Fishing report

First of all, I really did NOT ask the guy above to help with this fishing report. But if I did… (Hey, it is funny).

Fishing has been pretty good the past couple of weeks, but the spring run is definitely over. Believe it or not, there were still a few male white perch being caught in the shallows early and late the past couple of weeks, but that seems to have come to a halt.

Most of the white perch on D’Arbonne are being caught in 12-18 feet of water trolling slowly or casting and retrieving jigs, smal spinners and even minnows in about 6-8 feet of water. The regulars who fish the lake a lot are catching 10-15 a trip and they are catching some pretty good ones for post-spawn.

There still aren’t a lot of small crappie being caught, which is a strange turnaround from last year. It either means there aren’t a lot of small ones, or that the deep bite didn’t happen this year so the smaller ones escaped to the off-channel areas without being caught. Apparently a lot of last year’s small ones grew up because an unbelievable number of one pounders have been caught this spring.

Bass fishing on the lake has been pretty good, especially early around the lilly pads and grass beds near deeper water. Worms and plastics are working better here. Some catches on crankbaits and topwaters are reported around boat docks and around the edges of deeper sloughs.

Catfishing has been good, but not as good as usual. If catfishing continues to follow the rest of the fishing pattern this year, the best is probably going to be later, so hang on to your cold worms. It’s coming.

Bream fishing has been really good around the shallows. Bream are bedding. You may fish 100 yards with only a few little ones then hit one spot and catch 20, including some good ones. Some reports of bedding chinquapins are also coming in. Crickets are working, but the red wigglers seem to be best, especially for chinquapins.

Here’s a quick look at other area lakes:

Caney Lake fishermen are finding some good numbers of fish around the tops in 15-22 foot of water. The big chinquapins are bedding here, too and are hitting worms. Bass fishing is in transition, but the better ones are being caught in fairly deep areas.

Bream fishing has been off to a slow start at Black Bayou, but it is getting better. Crappie fishing has been good but the fish are running on the small side. At Cheniere Lake, the chinquapins are starting to bite in the open areas around the trees and the shallower areas around the banks.

The best bet on Lake Claiborne is bream fishing. It’s been a bit later here, too, but things are picking up.

We don’t have any good reports on the Ouachita River and the water level is still high. But when it starts falling, things should really pick up. There are some fish being caught in river lakes, but fishing pressure is light.