Take a left out of the boat ramp and you are looking at a long, dog-legging cove that was originally crop land, and there is very little change in water depth as far as you can see. The large expanse of open water in front of the ramp extends to the levee and was formerly cow pasture. It contains a number of edges and breaks that should be located by avid anglers with a depthfinder: Here those anglers will find summer’s deep largemouths. To the right of the ramp is where a forest had been located, which is quite evident due to the large amount of exposed cover that is seen.

So, the lake offers a host of inviting choices concerning where to fish. From shallow, tapered banks to heavy, wooded areas, Gibson County has just about everything you could want to fish.

Along with the already mentioned contours, the levee is rock-lined and there are numerous coves near the levee that, when the water finally gets up, create a series of humps and little “lost” lakes that fish like small ponds. Also, in that area are some of the lake’s deepest dropoffs, where the water is nearly 30 feet deep.

If you’re interested in fishing manmade structures, TWRA has placed a number of fish finders, at least 10, throughout the lake. They aren’t hard to find, since they have been marked with buoys. Simply stated, you’ll never run out of fishy looking water. But where should you go first?

I think that answer is pretty simple -- any direction. If you’re going to go left, start burning with shallow-running, white and bluegill-colored crankbaits. I make it a point to fish my fair share of trebled lures first, and then look to fish a shad-colored fluke in these waters and hook it weedless. Don’t fish slow until you feel you have to, and use this lure if you do. Matching forage as well as providing a maximum amount of action will give you the naturalness you’re looking for. Allow the fluke to work below the water with rapid wrist twitches while also reeling in. I like to Texas-rig these in order to keep them weedless, because if I’m going to fish with a single point hookup and it’s not a spinnerbait, I want that hook to be hidden.

I have attacked the dropoffs with deep-diving crankbaits and, to be very honest, haven’t found as many fish toward the levee as I have in the left and right coves. But if I wanted to get hard-headed and find those fish, I’d continue to work these dropoffs with forage-colored crankbaits while also slow-rolling spinnerbaits off the big contour edges near the creek that runs adjacent to the dropoffs after I had worked the left and right coves first.

When fishing the timber to the right of the boat ramp, have confidence in yourself to fish a couple of lures quickly before forcing yourself to go to soft plastics. Work your crankbaits (I prefer a 4- to 6-foot running Bandit) and allow the lures to run through, over and under trees, pausing with each one that you come across in order to free the lure and give it a yo-yo action. But don’t become slowed down with the timber. Fish it quickly at first, paying attention to your depth changes and where you’re finding your fish.