What makes the “perfect” big bass lake?

[Eric Peterson]

When looking for big bass lakes, what kind of characteristics do you look for in a lake before you go there? What does a lake need for bass to grow bigger then the other bodies of water around it? 

[Mossypumpkin]

I think this is an awesome topic for discussion. I wouldn’t say I look for any specific features of any body of water, though. So here, a 7lber is a huge fish. I’ve caught 7lbers from tiny, shallow bodies, mid sized/mid depth bodies, and big, deep lakes. I think fish are going to adapt to grow large with what they have to work with. If there is little or no cover, they’ll use structure. This is seen in a lot of the west/southwest, featureless lakes.

Here in the far northeast, we really don’t have waters that don’t have a lot of feed. These places are stuffed full with food, so that’s not really a concern.
 

That all being said, what I typically look for is what I’ve found while fishing over several trips to a body of water. If I hit a new spot, I’ll try to fish it at least 3-4 times before making a call. We have endless numbers of places to fish, so I’m not going to stay hung up on one spot and try to force a big fish bite. If I fish a water a couple times and have found some 2-3lbers, it’s worth trying a couple more times. If I find 3-4lbers in good numbers, that tells me there’s some 5s. But if I’m only getting steady 2-3lb fish and a 4 is hard to come by, those are probably the very upper range of the size fish in the water. If I can catch 4-5+ lbers quickly in a water, I’m convinced there’s plenty more. You didn’t go to a new spot and immediately the biggest fish in the body. The biggest of fish in a water are going to take time to find. That’s my two cents 

[a_mum]

i feel like the most important things for bass to get big are cover ,food , and not a lot of competition 

seems that way by me at least, the lakes with tons of brush/rock piles, good amount of shad/minnows/bluegills/trout stocks and not so much competion for food ie. striped bass or catch and keep anglers, always have the biggest bass 

 

[PKNNH]

To go along with what everyone has said, I feel the weather and the location of the lake is at. It's one of the many reasons why Texas and California stand out as great bass fisheries versus states like mine.

[hydrocephalic]

Subspecies of largemouth bass present has a big impact. Florida strain largemouth get much larger than northern strain. 

[dqb]

Light fishing pressure with lots of forage. I like finding small bodies of water near big, high quality /notable impoundments. A lake that is mostly private but has one public access point is usually a good start. 

[CG_Fishes]

I usually only fish little 150 acre or less lakes/ponds so what I look for is somewhat specific. Most important to me is food source, if there aren't golden shiners or trout it's not worth fishing. Another thing I look for is what other predatory species are present, in my area that usually means chain pickerel, walleye, pike and tiger musky. If the lake does have these species I list it as a B spot, my A spots are lakes with trout/shiners with only bass as the predators. After a trip or two I can usually figure out if the lake will hold big fish or not, if I catch a bunch of 1-2 lbers without a 4+ I will give up after 3 trips. Just my process of finding new lakes

[FishDr]

On 4/3/2020 at 4:19 PM, Eric Peterson said:

When looking for big bass lakes, what kind of characteristics do you look for in a lake before you go there? What does a lake need for bass to grow bigger then the other bodies of water around it? 

I agree with Mossypumpkin - this is a really neat topic.  I worked with a local fish biologist and a couple of fisheries students a few years back to try to find out whether there were key features that showed up repeatedly on lakes that produced what Colorado calls "Master Angler" size bass (anything over 18" - I know, that's a small fish in a lot of places) that gets reported to the fisheries agency.  We looked at things like forage, size of lake, latitude, elevation, other species present, proximity to population centers, regulations, etc.  It turns out that the only things that sort of correlated with more MA-class fish were regulations and proximity to population centers.  The farther away from population centers, the more likely you were to see MA-class fish, and the stricter the regulation (e.g., catch and release vs. 18" minimum size limit vs. 12" minimum size limit), the more often you saw MA-class fish.  So there wasn't a magic bullet there.  That being said, it was interesting that we still saw MA-class fish coming out of small urban lakes with lax regulations.  Of course, the data we were using were angler reports of MA-sized fish, and that's definitely a bias sample - I know a handful of CO anglers who target bigger bass (myself included) who have never turned in a MA application.

So, throwing the science away and going with personal experience, I'd say that the lakes where I've run across the best big bass fishing here in CO are far away from population centers, and that either have a big bluegill population or get stocked with trout, and that have good weedbeds.  Lakes in the more urban areas need to have C&R regulations and regular patrolling by game wardens and/or park rangers.

[Jace D]

In my part of the country you can generally find big fish everywhere. But, if you’re talking about the biggest of the big, teener class fish, I see two things at our lakes that will nearly eliminate (nearly but not completely) your chances of finding this class of fish. The first thing is lack of a large, easy to find and eat bait fish. Rainbow trout, Kokanee, hitch. You need one or more of these.
The second thing is the presence of a larger, more aggressive predator fish in the lake. In CA that is striper. Catfish get bigger but don’t seem to compete directly with the bass. Striper will wreck a bass fishery for teener size fish. The delta does have teeners but not like the lakes and you rarely see them caught in the cold months when the big striper move deep into the sloughs. Also, the delta is an exception to a certain extent because it is an open system and the bass can still find good food sources away from the striper schools. Lakes don’t generally afford the same opportunity for the bass if the striper are present. 
There aren’t very many bass lakes in CA that don’t have a record bass over 15 lbs. If they don’t, you can almost guarantee they have one or both of these issues. 

[Amistoad]

Here in Texas, there’s a magic combination of ample water volume, big prey fish (sunfish, tilapia, and/or gizzard shad), and temperatures that cool enough in winter to allow bass to pack on weight. Tournaments and fishing pressure are high here, but a LOT of guys throw small baits for “keeper” bass. They’re impressed by numbers, not size. There are the well-known lakes and also some sleepers (that I need to get to!) that have double digit bass. 

[Seahaecker]

On 4/4/2020 at 7:46 PM, Jace D said:

In my part of the country you can generally find big fish everywhere. But, if you’re talking about the biggest of the big, teener class fish, I see two things at our lakes that will nearly eliminate (nearly but not completely) your chances of finding this class of fish. The first thing is lack of a large, easy to find and eat bait fish. Rainbow trout, Kokanee, hitch. You need one or more of these.
The second thing is the presence of a larger, more aggressive predator fish in the lake. In CA that is striper. Catfish get bigger but don’t seem to compete directly with the bass. Striper will wreck a bass fishery for teener size fish. The delta does have teeners but not like the lakes and you rarely see them caught in the cold months when the big striper move deep into the sloughs. Also, the delta is an exception to a certain extent because it is an open system and the bass can still find good food sources away from the striper schools. Lakes don’t generally afford the same opportunity for the bass if the striper are present. 
There aren’t very many bass lakes in CA that don’t have a record bass over 15 lbs. If they don’t, you can almost guarantee they have one or both of these issues. 

100% agree with that landlocked striper lakes here will have a "big bass" depletation fer sure.

[Harshwaters]

Forage. Ponds that hold Black Crappie or trout seem to produce the bigger fish 

[basssavage24/7]

Somtimes I wonder how much genetics play a factor there's this deep rock quarry pond I fish less then 2 Acres. Has a ton of bluegill. next to it is a 40 Acres pond.

The 2 acre has insane amount of 8 pound fish in it. I have yet to catch a fish under 6 pounds. Bites are really hard to get. I have only northern strain bass here for the most part. We  have some f1 brought in illegally since a lot of bass have them brought in from other people. But all the bass fish and game has stock has been pure Northerns.

  My theory on why the 2-acre pond has a lot of big bass is either they're F1 or when somebody catches a really big bass out of the 40 Acre pond. They throw their big fish in the 2-acre pond. And over the years have created better genetics in that pond.

[Amistoad]

11 hours ago, basssavage24/7 said:

Somtimes I wonder how much genetics play a factor there's this deep rock quarry pond I fish less then 2 Acres. Has a ton of bluegill. next to it is a 40 Acres pond.

The 2 acre has insane amount of 8 pound fish in it. I have yet to catch a fish under 6 pounds. Bites are really hard to get. I have only northern strain bass here for the most part. We  have some f1 brought in illegally since a lot of bass have them brought in from other people. But all the bass fish and game has stock has been pure Northerns.

  My theory on why the 2-acre pond has a lot of big bass is either they're F1 or when somebody catches a really big bass out of the 40 Acre pond. They throw their big fish in the 2-acre pond. And over the years have created better genetics in that pond.

This requires immediate investigation and a second opinion. PM me the GPS location of the pond with nothing under 6 and I’ll go check it out...in the name of science of course. 

[Texasfishn]

I give it the 2:00am scan, and check for fat girls. Most lakes post their record catches, at least here in Texas. Help determine which water is loaded with healthy heifers, or skinny minis