Lake manager Sherry Hazlewood shows off the kind of bass that renovated Neshoba County Lake can boast. Photo by Robert H. Cleveland Jr.

We were just pulling out of the boat ramp at Neshoba County Lake when I decided to test my casting ability with the new Bigfoot Scum Frog lure. Out in deep, open water, I launched an arcing, rainbow-like cast across the lake. It went downwind, of course, to make it easier to throw the non-weighted frog. It landed with a splat about 20 yards away.

Satisfied that I could cast the toad, I started reeling it real quick back across the lake. Its legs literally ran across the surface. giving it a buzzbait-like action.

SPLOOOOOOOOSH!

The water erupted under the frog, which quickly disappeared. “What was that?” said my fishing partner for the day, Fisheries Chief Ron Garavelli of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

He was still tying on his lure when he looked up at the sound to see me bowed up against the first fish of the day.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said. “You got hit on a frog right there in open water in 6 feet of water? On a frog?”

I had been lucky, being caught by surprise. It caused me to hesitate the necessary seconds it took for the fish to completely take in the soft-plastic lure. When I set the hook, I made solid contact and the fish was mine.

Within a few seconds of launching on the 137-acre lake, I was holding a 4-pound largemouth by the lip and was digging with a pair of needle-nose pliers to remove the hooks.

“Guess we did it right,” said Garavelli, speaking of his agency’s renovation and restocking of the public lake near Philadelphia. “First cast, first fish! Yeah, that’s a good sign.”

Not only was it an indication that the two of us were going to have a good day on the lake, but it was also an indication that 2007 should be a year of bass fishing to remember in Mississippi.

Anytime the state opens or reopens a lake to fishing, excellent bass fishing follows for years to come. You can multiply that times three in 2007. The MDWFP opened its newest lake, Calling Panther, in March of 2006 and reopened, renovated and restocked Lake Tom Bailey in October of 2005 and Neshoba County Lake in October 2006. All three are on our list of must-fish stops in 2007. Toss them in with a couple of older hotspots that produced excellent fishing in 2006 and this should be a great season.

LAKE CALLING PANTHER
We’ll start our preview at Lake Calling Panther, the 500-acre lake near Crystal Springs in Copiah County, which many fishermen predict will be the next public challenger to the state record of 18.15 pounds. The opening of this lake, built in the rolling hills of southwest Mississippi just 30 miles from Jackson, was long anticipated, and for good reason. The terrain in which it was carved was ideal to create a great bass fishery, and the MDWFP biologists did just that.