This month I’ll be fishing Chotard Lake, an oxbow off the Mississippi River north of Vicksburg near Redwood. Because of all the rain we’ve had this year, Chotard should have good water levels. Not only does Chotard hold a good population of bass, the two sister lakes on the sides of Chotard — Albemarle and Tennessee — also will yield plenty of nice-sized bass, if the water level is high enough to reach them.
Like most oxbow lakes that come off the Mississippi, Chotard has a lot of willow trees on its bank and out in the water. If the water level rises during the month of June, you’ll find cottonwood trees, which provide shade for the bass, in the lake. The water depth around those trees only will be 2 to 2 1/2 feet. Fish around those trees with spinnerbaits and buzz baits to catch numbers of nice-sized bass.
I prefer to use a 3/8-ounce chartreuse Mann’s Classic spinnerbait with white skirt and gold Colorado and willowleaf blades. Because the water in Chotard has a tannic-acid appearance like many of the lakes in Florida, the gold-colored blades will show-up better than other colors.
I’ll be fishing the spinnerbait and the buzz bait on 20-pound-test line with a 6 1/2-foot Quantum Tour Edition PT medium-heavy action rod with a Quantum Tour Edition PT 6.3:1 gear-ratio reel. I’ll be using a steady retrieve with the spinnerbait and the buzz bait, fishing around the cottonwood and willow trees.
The bass in these lakes also like creature baits like the Mann’s HardNose Mosquito Hawk with a 1/4-ounce blade and a 1/4-ounce slip sinker up the line, flipping around the trees. At this time of year, my favorite color is black/red flake and junebug. If the water is really high with a water depth of 7 to 8 feet around the willows and the cottonwood trees, use a 1/2-ounce sinker to get that Mosquito Hawk down quicker.
I prefer to use a No. 5/0 Gamakatsu hook with the Mosquito Hawk on 30-pound-test Stren Sonic Braid line to get a fast hook-up and get the fish away from the trees quickly when they take the bait. Most of the time the bass will take the Mosquito Hawk as the bait falls.
In June, the water generally will start flowing out of Albemarle and Tennessee lakes and into Chotard through channels that connect these three lakes. As the water comes out of these lakes, the bass hold at their mouths along these channels, waiting for the baitfish to come out as the water level falls.
I place my boat in the channel, and cast toward both points of the channel with a Mann’s C-4 crankbait in shad color or a spinnerbait. Tennessee Lake is more shallow, and if the water’s flowing out of it, you may have a difficult time getting into it to fish. So fish the mouth of that lake as it comes into Chotard.
If we have really dry weather during June, fish the east side of the lake, the channel side of Chotard, casting parallel to the old channel bank with a white 1/2-ounce Mann’s Classic spinnerbait on 20-pound-test Berkley Fluorocarbon line. You’ll find all types of wood cover on that old underwater channel edge, so slow-roll the spinnerbait along that channel edge.
If you don’t catch the bass on the spinnerbait, pitch a 1/2-ounce Mann’s Stone Jig, and work it around that wood cover. The Mosquito Hawk also is a good lure choice to fish around and through the wood on the channel edge at Chotard.
Chotard is an excellent crappie lake, and many crappie fishermen have put out a number of fish attractors, known as crappie mats. I fish the tequila-green-colored Mann’s HardNose Worm in, around and through those crappie mats with a 1/4-ounce weight. It falls slowly, and I can feel the bait as it works through the mats. I’ll be fishing this bait on 20-pound-test Berkley Fluorocarbon line with a No. 5/0 Gamakatsu hook.
This lake holds a number of 2- to 5-pound largemouth. If you’ll fish Chotard when the water’s flowing out of Tennessee and Albemarle lakes, you easily can catch 20 or more bass per day.
If the water level’s low, and there’s no current, you may have to work a little harder for the bass. But you still can catch 10 to 15 bass weighing 2 to 3 pounds each, with a couple of 5-pounders in your catch.
Summer is a good time to fish any of the oxbow lakes off the Mississippi River because there’s moving water. These three oxbows can be a lot of fun this month, and if you get the right weather and water conditions, you can expect to catch numbers of bass and crappie.
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