"The system tends to have higher water levels in the spring and lower in the fall. We had low water in late summer and early fall in 2005. That allows a lot of the substrate to dry out, so fish have many places to spawn. It also creates a lot of cover in the spring, so fry have a better survival potential until they can fend for themselves."

Roughly 2,500 acres in area, Lake Larto averages 12 to 16 feet deep, but a few holes drop to nearly 30 feet. Saline Lake covers about 1,971 surface-acres. Saline Bayou connects the two lakes. People often fish drops in the bayou, or a deep hole where Saline Bayou hits Lake Larto. Other hotspots include Muddy Bayou, Nolan Bayou, Powell's Point, Open Bayou, Cross Bayou and Shad Lake.

"People start catching crappie in November and continue through February," Hickman offered. "By late February, crappie start moving up into shallow areas. By March, they are in full spawn. In the spring, anglers can catch crappie in the shallow parts of the bayou between the lakes and on the other side of Saline Lake at Big Creek. In the main lake, people catch a lot of crappie by drifting. When the fish move shallow to spawn, people catch them around the shorelines."

LAKE D'ARBONNE
On the other side of the state, 15,000-acre Lake D'Arbonne, in Union and Lincoln parishes, is responsible for outstanding spring crappie action. Impounded in 1964, it drains a watershed 75 times as large as the lake itself. Most of the lake averages about 8 feet deep, but parts of Little Corney Creek and Little D'Arbonne Bayou drop to more than 30 feet.

"The crappie population is doing extremely well in Lake D'Arbonne," said Mike Wood, the LDWF district fisheries biologist in Monroe. "People catch a good many large fish. Most crappie average about 1 1/4 pounds. Realistically, people can expect a 2-pound fish, but we see a lot of fish over 3 pounds."

Large portions of the lake still resemble a shallowly flooded cypress swamp. As crappie move shallow from late February through May, anglers dangle flies, tiny hair jigs or tube jigs from long poles around cypress trees and knees. "On Lake D'Arbonne, crappie don't always spawn at the same time," Wood said. "Crappie in Stowe Creek historically spawn first; then they start spawning at Four Mile Creek. It cycles through the lake like that until it extends to the upper reaches of the lake, where crappie spawn last. They don't like to spawn in the upper creeks until after they get the rush of water with the spring rains, so they spawn later there."