SPRING FISHING PREVIEW Where to find best fishing in Texas

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:39 CST

By BOB HOOD

As the weather warms up, so does the fishing, and Texas offers lots of options for spring freshwater fishing. Many Texas lakes are full of fish, but, unless you are a veteran angler, choosing one to provide the best action for your favorite gamefish can be confusing. We have chosen these lakes as the best in the state to help less experienced anglers decide where to go to catch the top five most sought-after species:

Largemouth bass: Lake Fork

Location: About 115 miles east of Fort Worth, on Sabine River about 5 miles northwest of Quitman

Limits: Lake Fork is under special bass regulations of five fish per day; one may be over 24 inches, all others must be less than 16 inches

Tactics: The best months to catch big bass are March and April, when the fish are in shallow water spawning. Bass can be found in 2 to 4 feet of water near the shorelines in creeks. Many fishing guides and other anglers at Fork rely on "sight casting," which means they look for spawning female bass on their nests then cast repeatedly to the nest to entice a strike from the larger females or the nest-protecting males. Live baits such as waterdogs and shad often produce quick responses. Among the best artificial lures are spinner baits, soft plastic jerk baits, plastic worms and semi-surface lures. When the spawning season is over, the bass can be found in shallow water and on deep-water humps. The deeper bass often are caught on jigs with soft plastic trailers and Carolina-rigged soft plastic lures. Night fishing for bass with top-water lures, spinner baits and plastic worms also is popular during the summer.

Honorable mention:

Amistad, Falcon, Ray Roberts, Toledo Bend

Sand bass: Lewisville Lake

Location: About 35 miles north of Fort Worth, on Elm Fork of Trinity River near Lewisville

Limits: 10-inch minimum, 25 fish per day for sand bass; 18-inch minimum, five fish per day for hybrid stripers

Tactics: Lewisville's tremendous populations of sand bass and hybrid striped bass provide good action almost year-round. The best fishing generally begins in March and continues through September and early October. The extreme upper reaches of the lake attract spawning sand bass in February and March. Once the spawning activity is over, sand bass can be located by watching for gulls working above feeding schools near the old Lake Dallas dam and elsewhere at the edges of flats and off main-lake points. When the fish are chasing shad to the surface, small top-water lures and swimming baits such as the Rat-L-Trap work best. During the hotter months, trolling or drifting swimming lures or fishing vertically with minnows, Slabs and other jigging spoons can provide quick action from sand bass and hybrid striped bass.

Honorable mention: Cedar Creek, Ray Roberts, Richland Chambers, Tawakoni.

Striped bass: Lake Texoma

Location: About 115 miles north of Fort Worth, on Red River on Texas-Oklahoma border

Limits: No minimum size, only two 20 inches or longer may be kept each day, daily bag limit is 10, possession limit is 20; no culling allowed

Tactics: Numerous fishing guides make their living leading customers to "box fish," small striped bass that can be caught in large numbers on live bait and artificial lures. Texoma is one of the few U.S. lakes that produces natural striped bass spawns. Among the top areas to fish are humps and drop-offs at the mouth of Big and Little Mineral creeks, as well as from Little Mineral to the islands near Highport Resort. The best baits include live gizzard and threadfin shad, soft plastic Sassy Shads and one-ounce jigs. The fish often are located by sonar depth finders and are caught near the bottom; some schooling in late spring and early summer months provides excellent action under feeding gulls on top-water lures, swimming baits and soft plastic lures rigged on lead-head jigs.

Honorable mention:

Buchanan, Livingston, Tawakoni, Whitney

Catfish: Lake Tawakoni

Location: About 95 miles east of Fort Worth, on Caddo Creek and South Fork and Cowleech Fork of Sabine River southwest of Greenville

Star-Telegram.com: Bob Hood

SPRING FISHING PREVIEW Where to find best fishing in Texas