Lunker Lines

When I think of Mississippi lakes I like to fish in October, Bay Springs Lake comes to mind. A 9-mile-long reservoir on the Tenn-Tom Waterway northeast of Tupelo, Bay Springs has populations of all three species of black bass: largemouth, smallmouth and spotted. 

This month, I’ll primarily fish my home lake, Bogue Homa, near Laurel. I understand exactly where September bass should be, and I know the lures to fish for success. Bogue Homa has a good number of largemouths 3 pounds or better, that will be relating to the grass and the grass lines coming off its banks. 

Because bass don’t have sunscreen, sunglasses or air conditioning, in August, they’re looking for shade and cool water. Ross Barnett Reservoir has numerous lily pads, providing shade and cooler water where the baitfish also can feed on the algae on the lily pads’ bottoms, and big, thick clumps of grass.

I choose the lakes I pick each month, since I know where the bass have to be, and what baits they’ve historically taken. That’s why for July I’m selecting Bogue Homa.

I’ll choose 1,075 acre Lake Okhissa near Bude, Mississippi, for June bass fishing. A Bill Dance Signature Lake in the Homochitto National Forest, Okhissa is deep and clear with plenty of hydrilla and dollar pads. The bass will be on their summer pattern, so I’ll be fishing a frog pattern and a flipping and pitching pattern.

Pickwick bass fishing can’t get any better than in May. From only two or three schools of bass, you may catch 30 or more bass per day. If rising water happens, the bass will be in this newly inundated water in the grass, bushes and trees. About the middle of May, the bass will be pulling out of the creeks and staging at their mouths or in the cuts and ditches in the flats leading to the river channel. At the end of May, I’ll look for bass out on the main river channel. 

Several events are happening at Ross Barnett this month that make this lake a super pick.

Depending on the weather, bass spawn early at Bogue Homa in March. An angler probably may have a 5-fish bag weighing 20 to 25 pounds. With those opportunities in mind, how do you go about putting fish in the boat?

In February at Pickwick Lake, the bass family will be having a reunion and ganging up.

In warm weather with active bass biting the Alabama Rig, you might have a 50-fish catch.

But even on cold, rainy days, I expect to catch 20 to 30 schooled-up bass suspended at some strategic places on bluff points.

January is a fickle month at Ross Barnett, with warm weather some years while other times feature temperatures below freezing the entire month. 

I’ll plan to fish relatively shallow Okatibbee Reservoir in December because rarely does Mississippi have enough cold water to drive bass into deep water.

When Okatibbee goes through a winter drawdown, the bass move to the underwater creek and river channel edges. You can locate those edges with your depth finder.

From August through October, bass fishing at Bogue Homa slows as the water cools down.

But November’s bass realize winter is approaching, and they need to feed heavily.

In October, Bay Springs Lake is one of my favorite places to fish because cooler weather makes baitfish much more active.

September is a transition month for bass, with some holding in deep water and others moving up into the grass.

Pickwick has outstanding fishing on river ledges, underwater mussel bars on the main river and good grass growth.

Nothing’s more exciting than watching a big bass blow up on a topwater lure — whether I catch the bass or not.

And Ross Barnett Reservoir is one of my favorite places to fish for bass in August and watch their aerial displays.

I’m picking Okatibbee just north of Meridian to fish in July because it offers an early morning topwater bite, a good mid-morning technique and a tactic we can use to finish off the day.