Lake Guntersville named nation’s second-best bass lake of the decade

Alabama’s Lake Guntersville was ranked No. 2 in Bassmaster Magazine’s “Best Bass Lakes of the Decade” list released on Tuesday.

Bassmaster has released annual rankings of the country’s best bass fisheries since 2012. However, 2020 rankings were not compiled because tournament data could not be gathered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the publication crunched the numbers and put together an all-decade list rather than an annual one.

Lake Guntersville was the highest placing lake in the Southeast, only finishing behind California’s Clear Lake nationally.

Pickwick Lake, located in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, was named as America’s 13th-best bass lake of the decade, also representing the Yellowhammer State well.

“Typically, creating the rankings takes more than two months as we dig through current tournament data as well as state fishery information on stocking efforts, catch rates and angler access,” explained Bassmaster Magazine editor-in-chief James Hall in a statement. “Instead, we used all of this research and rankings from the past eight years to create an incredible — and somewhat surprising — ranking of bucket-list destinations for anglers.”

Lake Guntersville was also ranked second in the 2019 annual list.

“Like Clear Lake, the Big G has never been named the Best Bass Lake in the nation, but it is rarely out of contention. Guntersville is known for its breathtaking scenery and easy access, but big fish swim there as well. Most big-bass prizes are awarded to fish topping the 8-pound mark, with 10-plus-pounders taking center stage on occasion,” Bassmaster said in a Tuesday release.

While it did not make the national best-25 list, Alabama’s Lake Eufaula was named as one of the best bass lakes in the Southeast for the decade.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn