Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2025 i Bassmaster

From colonial cartography to record-breaking Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series moments, the Pasquotank River is a waterway with stories to tell. Its name, rooted in Algonquian language, likely references the branching currents that made it vital for trade and Indigenous travel during European settlement. In the 17th century it became the political heartbeat of Albemarle, even staging religious assemblies like the Culpeper uprising. That legacy continued into Civil War skirmishes and its role in the Underground Railroad, where the enslaved secreted North through the Great Dismal Swamp, using this river as a watery escape route. Fast forward to April 2025, and Bassmaster helped write a new chapter. After more than 30 years without hosting a tournament on this body of water, the Elite Series returned on a wave of anticipation. With…

Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin National Top 10 Lakes from the Central Division 1. O.H. Ivie Lake, Texas 2. Lake Fork, Texas 3. Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota 4. Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas [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…

Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia National Top 10 Lakes from the Northeastern Division 1. St. Lawrence River (Thousand Islands), New York 2. Lake Erie/Upper Niagara River, New York 3. Lake St. Clair, Michigan 4. Lake Erie, Ohio/Michigan [30-mile radius of Sandusky] Lake Erie’s western basin doesn’t yield the numbers of smallmouth it once did. However, the lake’s many islands and reefs continue to produce heavy limits of brown bass for savvy anglers, such as those who compete on the Lake Erie Bass Challenge team circuit. It took 25.78 pounds to top a 32-team field in April 2025. Twelve of the teams weighed in five-bass limits of more than 20 pounds, with the biggest…

MOST TODDLERS HAVE a favorite stuffed animal or pull toy. When Knoxville native Robert Gee was a wee tot, his most prized possession was a tube of crickets. “My family owned a vacation home at Nantahala Lake in western North Carolina, and I started fishing there when I was 2 years old,” he recalls. “I’d dunk those crickets and catch bluegill, crappie and an occasional bass. Later I traded in crickets for some bass lures. We lived close to a marina on Fort Loudoun Lake, and I’d sling topwaters and Flukes from docks and catch largemouth and smallmouth. I was totally hooked on fishing!” As the catcher on his high school’s state championship baseball team, Gee received scholarship offers from several colleges. He turned them down and enrolled at the…

1 [Grab A Frog To Catch A Hog] A famous frog once said that it’s not easy being green, but with the right gear and know-how, it’s easy enough to land a big, green fish on a frog. Most Fun Bite In Bass Fishing? Is there really a more fun way to catch bass? Of course, each angler is entitled to their own personal opinion, but catching them on a frog has long been a favorite amongst bass anglers across the globe. Frog blowups are some of the most visually appealing bites. However, unlike a traditional topwater with treble hooks, with a frog anglers have the ability to set the hook as hard as they can without the risk of losing the fish. It’s the perfect combination of topwater fishing…

Spotted bass in my lakes can be tough to catch during summer. Where is the best place to look for them, and what’s your favorite way to catch them? Jermaine Salter, Albany, Ga. Bassmaster Elite Series pro Marc Frazier I like to focus on brushpiles in water depths around 18 to 22 feet. If you can find bait in the ditches of the main lake, a lot of times you catch spots by ’Scoping them with a jig/minnow, but drop shotting a pink Roboworm gets a lot of bites, too. The thing I do the most when it gets to the heat of summer is stay with a spinning rod with light line. I typically use a 7-3 Abu Garcia Veracity rod and an Abu Garcia spinning reel spooled with…

PiranhO2 Oxygen Enrichment System $750 | piranho2.com Features: COAST WPH34R Headlamp $89.99 | coastportland.com Features: 6th Sense Ozzie 4.0 $5.99 | 6thsensefishing.com Features: Booyah Flash Point Jerkbait $14.99 | lurenet.com Features: Northland Tackle Minnesota Mullet $12.99 | northlandtackle.com Features: [More Must-Haves] AFTCO Jason Christie Hooded LS Performance Shirt $49 aftco.com Damiki Rig Jighead $5.99 damiki.com MG Lures Oishii Craw $4.25 (10-pack) mglures.com Rapala DT10 $10.79 rapala.com  …

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee National Top 10 Lakes from the Southeastern Division 1. Orange Lake, Florida 2. Santee Cooper Lakes, South Carolina 3. Lake Guntersville, Alabama [69,000 acres] Always a staple in the 100 Best Bass Lake rankings, the bass fishing on Lake Guntersville has been electric this year. All three species of bass swim in these waters, and nearly every tournament takes at least 25 pounds to win. Thirty-two bags over 20 pounds were caught during a BFL event in mid-February, and the winner caught a limit weighing just over 29 pounds. The Angler’s Choice Championship the last week of February took a two-day total of 53.83 to win. Twenty-two bass over 6 pounds were caught, and a 10-pounder claimed big-bass honors. Then during the…

BITE INTENSITY USUALLY reflects a fish’s intentions, and when you get one to really crack a bait, you know they want it in their belly or in the ground. Hunger and anger are powerful motivators and, according to Mark Zona, both seem to guide the way bass respond to dice baits. “It’s not just something they want to eat; it’s something they want to kill,” said Zona, host of Bassmaster.com’s TnZ Podcast presented by Strike King Lures. “They want to punish it.” Now a bite is a bite, but ferocity during a typically sluggish time amplifies the point. Zona’s first foray into the emerging dice bait realm took place shortly before Strike King debuted its version — the Tumbleweed — at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by…

  ON THE FIRST day of his professional bass fishing career, Mark Menendez walked to the boat dock in Alton, Ill., with just four rods in his hand: a 5-6 Lew’s pistol grip baitcaster, a 6-0 Lew’s baitcaster, a 7-0 Browning crankbait rod and a 7-6 Fenwick flipping stick. It was the opening round of the 1991 Illinois Invitational, and Menendez’s partner, veteran Shaw Grigsby, had to wonder what kind of day he was in for with the brand-new rookie. He didn’t worry long, because after the temperature dropped overnight from the high 80s to the low 40s, the tournament became a struggle for everyone. Woo Daves won with 18 pounds, 13 ounces by putting a Zebco push-button spincast reel on his flipping stick. Menendez barely missed the money. Now…

  IF YOU’RE LOOKING for your next dream destination to chase easy bites and personal bests, look no further. Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes rankings return for 2025, and this year’s list is packed with surprises. From legendary fisheries reclaiming their glory to emerging hot spots making a splash for the first time, this is the most comprehensive, data-driven breakdown of America’s top bass lakes you will find. To build this ultimate bucket list of bass fishing destinations, we went far beyond the dock. Our team scoured tournament results from every major circuit over the past 12 months, analyzing weights, catch rates and consistency. We consulted with state fisheries biologists and natural resource agencies, gathering insights on stocking programs, habitat health and long-term trends. And we polled thousands of passionate…

Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming National Top 10 Lakes from the Western Division 1. Clear Lake, California 2. Lake Casitas, California 3. Lake Berryessa, California [20,700 acres] The threat of golden mussel introductions has made getting out on this large Putah Creek watershed lake more difficult, with the requirement of either a 30-day boat, motor and trailer quarantine or hot-water decontamination by authorized personnel. But those willing to go through the process are finding some incredible bass fishing in terms of both numbers and quality. Earlier this year, it took five-bass limits weighing in at over 30 pounds to win most of the tournaments we surveyed. At an early season Best Bass team event in February, the winners hauled in 33.37 to claim victory,…

ASK MOST VETERAN anglers to name a reliable shallow-water lure for big smallmouth and you’ll likely get two replies: spinnerbaits or finesse plastics. Well, add the bladed jig to that list. If you want an exciting, bone-jarring bite from big smallmouth, tie one on. Even Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jason Christie, known for his passion for spinnerbaits around the country, is becoming a believer. “The spinnerbait is great for smallmouth, but oftentimes it can be too slow for big smallmouth in clear water,” he admits. “I think a fast-moving bladed jig looks more real to the smallmouth than the spinnerbait, and they tend to bite it better under those conditions.” Both Michigan’s Mark Zona and northern Minnesota’s Scott Walsh discovered the phenomenon by accident — Zona while fishing the…

    The decade started off at a breakneck pace for Bryan New. Bolstered by a first-place finish on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain in a St. Croix Bassmaster Open presented by SEVIIN held there in 2020, New took home the 2020 Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year title, earning an automatic qualification to the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. Less than 12 months later, he added a blue trophy to his collection with a victory at the 2021 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River. In the years since, New has been adding numerous Top 5 finishes to his resume, cementing his reputation as a serious threat during any competition. And while New has notched his most notable victories in shallow, Florida waters, he says he might never have had the chance…

When a red-hot rookie collides with one of the hottest bass lakes in the country, something’s gotta give. At the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite Series event held on Lake Fork in early May, it wasn’t the lake or Tucker Smith … it was everyone else. With 127 pounds, 8 ounces of Lone Star largemouth, Smith outpaced the field at the No. 3 ranked fishery on Bassmaster’s 100 Best Bass Lakes list. The unflappable Alabama prodigy didn’t just win, he announced his arrival on the biggest stage in bass fishing with flare. In his inaugural season on the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series, Smith conquered a lake known for chewing up rookies and spitting out heartbreak. And he made it look easy. Fork’s not a finesse fishery. Nor is competing on it…