For the second consecutive year, Chickamauga Lake has been named one of the top 10 bass fishing lakes in the United States.
In late April, Bassmaster Magazine ranked the 100 best bass lakes in the nation using catch-rate data input from the publication’s staff, readers, fishing guides and wildlife agency officials from around the nation.
Chickamauga Lake came in at No. 7 in the 2014 rankings, down one spot from its 2013 ranking, but still a big jump from No. 61 in the inaugural Bassmaster Magazine rankings in 2012.
“Our bass stocking program that we instituted to influence the bass population seems to be working,” says Mark Thurman, Region III fisheries manager for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. “It means a lot to the local economies for tournaments. It brings a lot of interest in the area.”
Chickamauga wasn’t the only area fishery to be honored in the list. Lake Guntersville in northeast Alabama was ranked No. 5, and Pickwick Lake in northwest Alabama was selected as the 24th best bass lake. Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley in the Land Between the Lakes area north of Nashville on the Kentucky-Tennessee border was No. 18, while Lake Lanier in north Georgia snuck into the list at No. 100.