Boating Summer 2010

By Martin Peters

Not surprisingly, as professional bass anglers cross and re-cross the country to compete on different lakes, they develop their own favorite places to fish. Here, each of the eight experienced Yamaha pros describes why he likes a particular body of water.

Mark Davis, winner of both the 1995 Bassmaster Classic as well as the BASS Angler of the Year title in the same year, prefers Alabama’s 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville.

“It’s a lake that has everything, including a very healthy fish population,” he explains. “If you want to fish structure, the lake has channels, points, and drop offs, but if you want to stay shallow, you can fish vegetation, stumps or boat docks.

“The best part is you can fish Lake Guntersville year-around and expect to catch fish. I’d rate it as one of the top three bass lakes in the United States.”

Two Yamaha pros, Dean Rojas and Alton Jones, both rate Falcon Reservoir in Texas as their favorite lake, primarily because of its trophy bass population. Jones fishes the lake often and caught his heaviest bass ever, 11 pounds, from the 83,000-acre impoundment. On other trips, he’s caught two over 10 pounds in a single day.

“Falcon is the only lake where I’ve had 65-pound braided line broken by a bass,” laughs Jones, winner of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic. “There is so much flooded brush that the bass don’t have to run far to get you in trouble.”

“I caught two bass over nine pounds in one day during a tournament and caught 88 pounds in three days at Falcon and still finished 14th, more than 40 pounds behind the winner,” adds Rojas. “Right now, Falcon is easily the best trophy bass lake in the country.”

Yamaha Pro Dave Wolak likes Clear Lake in California the best, despite having limited fishing time there.

“It’s where I first learned to fish swimbaits,” he remembers. “And today they’re some of my favorite and most productive lures.

“Clear Lake is one of those lakes that has produced some truly huge bass over 15 pounds, so with every cast you’re absolutely on edge waiting for a big strike. You can’t ask for more excitement and fun than that.”

Takahiro Omori, winner of the 2004 Bassmaster Classic, rates Lake Champlain on the New York/Vermont border as his favorite. “Lake Champlain has both largemouth and smallmouth, so you can actually choose not only which fish to go after, but also the way you want to fish for them,” smiles the Yamaha pro. “The largemouth hit crankbaits or jigs in shallow water, while the smallmouth hit drop shots, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits in deeper water.

“It’s a huge lake, and it’s also very scenic, so there are a lot of places to fish and you can enjoy all of them.” Kelly Jordon, who, before he started his professional tournament career, spent eight years as a guide on Lake Fork, considers that famous east Texas impoundment his favorite, primarily because it has such a large bass population.

“During the late spring and through much of the summer, it’s possible for two anglers to catch 50 or more bass on crankbaits in a day on Lake Fork,” acknowledges the Yamaha angler. “And the majority of those bass will be in the four- to seven-pound class. Along the way, you’ll almost certainly have at least one chance at a 10-pounder, too.

“I developed a lot of my tournament fishing techniques while guiding on Fork, so it will always be a special place for me.”

Cliff Pace, one of the top 12 finalists in this year’s BASS Angler of the Year race, likes Lake Amistad in Texas the most, primarily because of its large size and different types of structure.

“Amistad is the type of lake that offers such a variety of fishing choices you can nearly always find a place to fish exactly the way you want to with your favorite lures,” he explains. “And that’s rare. If you like to cast spinnerbaits around shallow brush, for example, there are places where you can do that and if you want to crank deep points, or fish plastic worms even deeper, you can do that, too. It’s a fun place to fish.”

Another top 12 finalist in this year’s BASS Angler of the Year race, Yamaha pro Mark Menendez, really likes Alabama’s Lake Jordan. “It’s one of the premier spotted bass fisheries in the country,” he notes. “And they’re big fish so they really fight hard.

“I enjoy structure fishing, and that’s one of the best ways to fish Lake Jordan, using jigs or crankbaits.”

If you have a favorite bass lake that should have made the list, send an email to blk@boatingsportsman.com with the name of the lake and why it should be considered one of the best bass lakes in the country.