Photo by Tom Evans

With more than 600,000 acres' worth of fishing lakes in their state, Arkansas sportsmen should find plenty of places to catch bass this year. While anglers can expect to catch some lunker largemouths in most lakes, a few venues stand out for consistently producing whoppers.

For big bass in Arkansas, head south! Unlike the native northern strain of largemouth, fast-growing Florida-strain largemouths can't tolerate extreme cold. However, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission stocks Florida bass in many lakes across the southern half of the state, and these typically yield the biggest bass in the state each year.

Ask fishermen to name the top lunker lake in Arkansas, and some accord the honors to Millwood Lake; others give the nod to Lake Monticello. Either could take the title, since both frequently produce giant bigmouths.

"The best bets for catching trophy largemouth bass in Arkansas are lakes Monticello and Millwood," said Sam Barkley, an AGFC district fisheries biologist in Jonesboro. "Bass weighing 10 pounds or more are caught regularly in both lakes. Largemouths from 5 to 10 pounds are plentiful in both of these lakes as well."

About nine miles east of Ashdown in southwestern Arkansas, 29,200-acre Lake Millwood is impounded by a 3.33-mile earthen dam, the longest in Arkansas, across the Little River. Opened in 1966, the lake swallowed acres of timber, creating abundant woody cover with about 5,000 acres of open water near the dam. Besides flooded timber, there are also lily pad thickets, stumpfields and thick weed patches in the shallow lake.

Over the years, said Stuart Wooldridge, an AGFC fisheries biologist in Hot Springs, the state has stocked Florida bass in Millwood Lake. Feeding on abundant shad, bream and other forage species, these largemouths grow to huge proportions. The lake regularly produces bass in the 8- to 12-pound range, with many fish in the 3- to 5-pound range. Anglers may only keep three bass, each at least 16 inches long, per day. (Continued)

"Millwood Lake is full of big bass," offered George Cochran, a legendary professional bass angler from Hot Springs. "It is probably the No. 1 lake for big bass in Arkansas. Several years ago, the AGFC netted a bass in the 17-pound range. It's a very good lake, with every type of cover, but it's not fished as often as some other lakes, because it is so remote."

Most fish the stumps and weeds. Given the lake's huge amount of cover, you can find big bass just about anywhere. In spring, bass follow creek channels into the shallows to spawn. People work the channel edges with spinnerbaits and soft plastics or flip tubes into thick cover.