SIZE MATTERS
Fortunately, White River NWR is a big place. Excepting the Ozark and Ouachita national forests, it's the largest contiguous chunk of public land in Arkansas. Originally 113,000 acres, a large land acquisition in the 1990s brought the total to more than 160,000 acres, and the refuge property now stretches from Clarendon downstream to the mouth of the Arkansas River navigation canal southeast of Tichnor. Almost all of it is overflow bottomland, dotted with lakes and subdivided by a web of interconnecting bayous and sloughs. There are 300 bodies of water inside the refuge boundaries, ranging in size from less than one to more than 200 acres. Much of this huge refuge is still remote and without a network of gravel roads, with entry permitted only by foot, boat or ATV on designated trails.

This combination of lakes both big and small, both easily accessible and almost impossible to reach -- with lots of waters falling between those extremes -- makes for a fine largemouth and Kentucky bass fishery that has something to offer just about every angler. The more accessible waters can get pretty crowded, especially on weekends, but some of the more remote fishing holes aren't fished a dozen times in a decade. In this modern age, that's a rarity.

WHERE TO STAY
There isn't much in the way of accommodations in and around White River NWR: a few small (and, to put it kindly, rustic) motels in the nearby towns of DeWitt, Gillette, Marvell and Clarendon. Most diehard refuge bass fishermen -- those who don't live within easy striking distance, anyway -- prefer to camp on the refuge in one of the many designated campgrounds. All the campgrounds are primitive, with no hookups, but they're spacious, well-shaded areas that provide anglers with the chance to be right where the action is. There's also a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground at Merrisach Lake, a few miles west of the southwest corner of the refuge, that has hookups.

Regardless of where you camp, be prepared to deal with mosquitoes. You might get lucky and miss the worst of it, but bug season starts in April and goes to the first killing frost, so odds are you'll have to contend with them.

TIMING IS IMPORTANT
White River NWR is unusual among Arkansas fisheries in that some refuge lakes and waters are closed to fishing during December, January and February to provide sanctuary for wintering waterfowl. Even so, there's still plenty of water on these 160,000 acres that's open to year-round fishing. According to the White River NWR Web site (www.fws.gov/whiteriver), "Fishing is permitted year-round in LaGrue, Essex, Prairie, Scrubgrass and Brooks Bayous, Big Island Chute, Moon and Belknap Lakes next to Arkansas Highway 1, Indian Bay, the Arkansas Post Canal and adjacent drainage ditches, those borrow ditches located adjacent to the west bank of that portion of the White River Levee north of the Arkansas Power and Light Company powerline right-of-way, and all refuge owned waters located north of Arkansas Highway 1. All other refuge waters are open to sport fishing from March 1 through Nov. 30 unless posted otherwise."