LAKE D’ARBONNE
Lying amid the forests and hills of Union Parish, 15,250-acre Lake D’Arbonne epitomizes the concept of “the Sportsman’s Paradise.” Tremendously popular with bass, crappie, catfish and bream anglers, Lake D’Arbonne is also one of a kind when it comes to big-water duck hunting.

The lake is divided into two sections by the state Route 33 bridge that crosses the water near its midsection. Locals call the part below the bridge the “big lake” and the section above the bridge -- which consists of two main creek channels that fuse into one main channel running all the way to the dam -- the “arms.”

Moving up the lake, Corney Creek splits to the right and Little D’Arbonne splits to the left. Duck hunters make good use of both of the arms, which are a maze of grass flats, brushy islands and cypress sloughs.

“I mainly launch at Gill’s Ferry up the D’Arbonne arm,” said Sid Havard, a professional bass angler and waterfowl enthusiast from Simsboro. “I know a lot of people go up the Corney arm and kill a bunch of teal, which should be especially good this year, as there is more grass up there than normal. I’d rather stay in the D’Arbonne arm, though, because I know it a little better, and I tend to kill more big ducks up there.”

More often than not, Havard points his boat south from Gill’s Ferry and runs until the main bayou begins to open up in an area known as “the mixing hole.” He has killed a lot of ducks by pushing his boat up into one end of the brushy islands and wading to the other end to hunt.

“I’ll cover up the boat with some camo netting and move to the other side and toss out my decoys,” Havard said. “It usually doesn’t take too many decoys; you should be all right with a dozen or so. Most of the ducks I kill in this part of the lake are the gadwall that we call ‘gray ducks.’ You’ll get mallards, but not many. You also get a lot of blackjacks. The great thing about them is that you can shoot a couple of them, and it won’t be five minutes before the entire bunch of them are coming right back at you.”

If he’s looking for mallards, Havard heads north from the Gill’s Ferry Landing and motors into a sprawling backwater slough called Middle Fork, a maze of bayous, creek channels, grass flats and cypress trees. Havard most frequently hunts its rim, which is lined with buckbrush.

The key to hunting D’Arbonne, according to Havard, is to hunt it at the right time. In his view, some of his best duck hunts at Louisiana’s inland lakes have taken place after most of the water in Arkansas has frozen over, sending ducks in search of new landing zones.

LAKE CLAIBORNE
Lake Claiborne is very much a miniature version Lake D’Arbonne, its neighbor just a few miles to the east, and is just as popular with residents of North Louisiana, although it doesn’t get the same statewide recognition.

“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.” --DU biologist Robbie Howard

Its full-pool surface area 6,400 acres, Claiborne is sandwiched between state Route 2 to the north and state Route 146 to its south, and to many it looks more like an Arkansas highland lake than it does a lowland Louisiana lake. Complete with rocky bluff banks, deep, clear water and long, tapering points, Claiborne offers a lot of opportunities to catch any kind of fish.

The two largest arms to the northwest attract all of the duck hunters’ attention. Launching at Lisbon Landing off Route 2 into Beaver Creek, Havard frequently finds everything he needs within just a few yards. “Beaver has a ton of bushy islands, scattered brush and cypress trees,” he offered. “The last time I went hunting up there I saw a few blinds already built around the bushes. That didn’t stop me, though, because there are plenty of spots to set up. Most of that area up there at the back of Beaver is shallow enough to wade around in the bushes, so it makes for a pretty easy hunt.”

Havard most frequently takes mallards and gray ducks there in the back of Beaver Creek. However, when he decides to run the boat over to the arm of the lake stemming from Little D’Arbonne just around the long point that separates the two creeks, he’s more likely to find a variety of ducks.

Maneuvering around on Claiborne may be a little more difficult this season, as it was drawn down late in 2007 in order to improve the marking of the boat lanes. If it’s still low in January, hunters will need to be more cautious when motoring from site to site, but do your best to stay in the channel, and you should be all right.