1. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California[1,100 square miles]
Although always high on our list, the rank of these tidal waters has consistently dropped over the past five years as average sizes and trophy fish stats have declined, with the blame falling mostly on pillaging sea lions and aquatic vegetation spraying. But regardless of the cause, the Deltaâs rivers, tule-lined sloughs and vegetation-filled flooded islands are back with a vengeance. Based on an analysis of 170 Western tournaments taking place on 50 bodies of water, this river system has come out as the best of the best in terms of both the average weight fish needed to win and the largest bass caught. The heaviest one-day limit here came during an April Best Bass Tournaments event in which the top team brought five largemouth to the scales for 35.06 pounds â including a 9.47 kicker! The 11th-place team had an even better fish that went 11.26 pounds. The cream of the crop during the first part of 2021, however, was an impressive 13.81-pound monster caught from the back seat during a Wild West Bass Trail Pro/Am in March.