Photo by Dick Larson.

In duck hunting -- as in life generally -- opportunities can emerge from the least expected places.

To a bass aficionado, Louisiana’s hallmark lakes -- Toledo Bend Reservoir, Lake D’Arbonne and their like -- represent largemouth paradise. Punctuated with swaths of grassy, stump-laden water and cypress sloughs, each big-water bend seems to offer a perfect window through which to lure bucketmouths.

As it turns out, they’re not half bad for knocking down ducks, either.

I used to recognize only one season on the outdoors calendar: bassin’ season. Each winter I’d fish a circuit of tournaments with a local north Louisiana angling association called the Winter Club, laughing all the while at those who’d duck out on the club (so to speak) in favor of waterfowling. After all, who in his or her right mind would miss a bass tournament just to go shoot a few ducks?

One particular year, the second Winter Club tournament was held at Lake D’Arbonne in Farmerville during November. The forecast called for snow and sleet all day long, but to me, a fanatical bass angler, it was of little consequence, as a bit of winter weather simply meant substituting a buzzbait for a Carolina rig. While burning my buzzbait by the edge of some grass in the back of Corney Bayou, I turned to discover several ducks about 100 yards behind my boat, with four more cupped up to join the crowd. (Continued)

My road-to-Damascus-style conversion to duck hunting came not long after that. As I searched for somewhere to hunt, I thought of that November day at Corney Bayou and the gadwalls that spooled behind my boat.

The first time I tried my hand at the ducks of D’Arbonne, I immediately discovered that I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. Boats were launching at the Gill’s Ferry Landing up the Little D’Arbonne arm of the lake and scattering north and south into the darkness.

Lake D’Arbonne is hardly unique. Robbie Howard, an avid duck hunter and regional biologist with the Louisiana office of Ducks Unlimited, observed that the state’s public inland lakes -- and particularly those that pool alongside major rivers -- have for years been consistently productive waterfowl destinations whose excellence has been eclipsed by their stellar reputations for bass fishing.

“They have historically been fairly good hunting . . . the reason being that they usually have enough deeper water to attract the diving ducks and enough shallow water to attract the puddle ducks,” he said, adding that while Louisiana’s inland lakes, like the state’s more-frequented waterfowling grounds, are often crowded in the opening days of duck season, open-water opportunity increases as the season wears on.

“Later on in the season, I’ve hunted these lakes and almost been the only gun out there,” Howard noted. “In my opinion, these public lakes give you an opportunity to certainly get closer to the true definition of hunting, which is to locate game, determine why it’s there and attempt to harvest it.”

The next time you’re set on hitting Louisiana’s big public water during duck season, consider forgoing rod and reel in exchange for a shot at waterfowl. Following: a roster of Louisiana bass lakes that double as duck venues.