Stephen Headrick holds up a hefty smallmouth bass taken from Dale Hollow Lake on a Punisher Lure Company tandem spinnerbait. Photo by Paul Moore.

Another year of bass angling lies dead ahead. With so many great locations for bass in our state, it makes one want to try to fish them all. While that's not possible for most of us, we can all find some great location close to home that offers up some excellent bassin'.

Bluegrass anglers have the opportunity to chase largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted (Kentucky) bass in Kentucky waters. Here's a look at each of the black bass species -- and some of the best spots to catch them this year.

LARGEMOUTH BASS
Our most common and most sought-after black bass is obviously the largemouth. Anglers pursue the bigmouth bite from farm ponds to rivers to large reservoirs. Regardless of location in the state, there are prime opportunities to tangle with some hefty largemouth bass in Kentucky waters.

For largemouth bass, many people immediately think of Kentucky Lake -- and with good reason. It's been a top destination for years. The good news is, it's getting even better!

In the mid-1990s, Kentucky Lake's bass population had some down years due to a lack of aquatic vegetation. Now the vegetation is returning, and that means much better survival for bass fry.

A lot of weed growth has returned to the lake over the past four years or so. But much of it has been coontail and naiads, which has not been quite as beneficial as cover for spawned fish. However, Eurasian water milfoil began coming back strong in 2006 and will be a terrific boost to this fishery.

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) biologist Paul Rister says the largemouth fishery is above average right now, and he expects it to peak in coming years. He is predicting the fishery to "go way back up." There are lots of fish in the 12- to 17-inch range and with good spawns, the fishery should really show tremendous size and weight distribution very soon.

Neighboring Lake Barkley is also doing quite well. Actually, the bass fishery there is about double the one at Kentucky Lake, although most fish are not as large as at Kentucky. Anglers will catch more bass at Barkley, but the larger quality-sized fish will come from Kentucky.

To some degree, Barkley tends to follow the same trends as Kentucky. Weeds are also making a comeback at Barkley, but Rister says the lake will probably not see the boom expected for Kentucky. The spawns at Barkley have been average, and the fishery should remain stable over the next few years. As a reference, to win bass tournaments at Kentucky and Barkley over the past four years, it has taken a 5-fish catch with an average weight of 2 1/2 pounds.

"If I wanted to go catch a really nice largemouth in my area, Cedar Creek Lake would be my choice. It is the best largemouth fishery we have in this part of the state," said biologist John Williams.

This Lincoln County lake has lots of bass between 16 and 19 inches, with a lot of quality-sized fish as well. Some will surpass the 20-inch mark.

There is great habitat everywhere in the lake. There are abundant aquatic plants and lots of weedbeds, which not only help protect spawns, but also provide some excellent fishing locations. This lake has seen some problems in the past with pond scum and algae, but they have been clearing and seem destined not to be a problem any longer.

The 20-inch length limit and one-fish creel has made Cedar Creek Lake virtually a catch-and-release lake so far. These trophy regulations have really helped develop this fishery, and biologists are expecting to see some really good fish there in 2007. By that time, some of these bass may reach the 6- to 7-pound range.