Acton Lake (Hueston Woods):

It’s time to go fishing. April is here, and good fishing days are ahead. So if you have your tackle ready, you will find some excellent opportunities at southwestern Ohio lakes.

With the assistance of the Ohio Division of Wildlife fish management supervisors Debra Walters and Marty Lundquist, here is my annual outlook for nearby Ohio lakes:

This is one of the best largemouth bass lakes in the region with many fish ranging from 12 to 21 inches. There are also plenty of bluegills, saugeyes, crappies and catfish.

Adams Lake:

This small Adams County lake is stocked with rainbow trout. You’ll also find bluegills and catfish is good numbers.

Caesar Creek Lake:

A great variety of species, including muskies. In fact, with annual stocking, it has become one of the best muskie lakes in the state. It’s also a good lake to fish for crappies, bass and saugeyes. It has one of the top white bass populations in Ohio.

C.J. Brown Reservoir:

With about 1.9 million walleye fingerlings stocked since 2010, there are many big walleyes to be caught. (CJ is the only lake in southwestern Ohio stocked with walleyes.) It’s also good for catfish, bass, crappies and white bass.

Clark Lake:

Another rainbow trout spot. Also bluegills and catfish.

One of the few lakes with no crappie limits. The bad news: many are small. You can also catch bass, bluegills, catfish and saugeyes.

Cowan Lake: East Fork Lake:

This lake east of Cincinnati is a strong crappie lake with a nice population of hybrid striped bass. Muskies are in there, but not drawing much attention from anglers.

Grand Lake St. Marys:

Plenty of crappies, bluegills, catfish and bass. Saugeyes mostly are in the spillway. There’s an emerging yellow perch fishery because of significant stocking.