Clear Lake In B.A.S.S. Top 10 Tournament Lakes

Most bass anglers in California would say Clear Lake is the mother lode of the Golden State’s prized  largemouth fisheries. And the national club B.A.S.S., which refers itself as “the worldwide authority on bass fishing,” would agree.

B.A.S.S. ranked the Top 10 Bass Lakes for 2016, and nationally Clear Lake ranked third (the list also included the San Joaquin Delta at No. 5 and Lake Berryessa at No. 7.

Here’s the B.A.S.S. overall Top 10:

1. Toledo Bend, Texas/Louisiana [185,000 acres]
2. Santee Cooper lakes, Marion and Moultrie, South Carolina [110,000 acres and 60,000 acres, respectively]
3. Clear Lake, California [43,785 acres]
4. Lake Erie, New York [30-mile radius from Buffalo]
5. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California [1,100 square miles]
6. Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota [132,000 acres]
7. Lake Berryessa, California [20,700 acres]
8. Rodman Reservoir, Florida [13,000 acres]
9. Falcon Lake, Texas [83,654 acres]
10. Lake St. Clair, Michigan [430 square miles]

And here’s the Western Region rankings, which includes some other California bass fisheries:

Western Region
1. Clear Lake, California
2. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California
3. Lake Berryessa, California
4. Lake Havasu, Arizona/California [19,300 acres]
5. Dworshak Reservoir, Idaho [17,090 acres]
6. Lake Casitas, California [1,100 acres]
7. Tenmile Lake, Oregon [1,626 acres]
8. Lake Washington, Washington [21,747 acres]
9. Don Pedro Reservoir, California [13,000 acres]
10. Saguaro Lake, Arizona [1,267 acres]
11. Snake River, Idaho/Oregon [100 mile Hells Canyon Wilderness reach]
12. Potholes Reservoir, Washington [14,281 acres]
13. Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho [25,000 acres]
14. Roosevelt Lake, Arizona [21,493 acres]
15. C.J. Strike Reservoir, Idaho [7,500 acres]
16. Lake Mohave, Nevada/Arizona [26,500 acres]
17. Banks Lake, Washington [26,886 acres]
18. Columbia River, Oregon/Washington [191 miles from Portland to McNary Dam]
19. Brownlee Reservoir, Idaho/Oregon [15,000 acres]
20. Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona [158,080 acres]
21. Lake Powell, Utah/Arizona [108,335 acres]
22. Shasta Lake, California [30,000 acres]
23. Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Utah/Wyoming [42,020 acres]
24. Apache Lake, Arizona [2,568 acres]
25. Sand Hollow Reservoir, Utah [1,300 acres]