Brian Broom of Crystal Springs displays the kind of bluegill that Calling Panther Lake gives up in May. Photo by Robert H. Cleveland Jr.

We can start and end the year in any corner of Mississippi. Along the way we can spend all 12 months fishing our way across the state with great expectations of catching fish at each stop.

In that respect, the Magnolia State stands second to no other. With our sister Southern states, we share first place because of our year-round fishing seasons. Reasonably mild winters make it so.

Can this be accomplished targeting one species? Sure.

But to truly realize just how good Mississippi fishing is, day in and day out, it’s necessary to broaden your fishing horizocns, not only in where you fish but also the fish you chase.

To achieve that we offer the following fishing calendar, which provides a variety of species and quality experiences.

January
Largemouths: Lake Okhissa
In less than three years, this 1,200-acre lake on U.S. Forest Service land in southwest Mississippi near Bude has become a must-visit destination.

Okhissa offers great bream and catfish action, but it is bass that lures most fishermen. Because of its varied depths and habitats, it is a lake for all seasons, including the dead of winter.

In January, bass naturally relate to cover in deep water, and at Okhissa, it is plentiful. The key is finding the right areas, and that means finding the main creek channel on the upper end, or one of the feeders running in from coves. Drop-shot and shaky-head worm rigs are excellent choices on cold days fishing the edges of the channels in bends close to point.

Finding big schools of bass is not uncommon on these patterns, with catches of up to 15 or 20 bass in one bend. It is also common to find them in 22 to 25 feet of water.

Other choices: Similar deep cover makes Lake Bill Waller near Columbia a great January bass destination. But on Waller, bass move up on shallow cover on warm days.

The Jordan, Biloxi and Pascagoula rivers are winter homes to speckled trout. Finding deep troughs near shallow points should produce fish.

February
Crappie: Lake Chotard
Big slab crappie in winter? You bet. Over the past two decades with the improvements in fish-finding electronics and crappie trolling rigs, fishermen have found the key to catching cold-water crappie on oxbow lakes. Chotard, just north of Vicksburg, is one of the best.

No matter what the river level, or whether it’s rising or falling, crappie can be caught. Trolling deep with multiple poles, each with three minnows set a foot apart beginning a foot above a half-ounce weight is the pattern. But it is based on using electronics to locate big schools of suspended fish around balls of shad.

Be prepared to troll as deep as 30 feet and as shallow as 12 feet. Crappie change their depth regularly with changing water conditions.

Other choices: Bass fishing at Lake Lincoln State Park near Wesson is hot this month. Fishing is good around the many brushpiles adjacent to deep water on the opposite side of the lake from the boat launch.

The pre-spawn in February makes Ross Barnett Reservoir a good choice for crappie. When the big slabs start moving up on the shore, trolling becomes the preferred method.