The great thing about getting a snow in Central Texas is that usually within a day or two, you can be back outdoors with a fishing pole or golf club in your hands.

Unfortunately for anglers looking to launch boats on Lake Waco, only one boat ramp — at Airport Park’s campground area — is open. Ballpark estimates on other ramps and fishing areas reopening range from a week to a month, as the Corps of Engineers, along with volunteers, work to complete cleanup and repairs from recent flooding.

All the closed gates shouldn’t dissuade people from fishing, though, as numerous opportunities are still available. Kayaks, canoes and other small craft can be launched from virtually any opening on the river bank, and Lake Waco’s tributaries have been slowly but surely yielding more fish in the past couple days.

Other options include Bosque Park, located below the Lake Waco spillway near the HOT soccer fields, Woodway Park and a productive little fishing spot on the west side of the Twin Bridges. All these areas offer shoreline access, but visitors should be prepared to deal with washed-up debris and muddy conditions.

And don’t forget about fishing at stock ponds — they serve up some of the area’s best and most consistent fishing. Just remember to get permission from the landowner.

Anyone 17 years old and up who’s fishing public waters is required to have a valid Texas fishing license.

South Texas’ big bass

Another South Texas reservoir that benefited from drought-busting rains several years ago is kicking out big bass.

Richard Flores of Seguin recently pulled a 15.09-pound largemouth from Choke Canyon Reservoir while flipping a 10-inch plastic worm in 12 feet of 57-degree water. That fish is now Toyota ShareLunker 478.

Flores’ fish continues a string of big bass that is significant – of the seven fish entered into the Toyota ShareLunker program so far this year, three have weighed 14 pounds or more and one more than 15 pounds.

In the 2007-2008 season only one fish had been entered by mid-February, a 13.06-pounder from Lake Conroe. In the 2006-2007 season, the five fish entered by mid-February averaged 13.34 pounds. Waco angler Ricky Culverhouse caught a 13.87-pounder in 2008 that was the first ShareLunker fish to come from Lake Waco.

Flores’ fish was 26.5 inches long and 21.75 inches in girth.

For more information on the ShareLunker program, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/sharelunker.

Local fly-fishing experts

Fly Fish Texas is your one-stop shopping center for everything there is to know about fly-fishing in Texas. It takes place March 13 at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.

Show hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All Fly Fish Texas activities are free with regular paid admission to the center.

Fly Fish Texas visitors can collect aquatic insects from the center’s streams, tie a fly to imitate one of those insects under the supervision of a skilled tier, learn to cast it from a certified fly casting instructor, then use it to catch a rainbow trout from one of TFFC’s stocked ponds or streams.

The Dallas Fly Fishers will teach classes for beginning fly-fishers. Pre-registration is required and is available by calling Craig Brooks at (903) 670-2222.

www.centexoutdoors.com

717-8907