LAKES DUNN AND AUSTELL
Lakes Dunn and Austell are two of the main attractions in Village Creek State Park, a 7,000-acre outdoor recreation retreat south of Wynne in Cross and St. Francis counties. Dunn covers only 65 acres, Austell only 85. But these small lakes exemplify the old saying, “Good things often come in small packages.” Both lakes serve up superb bassing.

On Dunn, look for summer largemouths around brushy points and in coves with dense stands of dead timber. The arm of the lake running north from the boat dock is productive at times, but most anglers seem to have their best luck fishing the small, heavily timbered fingers jutting into the eastern shore, across the lake from the swimming beach. On breezy days, concentrate your efforts around the numerous points in this area, where shad and other baitfish stack up and attract feeding bass.

Look for Austell lunkers to be hiding around stumps, beaver lodges and fallen timber in the lake arm running north from the swimming beach. This arm has produced several of the lake’s largest bass, including some weighing more than 12 pounds. Also productive are shallow, timbered flats adjacent the creek channel running through Austell’s southwest arm, two deep, wooded coves on the lake’s south side, and areas around logs and brush adjacent the riprapped dam.

Many anglers find summer largemouths in Austell suspended over a deep inundated hole where dirt was dug to build the dam. To locate this hole, look for a vertical, 10- to 15-foot high gravel bank about 100-feet long on the south shore almost directly across the lake from the boat ramp. A depth sounder run across the water parallel to the cut bank will indicate a sharp drop from 20 to 30 feet of water down to 50 to 55 feet. James Maners of Wynne took a 15-pound, 12-ounce lunker suspended over a flat at the west end of this hole in 1989, and when conditions are right, it’s not unusual to find a dozen or more big fish suspended along the dropoff in summer.

Top lures for Austell and Dunn bass are weedless offerings because the fish tend to hole up in the tightest cover they can find. Try plastic lizards or worms, jig-and-pork frog combinations and slow-moving spinnerbaits. When fishing around the deep hole on Austell, which is relatively brush free, you might try a deep-diving crankbait.

Anglers on Dunn and Austell are restricted to electric motors only. The lakes are open from daylight until 10 p.m. daily.

To reach the park, take Exit 242 off Interstate 40 just east of Forrest City and travel 12 miles north on Highway 284; or travel six miles south on Highway 284 from Wynne. Each lake has a concrete boat ramp. Overnight accommodations include 10 fully equipped cabins and 104 campsites with electric outlets, water hookups and adjacent bathhouses. Additional information is available by calling Village Creek State Park at (870) 238-9406.

MALLARD LAKE
Mallard Lake, owned by the AGFC, is where Memphis, Tenn., angler Aaron Mardis caught the Arkansas state-record largemouth -- 16 pounds, 4 ounces -- on March 2, 1976. Mallard Lake drew national attention in the mid-1970s because of the huge numbers of 10-pound-plus largemouths being taken there. In 1983, studies indicated that the average Mallard Lake largemouth weighed 4 pounds. The heaviest largemouth taken that year weighed 14 pounds, 15 ounces. Fish that size have rarely been seen in recent years, but Mallard still produces enough lunkers to make it worth a visit.

Located in Mississippi County in northeast Arkansas, Mallard Lake was constructed in 1967 in a low-lying portion of Big Lake Wildlife Management Area. This 300-acre, four-levee lake is an ideal largemouth haven with cypress trees, willow trees, stumps and fallen logs scattered all across the fertile lake bottom.