Photo by Tom Berg

Your Senko worm lands just inside the point in the mouth of a cove, under the shade of a tall pine -- a perfect cast that only slightly disturbs the surface of Davis Lake. It takes a few seconds for the fat soft-plastic bait to settle to the bottom, so you use that time to relax and look around the 500-acre lake and the surrounding Tombigbee National Forest. It's peaceful and scenic.

The smell of breakfast bacon frying, or maybe some sausage, rides the slight breeze out from the campground; there, among the RVs and tents you can barely see through the trees, life is beginning to stir.

Your line has settled; the worm's on the bottom: It's time to concentrate. You pick the bait up ever so slightly from the lake floor and, with a twitch, let it fall back.

Bam! All of a sudden, serenity gives way to activity. You set the hook violently, reacting to the bite. The bass then to your hookset, jumping 2 feet clear of the lake surface as she begins to fight against the line, the rod and your arm.

The commotion continues, amplified by the sound of drag gears inside the reel yielding line. Water is still splashing as the fish fights with every ounce of its scaled being until, finally, she gives up and slides into the net alongside your boat.

You grab her and hold her up to admire her beauty: It's a lunker. You need a picture to document the moment. But wait: You're alone. The back of the boat is empty.

The family is back in Tupelo, discovering Elvis Presley's roots. You may be the king of the moment in your bass boat, but the King will always be the King, and your wife will always be a loyal subject. A day with Elvis, or a day in the back seat of your bass boat -- you know which one she's likely to choose.

And that's the point here: picking three trips for the three primary summer months that will provide you with some of the best that Mississippi fishing has to offer while giving the rest of your family activities to pursue on their own: June, Tupelo; July, the Gulf Coast; August, Vicksburg.

JUNE IN TUPELO
Annually on the first weekend in June, the town that saw the birth of Elvis Aron Presley honors its most celebrated citizen. For the Elvis Presley Festival, downtown Tupelo transforms into a concert venue with three days of music on several stages. There's also the Elvis birthplace to visit, and the Elvis Presley Museum.

Of course, as a fisherman, you're more likely to want to visit one of the handful of outstanding fishing holes in the area, one of which, Davis Lake, is fast becoming one of Mississippi's most notable bassin' destinations.

Davis, 32 miles south of Tupelo off the Natchez Trace, is maintained by the U.S. Forest Service. The lake is maturing after being renovated and restocked at the turn of the century. Its Florida-strain bass are plentiful, and the lake's redesign -- points, channels and other features were redefined -- is user-friendly. Cover abounds off the banks, so finding places to fish isn't that difficult.

"The thing about Davis Lake is that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to find fish," said Larry Pugh, the District 1 fisheries biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. "There are a lot of obvious fishing spots like coves and points, but there are also some great places that aren't so obvious that curious bass fishermen can find on their own with a little effort.

"June is a good month because the big sows are well off the spawning cycle and actively feeding again, and the chances of catching a trophy bass are good. You can get a good topwater bite right at daylight and then move to the points."