America's Best Bass Lakes

Bill Dance's Cool-Weather Picks

EDITOR'S NOTE: Anyone who says he or she can tell you the best bass-fishing lakes in the United States only can choose those lakes based on personal knowledge. However, the outdoorsmen interviewed this week fish all over the nation and have the opportunities to sample some of the best bass fishing this country has to offer. They have emphasized that they don't know the best lakes in the nation to bass fish but will share the lakes where they catch the most and the biggest bass. Bill Dance of Memphis, Tennessee, host of Bill Dance Outdoors, loves to fish throughout the nation. But when he picks his favorite lakes, his choices bring him close to home.

Fall:
I fish the same pattern that I fish during the summer months (see my best picks).

Winter:
I fish slower with lures like the jig-and-pork or a tube jig. You also will have bassing success when you slow-roll and fish free-falling spinner-bait tactics, depending on the height of the river. When the water gets high, fish around visible cover close to the bank. If the water level drops, fish isolated cover away from the bank. Too, fish areas with no cover like clean bottoms that drop into a ditch or a sandbar that drops into deep water.

Spring:
During the spring, the river once again controls the lures anglers fish and their success. Most of the time you'll fish flood-water conditions that push the clear water in the oxbows back into the timber. The clear water that you'll find next to the shore or in the furthest end of the oxbow away from where the river runs into it will lead you to bass. Fish a floating worm, spinner baits and top-water lures. When the flood waters recede, look for drains and ditches that the bass can swim into and follow the water back toward the river. Fish these ditches with plastic worms, spinner baits and crankbaits.