Angler Joe Nolan unhooks a nice Louisiana bass that nailed a soft-plastic creature bait. Photo by John Felsher

By the time September arrives, many Louisiana sportsmen have put away their fishing tackle, bought a ton of ammunition and are starting to plan their next hunting adventures. However, as largemouths gorge themselves on shad to prepare for the coming winter scarcity, autumn can produce excellent bass action. An angler might land a 5- to 7-pounder in just about any of Louisiana's better bass waters, a few of which offer a legitimate opportunity to target a double-digit largemouth. And some lesser-known lakes, curiously overshadowed by other nearby trophy waters, can deliver lunker bass at times.

D'ARBONNE LAKE
Starting in northeast Louisiana, D'Arbonne Lake spreads out through 15,250 acres southeast of Farmerville in Union and Lincoln parishes. Formed when Corney Bayou and Bayou D'Arbonne were dammed in 1964, this impoundment shaped like a leaning "Y" drains much of north-central Louisiana. It gained a reputation for producing giant bass in February 2000, when Ed Stellner twitched a gold and black suspending rattling rogue in Bear Creek and landed a 15.31-pound bass to establish a new lake record. Stellner's fish holds seventh place in the state record book, the only top 10 bass caught in a year beginning with 20 instead of 19. The lake has also produced several bass in the 10- to 12-pound range.

"Bass fishing is super and has been maintained that way for several years," said Mike Wood, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries district biologist in Monroe. "We haven't seen any more 15-pound bass, but the lake has some major potential to produce large bass. Our sampling shows that the lake is in great shape. I've heard of several bass in the 11-pound range since 2000. It's not uncommon to see a 10- or an 11-pound bass with lots of 2- to 5-pound bass."

During local club tournaments, the big bass usually weighs about 5 to 6 pounds; occasionally the top fish will reach the 10-pound range. For the past several years, the state has stocked approximately 150,000 Florida bass fingerlings into D'Arbonne Lake each year to produce trophy fish.

The lake averages about 9 feet in depth, but some holes in the old channel near the dam, much of which runs in the 20- to 30-foot range, drop to more than 35 feet. In the upper arms, the lake becomes more riverine, narrow and shallow, and in the fall, that's where anglers find the most bass.

"It's almost as if D'Arbonne Lake is separated into a couple lakes with relatively shallow arms that neck way down at the upper ends," Wood noted. "The upper ends of the lake are especially good for bass in the fall. Anglers get the benefit of some current, which improves water quality."

In the fall, bass feed heavily on threadfin shad, panfish and small darters called "log perch" that, tiger-striped and cigar-shaped, grow to about 4 or 5 inches long. In the upper arms, bass often feed at the mouths of numerous small creeks and other tributaries that used to flow into the impounded bayous.

Besides creek mouths, anglers fish grassy flats and timber in the upper lake arms. On the flats, run spinnerbaits or crankbaits parallel to grasslines. Since bass feed heavily on shad and log perch, long shad-colored crankbaits or fire tiger-colored jerkbaits should work. Several tributaries contain holes at the outside of channel bends. Water flows more swiftly around the outside of a bend, scouring deep holes.