MERRISACH LAKE
Lying along the Arkansas River post canal near Dumas in Arkansas County, Merrisach Lake offers anglers some sanctuary from the traffic and current of the river itself. Though it measures roughly one-third the size of Horseshoe Lake, the lake offers equal or even better fishing in May.

Farwick says that the lake is full of forage in the form of native minnows, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and sunfish. Cover consisting of thick beds of Eurasian water milfoil and coontail moss is abundant as well. In the backwater areas, anglers will find some sparse standing timber, a multitude of underwater stumps, and logjams. Anglers should follow the boat lanes through the thick beds of vegetation timber.

According to Croom, barge traffic is often a precursor to great fishing on this lake. Though the body of water naturally has no current because of the lock and dams on either end of the post canal, when a barge locks at one end, current begins to flow downstream. The current may only last a few minutes, but he has witnessed the brief current change sending bass into a feeding frenzy.

The bigger bass can be harder to find in May, as they will often bury up in the very dense mossbeds. However, Croom's father pulled a 10-pound, 2-ounce behemoth from the weeds several years back. "Outer edges of the milfoil mats are very productive," the younger Croom said. Generally speaking, whenever a mat has a defined edge it usually accompanies a dropoff. The lake has water over 25 feet in depth in places, and a sudden drop of 2 or more feet will cause bass to congregate around cover.

Croom likes a topwater popper or buzzbait to start working milfoil mat edges in the early-morning hours. If he's deep in the backwater areas, he might alternate between his topwater offerings and soft-plastic jerkbaits and tubes. As it gets later in the day, he works the areas toward the mouth of the lake, where lots of riprap can be found. A Bomber 7A or similar crankbait in a shad pattern is hard to beat on the riprap.

Of course, in May the bass will fall for a variety of baits including spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters and soft plastics. And while anglers normally won't catch the numbers of bass that could be caught on the river, there are bigger bass to be had in this little lake. Bass over 5 pounds are fairly common in May, and bass in the 6- to 8-pound range would be considered big bass on this lake, with an occasional bass over 10 pounds.

While not being necessarily easy to cover thoroughly, the presence of barges can turn a bad day of fishing upside down. Croom has seen floating milfoil mats move hundreds of yards, and he's watched bass school up and then ravage the hapless shad cowering beneath the mats.

One special technique Croom shared involves a series of culverts in one backwater area on the lake. When barge traffic causes a rapid current change, water bottlenecks through these culverts. As usual, though, there's a catch: A typical boat can't make it through the culverts, which are much too small. Instead, anglers must be able to fire baits nearly 25 feet down a small culvert and out the other side to fish them.

"You better have a lot of backup baits to do this," Croom said. True: A small misdirection or miscalculation, and that five-dollar lure shatters against the side of the culvert.

Not many anglers are willing to give up their baits, however, and so usually stick to fishing the outside edges of the pipe openings. Croom, however, pulled a 20-pound stringer of largemouths from out of a culvert in May 2004.

The lake can be accessed by ramp in the Merrisach Park owned by the Corps off Highway 44, just 10 miles south of Tichnor. It can also be accessed by locking through Lock and Dam 2 or Dam 2 on the opposite end. Many anglers also choose to launch at Pendelton Bridge off Highway 165 near Dumas and run about 8 miles to Merrisach.

SUMMING IT ALL UP
Typically, oxbow bass fishing involves pulling oversized, shallow-water bass out of dense, gnarly cover. Leave your finesse rods and 6-pound line at home. For fishing these lakes you need to rig up with medium-heavy- to heavy-action casting rods and reels spooled with 15- to 50-pound line. Also, bring lots of crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater baits, jigs, and soft-plastics and large hooks.

Visit www.arkansas.com for more information about both areas.