Toledo Bend, Texas became the first location to ever repeat the distinction of number one in Bassmaster Magazine’s 100 Best Bass Lakes List.
Toledo Bend was recognized as No. 1 on the list in 2015, and on Monday they were again listed as the number one location to find bass. The top ten lakes in the nation are listed regardless of location every year.
However, this year Bassmaster changed how the top 100 were listed by dividing them into four regions: Northeast, Southeast, Central, and Western.
“We just thought this might make our rankings a little bit more relevant to our readers,” Bassmaster’s Dave Precht said in an interview with the Beaumont Enterprise. “That was really the biggest difference in rankings this year. It provides them a bucket list of fishing sports more closer to home, a bit more meaningful to the anglers.”
The Central division’s No. 1 fishery was Toledo Bend and Lake Sam Rayburn came in at No. 4.
Santee Cooper lakes earned the top spot (and also No. 2 in the nation) in the Southeast division, Clear Lake took the No. 1 spot in the Western division (as well as No. 3 nationally), and the New York section of Lake Erie was named No. 1 in the Northeast (and No. 4 in the nation).
This distinction was made with more than three months of research, according to Bassmaster Magazine editor James Hall. Hall noted that the initial pool of top fisheries was developed with input from B.A.S.S. Nation members across the country, state fisheries biologists, the 3,500-member B.A.S.S. Council, and some of the 650,000 Facebook fans of B.A.S.S.
We scoured the Internet for current catch-rate data, using the results of more than two dozen tournament organizations and several state ‘lunker’ programs to narrow the field to 100. Hall noted the panel of judges who finalized the rankings were ‘absolutely blown away’ by the catches yielded at Toledo Bend the past 12 months.
