AMERICA'S BEST BASS LAKES

Bill Dance's Top 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.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER OXBOWS
You'll find these highly-fertile oxbows all the way from St. Louis, Missouri, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I particularly like to fish the oxbows around the Arkansas- and Mississippi- state lines. Don't forget that the river itself will determine the baits and patterns that will work. For example, if you fish these oxbows as the river falls, you can expect to catch plenty of 1- to 2-pound bass and an occasional 7 pounder. Or, you may get into some tremendous-sized schools that home bass weighing 2- to 5-pounds each.

Summer:
When the lake's low, I concentrate my top-water lure fishing on bars and sand banks early and late in the day and fish plastic worms in the middle of the day. When I come to visible or underwater cover, I'll pull out a spinner bait and fish it. Remember, even when air temperatures reach 95 to 100 degrees, you still can find bass on shallow-water patterns. The dissolved oxygen level in deep water may reach nearly zero in these lakes.

TOMORROW: BILL DANCE'S COOL-WEATHER PICKS