New lakes, new regulations, water-control projects and fisheries renovations will broaden Mississippi bass anglers’ prospects in 2005, but fishing in the Magnolia State is already as diverse and exciting as anything any bass fanatic has ever seen.

Largemouths, smallmouths and spotted bass comprise the black bass family in Mississippi, and they’re found in waters that rate among the best in the nation. Here’s a look at the best of the variety of options for this year.

THE RESERVOIRS

The Big Four — Arkabutla, Grenada, Sardis and Enid lakes — were built as flood-control reservoirs by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, so their water levels fluctuate, often dramatically, in the course of a year. As a result, vegetation is found in the lakes only during periods of high water — which, according to Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks fisheries biologist Keith Meals, occurred consistently during spring and summer for the past three years. This stretch of habitat enhancement has contributed greatly to correspondingly strong year-classes of bass that should be showing up in big catches of chunky 1- to 4-pound bass this year.

Tournament angler Ron Wong of Memphis has fished bass tournaments in Mississippi for 20 year. He observes that at the Big Four, bass fishing methods among the successful anglers vary less than do length and creel limits. During the springtime spawning period, deliberate fishing tactics offer the top-grade action, the best fish being taken on jig-and-pig combos, slow-rolled spinnerbaits and Senko-type plastic worms worked on the edge of flats near deep water.

When fishing the reservoirs, Wong (who considers Sardis his home lake) targets creek channels during the post-spawn period with topwater plugs and buzzbaits. In his view, summertime bassin’ calls for tossing deep-diving crankbaits on main-lake points, while fall fishing turns back to the spinnerbaits, plastic worms and jig-and-pig combos.

Arkabutla Lake

In north Mississippi, west of Interstate 55 and 30 miles south of Memphis, this impoundment normally features turbid water conditions that put many bass anglers off. Meals suspects that in the 11,240-acre lake’s shallow-water environment, the northern-strain largemouths tend to be rather mobile, making them hard to find. That factor reduces fishing pressure on the lake, and few bass tournament events take place there. But the MDWFP biologist adds that both angler creel surveys and electro-fishing catch rates point to the presence of large numbers of bass. Locals declare the fishing to be good, and especially so in summer and fall. The lake’s main tributary is the Coldwater River.

Grenada Lake

Largest of the Big Four, Grenada Lake is the farthest south of the quartet, lying 111 miles north of Jackson off I-55 at state Route 8. Here, too, shallow water, year-round turbidity and wide fluctuations in water levels at the 35,820-acre reservoir contribute to lightening the fishing pressure. But, biologists point out, low shocking-survey catch rates of bass contrast sharply with recreational anglers’ take, which can be very good.

“I don’t think the bass see lures very often,” Meals said of the lake’s “intergrades” — largemouths that have both Florida- and northern strain genes. (Large numbers of Florida fish were stocked in the late 1980s and early ’90s.) Intergrades constitute about 80 percent of Grenada’s bass population.

The Skuna and Yalobusha rivers are Grenada’s primary tributaries.

Enid Lake

The Yacona River is the chief source of Enid Lake’s 15,000 acres of water. Located 140 miles north of Jackson, the lake stretches eastward from I-55. Largemouth bass virus was found in the lake in 1999, but a significant fish kill never emerged. No further evidence of LMBV has found in the lake, which, Meals said, tends to produce the biggest bass among tournament events surveyed by the MDWFP. Enid’s rather clear water can extend visibility down as much as 6 feet during summertime.

Sardis Lake

Meals reports that Sardis Lake’s popularity with anglers is double that of its sister lakes. The 32,500-acre reservoir is impounded on the Little Tallahatchie River, about 60 miles south of Memphis and just east of Interstate 55 near the town of the same name.