ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As a freelance writer and photographer , Rob Newell has been reporting on fishing tournaments for 20 years , finding the stories between fish and angler to be a stretched line of heroes , heartache , triumph , torture , inspiration and exasperation .

hile traveling the country reporting on tournaments , I occasionally get asked by young anglers about things they can do to better prepare themselves to become professional anglers . One suggestion I always include is to make trips to wellknown tournament lakes across the country to learn them before there ’ s money on the line .

Regional- and national-level bass tournaments go to the same competition waters year after year : Guntersville , Okeechobee , Champlain , Potomac River , Pickwick , Hartwell , St . Clair , etc . I ’ m always surprised at the number

of young anglers who front large entry fees to fish these lakes for the first time during a tournament . For just the cost of the entry fee alone , one can hook up a boat and fish any of those lakes for a week or more , learning the unique bass footprints for each region of the country . Bass have their own quirks in each part of the country , and learning those differences in behavior across regions is critical .

With that in mind , I ’ ve assembled a short list of mustknow bass lakes — a sort of professional fishing training course . It ’ s by no means a complete list , and it ’ s admittedly biased to the eastern half

of the country where most tournaments take place . But the fact is , if you want to be a professional angler , you ’ ll have to perform on these lakes at some point , and an investment in learning them is time and money well spent .

The added bonus , of course , is that lessons learned on each of these fisheries can and do translate to other bodies of water as well . It ’ s all a matter of experience .

Tennessee River requirements

It ’ s been said that the Tennessee River is the lifeblood of professional bass