By Lee Leschper

There are many blessings to living and playing in the Lone Star State: Jalapeños, Shiner beer and real barbecue to name a few. And more great fishing than you can shake a rod at - or fit into just the 12 months of a normal calendar.

Each year more than three million Texans hit our lakes and bays for rest, relaxation, fodder for the next fish fry and maybe even a shot at the record books. It's an impossible task to try to pick the 12 best fishing trips, just one per month, for a story like this. There's always one or 10 other great options. But here are our choices for 2003.

Look for deep structure, including brushpiles, along deep lake channels. Fish tiny jigs near cover and keep moving until you find a "hot" brushpile. Work each brushpile from all sides and then work it again.

Beware of cold weather risks from hypothermia. Take cold-weather gear along with you, even if you think you won't need it. And watch the weather.

You might as well plan to work for your wallhanger largemouth, because you'll have to. The biggest bass are caught in early spring in deeper water near spawn beds. But remember that the biggest bass may spawn 10 feet or deeper.

Start fishing grass and brush 8 to 12 feet deep with craw worms, jigs, spinnerbaits and waterdogs. Move deeper until you find the fish. Don't stick to one pattern. Keep changing tactics until you find the pattern that's working that day. This is the biggest time of year on Fork, so expect lots of company. If possible, fish during midweek.

Want proof of just how good Baylor can be? A couple of years ago, an Amarillo angler won the local Mini Bass Boat tournament on Baylor with a three-fish stringer that weighed more than 33 pounds! That's two 10-pounders and a huge 12-pound sow!

The locals concentrate on small pockets of cover, using jigs to canvas each side. You'll need to pack stout gear and at least a 20-pound-test line to handle this short-range, hand-to-hand combat.

Some anglers were scared from Baffin by the brown tide that clouded the water a few years back. The brown tide is gone, and the trout action is back, and better than ever.

Baffin produced the last two state-record speckled trout, both 13-pounders, for wade-fishermen working their big plugs slowly. That's still the ticket for the biggest trout, as well as lots of solid "upper-20s" specks.

Stock up on Corkys, Top Dogs and the old-faithful broken-backs. Big soft-plastics like Salty Assassins also need to be part of your kit. Kleberg Point, Gauge Bar and Starvation Point all offer excellent wade-fishing. Use big mullet-imitation plugs or soft baits. Live croakers are also deadly if you can find them.

Because Alan Henry is relatively small, it gets crowded with both anglers and recreational boaters rather quickly. Fish early and late, and go during the week if possible. Fish topwaters or lizards in shallows first, you should still find spawning bass here in May. As the day warms, move out to brushy creek channels for post-spawn fish.

Jig-and-pigs or worms are ideal for fishing the brush, most of which was left standing in Alan Henry. Red and black are good colors. Rig with at least 20-pound-test monofilament or heavier, to keep those lunkers out of all that brush.

Watch for schools of whites busting the surface from dawn until late morning. They'll be hitting anything that looks like a shad. Double jig "speck rigs" can get you two at a time, although they'll be smaller than those hitting topwaters or a Rat-L-Trap. Approach the schooling fish quickly but quietly from upwind. Shut down your motor and drift to within casting range.

If the whites go down, or if you miss the topwater action, use your depthfinder to identify deep structure near the river channel, then bounce slab spoons on the bottom to load your cooler. Keep an eye peeled for other schools busting the top, which can happen at any time. Have a rod rigged and ready with a small topwater and make the most of it.