Toughest Lake To Fish? 2024
bkohlman reply :
My toughest lake to fish. Is Beaver Lake. My wife's family has a cabin on the water, and a fun skiing boat and a tiny 8 ft plastic boat to fish from. I cannot figure it out and catch much more than nice bluegill!
What lake is the toughest for you?
OntarioFishingGuy reply :
Lake Ontario and the credit river.
Lund Explorer reply :
On 11/29/2014 at 9:54 PM, bkohlman said:My toughest lake to fish. Is Beaver Lake. My wife's family has a cabin on the water, and a fun skiing boat and a tiny 8 ft plastic boat to fish from. I cannot figure it out and catch much more than nice bluegill!
What lake is the toughest for you?
Nice bluegill, huh?
Any extra room in the cabin, because I'm looking for a tough lake!
Catch and Grease reply :
Lol if you guys ever come near lakeland Georiga come fish banks lake! Its tough.
Weld's Largemouth reply :
Blydenburgh lake Long Island NY.
Step 1: Find a spot to cast
No other steps b/c you won't find a spot to cast in the summer
bluenitrouscoupe reply :
Lake Seminole FL/GA
WRB reply :
Lake Casitas in SoCal can be very tough for anyone who doesn't stay on top of the current bite. The bass at Casitas have a very short feeding period and you need to know the cycle or get skunked.
All our local SoCal lakes are a lot easier to consistently catch bass.
Tom
hoosierhawghunter reply :
When i talked to kvd and tim horton. They both said... if you can catch fish in Indiana, you can catch fish anywhere. Small waters with alot more anglers. Fish patoka or Monroe and tell me how much fun you have. Doubt you'll have any.
BasshunterJGH reply :
Lake cachuma is the hardest for me.
smallieking reply :
Lake Hamilton Arkansas. Cheat Lake west virginia.
Catt reply :
Lacassine Wildlife Refuge, shallow water marsh, extremely clear, heavy vegetation. Opens March 15-October 15 which means your fishing the heat of summer.
Alonerankin2 reply :
On 11/30/2014 at 1:01 AM, hoosierhawghunter said:When i talked to kvd and tim horton. They both said... if you can catch fish in Indiana, you can catch fish anywhere. Small waters with alot more anglers. Fish patoka or Monroe and tell me how much fun you have. Doubt you'll have any.
That's a fact, all though I have caught some really good fish on Monroe before they ( Ind. ) killed off all the pads... Patoka, love it for Crappie, Bluegills & even Stripes... Sucks for LMB though. Ind. is most assuredly a difficult state for the LMB, that's a fact.
Ozark_Basser reply :
On 11/29/2014 at 9:54 PM, bkohlman said:My toughest lake to fish. Is Beaver Lake. My wife's family has a cabin on the water, and a fun skiing boat and a tiny 8 ft plastic boat to fish from. I cannot figure it out and catch much more than nice bluegill!
What lake is the toughest for you?
Beaver can be hard. It takes on water from Table Rock to prevent flooding which changes the conditions a lot. A lot of folks around there will just drive up to Table Rock or over to Bull Shoals. You really need a good fishfinder to consistently do well throughout the year at all three.
Bankbeater reply :
Any lake that has a lot of fishing pressure.
papajoe222 reply :
Whatever lake I happen to be at on any given day! Seriously though,there are a couple that I haven't been able to figure out. Powers and Deer Lake in Wisconsin. I don't visit them anymore because life is too short to get out and NOT catch fish on a regular basis.
bmlum415 reply :
Lake McClure
brgbassmaster reply :
No lake compares to any in New mexico. Especially elephant butte lake. If you can catch bass in New mex than you can catch bass anywhere in the world.
riverbasser13 reply :
Lake Tugalo, GA/SC.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 11/29/2014 at 9:54 PM, bkohlman said:My toughest lake to fish. Is Beaver Lake. My wife's family has a cabin on the water, and a fun skiing boat and a tiny 8 ft plastic boat to fish from. I cannot figure it out and catch much more than nice bluegill!
What lake is the toughest for you?
Man I love Beaver Lake, but you're right it is a tough nut to crack. Last time I was there was a couple of the best days of fishing that I've had. We both caught our PB stripers, Jon caught his PB wiper and smallmouth, and I caught a pig largemouth that was 6 1/4 and another that was 5. I'm afraid to go back because I'm sure I have several trips worth of catching nothing after that trip.
I hate Hillsdale! It was nice to me last year and I thought maybe it was coming around. This year, 5 trips for 3 bass and 2 crappie 
Sam reply :
The lake that is the toughest for me is the one that I am not getting any bites.
Happens sooner or later.
One time you will go out on One Fish Anna and clobber them. Next trip nothing.
Hit Buggs Island and get a five fish limit when the water is over 303 and the next time with the water level around 300 struggle for anything you can get to hit your baits.
Lake Gaston is a blast but she can be nasty at times.
Lake Chesdin is fun but with all of the boaters and skiers you can have a difficult time.
Chickahominy Lake can produce some nice ones but when the grass takes over you can forget it.
So if you hear that Lake So and So is hot all that means is that it was a fun place to fish on that one particular time and when you go out they will quit biting.
Smith Mountain Lake is beautiful but at times she does not want to give up her fish.
ww2farmer reply :
My home lake, Silver Lake, has a very bad, and well earned reputation as being brutally tuff. Some people say Conesus is tuff, but IMHO it's not,at least compared to Silver. The problem on Silver is a huge HUGE forage base, and a lot of large well fed fish. It's a timing lake. Be where they are when they are biting cause your not getting bit until they turn on. At least on Conesus when they are "off" I can scrape up a few bites here and there. Silver is also for the most part a giant bath-tub, lined with grass and docks, they don't get in big groups, and the are almost un-patternable. You can catch a big one in the grass just as easy as you can from under a dock, or from the outside grass edge, or from one of the few pieces of cover outside the grass in deeper water....and often all on the same day, It's a junk fishing lake. On Conesus I can usually get a solid pattern working. The only thing Silver has on Conesus, is even though it's smaller, there is less IMHO "dead" water, but IDK if that's just because I spend 100 days a year on Silver and a dozen on Conesus, so I know all the little "spots on the spots" on Silver....and even after 10 straight years of fishing Silver 100+ times a season, each year I find new "little" spots, that lake is always changing.
Mike L reply :
For me its the Big O and the Kissimmee River after a major cold front.
They just sit in one spot and shiver for a few days where you cant get to them or they just swim by and laugh at me.
Mike
kingmotorboat reply :
Hi new to the forums. I disagree with lacassine refuge. Always found it more productive down here than anywhere. Especially more productive than calcasieu river
Lund Explorer reply :
IMHO, the only thing that makes a lake tough is the fisherman and not the fish.
Let's face it, some lakes just don't have a decent population of bass, and no amount of effort on our part is going to change that. When you end up going to one of these lakes, adjusting your goals is the key.
What is that "Lipstick on a Pig" saying?
skeeter1980 reply :
Come fish in Delaware.You can't load your boat up fast eneough,to get back home.LOL
Master Bait'r reply :
Quabbin on the main lake side. If you don't have electronics and depth finders your chance of finding fish out there are slim to none.
thehooligan reply :
Pretty sure NJ has the most fishermen per square mile, lol. Every lake/pond gets pounded. Just one more reason to finesse fish.
I get skunked here and there, but in most cases the bass cant pass up a nice flickshake or dropshot 
bonzai22 reply :
The lakes I fish tournaments on in Illinois are really tough. We've had more than a few where 6lbs wins it. They are small lakes that get pounded and the weather around here is so screwed up the fish don't know what to do.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 12/2/2014 at 8:32 AM, bonzai22 said:The lakes I fish tournaments on in Illinois are really tough. We've had more than a few where 6lbs wins it. They are small lakes that get pounded and the weather around here is so screwed up the fish don't know what to do.
We do weeknight tournaments here a lot on the local lakes. Lots of times there will be 10+ boats and not a single fish weighed in. My partner and I won one last summer with 3 fish (limit) that went 2.74 pounds 
Fishes in trees reply :
I find the large, multi-thousand acre lakes harder than the smaller several hundred acre conservation lakes in my neighborhood. All for different reasons. Truman Lake is a 40,000 acre (+ or -) flooded forest. Every place looks good, but every place isn't. Navigation can be tricky. Channel swings happen a lot and should you get out of the channel, there are lots of things to smack your boat into.
Lake of the Ozarks is bigger than Truman. I'm not familiar with the upper end of the lake at all. However, I have spend some time at the lower end ( closer to the dam).. Docks are the primary cover/structure and there are thousands of them. If you can't pitch docks and boat slips, you won't catch fish consistently. I generally think that I'm good at pitching, until I spend a day or two at LOZ, it is very humbling. For every dock cable that you see, there is one that you don't.
I don't get to lakes farther south than Truman very often. Stockton, maybe once a year or every other year. Table Rock - same deal. They are pretty lakes, but I don't get there often enough to figure them out.
Don't get me started on the lake just outside Kansas City - Smithville Lake. One, I don't like paying the exorbitant boat sticker fees and launch permit fees. Two - it is generally crowded. There is a free ramp on the extreme northern end, but navigation in that area of the lake is challenging. Water is generally muddy, secchi disc readings of foot and a half or two feet at most.. There are stone fences, large stumps, all kinds of stuff hidden in the water. I don't go there very often.
bonzai22 reply :
On 12/2/2014 at 3:26 PM, Bluebasser86 said:We do weeknight tournaments here a lot on the local lakes. Lots of times there will be 10+ boats and not a single fish weighed in. My partner and I won one last summer with 3 fish (limit) that went 2.74 pounds
Holy cow that's pretty helpless lol
geo g reply :
On 11/30/2014 at 11:51 PM, Mike L said:For me its the Big O and the Kissimmee River after a major cold front.
They just sit in one spot and shiver for a few days where you cant get to them or they just swim by and laugh at me.
Mike
Mike I agree 100% with you on that one. We planned a Feb trip to Buck Head on the North West Shore 20 years ago, there were 4 boats and 8 guys. We rented a great place close to the lock. We woke up to a 1/4 of an inch thick sheet of ice covering everything. We fished the Kissimmee river and Okeechobee for three days. A total of #1 fish was caught on a crankbait in the middle of the river. That's 8 guys for 3 days and one dam short fish, it never warmed up the entire trip. The Florida Stain Bass had lock jaw, and paralysis. I've never been that cold in North East Ohio, as that dam trip to Okeechobee!
Slade House reply :
On 11/30/2014 at 12:50 AM, WRB said:Lake Casitas in SoCal can be very tough for anyone who doesn't stay on top of the current bite. The bass at Casitas have a very short feeding period and you need to know the cycle or get skunked.
All our local SoCal lakes are a lot easier to consistently catch bass.
Tom
I totally agree with tom on this one. Lake casitas is just like Augusta golf course. There is very light fishing pressure on the lake too (35 day mussel quarentene after passing inspection ensurees that) When i first started fishing lake casitas a year ago, i went 37 days before i caught my first fish on my boat. The place can crush your soul. but it forces you to become an amazing fisherman. You have to be on top of the bite. Pay attention to solar lunar, pressure, wind etc. I know guys who fish there for years get skunked for weeks at a time because they haven't adapted to what the bass are feeding on, and at what depth. which changes every few days or so. The smallest variable can mean catching a 22 lb bag or getting skunked. The reward though is tremendous , because most fish aren't smaller than 3 lbs, and a 22lb bag of fish in a tournament is good for 5th place.
Brian6428 reply :
On 12/2/2014 at 8:18 PM, Fishes in trees said:I find the large, multi-thousand acre lakes harder than the smaller several hundred acre conservation lakes in my neighborhood. All for different reasons. Truman Lake is a 40,000 acre (+ or -) flooded forest. Every place looks good, but every place isn't. Navigation can be tricky. Channel swings happen a lot and should you get out of the channel, there are lots of things to smack your boat into.
Lake of the Ozarks is bigger than Truman. I'm not familiar with the upper end of the lake at all. However, I have spend some time at the lower end ( closer to the dam).. Docks are the primary cover/structure and there are thousands of them. If you can't pitch docks and boat slips, you won't catch fish consistently. I generally think that I'm good at pitching, until I spend a day or two at LOZ, it is very humbling. For every dock cable that you see, there is one that you don't.
I don't get to lakes farther south than Truman very often. Stockton, maybe once a year or every other year. Table Rock - same deal. They are pretty lakes, but I don't get there often enough to figure them out.
Don't get me started on the lake just outside Kansas City - Smithville Lake. One, I don't like paying the exorbitant boat sticker fees and launch permit fees. Two - it is generally crowded. There is a free ramp on the extreme northern end, but navigation in that area of the lake is challenging. Water is generally muddy, secchi disc readings of foot and a half or two feet at most.. There are stone fences, large stumps, all kinds of stuff hidden in the water. I don't go there very often.
Pretty solid breakdown of the Missouri lakes.
I quite like Smithville, but you're right, $15 to launch is ridiculous. Each time I've been there I've done very well, and I've stayed on the lower end by the dam so there were no areas difficult to navigate.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 12/2/2014 at 11:23 PM, bonzai22 said:Holy cow that's pretty helpless lol
The lake we won with 2.74lbs on has a 13-18 inch slot limit, not a single fish in the slot was caught out of 7 boats and everyone had a limit. The lake I used to fish the Wednesday night tournaments on a lot where nobody would weigh a fish for weeks at a time during the summer is the worse. It's a 15" lake and I've seen fish that were keepers that went 1 1/4 pounds they were so skinny, and guys would win with that occasionally. Taking a $300 prize with a 1 1/4lb fish is an valuable fish per pound There's a reason no BASS or FLW tournaments come to Kansas.
jitterbug127 reply :
Indiana is hard. The river has treated me much better
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 12/4/2014 at 8:00 AM, jitterbug127 said:Indiana is hard. The river has treated me much better
I had the misfortune of fishing Patoka in Indiana once. If I never see that lake again it wouldn't hurt my feelings. The 3 day winning weight for the coangler side was just over 10 pounds and I almost made the final day cut with a single 2.5 pound fish, which was one of the 3 fish I caught in 2 days of fishing
*Hank reply :
Santa margarita lake is for me very hard to fish I've had better luck with crappie there...
everythingthatswims reply :
On 12/2/2014 at 8:32 AM, bonzai22 said:The lakes I fish tournaments on in Illinois are really tough. We've had more than a few where 6lbs wins it. They are small lakes that get pounded and the weather around here is so screwed up the fish don't know what to do.
March-April in VA...EVERY YEAR. 70 degrees and sunny one day, 45 degrees the next day, then a flood the day after that, but finally it will stabilize and the fish will start to bite. Then a huge cold front comes crashing in and you start all over again.
gobig reply :
One of the toughest lakes I have ever fished is Lake Mead. Can go from 115 deg to 90 deg and a monsoon with huge waves fast.
bonzai22 reply :
On 12/5/2014 at 1:17 PM, everythingthatswims said:March-April in VA...EVERY YEAR. 70 degrees and sunny one day, 45 degrees the next day, then a flood the day after that, but finally it will stabilize and the fish will start to bite. Then a huge cold front comes crashing in and you start all over again.
That sounds exactly like the weather around here lol. It always gets the most screwed up right before my tournaments too.
Fish'N Impossible reply :
Lakes In western Ohio stretching through to Eastern Indiana are probably the toughest lakes around. Average depth is 6ft, water clarity is always murky, and a huge lake is 15000 acres with most averaging 5000. They are mainly old swamps that were converted to lakes so they get all their water by field run-off with temps that run in the high 80's from bottom to top from June on. Most of these lakes host 4 to 5 tournaments a weekend and 2 during the week, plus your local angler pressure.These conditions make crazy tough fishing after april till the freeze....oh yeah forgot to mention, that freeze limits all this pressure to 8 months.
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