Bob Hood 
SPRING FISHING PREVIEW Where to find best fishing in Texas
Star-Telegram staff writer
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
Limits: 10-inch minimum, 25 fish per day for channel and blue catfish; 18-inch minimum, five fish per day for flatheads
Tactics: Channel and blue catfish can be caught in large numbers, especially over areas baited with soured grains such as milo. The lake also has a fair population of flathead or yellow catfish, which usually are taken on trotlines. For channel cats and small blue cats, commercial punch bait is popular, although dead shrimp, cut shad, chicken livers and night crawlers work well, too. The timber along the channel north of the Two Mile Bridge that runs between East and West Tawakoni has been one of the best areas. Bait two or three areas around the standing timber in 8 to 14 feet of water with soured maize every two to three days. For the best success, anchor or tie your boat to a tree and fish vertically or cast a line with a bobber over the baited area with the bait just off the bottom. For larger blue cats, often from 20 to 60 pounds, cut gizzard shad is the best bait. The deep-water humps and drop-offs near the dam in open water between Tall Man's Reach and Wolf Creek have produced numerous large blue catfish.
Honorable mention: Falcon, Lewisville, Texoma, Whitney.
Crappie: Toledo Bend Reservoir
Location: About 225 miles southeast of Fort Worth, on Sabine River on Texas-Louisiana border.
Limits: 10-inch minimum, 50-per-day bag and possession limit most of the year. From December through February, the possession limit remains 50, but all crappie caught must be kept.
Tactics: During cold-weather months, the lake's famed Chicken Coop area -- between Markers 56 and 61 on the Texas side of the Sabine River channel -- produces numerous crappie that gather there to feed on schools of shad seeking warmer water. As the water temperature rises, numerous creeks along the length of the lake produce large catches of crappie for anglers using small artificial lures, such as soft plastic tube jigs and small skirted jigs, or live minnows. One of the most popular methods to catch them is to slowly move in a boat parallel to a grassline or shoreline with a trolling motor and drag or "stroll" the lure through the water.
Honorable mention: Cedar Creek, Lake O' the Pines, Navarro Mills, Proctor.
Fishing licenses
For Texas residents: To fish most public waters in Texas, a license is required. Exceptions:
People under age 17.
People born before Sept. 1, 1930.
A license is not required if fishing from the bank in a state park or in waters completely enclosed by a state park.
The first Saturday in June each year is Free Fishing Day, and nobody is required to have a license to fish on that day.
Non-residents: Also are required to have a license to fish. Exceptions:
People under age 17.
Louisiana residents 65 or older who have a valid Louisiana Recreational Fishing License.
Oklahoma residents 64 or older.
Lake Texoma: A special license is available for $12 and is valid from date of purchase to Dec. 31 the following year. It allows the purchaser to fish in both Texas and Oklahoma waters of Lake Texoma. People may fish only in Texas waters of the lake with a valid Texas fishing license or only the Oklahoma side of the lake with a valid Oklahoma fishing license.
To purchase: A variety of license options are available at about 1,700 retailers across the state, including many sporting goods stores, online at www.tpwd.tx.us (click on "fishing & boating") and by phone (9 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays) at 800-895-4248.
Information: Go online or call 800-792-1112.
