It’s late January or early February, and you’re on a man-made reservoir. The water temperature is in the low 50s, and you’ve got 3 or 4 feet of visibility throughout much of the lake — clearer on the lower end and a little dingy on the upper end where some water is running in via the tributaries. The average depth is about 35 feet and the wind is coming out of the west at 5 mph. There’s plenty of cover to choose from, including laydowns, stumps, creek and river channels, drains, bridges, riprap and some hydrilla that starts in 5 feet of water and runs out to 10 to 12 feet in some areas. It’s a largemouth lake, and the primary forage is threadfin and gizzard shad, but there are plenty of panfish and crawfish, too. How are you going to catch them today?
