SEPTEMBER
Hybrid Stripers -- Lake Cooper
Now here's a real sleeper among Texas' hybrid striped bass fisheries. Everyone knows that lakes Ray Hubbard and Proctor offer good hybrid bass action, but the word really is only now getting out about the great hybrid striper action at Cooper.

Sprawling across 19,305 surface-acres northwest of Sulphur Springs in northeast Texas, Cooper is one of those "Rodney Dangerfield" types of lake: It gets no respect from anglers who haven't been there. But the lack of angler attention hasn't affected the action with the lake's hybrid striped bass, especially during the heat of the summer when they're rushing schools of baitfish to the surface in feeding frenzies.

The Lake Cooper record for hybrid striped bass is held by a fish weighing 11.22 pounds that was caught in 2004. September is a great month for topwater action, and you can expect to catch a lot of hybrids in the 4- to 6-pound range and sometimes larger. Topwater lures, Slabs, lipless crankbaits and Sassy Shads or similar lures all are good choices.

OCTOBER
Bull Reds -- Sabine Pass
This time of the year sees cool fronts and stormy weather rollercoastering through Texas, and bull redfish often provide some of the best angling action during stormy conditions.

The Gulf of Mexico's beaches are the place to catch them at this time of the year, and those at Sabine Pass are among the best. You can catch them from the piers there, especially under the lighted ones at night, or you can search for movement at the surface to locate feeding schools of bull reds as they chase menhaden and other baitfish along the beachfronts. Live baits work great for wade-fishermen, too, but gold spoons and leadhead jigs with soft plastics can be as effective.

Bull reds are some of the hardest-pulling battlers in the bays, so use stout tackle for them. Surf rods rigged with circle hooks and steel leaders are best. If you're going to use baitcasting or spinning gear, remember to use a light setting with the drag; otherwise, you're likely going to lose some of your tackle to a bull red.

NOVEMBER
Smallmouths -- Lake Whitney
Find steep rocky ledges and you'll be in smallmouth bass country on this Brazos River impoundment.

The best area to fish is the portion of the lake between the Katy Bridge and the dam, especially the area along the west shoreline where creeks such as Steel, King, Big and Little Rocky provide excellent habitat for a fish that pound for pound is a much harder fighter than its relative the largemouth.

Main-lake points always are good places in which to find smallmouths on Whitney, especially on windy days, when baitfish become concentrated on them. Rocky shelves in 10 to 15 feet of water like those at the entrances to Big and Little Rocky creeks also are good bets, as are the rocky bluffs between Harbor Master Marina and the point between it and the dam. Another place that typically produces catches of smallmouths is the rocky shoreline at the Lake Whitney State Park.

If any one lure has caught more smallmouths at Whitney than all the rest, it'd have to be a deep-diving crankbait in either red or brown crawfish-colored patterns. White Sassy Shads or similar lures and chartreuse soft-plastic grubs on leadhead jigs also haul in smallmouths when worked in a jigging motion above underwater ledges.