Big-money bass will be yanked this month from the Ouachita River backwaters. Here’s how to make sure they find their way into your boat.
I’ve always loved fishing river systems, but I have to admit that I never venture too far off the main river itself. All those river lakes, oxbows and creeks only serve to frustrate me to the point that I avoid them all together.
I know that’s where I’m supposed to fish because that’s where all the big bass live. I just can’t ever put that theory into practice.
Take the Ouachita River in North Louisiana for example. I fished that river frequently from 1992 to 2005, but I hardly ever strayed from the river. I would run into a river lake, slough or creek to give it a shot, but I would get antsy after an hour or two without a bite and high-tail it back to the river, where I knew I could get bit — albeit by smaller fish.
My mantra during a bass tournament on the Ouachita River was that I could win with my 10 to 12 pounds of river fish if the backwater bass weren’t biting. If they were, I would get my brains kicked in by sacks of bass weighing anywhere from 16 to 20 pounds.
One of the guys who used to do some of that kicking is Kenny Covington from West Monroe. Covington is one of the hottest local tournament anglers in North Louisiana, and he could put together a productive pattern in the middle of a kiddy pool. He grew up fishing the backwaters of the Ouachita River, and it took me moving back to South Louisiana for him to give up his secrets to me.
“There aren’t any secrets when it comes to fishing backwaters,” Covington insisted. “You probably just gave up too early when you did go back in them. I always say you’ve got to find them before you can catch them, and that takes a little work.
“Bass this time of year will stack up in small areas. You may catch fish in a 100-yard stretch then not get a bite for 500 yards before you get on another group of fish. The more of those 100-yard stretches you can find, the better off you’re going to be.”
While many anglers loosely consider any water in a river system that isn’t actually the river as backwater, the term is more scientifically applied to water that has backed up and isn’t able to flow back into the river no matter where it is located. True backwater is what makes the Ouachita River lakes, sloughs and creeks off the main river such ripe areas for big bass.
“Backwaters are very natural nurseries for river systems,” said District 2 fisheries biologist Mike Wood. “Bass move out into the flooded zones off the lakes, sloughs and creeks to spawn because the substrate of newly flooded areas is firmer than a mucky bottom that constantly has water on it. Bass can move in and take advantage of the terrestrial bugs and plants that aren’t typically in the water.”
When the floodwaters recede, bass simply make the short move back to the main water from which they came. The Ouachita River doesn’t have a reputation as being a big bass fishery, but the lunkers that are here are more likely to be found in the backwaters than they are in the river. It’s a simple matter of them being close to fertile spawning areas and not wanting to waste energy fighting the river current to get energy.
That sounds like all the stuff I used to read that always kept the backwaters in the back of my mind while I was catching 12-inch Kentucky bass off the main river. I knew what I was supposed to do and why — I just couldn’t make myself do it because I never could find that magic 100-yard stretch of which Covington spoke.
“What you’ve got to consider is that while you might go into a river lake and catch bass pitching and flipping, you aren’t going to find the concentrations of bass with vertical presentations,” he said. “The first thing is to put on a lure that allows you to cover water.”
Before Covington even tries a search bait, though, he searches with his eyes. He believes the No. 1 ingredient for locating bass in the backwaters is the presence of baitfish like shad and bream. If he goes through an area and doesn’t see bait flicking around, birds on the bank or fish moving around, he leaves the dead water and keeps looking until he finds signs of life.
When he locates a backwater area that has shad, Covington begins a process of breaking down the water into more manageable sections based on what phase of the spawn he believes the fish to be.
“I divide it into three sections,” he said. “The third nearest the river will be the deepest part. The middle third will be a little bit shallower, but it will have more prominent channel bends. And the upper third will be the shallowest part. If there is a trick to fishing backwater, this is it. In each of these sections, you can have shallow, deep or mid-range fish. You’ve got to throw search lures that cover each of those zones.”
In May, when he typically expects to find the last of the spawning bass, Covington starts in the middle third of a backwater and works toward the back. Other than the opportunity to catch the less-cautious spawning fish, Covington thinks that working toward the back of the creek takes more effort than a lot of anglers are willing to expend.
“I first look at what I’m facing when I get back there,” he explained. “Are the banks flat, or are they bluff banks? Does it have logs, stumps, cypress trees? By the time I start fishing, I’ve narrowed it down to where the fish should be before I even throw a lure. Now all I have to do is figure out if the fish are on the logs, stumps or trees and what they want to eat.”
Covington refines his pattern by covering the top with a topwater like a buzz bait, Chug Bug or Rattlin’ Rogue. He covers the middle section with a 3/8-ounce chartreuse/white double willow Mr. Hootie spinnerbait. And he checks the deeper water with a crankbait like a medium-diving Bomber Model A.
“People change baits too much for my taste,” Covington said. “I’m confident I’ll find fish on one of those three covers (logs, stumps or trees) with one of those three lures. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but it’s really that simple. Remember, though, this is just a search process. Once you find them, there may be a better way to catch them.”
If Covington makes it through this process without a bite, he begins reflecting back on what he did. He questions whether he was just going through the motions. He looks back on if he at least got a few swirls on a topwater or spinnerbait. He understands that it is his fault if everything looks right but he didn’t get a bite.
In this case, Covington thinks about making minor changes. He may try a Chug Bug rather than a buzz bait. Maybe changing spinnerbait colors would make those short strikers eat it better. Subtle changes work better than wholesale changes.
“If I’m at least getting some looks, but they aren’t taking it no matter what I do, then I’ll switch to a flipping or pitching presentation to see if they want a vertical presentation rather than horizontal. It’s important to stay focused and to realize this isn’t going to be a quick deal. It may take several hours to figure out what’s going on. But the neat thing about figuring them out is that it’s a solid pattern that will last until the river changes.”
With that in mind, Covington selected three Ouachita River backwaters for anglers to try this month as they go out looking for a big fish — one north of D’Arbonne Bayou, one in D’Arbonne Bayou and one south of D’Arbonne Bayou.
Wall’s Lake Basin
This is a typical river lake north of D’Arbonne Bayou with fairly clear water, standing stumps and green cypress trees. It always seems to have a lot of baitfish in it, and it’s one of the better topwater lakes along the river. The open basin area is connected to a hidden oxbow lake, which is a typical horseshoe-shaped lake lined with cypress trees.
“The first thing I do in there is tie on a buzz bait and start fishing,” Covington said. “I usually idle into the middle section of the basin and pick out an area based on shad movement and birds on the bank. I’ll alternate between the buzzer and a spinnerbait to cover a lot of water. I’m not so much trying to catch a fish as I am trying to find them.”
After covering the basin area to his satisfaction, Covington moves through the chute to the oxbow lake area and pitches the cypress trees. Texas-rigged tubes, Brush Hogs and standard worms work well. Try watermelon colors if the water is clear and junebug if it has some color.
“I know there have been several money fish caught from this area during the Ronald McDonald tournament,” Covington said. “One of the secrets that might help you catch a big fish is to throw a spinnerbait and reel it as fast as you can without it coming out of the water.”
Boggy Bayou
This winding slough that opens into a sprawling flooded stand of cypress trees and buck brush is perhaps the best-known backwater in the entire Ouachita River system. Hearts have been won, but hearts have been broken in Boggy as it relentlessly tries to protect its own with mercenary stumps and logs that attack all who enter.
“Its new nickname is the Mine Field,” Covington quipped. “That’s because you’re going to break something just about every time you go back in it. It’s worth the trouble, though, as there have been more big bass caught back there than any other place on the river. It’s also a favorite spot for anglers fishing the Big Bass Classic in May.”
Covington starts fishing Boggy where it breaks off of D’Arbonne Bayou. This part of the slough is lined with brush, logs and stumps along its edges, and it has a line of green cypress trees that run down the middle. He often gets in the middle so he can fish the trees and both sides of the slough without having to move around too much.
There aren’t any hard rules as to where the fish will be if the river is at pool stage (22 feet). The only differences once it opens up in the back are little depressions that can absolutely get loaded with fish. In fact, that’s the way Harold Allen won the Bassmaster Central Open on the Ouachita in 2003.
“These depressions aren’t much more than a 1- or 2-foot difference than the surrounding water,” Covington said. “Keep an eye on your finder. When it drops from 2 or 3 feet to 4 or 5 feet, pay attention to your surroundings to see if you can define the depression. The best way to catch them is to do some old-fashioned Texas-rigged worm fishing. Fan cast in all the open water in the depression with a junebug worm.”
Other effective ways to fish Boggy are with Texas-rigged tubes and Brush Hogs on the cypress trees and to try Rattlin’ Rogues, buzz baits and Crazy Shads around the trees and brush. If there is any secret, Covington said it is to have patience and to remember that a Baby Brush Hog is often more deadly than the big one.
Covington has also caught a lot of fish in Boggy on the Mr. Hootie spinnerbait with fluted Indiana blades.
Cypress Creek
No matter how high the water gets, anglers can always get to the bank in Cypress Creek. Perhaps best known as the home of Phil Robertson of Duck Commander fame, Cypress is a good-sized creek that always has a ton of baitfish in it. It’s also one of the few river creeks with grass.
“Cypress is a spinnerbait creek for me,” Covington said. “The water color is almost always good, and I don’t think I’ve ever been in it when I didn’t see a bunch of bait. It’s a really fertile creek. Maybe it has something to do with the runoff from the surrounding farmland … I don’t really know, but it’s mighty productive.”
Covington likes to have three different spinnerbaits tied on for Cypress. He rigs up with a shad color, a bluegill color like firetiger and chartreuse/white. They’re liable to hit any of them, but the key to getting bit is to make sure your cast lands almost on the bank. It seems like the closer you can get it to the bank the better they bite it.
Cypress doesn’t have as many cypress trees as some of the other backwaters down south, but it does have some good vertical structure in it that makes it worth popping a jig. It also has a bunch of stumps in about 3 feet of water. But, as Covington explained, a stump is just a tree that’s been cut off at the water line. You can still pitch a jig to it and let it fall down on the shady side.
“You can also get back around the grass and throw a soft jerkbait or a Wobble Head,” Covington said. “One of my best secrets down there is to get in next to the bank if you’re fishing a topwater and fish it parallel to the bank. I’ve had a lot of luck with a Crazy Shad fished about 2 or 3 feet off the bank.”
“We’re proud of the Ouachita River,” Wood concluded. “It’s not just any old river. It’s one of the most beautiful anywhere. It has its ups and downs based on whether we get successful spawns or not, but it’s an excellent bass fishery.”
And there’s no better way to sample what the Ouachita has to offer than getting in a river lake, slough or creek and putting Covington’s theories and techniques to work. If you’re on the river this month looking for a big bass, have faith in the backwaters and give them a chance. You just might find that magic 100-yard stretch and load the boat with healthy and beautiful backwater bass.
