"I fish the lily pads and wood," said Chris Elder, a guide for Hugh Albright Guide Service, (870) 867-3000. "I also like to fish the river or oxbows and backsloughs off of it. Many people fish Carolina-rigged lizards. I also work a Yumdinger along the outside edge of the pads. I let it crawl it across the pads and then slowly sink. The area has a lot of small sloughs and openings. I fish a Yumdinger around the mouths of those little openings. I also like to fish a smoke and red flake tube."

About five miles northwest of Monticello in southwestern Arkansas, Lake Monticello doesn't approach the size of other lakes, but it looms large in the imaginations of trophy bass hunters. Opened for fishing in 1997, the 1,520-acre impoundment can produce bucketmouths in the 14-pound range. Anglers may keep four bass per day, only one of which may exceed 21 inches, and must release everything between 16 and 21 inches.

"Right now, Lake Monticello is probably the hottest lake in Arkansas for producing big bass," said Jeremy Risley, an AGFC fisheries biologist in Monticello. "On a regular basis, people catch some 10-pound bass in the lake, especially in the spring. We fertilize it every year and stock it with about 100,000 Florida largemouth bass every year."

Mostly shallow except around the dam, the lake resembles Lake Millwood. Standing timber provides the dominant cover with lily pads and other vegetation filling in the gaps. People fish the vegetation mats with Texas-rigged soft plastics or work spinnerbaits around the edges.

"I've heard of one bass in the 14- to 15-pound range that came out of Lake Monticello," Risley said. "I've heard reports of bigger ones. In the spring of 2005, an angler caught a 13-pounder. This is probably one of the better places in the state to produce a 10-pound bass. There are plenty of slot fish in the 3- to 7-pound range that people must release."

Somewhat overshadowed by Millwood and Monticello, Lake Columbia also produces some double-digit largemouths. The 3,000-acre lake stretches for six miles along Beech Creek about six miles northwest of Magnolia in south-central Arkansas. Built in 1986, the lake contains a small area that's off limits to all unauthorized visitors, but anglers can fish in the rest of the lake.

"Lake Columbia is the best lake for large bass in this district," said Jason Olive, an AGFC fisheries biologist in Camden. "It's probably the second-biggest producer of bass over 12 pounds in the state behind Lake Monticello. I know of one 14-pound bass that came out of the lake. Quite a few bass over 10 pounds come out of the lake every year. It also produces a handful of bass in the 12- to 14-pound range."

Fairly shallow, Lake Columbia reaches about 20 feet deep in places, but it averages about 7 to 8 feet deep. Most people fish the flooded timber and creek channels in the northeastern part of the lake by flipping jigs along the timber edges.