This is undoubtedly the golden age of smallmouth bass fishing in the Great Lakes region of the U.S. For bass fishing in general, whether smallmouth or largemouth, the region can match any other area of the country.
For a glimpse of that quality, the following are the Day 1 totals from the last three stops on the Elite Series and Texas’ Sam Rayburn Reservoir, which established the previous high marks overall for the season.
This isn’t intended to be a definitive statement about which fishery is better than another, or which region is better than another. It’s just a glimpse at some high quality bass fisheries:
| St. Lawrence | Champlain | St. Clair | Sam Rayburn | |
| Total bass weighed-in | 537 | 539 | 518 | 544 |
| Total weight | 1,855-1 | 1,732-12 | 1,781-12 | 1,725-0 |
| Average weight per bass | 3.45 lbs. | 3.21 lbs. | 3.44 lbs. | 3.17 lbs. |
| Big bass | 6-1 | 6-1 | 6-8 | 9-1 |
| Limits caught | 105 | 107 | 97 | 108 |
| Bags of 20 lbs. or more | 20 | 3 | 15 | 18 |
| Bags of 18 lbs. or more | 50 | 50 | 45 | 29 |
| Bags of 14 lbs. or more | 91 | 88 | 87 | 74 |
| Bags of 12 lbs. or more | 99 | 105 | 96 | 91 |