Russell Tinsley.

APRIL
Largemouth Bass
While March offers some of the best bass fishing across the state, the big bass action seems to really crank up on West Texas’ 2,880-acre Lake Alan Henry about the time April Fool’s Day rolls around.

And that’s no joke either -- 14 of Alan Henry’s 25 ShareLunkers, each weighing 13-pounds or better, have taken the bait during the month of April. Add in two more behemoths caught on the final two days of March and a full 16 of 25 fish have been caught between March 30 and April 30 on the small reservoir near Lubbock.

Why’s that? Simple -- because of Alan Henry’s location on the High Plains, cold winter water temperatures give way to the warmth of springtime a bit more grudgingly than lakes farther east.

MAY
Bluegills
I have to admit that I don’t always get to enjoy some of springtime’s best action for largemouth bass and crappie; something called spring turkey season usually gets in the way.

But when May rolls around on the angler’s calendar, there’s still plenty of good fishing left for post-spawn bass and for platter-sized bluegills found on many Lone Star State lakes and farm ponds.

Wherever you choose to chase ‘gills, a 3- or 4-weight fly rod and flies like Bream Killers, Wilson’s Bluegill Bullies, or Miss Prissy Poppers in white, chartreuse, or yellow are tough to beat. For more conventional angling, a lightweight spinning rod used to toss small Beetle Spins around the beds or a cane pole, bobber and cricket rig -- just like my dad started me with about 30 years ago -- is tough to beat.

Whatever method you choose, be sure to keep the fish fryer warmed up -- you’ll need it with these plentiful and tasty fish!

“Bluegills are a great fish to eat,” Rob Woodruff agreed, noting that on some lakes like Caddo -- one of the best bluegill lakes in the state -- anglers can catch almost “absurd numbers” of them.

JUNE
Catfish
Catfish may not be a glamour species, but they’re sure fun to catch, especially at a site where they’re plentiful -- as at Lake Tawakoni.

Take, for instance, an early-summer outing my family enjoyed last year on a North Texas lake along with several other couples from our church. Put kids around water in the summer, and it isn’t long before fishing rods are out and lines are in the water, even if the bait isn’t much more than a piece of a hot dog that didn’t make it to the grill.

And when that hotdog is tossed near the shoreline where catfish are spawning and well, it isn’t long before the bobber goes under, the line screams from a Zebco reel as a 5-pound channel cat takes off, and another child is hooked on fishing!

Where do you target spawning whiskerfish? I’ll turn back to timely advice that TPWD inland fisheries biologist Bruce Hysmith has given, instructing me that once water temperatures warm into the mid-70s, look for areas that have some sort of moving water.

“During the spawn, they can be found along windy banks, but the best thing that they like is inflowing water on tributaries,” Hysmith told me. “They’ll really crowd into inflowing water where they’ll move up in there and look for hollow logs, rock overhangs, and stuff like that.”

The biologist noted that while traditional catfish stink baits will work at this time of the year, he prefers to use an unweighted crawfish that can roam around.

The key is to keep the hook covered with the bait -- if not, a spawning whiskerfish is liable to spit it out.

Unless it’s a hot dog, of course!