I've been fishing the same lake in southern Michigan for the last three years.  I have yet to land a bass bigger than 1-1.5 pounds and roughly 12"-14."  Locals talk about the big bass and I've seen some rather large ones jump in the early morning, but have yet to actually catch one. 

 

This lake has pretty clear water and not a lot of cover besides docks and a small section of lilys that cover about 3' deep water.  Trolling around w/ the depth finder, you can find a lot of drop offs and weed beds.  I've fished them all and used mutlple rigs at multiple depths and different times of the day.  Every time, I'm catching bass that are a pound or less and 12" or less.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Surely this lake has bigger bass, I just can't seem to find them.  This lake has tournaments and is constantly fished by out-of-town anglers, which tells me the bigger ones are out ther somewhere.  I just have no idea why I consistenly catch the small ones...thanks for the help.

well ive always caught my bigger fish on buzzbaits early and late maybe get out there really early and do some night fishing a couple hours before dawn ive done good in the hot summer months doing that at acouple of my local lakes. and maybe bigger bait help too like 10inch worms or big swimbaits help sorry i dont know the lake that well but weneed a little info on what u like to throw or tried. give me some more info and we might be able to help a little more! thanks man love the avitar

A jig or big worm along the drop offs and weed edges will eventually find you a bigger fish. Swimbaits along weed edges will get the job done too. 

Is the lake full of small bass?  There are several lakes around me with that problem.  The lakes have hawgs in them, but you have to get the bait past the little ones first.

Sounds like heavy fishing pressure .. maybe the anglers not releasing enough of the lunkers.

End up with a lakeful of small guys.. and only a few really tough to catch big wiseguys

If you dont mind saying what lake is it? I fish a few southern michigan lakes often.  A lot of time the locals are full of fish stories. Recently they had a tourney that fished a couple of the lakes in southern michigan and the biggest bass was a little over 5lbs. 

What lake?