Photo by Tom Evans

Throw a dart at a map of Tennessee, and you're likely to hit a quality destination for catching largemouth bass. Major reservoirs, rivers and small lakes together offer dozens of fine places to fish for bass, and good fishing holes are spread from one end of the state to the other.

While anglers enjoy occasional fine days virtually everywhere that bass swim, some waterways clearly stand above the rest. To discover which waters offer Tennessee's very best largemouth prospects this year, we turned to Tim Churchill, reservoir coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. We'll travel from east to west, looking at the lakes that Churchill believes will produce the best action.

"Best" bass waters, of course, are somewhat subjective and vary by individual anglers' preferences. Some fishermen seek fast action, while others would gladly forsake fast action for the opportunity to hook into a hawg. Likewise, some anglers like open lakes and offshore structure, while others prefer to beat banks and favor smaller waters. Churchill's picks encompass a little bit of everything and cover all parts of the state.

Before getting into specific picks, Churchill pointed out a couple issues of interest to bass fishermen. First, he noted that anglers and biologists alike will be watching the effects of changes in annual water-flow regimes incorporated by Tennessee Valley Authority, which began this year. Generally speaking, TVA will be bringing tributary lakes back toward full pool earlier in the spring than they previously did and keeping levels of some of the main-river impoundments lower than they have during the same time in previous years.

Churchill noted that the TVA did extensive research to look at potential impacts of the change and doesn't believe fisheries will suffer substantial harm. Some long-term impact is almost certain, but what that impact will be and whether it will be good or bad (or some of both) remains unknown. Some fisheries biologists believe the change may benefit sport fish in the tributary reservoirs, but could have some negative impact on the main-river impoundments that will be kept lower in the spring. Any effects should be long term and probably won't impact fishing this spring, except in the sense of where bass might be located.

One TWRA project of particular interest to Tennessee bass anglers is the experimental stocking of Florida-strain largemouth bass in Chickamauga Lake, an experiment that has been ongoing for several years. The first phase of a study to examine the benefit of the stockings was completed last year. It indicated that the impact on the genetic make-up of the bass in the lake was less than TWRA had hoped, according to Churchill. However, they will continue stocking Florida bass over the next couple of years and will experiment with some changes in the sizes of the fish stocked and in stocking locations.

Overall, the state's largemouth fishery is good. No major regulation changes are in the works, and most targeted management efforts are currently being aimed toward other species. Churchill expects anglers to find good bass fishing on lakes across the state. Let's look more closely at the waters where he expects the action to be the best.