Maddox Bay, Black River Bays (Robinson, Horner, Straight Lake, Sunshine)

I am coming home to the homeland next week and am wanting to spend a few days fishing/camping with grandpa and dad. Do you guys know if any of the places above are fishable? I know from my dad and some posts on CC that the rivers have been really high. I would love to fish Maddox Bay and get back into some of the lakes back off the bay if the water is right. If not, the Black River bays are close to my parents house. Any updates on good fishing locations within 2 hrs of Jonesboro would be much appreciated.

I know a guy who caught some good bream at Horner Bay last weekend.

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Originally Posted by htr2133

I am coming home to the homeland next week and am wanting to spend a few days fishing/camping with grandpa and dad. Do you guys know if any of the places above are fishable? I know from my dad and some posts on CC that the rivers have been really high. I would love to fish Maddox Bay and get back into some of the lakes back off the bay if the water is right. If not, the Black River bays are close to my parents house. Any updates on good fishing locations within 2 hrs of Jonesboro would be much appreciated.

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I can give you the number to Miss Janice at Maddox Bay landing if you want to call her and get the most accurate report from her. PM me and I will give it to you.

Maddox is out for us next week. We aren't going to have enough time to drive down there and stay long enough to make it worth it. I am now concentrating on the lakes and black river bays near Jonesboro. Any updates on any would be much appreciated.

Robinson looks good(clear),came by it thursday after fishing hill slough which the bit is SLOW.Horner is clear,cost 5 dallors to unload,Porta looks good two dallors to unload,Sunshine is clear and has a dirt ramp best to have a 4wheeldrive.Do not think you can fish straight lake anymore unless you can get in it from the river,has a cable across the road.Wislon lake is posted keepout,swan pond is clear may get your feet wet to unload.
Black is up and muddy right now but should be down by the time you get here,most off shouts,sloughs and bays are clear.If black is down and sorta clear that would be here I'd go if the two hour drive somewhere else didn't look good.If the water is down and I wanted to drive two hours I'd head to Henry Gray wildlife.
Good luck nomatter where you go...

Thanks for the report. I had never even heard of Wilson Lake or Swan Pond. To be honest we have always wanted to fish in the Black River itself, but we don't really know where to launch or where the best areas to fish would be.

Launch at black rock,clover bend(sp),newport,tuckerman,around O'kean(sp) and up around biggers.Area's to fish would be slack water,eddies,points,behind logjams in the slack water,anything that will break the current.

That is great info, I had no idea there were that many launch points near Jonesboro to get into the Black River. Also thanks for the tips on areas to look for; that is one of the biggest reasons we've never ventured into the river...we just didn't know what to fish and how swift the current would be. But, it sounds as if you target areas that break the current as you said so I assume those areas wouldn't be too hard to hold on and fish. One question, what does "(sp)" mean? Thanks again for all the great info; I think we are going to take my grandfather's RV to Lake Charles and launch out from there each day; it shouldn't be too far from there to some of the launches mentioned on the BR or some of the bays.

We had also thought about traveling to Old Town; since there are hookups there for the camper.

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Originally Posted by htr2133

That is great info, I had no idea there were that many launch points near Jonesboro to get into the Black River. Also thanks for the tips on areas to look for; that is one of the biggest reasons we've never ventured into the river...we just didn't know what to fish and how swift the current would be. But, it sounds as if you target areas that break the current as you said so I assume those areas wouldn't be too hard to hold on and fish. One question, what does "(sp)" mean? Thanks again for all the great info; I think we are going to take my grandfather's RV to Lake Charles and launch out from there each day; it shouldn't be too far from there to some of the launches mentioned on the BR or some of the bays.

We had also thought about traveling to Old Town; since there are hookups there for the camper.

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There are also lauches at Elgin and Jacksonport, but that would be further down river.

"Sp" is for "spelling" as in I'm not sure that I've spelled this right so I'm letting you know.

Old Town can be a hit or miss.
Also Game&Fish has a ramp on black east of Lynn which isn't far from charles.

We have made our decision. We are camping at Lake Charles so we have AC and showers :) . We are taking my grandpa's boat for the river and any lakes in the area with good concrete access ramps. We are also taking my dad's little jon boat for any of the lakes we might fish that we need to be able to man-handle the boat in and out of.

We are really excited about fishing in the river if the water clears up and goes down a little. We know there is a AGFC launch near Tucker Bay, and one near Portia Bay. We had heard about a luanch east of Lynn, but weren't sure until I read the last post. Is that what we use to call Coffee Access? Are any of these areas of river better to hit first?

If we can't fish the river or can't catch anything in the river we are going to try Robinson, Portia, Horner, Sunshine, and/or any of the others lakes we can get into that we can get directions to from the locals. I was looking on-line at some maps of the area, I had no idea there were so many ox-bows in that general vicinity. I'm sure a good number are hard to find and many are private access only. This time of year with the heat, how would you guys recommend fishing for crappie in these bays if that is where we end up fishing? I don't think many of them are all that deep so I don't know where the crappie would stack up in this heat?

I would try Portia Bay first. The ice storm put some cover in the lake. Go early and try a black/chartreuse mini jig on a 1/32 ounce head with a white crappie nibble on the hook. Tight line in the tops. I am afraid the river will be too swift and possibly stained for best action. Shirey is also a possibility but a longer drive. If those don't work then try the river.

Yes thats the ramp I was talking about at Lynn.

Game&fish also has a ramp at Delaplaine off hwy 34,the river will clear up far'er north you go,maybe.In that area the river has leads(small bays)that run off of it,I call them fingers off the river lol.More areas in that area to target crappie.In this heat and if the river is only stained thats where I'd go,you can find all the likely spots on a river.Swallow,deep water,slack water,eddies,brush is on a river.In this heat the bays will only produce a few hours,maybe,or none at all.I'm not a live bait guy but think thats what it will take for the bays.I've been fishing the bays and the bit is slow but been catching a few hump back hogs in the heat of the day.All the fish have been fat and full and all bits have been reactsion(sp) strikes.Make sure your drags on your reels are working good if fishing the bays,ALFULL big gar hanging around crappie looking spots LOL.

looks like the river might be getting into the bays and fishing might be tougher for a while.

Unless they had alot of rain up north I do not think the river will get into the bays,they were all clear this week.The bays never really clear up they all have that coffe with cream look most of the time.Robinson was clear'er then I have seen it in a long time,horseshoe is getting greened over but clear,hill slough is clear,shirley is coffee colored but clear.Strawberry river is sorta stained and at normal pool,spring river is clear to sorta stained at the lower end,black river still up and muddy saturaday at black rock.

I really don't see how the bit can get any tougher then what it is right now,I think my jigs love the nibs so much dat they fight off all fish that try to get it.

ok, so the river may not be fishable, the bays may not have the best water conditions Tues. -Fri. next week, and we know it is going to be as hot as heck. So, here is the big question...How should I fish the bays if that is what we have to fish? Should I target visible structure in the deepest water I can find? Should we troll? Should we fish the cypress and pound the bank brush? I figure early morning and late evening would be the best fishing times. Should we consider tipping jigs with minnows or just fishing with minnows (I prefer jigs myself). Here is why I have all the questions.

My dad and I fished tucker, robinson, shirey, sunshine, and horner all the time when I still lived at home. We did pretty good in the spring unless everything was flooded, but past May we just never did all that great. I always chalked it up to not really knowing how or being set up to fish deeper water structure in the heat of the summer. My dad has no electronics and we really just love fishing visible structure with jig poles (vertical jigging in tops). That works great until this time of year it seems. So what do we do in these bays to find fish this time of year?

I have watched enough crappie fishing shows to know you can still catch crappie in the heat of summer you just have to change tactics to do so. I don't want to go fish the bays next week all week the same way I do in the spring and wonder why we don't catch but a few fish.

My grandpa's boat has a depth finder only, no fish finder so we won't be able to find underwater structure just depth and depth changes. How should we approach fishing the bays with that set up this time of year. My grandpa loves to troll with several rods in his rod holders, but with him it is more of drifting kind of kicked back and every now and then you "accidentally" catch one. That is fine, but I want to give us the best chanch of catching fish next week.

I know the guys on this board are like pros especially those of you who fish this area and these bays regularly...you know how to catch em year around. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. Any input you can give would be much appreciated.

Also, is there a good map or some way I can find more of these bays off the BR? I can see them on google maps and on the AGFC site, but figuring out how to find some of the lakes can be difficult unless you are with someone who just knows where they all are.

I like wind world when looking for new spots,it has several interfaces you lay over the area your looking at,topo ect..Can zoom down low enough to see most roads leading to and from,see most boat ramps if you take your time and look.Takes awhile to learn how to use it and which interface to use,will worth the trouble.

Depth finder is find but telling someone how to fish the bays this time of year is like hummmm I don't know.Pounding the banks sometimes work and sometimes you can throw in a hunderd dallor bill and it want buy a bit.They may bit on one bay and not bit on another on the same day,may haveta hip hop from one to another.Unless you know the farmer real will you cann't fish Tucker,I know him will but don't want to be someone special lol.The bays aren't as deep as they were back several years ago,you could try a drop-shot rig with a jig and minner in the deeper water.
If Nothing is happening in the crappie world crab a box of crickets and tip them on your jig like you do with a crappie nib.
I haven't fished lake charles in years and do not know the size of crappie being caught but it used to have some good slabs.It may be better b/c of the deeper water,you cann't find no shade to get under in the heat of the day unless get out on the bank,ticks lol.
Red and char.,tenn. shad and black/blue early morning and black/char.,white/char. in the heat of the day has been better for me then all the other colors.

thanks for all the info turtlebait! we will be fishing for sure, may not be catching but we will be fishing.

Well, we are heading out in a couple of hours. Camping at Lake Charles for 2 nights, fishing three days. My dad works with a "master" crappie fisherman that grew up in the area; he knows all the bays and the BR like the back of his hand. Dad just called with a report from his co-worker who said, "the BR should actually be pretty good this week."

Lets hope, I will report.

Lower Black River, from Elgin to Jacksonport, is still fairly high and muddy. Don't know what it looks like above Elgin.

Still high and muddy at Black rock


Did the "Master" produce any crappie???

Hey Guys, just thought I would let you all know how it went. It was HOTTTT! I think the river was up still and it was moving pretty good. Alot of the "slackwater" we would have liked to fish was in the sun the day we put in the river so we couldn't really fish it. Due to the river still being high and fast we elected to fish Robinson Bay the next day (Wed.). We fished for about 4 hours; I caught and kept 2 crappie. They were really good keepers one was 15 inches the other was 14. These were the only crappie I caught that day. I also caught a 3lb bass on my jig rod....lots of fun. We also caught 8-10 bream, but none of the really big black bream I would have expected.

We fished Portia on Thurs. and it looked like it would have been awesome, but we couldn't get harly anything to bite. It was wierd actually, we couldn't even get bream to bite that morning.

Fri. morning my dad and I fished Horner for 2 hours...nothing, absolutely nothing. We then went to Shirey....nothing.

We wanted to fish Sunshine but Dad couldn't launch there and we were running out of comfortable fishing ours so we called it quits......

Looks like I missed fishable weather by 1 week on this trip.

I had fun though and I doubt my grandpa and I will get many more trips together like this. Great memories!

10-4 on being hot,sorry the fish wasn't working in grandpa's bucket of secerts,my bucket didn't do to well tuesday with son & grandD'ther either.The bite has been off for several days"ant biteing",when you cann't get a bream on the end of your hook its worse then lockjaw.However been bringing home a good cooler of crappie and bream on every trip except sunday then we fished black river.We fished up around dave donaldson wife life area,still high and muddy,caught 3 bass maybe 6in. long,no crappie or bream.
I cast for crappie and have had to stay on the move faster then normal with a faster fall rate on the jig.Color hasn't really been a big deal,pretty well all colors caught both crappie and bream.Sometimes had to cast to the same spot several times before I could tease a humpback crappie into striking.I know it was hot but the best bite was between 1 and 2 tapering off to nothing around 4.Last week had alot of problems with gar biteing the tails off my jigs and everyonce and awhile I'd have to battle one before he'd spit the jig or break the line,fun.Yes,the bays looks awsome and pretty but its a same they do not have any fish in them LOL,sames that way huh.The fish haven't been feeding all over the lakes just in different area's in the lake at different times of the day.Thats the reason I learned to stay on a faster then normal move looking for feeding fish.If the wind had not been weak and calm as it was last week My luck would not be so good.It was hard in finding the feeding area's b/c the fish wasn't making much surface breaking just small like swirls here and here with any wind you could not see them.After I caught a few both crappie and bream it was back to zero in that spot.However 30 mins. or so you could come back and catch a few more out of the same spot.It seemed that a hooked fish running though the feeding area would spook the other fish off for awhile.Long pole I think would have been ok but with long line,float set at 8 to 10 in. and pitched to the spot your wanting to fish.Depth of the water didn't seem to be a big factor either,caught them at the surface and close to bottom in both swallow and deep.
I thought Robinson looked awsome when I looked at it last week,if it wasn't so hard to unload your boat there and twist and turn and try missing a mudhole I'd done fished it,getting lazier in my age lol.Fishing is like deer hunting on your days off,by the time you figure out their movments its time to go back to work.Good luck next time out with grandpa and tell him not to forget about the lakes across the river that you can fish in and out of the shade all day.C-ya