More known for its fabulous spring crappie fishing, Lake D’Arbonne can deliver great bass action as one of the largest and best largemouth lakes in northern Louisiana.
Impounded in 1964, the lake spreads out through 15,250 acres of Union and Lincoln parishes near Farmerville. Formed by damming Corney Creek and Little Bayou D’Arbonne, the lake resembles a crooked leaning “Y.”
“Two main feeder streams flow through the lake,” said Jake Ormond (318-366-0975), a fishing guide from Sterlington. “They come together in the middle of the lake. The main portion of the lake is one big creek running through a flat. We had a drawdown in 2024. After a drawdown, the lake usually comes back stronger a year or two later. Once the grass gets reestablished, the fishing really blooms.”
Much of Lake D’Arbonne resembles a flooded cypress swamp. Every square foot looks like it should hold a bucketmouth sowbelly. The lake averages about 9 feet deep. The numerous channels average 18 to 20 feet deep, but some holes in Little Corney Bayou and D’Arbonne Bayou dip down more than 30 feet deep. Some holes near the dam plunge to about 35 feet deep.
D’Arbonne regularly delivers bass in the 5- to 8-pound range with some bigger ones. Occasionally, someone lands a lunker weighing 10 to 12 pounds. In February 2000, Ed Stellner caught a 15.31-pounder. He caught it by twitching a gold and black suspending Rattling Rogue jerkbait in the Bear Creek area on the eastern side of the sprawling lake.
“I prefer suspending jerkbaits rather than a floating jerkbait,” said Randy Howell, a former Bassmaster Classic champion. “Keep it running in the strike zone. When we stop the retrieve, it hovers in the strike zone, giving fish a chance to eat it. When it stops in their face, bass eat it reactively.”
Find bass near bream beds
By May, most bass probably have finished spawning, but some could still guard their beds. However, bluegills start spawning when water temperatures reach about 80 degrees, typically in late April or May. Bluegill viciously raid bass nests to eat the eggs and fry. When bluegill start bedding, bass seek revenge. Lunker largemouth gorge themselves on fat bream.
“D’Arbonne is a fantastic bluegill lake,” Ormond said. “When bluegills start bedding in May, bass relate to their beds. People can catch a lot of big bass around bluegill beds any time of the day. I do a lot of fishing around bluegill beds at night.”
To catch bass near bream beds, look for the beds in about 2 to 4 feet of water. Use polarized sunglasses to help search for dark dish-shaped depressions on the bottom. Bluegill spawn several times a year through early fall and habitually return to the same flats each year.
“May is a good time of year for big largemouth to have an easy bream meal,” Howell said. “It’s a perfect time for bass to feed on bream before they move out of the shallows. I’ve caught a lot of big ferocious bass off bream beds over the years.”
Larger bream tend to bed deeper than small fish, out to about 8 feet deep. State-of-the-art electronics today can find those beds and bream and even pinpoint hunting bass. Anglers need something that gets down to 4 to 8 feet of water.
Lunker largemouth commonly cruise through bream bedding areas, sometimes in green “wolfpacks” of voracious predators looking to devour anything they can catch and gulp down. For those roving raiders, a square-billed crankbait makes an excellent search bait. Run it through a good bedding area to locate fish.
“For catching bass off the bream beds, bluegill pattern crankbaits work great,” Ormond said. “I like a blue and chartreuse crankbait or a chartreuse with black or blue back. Swim jigs also work around the beds.”
Sometimes, anglers find a good bed and catch a few bass, then leave. Around a good bed, place a stick in the water to mark it. Later, return to that bed. Make long casts and throw beyond that marker. Work over the area thoroughly.
What baits to use
In the spring, bream- or shad-pattern topwaters provide explosive action in the mostly shallow lake. A walking bait makes a zigzag commotion on the surface and covers large stretches of water. Throw any topwater baits across the beds and work them with a slow, steady cadence. Pause periodically for a few moments.
When bass don’t want to chase moving baits like walking plugs, throw a propbait or popper. With a propbait or popper, anglers can twitch the lure floating tantalizingly over the bed. Also work it with periodic pops so it sits invitingly over the bedding area for long periods.
“For topwaters, I like Arbogast Jitterbugs and Heddon Spooks,” Ormond said. “I also like Storm Chug Bug topwater poppers. For colors, I keep things simple, either black or white. When it’s cloudy, I throw darker colors, but I have caught bass on white topwaters on cloudy days.”
Frequently, bream bed in or near very thick vegetation, such as a lily pad patch or other entangling objects. Most topwaters can’t run through thick cover. Like tiny four-wheel drive vehicles, plastic frogs can go over or through nearly anything without snagging.
“First thing in the morning, I like to throw a frog or a buzzbait to holes in the grass and little pockets and points,” Ormond said. “I look for anything a little different in the grass.”
Rig a buzzing frog weightless with a 3/0 to 5/0 wide gap hook inserted into the soft-plastic body. Work it with a slow, steady retrieve or the hop and stop technique. At open patches, let the frog sink a foot or two before pulling it up to the surface again.
A wacky worm also works great around bluegill beds, especially after the sun gets a little higher in the sky and shines down into the water. Insert the hook into the bulbous “egg sack” or right in the middle of a straight worm. When fishing around vegetation, use weedless hooks with wire guards.
Wacky worms sink slowly and look like natural food, such as a worm washed into the water or a dying amphibian. Among the easiest lures to fish, toss one to a good spot, like over a bream bed or next to matted grass, and let it sink naturally. As it slowly sinks, the tips wobble and quiver with a twitching action.
Early morning fishing
In the morning, lucky anglers might discover a shad spawn. If so, they could put many fat bass in the boat quickly. Voracious bass like nothing better than slurping a juicy shad. Run shad-pattern spinnerbaits, crankbaits or topwaters parallel to grassy edges.
“Sometimes, we see a shad spawn in May,” Ormond said. “If I discover a shad spawn, I throw square-billed crankbaits that run 6 to 8 feet deep or spinnerbaits. I often use a Bill Lewis MR-6 crankbait.”
As the day progresses and temperatures rise, bass might go deeper. Fish the channel edges and deeper grass beds. A channel that swings close to a grass bed makes an outstanding place to fish in mid-morning.
“In May, the fishing is really good along the creek channels and around the grass,” Ormond said. “The boat might be sitting in 12 to 15 feet of water in the channel, but I throw up to the channel edge in the grass.”
Later, throw the old standby, a Texas-rigged worm in black or green pumpkin, perhaps with a little red coloration. Fish these around deeper weed beds or channel drop-offs. Throw to the shallow side and work the worm out over the drop-off.
“After the topwater bite slows down, I start fishing a Texas-rigged worm around the outside edges of the grass and channel edges,” Ormond said. “For plastics, I usually throw either blue fleck or Junebug. Later, I’ll move to deeper channels out toward the main lake. Later in the day, I like to fish deeper main lake channel swings with bigger crankbaits, like a Strike King 5XD or 6XD.”
Night fishing
When the sun becomes too intense, try fishing after sundown. At night, the biggest bass lose some of their wariness and feed more aggressively. Also, fewer anglers fish after dark. Nocturnal anglers often find themselves alone over the best honey holes.
“At night, we normally catch bigger bass,” Ormond said. “The biggest ever put into my boat was a 9-pounder caught at night. At night, I like to throw a ½- or ¾-ounce black or black and yellow spinnerbait with a single Colorado blade. I also throw Texas-rigged worms on a 3/16-ounce weight around the docks towards the main lake. Football-head jigs and Carolina rigs also work great. I work a black and blue, green pumpkin or crawfish-colored football-head jig just like a Carolina rig. I drag it along the bottom.”
Schooling bass can erupt at any time, typically around the channel edges later in the day. Around the channel drops, throw a shad-pattern crankbait.
Visitors can camp or rent cabins at Lake D’Arbonne State Park. For park information, see lastateparks.com/parks-preserves/lake-darbonne-state-park.
