I have family in Monroe and Start. Wish I had time to make it down there and fish some of these lakes.

My uncle retired a few years ago but he was president of La Tech for about 25 years

My father inlaw is Dave Nitz he was; and still is in baseball, the voice of Louisinana Tech Bulldogs Athletics. He did all their sports radio for about 35 to 40 years. He semi retired last year. He talked my daughter into going to Tech to major in sports marketing. Dr. Dan Reneau?

If fuel isn't through the roof I'm going for a week in May. I want to fish Caney, D'arbonne, the Ouachita River, and maybe some of the oxbow lakes along the Mississippi and if I have time maybe give Bussy Brake a try.

So far it’s pretty tough, they are seeing fish so I don’t think it’s suffering from draw down. If these temps were a little better; if it’s like it was in the old days, it will take a stringer of 4 to 6 pounders to win a round.

Slow for sure but expected, I'm suprised someone even has 5 scorable by now

Any of you Louisiana fishermen fish Chicot Lake? I've thought about doing a 3-day weekend there.

I did once in 2012, caught only a few biggest was like 3 lbs. I knew another boat weighed a 20+ lb bag the same day, never figured out the secret to which cypress hold fish and which ones don't.

[/quote] Darbonne: what I know about this lake it fishes really good and is probably one of the best lakes visually for bass fishing you'll ever see as far as cover goes, but here's the kicker. Every so often the Army Corps of Engineers runs this lake through a draw down in the name of flood control and nearly empties it. When they do that either the fish are going out the flood gates or since they are in such crowded waters the predatory birds and larger fish have a feast and when it comes back up its pretty much empty and it fishes that way; some of the toughest fishing you'll ever do. If they've drawn it down in the past 2 or 3 years this could be the toughest round these guys have ever seen.

Caney Creek Lake: they'll love this one it was impounded it the late 80's and was stocked exclusively with Florida strain bass. It holds most of the Louisiana state records for LMB and for a 7500-acre impoundment WAS as hot as Lake Fork if not hotter at one point. The bad? in the mid 90's the lake had a hydrilla problem, so the LDWF got the bright idea they'd release grass carp in the lake to control it. They put way too many in it and they ate all the vegetation down to the dirt literally destroying the lake and it quit producing altogether. More good: the grass carp were supposed to be sterile, and they have lived out their life span and died off, so the lake began to recover a few years ago and is now producing DD fish again.

My parents had a house on that lake, and I spent a ton of time on it, never caught a DD out of it but some really nice bass. Before they built all the houses and boat docks around it this lakes beauty was breath taking. It's in rolling pine hills and if you didn't know where you were you'd think you were somewhere in central Arkansas near the edge of the Ozark mountains.

Bussy Brake: it was the water supply lake for the International Paper Mill in Bastrop, Louisiana. The papermill has been long gone and they emptied this lake not long after the mill shut down back in the 90's. It literally sat empty for well over a decade I believe. The state was given control over it if I remember right and they did a complete makeover which included boat docks, new boat ramps, etc. and it was refilled and restocked the best I can remember about 3 to 5 years ago so it ought to be full of young hungry fish. This one should be a lot of fun. The bad: It's VERY small lake.[/quote]


Corp of engineers has nothing to do with D’arbonne. LADOTD controls the spillway structure. It’s not the fish going out of the gates or the birds during the drawdowns. It’s the fisherman. As you mentioned the fish get so condensed that they are easy to catch. People will be there toting ice chest full of fish out everyday and not a single game warden in site. If the wardens would just work it during the drawdown it would help tremendously or just work the lakes anytime. I’ve been fishing in LA for 42 years and can count the number of times I’ve been checked on 1 hand.

Darbonne: what I know about this lake it fishes really good and is probably one of the best lakes visually for bass fishing you'll ever see as far as cover goes, but here's the kicker. Every so often the Army Corps of Engineers runs this lake through a draw down in the name of flood control and nearly empties it. When they do that either the fish are going out the flood gates or since they are in such crowded waters the predatory birds and larger fish have a feast and when it comes back up its pretty much empty and it fishes that way; some of the toughest fishing you'll ever do. If they've drawn it down in the past 2 or 3 years this could be the toughest round these guys have ever seen.

Caney Creek Lake: they'll love this one it was impounded it the late 80's and was stocked exclusively with Florida strain bass. It holds most of the Louisiana state records for LMB and for a 7500-acre impoundment WAS as hot as Lake Fork if not hotter at one point. The bad? in the mid 90's the lake had a hydrilla problem, so the LDWF got the bright idea they'd release grass carp in the lake to control it. They put way too many in it and they ate all the vegetation down to the dirt literally destroying the lake and it quit producing altogether. More good: the grass carp were supposed to be sterile, and they have lived out their life span and died off, so the lake began to recover a few years ago and is now producing DD fish again.

My parents had a house on that lake, and I spent a ton of time on it, never caught a DD out of it but some really nice bass. Before they built all the houses and boat docks around it this lakes beauty was breath taking. It's in rolling pine hills and if you didn't know where you were you'd think you were somewhere in central Arkansas near the edge of the Ozark mountains.

Bussy Brake: it was the water supply lake for the International Paper Mill in Bastrop, Louisiana. The papermill has been long gone and they emptied this lake not long after the mill shut down back in the 90's. It literally sat empty for well over a decade I believe. The state was given control over it if I remember right and they did a complete makeover which included boat docks, new boat ramps, etc. and it was refilled and restocked the best I can remember about 3 to 5 years ago so it ought to be full of young hungry fish. This one should be a lot of fun. The bad: It's VERY small lake.[/quote]


Corp of engineers has nothing to do with D’arbonne. LADOTD controls the spillway structure. It’s not the fish going out of the gates or the birds during the drawdowns. It’s the fisherman. As you mentioned the fish get so condensed that they are easy to catch. People will be there toting ice chest full of fish out everyday and not a single game warden in site. If the wardens would just work it during the drawdown it would help tremendously or just work the lakes anytime. I’ve been fishing in LA for 42 years and can count the number of times I’ve been checked on 1 hand. [/quote]


That too I just figured to LDWF had learned not to let that take place by now. They did a draw down in the early to mid 80's and I fished it for 3 years after it refilled and I caught 1 fish. I remember folks being lined up along the D'arbonne channel and hauling them out by the ice chest load.@ longs. LADOTD may be executing the draw downs but the Army Corps calls the shots on all flood control if I remember right.

Day 2 was tough on some big names for sure. My biggest disappointments were Takahiro Omori, Zack Birge, and Matt Lee. I just saw Matt's FB post about his day and he boated one fish @ 1 pound 2 ounces. I just hope the geta handle on things on their next round.

Corp of engineers has nothing to do with D’arbonne. LADOTD controls the spillway structure. It’s not the fish going out of the gates or the birds during the drawdowns. It’s the fisherman. As you mentioned the fish get so condensed that they are easy to catch. People will be there toting ice chest full of fish out everyday and not a single game warden in site. If the wardens would just work it during the drawdown it would help tremendously or just work the lakes anytime. I’ve been fishing in LA for 42 years and can count the number of times I’ve been checked on 1 hand. [/quote]


That too I just figured to LDWF had learned not to let that take place by now. They did a draw down in the early to mid 80's and I fished it for 3 years after it refilled and I caught 1 fish. I remember folks being lined up along the D'arbonne channel and hauling them out by the ice chest load.@ longs. LADOTD may be executing the draw downs but the Army Corps calls the shots on all flood control if I remember right.
[/quote]

Not on D’arbonne. The 2016 flood they opened the (new gates) wide open. The water current speed down at the mouth of the river was almost 40 MPH. It was so bad it washed all the docks and house boats out of the bayou down to the Louisville bridge. Also washed out about 300 yards of the river bank straight across from the mouth of the bayou. Corp of engineers would have never let that happen but they had no say so in the matter. DOT was trying to keep the houses on the lake from flooding not thinking about those down stream. It was bad.

Are the fishing D-Bonnie for next 2 days?

What an absolute BRUTAL derby. WOW

Go say that on BBC and get lit up by the Cajuns LOL, it's rough haha