SOUTH TEXAS
Many anglers in South Texas may be more apt to run over to the Gulf Coast in search of redfish and speckled trout, but there remain a number of great bass fisheries in this region.

John Findesien, a TPWD fisheries biologist in Mathis, said Choke Canyon, Coleto Creek and Lake Corpus Christi remain great places for freshwater anglers.

“Choke Canyon and Corpus Christi have both risen and are full,” he said. Normally those reservoirs fluctuate in lake levels. Coleto Creek is a power-plant lake, so its level remains stable. Each of those lakes provides good aquatic vegetation like hydrilla and milfoil. That’s critical because the vegetation provides a needed amount of juvenile habitat and places to hide and eat. Life’s good for them there. “But there’s also deep water habitat for larger fish. They can move up if they need to and then move back out. There are a good number of bass over 7 pounds in Choke over humps that are as far down as 25 feet or more.

“There’s also lots of standing timber, and if vegetation becomes an issue, there’s still a lot of submerged trees and logs for them to hide in.”

Findesien said rains pushed good nutrients into the water in these lakes just like they did in other parts of the state, and shad, plankton and sunfish have done well.

“Coleto gets a lot of pressure and they’ve seen about every lure out there,” he said. “Corpus was down about 12 feet but it’s full now and we’re seeing good new vegetation. We found a lot of juvenile fish out there in surveys so that means there’s also plenty of big fish, too.”

Another bass hotspot is massive Lake Falcon on the Texas/Mexico border. After years of drought, the lake has started to fill back up and provides plenty of good structure. Sloping banks with stands of rockpiles and timber provide excellent cover for fish and should be the first places you target. Spring is the best time to fish Falcon because the fish are spawning and the scorching summer temperatures haven’t hit yet.

EAST TEXAS
The eastern part of the state has some of the largest and best-known bass waters in the state, as well as the nation, and this region continually produces some of the state’s largest fish.

Lake Fork ranks as the most-widely-known bass fishery in the world, but some other East Texas lakes provide excellent bass angling as well.

Todd Driscoll, a TPWD fisheries biologist in Jasper, said his part of the state continues to provide great angling opportunities.

“We’re blessed with good lakes and typically good high water levels,” he said. “Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend are always real strong bass fisheries. Both of those lakes have high water levels that constantly inundate terrestrial bushes and other areas, and that means high recruitment and survival numbers of fish. When you’ve got good habitat, that makes it real easy to keep good numbers of fish from year to year.”

Driscoll also pointed to a pair of relatively small lakes that always seem to produce good bass.