The biggest problem with fishing in the Great Plains lies in knowing the direction in which you should drive to get to your favorite hotspot. If you decide on one, you'll be leaving out some other great location.

So do this: Tell yourself that you're going to fish every lake within a few hours' drive of your home, and at least one lake a month that's outside of your vicinity. This schedule will take you all over our region throughout the year, enabling you to encounter a world of beautiful scenery and fabulous fishing. Everyone needs to embark on a fishing road trip at least a few times a year -- and one of the best months to start is January.

JANUARY
Crappie
Nebraska
At Merritt Reservoir, the Boardman arm is Nebraska's most consistent source of yearly ice, maintaining ice during many years in which other reservoirs and smaller lakes fail to. Because of that, Merritt does get a lot of wintertime fishing pressure.

"Despite this pressure," said Nebraska Game and Parks commission fisheries biologist Daryl Bauer, "it is one of the most consistent ice-fishing spots in the state. While many people who ice-fish in the Sandhills can only do so in a few feet of water, Merritt ice-anglers sometimes have over 40 feet of water to work with in spots."

Anglers use a variety of crappie lures for these trips, including minnows, teardrops, Kastmasters, and Swedish Pimples. And they target dropoffs, contour changes, and a long line of treetops.

"Drill holes to find fish," advised Bauer. "Don't get settled in one spot. If the fish aren't there, they aren't there. Change locations on the lake."

Using depthfinders, locate your fish through the ice. If you're a serious ice-angler or mean to become one, buy a power auger. On lakes in this region, you'll save yourself a lot of time and headaches, and enable yourself to spend more time fishing.

FEBRUARY
Yellow Perch
South Dakota
Reetz Lake, in northeast South Dakota, offers some of the best yellow perch fishing in the state. But these fish are not your average yellow perch.

"Anglers coming to Reetz Lake for yellow perch are searching for big fish," noted Mark Ermer, regional fisheries manager with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. "A lot of anglers fish the lake during the late-ice period before the traditional spawn that occurs in March and April."

Added Ermer: "Perch anglers here are looking for trophies." And there are several places to find them. Originally created after a flood in the mid-1990s, Reetz Lake is filled with a variety of structure ranging from old roadbeds and conventional points to aquatic vegetation and flooded timber. Structure is abundant, as are big perch. Anglers who fish the lake will be looking for big fish, and this year before the spawn, they'll have the opportunity to find them.

MARCH
Flathead Catfish
Kansas
I'd be making a huge error if I didn't tell you that the state- and world-record 123-pound flathead catfish came from Elk City Reservoir in 1998. Bearing in mind that you never catch the biggest fish in the lake, target big flatheads with a couple of different methods.

One of these involves jigging basic catfish baits near the bottom of the lake. And don't just set out lines on the bottom: Allow your bait to move, for flatheads are very predatory and often aggressive. Another method matches flathead anglers with deep-diving crankbaits. Bounce these off of the lake's bottom, much as you would when chasing bass in shallow water.

Elk City has a number of public fishing areas on the eastern side of the lake, so search for cats in the less congested areas on the western side, taking advantage of the many points and inlets in an effort to find fish.