On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Mississippi River Delta, first flooded New Orleans and then demolishing parts of Mississippi and Alabama. Three weeks later it was the turn of Hurricane Rita, the biggest storm ever seen in the Gulf of Mexico. Weakened slightly before coming ashore south of Lake Charles but still packing plenty of wallop, the hurricane smashed through southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas.

Ironically, the hurricanes flooded much of southern Louisiana without breaking the drought that had long parched much of central and northern Louisiana. The two meteorological monsters caused at least some rain to fall over most of Louisiana, but the desiccated soil absorbed everything that the storms could unload, and after the hurricanes, many lakes, creeks and bayous still had extremely low water levels.

TOLEDO BEND
For instance, the water level at Toledo Bend Reservoir, which had broiled under the sweltering sun for most of 2005, had fallen to about 10 feet below normal pool stage of 172 feet above mean sea level before Hurricane Rita passed over the lake on Sept. 24, 2005. While the storm sent a 12-foot surge washing across much of Cameron Parish, anglers at many marinas on "the Bend," about 150 miles north, were still unable even to launch their boats.

"The dry conditions prior to the storm soaked up much of the rain, and run-off was minimal," said Joe Joslin, a Toledo Bend guide. "This caused our local lakes to go basically unchanged, as Toledo Bend went from 162.9 feet above mean sea level before the storm to 163.6 a week later, which is a rise of less than half a foot."

Despite drought conditions, Toledo Bend remains one of the best venues in Louisiana for landing large crappie, and plenty of them. About 65 miles long and covering 186,000 acres, the deep reservoir along the Sabine River bordering Texas can produce excellent catches of both black and white crappie.

"I would rate crappie fishing on Toledo Bend as excellent," said Ricky Yeldell, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist. "We have a good population in place. We have both species, but black crappie are more common than white crappie."

Two-person teams can often catch 50 to 100 crappie per day. Most specimens average about 1 pound, but some exceed 2 pounds, and a few approach or even break the 3-pound barrier. In March 2003, Jodie E. Crouch Jr. pulled a 3.55-pound black crappie from Toledo Bend to set the state record for the species. On Jan. 17, 1985, Fritz Gowan landed a 3.69-pound black crappie to set the lake record -- but he landed his fish in Texas. Geneva Daniels landed the white crappie lake record, a 2.88-pounder, on March 13, 1998 -- and weighed it in Texas as well.