Dierks ranked top in 2025 Arkansas bass tournament report, big bass coming in across the state

LITTLE ROCK — Dierks Lake in Howard and Sevier counties was recently announced by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as the state’s top tournament fishing destination in 2025, according to the 2025 Arkansas Tournament Information Program Report.

The report is the culmination of hundreds of tournament records submitted to the Arkansas Black Bass Program through agfc.com. Biologists compile data on the numbers of anglers, number of fish caught, weights, and numbers of fish weighing 5 pounds or greater to develop key indicators of fishing quality. These indicators are then compiled into rankings for each body of water to help keep tabs on trends in tournament angling and offer anglers a peek into where they may want to schedule their next event.

While mainstays like Lake Dardanelle, Millwood Lake and Lake Ouachita continued to appear in the top rankings, Dierks snuck into the report for the first time and did so in impressive fashion. During the five tournaments that visited the lake in 2025, the average winning weight was 20.77 pounds. Anglers also brought 22 fish to the scales in excess of 5 pounds, despite the low number of overall tournaments and tournament anglers.

“At 1,360 acres, Dierks is one of our smaller reservoirs, especially of those created by the [Army Corps of Engineers],” Eric Naas, Black Bass Biologist for the AGFC, said. “It’s tucked away in southwest Arkansas, so it’s sort of a hidden gem, but local anglers really enjoy fishing there. This is just the first time we had enough tournament results to include it in the rankings.”

The next three lakes in the rankings have no problem with enough tournament results to be counted. Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas ranked second in the state, Lake Ouachita in central Arkansas held third place, and Dardanelle was listed at fourth in the rankings. All three of these lakes see dozens of tournaments each year.

“We had from 19 to 41 tournaments recorded for each of these lakes, but that’s only a fraction of the actual tournaments that take place on them,” Naas said. “Lake Erling actually tied Dardanelle at fourth place, and it had eight tournaments last year, but I’d probably give the nod to Dardanelle simply because it’s more consistent throughout a larger number of events.”

Naas said another surprise from the 2025 tournament season was the surge in trophy-size bass catches during tournaments, including a massive 14.20-pound giant caught at DeGray Lake in December.

“Three of the five fish we worked with for the trial run of the new Legacy Lunker Program were caught during tournaments,” Naas said. “We also saw a huge increase in the number of big stringers that came to the weigh-ins, with 44 events reporting at least one five-fish limit weighing over 20 pounds. The time it took to catch a 5-pound fish decreased substantially as well; it was about 28 percent faster than in 2024.”

The Arkansas Tournament Information Program began in 1990. Naas says that even though the program has benefited anglers for 25 years, the Black Bass Team still has a hard time collecting information from many tournament directors. Roughly 85 percent of the results found on last year’s tournaments were the result of staff scouring social media and tournament organization websites for results.

“The program can be even better if we get more tournament organizers to submit details and fill in the gaps in the data,” Naas said. “The more results we get, the more we can analyze and submit to future tournament directors and anglers. Some results also help influence some of the decisions on management of the fishery if we see a steady trend over the course of a few years.”

Visit www.agfc.com/atip to see the complete report and reports from the last decade. Tournament directors can also find an online reporting form to enter their tournament information on this page to help generate future reports.

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MATCHED PAIR
Arkansas angler Lance Freeman weighed in this healthy smallmouth and largemouth as part of his limit during a recent fishing tournament at Lake Ouachita. Photo courtesy Lance Freeman.

BIG FISH
Youth angler Griffin Ralph brought this 13.43-pound largemouth to the scales during a Trader Bill’s team tournament at Millwood Lake in 2025. Photo courtesy of Trader Bill’s of Hot Springs. 

WEIGHING FISH
The majority of tournaments fished in Arkansas are held by local bass clubs like the popular Central Arkansas Bass League, which visits a variety of large- to mid-sized lakes. Photo courtesy of Daryl Hoffman at Central Arkansas Bass League.