Photo by Trent Myers.

Magnolia State bass anglers have been chomping at the bit waiting for that magical pre-spawn period of spring to arrive. Well, it’s finally here!

Some of the best bass fishing of the year is just around the corner, and we have lots of locations across the state that offer tremendous bassin’. We obviously don’t have space to cover them all, so here’s a look at five of the top spots to target right now.

OKHISSA LAKE
Anglers in the southwestern portion of the state are in for a real treat this spring: A brand-new fishing hole just opened in the area this past fall -- and it’s posed to be a real dandy.

Franklin County’s Okhissa Lake was built by the U.S. Forest Service with fishing in mind, and its 1,100 acres are destined to be an anglers’ paradise; it’s expected to become one of the Magnolia State’s premier largemouth fisheries.

Famed angler Bill Dance chipped in by lending his expertise to designing the lake, much as pro golfers are known to help design courses. Okhissa Lake holds the distinction of being the very first “Bill Dance Signature Lake.”

The lake also is one of the deeper waters in the area. It is 75 feet deep near the dam and probably averages around 30 feet deep, according to Rick Dillard. Dillard is a fisheries biologist and the Fish and Wildlife Program Manager for the Forest Service.

Okhissa has more than 30 miles of shoreline and features plenty of tributary fingers and coves. The tremendous amount of structure in the lake makes it truly an angler’s dream. During construction, workers created channels and humps to the lake. Rootwads were collected from the bottom of the lake and used to construct fish attractors.

Plenty of standing timber and stumps will be found in the lake. The saleable timber was cut and sold prior to flooding -- with the roughly $3 million netted put back into paying for the lake’s development -- and the remaining trees left for structure.

Okhissa was stocked with a number of different sportfish, as well as threadfin shad as a forage base. Florida-strain largemouths were added around three years ago. They have been growing exceptionally well, according to Dillard.

About 600 gravel spawning beds were constructed for bream, and another 100 smaller beds for largemouths.

Sampling performed in the spring of 2007 showed most bass were in the range of 2 to 3 pounds. However, the surveys also revealed some largemouths had already reached 5 pounds. Dillard expects those fish to be around 7 pounds or more by this year.

The biologist expects the largemouth fishing at Okhissa Lake to be really good. It’s in a region of the state whose soil composition should make for a fertile fishery. Dillard went so far as to predict that the lake would most likely hold bass in excess of 10 pounds by 2009 or 2010.

A 16-to-20-inch slot limit is in effect at Okhissa Lake. Anglers must release all fish within the slot. Up to 10 bass may be kept per day per angler, but only one can be more than 20 inches.

Two public boat ramps are sited on on the west side of the lake.

More information on Okhissa Lake may be obtained by contacting the Homochitto Ranger District Office at (601) 384-5876.