The Basic dynamics of fish populations almost guarantees that every water that has bass also holds a few fish that are much larger than the local average. Summer after summer, at a lake or two areound the country, an inept kid tossing an improbable lure from the shore at high noon catches a largemouth bigger than anyone there has seen in years. It’s dumb luck, but it serves as proof that such trophies exist - and that you don’t have to travel very far to catch one.

Getting a lunker from your home water will probably require a radical change in your fishing habits. Big Largemouths often behave differently than the small bass you catch every day. They frequently use other parts of the lake or pond. They can feed differently as well.

Also heed this all-important bit of big-bass fishing advice: I once asked someone who started the fabled Lakes of Danbury pay-to-fish complex near Houston, why he didn’t have one lake full of nothing but 10-pounders instead of lakes with mixed fish sizes. “I tried that, and it didn’t work,” he said. “People couldn’t catch them because they fished too fast.”

In this entry there are five trophy areas to target on a typical lake, with advice on how to fish them. There are other options, of course, but these will catch fish. Now go check your drag…

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