fishing is essential to working a topwater lure. The NuCanoe Ultimate is a stable platform with space for multiple rods, tons of gear and plenty of stability. I can power the Ultimate with pedal, motor or paddle.

My favorite accessory is the YakAttack ParkNPole Link. As I’m sneaking through the grass, I use the ParkNPole to quietly position the boat. When I see a fish, I can quickly deploy the ParkNPole to instantly stop the boat.

Since I mostly fish shallow water, a fish finder isn’t crucial. I keep it light and simple with a Lowrance Elite FS. The Elite FS has detailed sonar, water temperature and basic charts on a small screen that saves space.

One of my favorite stories happened during the 2013 Kayak Bass Fishing Open/Invitational on Santee Cooper Lakes. Due to unseasonably cold weather, the traditional spring patterns were not in play. I scored a top-10 finish by working a swimbait to suspended fish.

Get that winning feeling when you master these storied waters. | Feature photo: Logan Ares