For additional information about Lake Chicot, contact the AGFC office in Monticello at 1-877-367-3559 or Lake Chicot State Park at (870) 265-5480.

DISTRICT 6
This district comprises Dallas, Ouachita, Calhoun, Columbia and Union counties in south-central Arkansas. Within this area, Felsenthal Reservoir is largely considered to be the best all-round crappie lake. But if it's big crappie you're after, White Oak Lake is the place to go.

Some local anglers say it's unusual to catch a small crappie in this large AGFC impoundment. The fish are almost always big, with quite a few in the 2- to 3-pound class.

The AGFC has White Oak fertilized on a regular basis. That means that plankton are abundant and the small baitfish on which papermouths dine get plenty to eat -- and well-fed crappie can reach exceptional sizes. In 2005, there were numerous reports of big stringers anchored by 2-pound crappie.

White Oak is considered two lakes in one, because a dam in the middle forms two separate bodies of water; the upper and lower portions together cover 2,000 acres. The lake is easily accessible from state highways 24, 387 and 57 northwest of Camden.

Call the AGFC's Camden office at 1-877-836-4612 for more info, or log on to www.agfc.com.

DISTRICT 7
District 7 is another swath of top crappie fishing territory. Covering Sevier, Howard, Pike, Little River, Hempstead, Nevada, Miller and Lafayette counties in Arkansas' southwest corner, this area contains such noted crappie waters as Lake Erling, First Old River Lake and Bois d'Arc Lake. It's not easy picking a single body of water from all these slab producers, but on a day-in, day-out basis, Millwood Lake is probably the best for big crappie. Lots of 2-pound crappie swim in the lake, and it's not unusual to catch a limit of fish that weigh 1-1/2 pounds and up.

Millwood, a Corps reservoir, covers 29,200 acres near Ashdown. Access is from state highways 32, 355, 27, 317 and 234 and U.S. Highway 71. The lake has nearly every kind of crappie-holding structure imaginable -- creek channels, points, dropoffs, underwater lakes and islands, and an abundance of dead timber and brush.

Many of the largest crappie are caught in the old river lakes now inundated by Millwood. One of the best spots is toward the lake's upper end in the Little River area on the west side. You'll catch many crappie around cypress timber, but larger fish often spawn in deeper water away from the banks, a fact many anglers overlook.

For more info, contact the Millwood Lake Project Office at (870) 898-3343, or go online to www.swl.usace.army.mil/parks/millwood/index.htm.

DISTRICT 8
Lakes DeGray, Ouachita, Greeson, Hamilton and Catherine are the largest lakes lying within this region that encompasses Polk, Montgomery, Garland, Saline, Hot Spring, Grant and Clark counties. Each of these lakes has its own devoted cadre of crappie anglers, but it's Lake Ouachita that comes out on top as the best honeyhole for oversized crappie.

Ouachita is a clear lake, and crappie there are found deeper than they usually are on many other Natural State waters, even in spring. Concentrate your search along brushy banks where the water gradually drops from shallow to deep and in the backs of coves. Crappie often are suspended 6 to 8 feet down in water that's usually not over 10 feet deep. You may find them considerably shallower than that early and late or on cloudy days.