It wasn't long before numbers of big bass began to decline, and as they disappeared, so did the fishermen. Second-guessing about the prudence of having used an exotic species of fish to curtail the submerged vegetation (at least as regards the number of carp deployed) has gone on for a decade, but the blame game helps nothing: The damage is done.

Said Wood, "That was a major problem for us: not having fishermen on the lake to help us meet our goals within our bass management plan. Angler harvest is a key to making the plan work, and when they abandoned the lake for better fishing on other lakes, a key ingredient to bass management disappeared."

But with a bit of luck, Caney Lake could be well on the road to a recovery that could reestablish it as one of the premier trophy bass lakes in the state, if not the in the entire South. "The carp are dying out," stated Wood. "Whereas over 12,000 were released into the lake in 1994, a conservative estimate is there are no more than 200 to 300 grass carp there now."

That's great -- but does this mean that vegetation will return to the lake of its own accord?

"Not necessarily," Wood said. "Our research has shown us that the carp were very effective in knocking back the vegetation, especially the hydrilla and coontail. Every time a little sprig would reseed and start to grow, it was nibbled away by a carp. As a result, the seedbed for these species is gone; it's just not there. What is growing are plants such as dollar pads, bladderwort and peppergrass -- vegetation not preferred by grass carp.

"We have begun a program of reintroducing desirable plants, specifically coontail, to the lake. We have brought in boat loads of coontail, which will grow from a sprig, and have introduced it to the coves and shorelines with the idea that now that grass carp are no longer a problem, the grass, once established, will soon provide the cover that has been so sorely lacking on Caney.

"I see no reason why the good grass won't come back," Wood continued. "One thing we're sincerely hoping is that some well-meaning angler, knowing that the carp are all but gone, sneaks in some hydrilla. That would be disastrous, and would put us back with some of the same problems we had before.

"There are still big bass in Caney Lake, but because of the absence of cover, they are scattered, and anglers have a hard time locating them. After the new growth of submerged vegetation takes hold, I would think that fishermen will begin to see a significant difference. The lake should have natural cover in the form of desirable aquatic vegetation growing again, giving young fish a place to hide and serving as ideal ambush points for foraging bass.

"Once this happens and the word gets out, anglers will return to Caney Lake and our bass management plan, in which we encourage fishermen keeping fish under the slot" -- 15 to 19 inches -- "and releasing fish in the slot, should begin working.

"I see the future as being indeed bright for Caney Lake," Wood said, "and I wouldn't be surprised to see the state record broken here again in the future."

Caney Lake has two public launch facilities: one at the Caney Lake State Park off Highway 4, the other, also off Highway 4, at Ebenezer Landing.

LAKE D'ARBONNE
A lake that has all three legs of Wood's stool in place is Lake D'Arbonne. This 12,500-acre lake near Farmerville has been around for several decades, and it's aging gracefully.