The chance of a nice largemouth exists in the spring fisheries of a large number of North Carolina lakes in the spring and late winter. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

In one sense, a calendar shows a multitude of days to go fishing -- 365 each year. Looking more closely, however, most folks' calendars stay pretty crowded, given workdays, family plans and other obligations. What that means is when anglers do get the opportunity to get out on the water, they want to make the very best decisions about how to use that time.

In North Carolina, great angling opportunities abound and are widely varied, which is both good and bad for fishermen making plans. It's great to be able to go so many different directions and enjoy good fishing prospects, but all those choices make the decisions extra difficult. We've put together a whole year's worth of selections to help make the decision-making process a little easier. Destinations are spread from the mountains of western North Carolina to the Atlantic Ocean and include everything from crappie to king mackerel.

JANUARY
Flatheads: Sutton Lake
Winter and flathead fishing do not normally go together: Under normal circumstances, flathead catfish virtually shut down when water temperatures plummet. As a warming pond for the Sutton Steam Plant, however, Sutton Lake stays warm throughout the year, making it a legitimate winter hotpot for flatheads. The cats stay active all winter in the lake's warmest waters, creating great opportunities for fishermen.

Because Sutton Lake is part of the Cape Fear River system, it's not surprising that the lake supports a strong population of big cats. Fittingly, the lake impounds Catfish Creek, a major tributary of the state's most famous catfish river. Biologists actually removed non-native flatheads from Sutton Lake for several years, but it became obvious that the big cats were there to stay and that anglers might as well embrace the exciting fishery.

Sutton Lake is shallow overall, with an average depth of only 5 feet. However, the old creek channel includes depths of up to 25 feet. A variety of fish species will attract the flatheads' attention if presented alive on or near the bottom and close to cover. Beyond bluegills, shad and other traditional catfish baits, live eels and small catfish are good options.

FEBRUARY
Largemouths: Lake Wylie
February is a big-bass month, so anglers will be wise to steer their efforts toward waters that produce hefty largemouths. Beyond occasional trophies, Lake Wylie produces great numbers of high-quality bass -- fish in the 3- to 6-pound range. Highly fertile, this lake supports loads of shad, and the bass stay fat and happy.

Bass can be shallow or deep on Wylie during February. Anglers do well at times fishing near the bottom within the Catawba River channel, where they jig spoons or kick the bottom with deep-diving crankbaits. Other times, bass will be way up the creeks, under docks and deep in the brush, where flippin' and pitchin' techniques come to the forefront. Generally speaking, stained water and hints of spring push more fish into shallow water.

Lake Wylie also has two "hotspots," where waters warmed by power-production plants are discharged into the lake and keep baitfish and bass stacked up even on the coldest days. The Allen Steam Station is located in the North Carolina section of the lake, with the warm water flowing into the South Fork River arm of the lake. The Catawba Nuclear Station is in South Carolina.

MARCH
Crappie: Buggs Island
March is made for crappie fishing, and few Tar Heel waterways offer better crappie fishing prospects year in and year out than Buggs Island, or John Kerr Reservoir, as the lake is officially named. Buggs is highly fertile and its creeks and main-lake flats are loaded with cover. The lake's crappie are both big and abundant.

The best patterns for March fishing vary substantially based on weather patterns and water levels, and the fishing can change dramatically over the course of the month. Crappie can be down in river channels or way up on the flats -- or anywhere in between. By considering the progression of spring, asking a few pointed questions in bait shops and doing a bit of searching on the water, anglers typically don't have trouble homing in on the fish.

Unless the fish are way up in the bushes, the most efficient way to find and catch crappie is to troll both minnows and jigs, putting baits at a variety of depths and exploring creek channels and flats alike. When high-water and spring-like conditions push the crappie extra shallow, a long pole rigged with a jig works great for pulling fish out of the cover.

APRIL
Trout: Davidson River
The Davidson River offers the best of both worlds for trout fishermen. More than a mile of the river offers easy access to heavily stocked trout, providing a great place for anglers to catch a limit of trout to take home. Upstream, several miles of North Carolina's best wild trout waters are open only to catch-and-release fishing with artificial flies only.

The hatchery-supported portion of the Davidson River, which parallels U.S. Highway 276 through the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, is one of the most heavily stocked sections of river in western North Carolina. Along with getting stocked weekly with big numbers of trout, it receives a fair number of "bonus" big fish because of its popularity and its proximity to the Pisgah Fish Hatchery.

The catch-and-release/fly-fishing waters, which include the Davidson's entire headwaters region, also produce some big trout, but these fish are rainbows and browns that have grown large in the river. Because of heavy use by flyfishermen, the upper Davidson supports some of North Carolina's most sophisticated trout. Despite good numbers, they can be tough to fool. During April, small nymphs fished close to the bottom probably account for the most trout.