Photo by Tom Evans

Looking for a good place to go bass fishing this spring? Well -- how about 25 good places?

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries biologists checked their creel surveys, stocking reports and electrofishing results, pondered the probable weather, and gazed into their crystal balls to select the 25 lakes that, they predict, will offer the best bass fishing in 2007.

Whether you’re hoping to land a lunker or have an action-packed day catching more bass than you ever believed possible, at least one of the lakes below should provide the kind of fishing you’re looking for.

Perhaps the most valuable resource for anglers targeting spring bass is the Budweiser ShareLunker database on the TPWD Web site. If you want to know where and when to fish, and what lure to use, for big bass in the spring, www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/ visitorcenters/tffc/budsharelunker/ is a good place to start.

THE WILD, WET WEST
There’s a saying about Texas weather: If you don’t like it, give it a minute -- it’ll change.

West Texas had to wait a lot longer -- nearly 10 years -- for rains to break a persistent drought, but when the rains did come, beginning in 2004, anglers found a lot to like about the results.

Lake Amistad rebounded most dramatically, rising from some 50 feet low to near normal level and flooding tens of thousands of acres of brush and other vegetation that had grown up on dry lake bottom. Bass responded to the improved habitat by spawning madly, resulting in a lake swarming with largemouths and not a few smallmouths. If you want to catch bass, and a lot of them, with a very good chance of some 8-pound or better fish as well, Amistad may well be the best lake in the nation.

Far to the north of Amistad is another “A” lake, Alan Henry. This small lake southeast of Lubbock has gained fame the last three years by rivaling fabled Lake Fork in Budweiser ShareLunker production. During the 2005-06 season, Alan Henry actually produced more ShareLunkers than Fork did!

Alan Henry’s small size is both an asset and a liability for anglers. The lake’s reputation and location near a metropolitan area populated with dedicated anglers means it will be crowded nearly every day of the week during the spring. It doesn’t take many bass boats to fill up a 2,800-acre lake. However, the amount of shallow spawning water is limited, since Alan Henry is a typical West Texas “canyon” lake, making it easier to find and target bedded fish, if that’s your desire. Some successful anglers bank-fish up Gobbler Creek.

Lake Arrowhead may be the sleeper in the west. It’s chock-full of largemouths with Florida influence, and an abundant crappie population lets them grow fast. Because the water is often turbid, throw noisy baits like spinners or buzzbaits; when using worms, go with black and blue.

Some of the West Texas lakes that benefited most from rains were those around San Angelo, said the TPWD’s Craig Bonds. “The best bass fishing in and around San Angelo for 2007 will be at O.H. Ivie and Twin Buttes reservoirs,” he advised. “O.H. Ivie’s bass population is rebuilding after abundant year-classes were produced following water level rises and increased habitat in 2004 and 2005. Our angler creel surveys indicated anglers caught largemouth bass in 2006 at twice the rate as in 2005, although fish tended to be under 14 inches. The 2004 and 2005 year-classes will have had time to grow larger by 2007, improving angler catches of quality-sized fish.