Finding lakes for trophy bass.

[casts_by_fly]

The first port of call to know what’s in a lake is a biologist report. For the states that do them regularly, thank you. PA was pretty good at it. NJ used to but has laced the past five years. You have to know how to read them, but if the electrofishing survey says the biggest fish caught was 15” then there probably aren’t big ones. If the report shows an above average size distribution or catch rate per hour compared to other local lakes, then that’s a starter. 
 

The other is bait. No baitfish means no big predators.  What makes for good bait?  Nutrition in the water growing algae/invertebrates/tiny fish. It’s the base of the food pyramid. No base means no bigs at the top. Heavy stocking like at the conception of a lake can overdrive for a few years, but not on a massive scale. Look what happened when California stopped stocking trout. 
 

In the north I’ve seen 8-9lb largemouth caught from a 2 acre pond and a 10k acre impoundment.  I know of a few more in the same size class from other lakes. The important thing was that each is different but all had a good forage base. 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

3 hours ago, gim said:

Hey @10,000 lakes Bassin the MN DNR has public stocking and population estimate records for every fishable/access lake in the state on their website.  They usually conduct a new survey at minimum, every 5 years or less.  Some lakes they do it every year.

 

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html

 

One item I will say though, some survey methods they use are not very good for species like largemouth bass (like various gill or trap nets).  Electrofishing surveys are way better for largemouth.  In cases where they aren't doing electrofishing surveys, it may not be much help.

 

I'm not sure exactly where you are in MN, but I would advise not fishing some of the more heavily pressured lakes that have constant tournaments and derbies.  Lakes that tend to have less pressure are more productive and generally the fish are more willing to bite.  That's been my observation here for the past 15 years anyways.

 

Also, your definition of "trophy" size here is a little vague.  I would consider a trophy of each species here in Minnesota to be 20+ inches or 5+ pounds.  Yours may differ.  If you're looking for a new state record, that may be a completely different conversation.

 

Lastly, when you do find a lake that has a respectable population of plus sized bass, keep it to yourself.

Thanks! I’ve used that mn dnr website before but I will definitely look into more. I’m with you in considering 5lbs a giant largie up here, but I’m really trying to break the 6.5lb mark so that’s my goal for now. 

[gim]

28 minutes ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

but I’m really trying to break the 6.5lb mark so that’s my goal for now. 

 

Tall task.  Good luck to you

[Catt]

10 hours ago, Catt said:

 

What I look for now is lists published by Wildlife & Fisheries showing the number of Florida strain stocked in various bodies of water & for how long. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hand typed these, notice the dates.