Joey Smith of Colt displays a trophy largemouth caught on Bear Creek Lake last May. Fish this size are relatively common in all the lakes on Crowley's Ridge. Photo by Keith Sutton.

Travelers driving across east Arkansas often are startled at the sight of what appears to be a mountain range where no mountains are supposed to be. Actually, there are no mountains in this section of the state. What the traveler has seen is a unique geological formation, a long strip of hills called Crowley's Ridge. This low, narrow ridge extends 210 miles from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Mississippi River at Helena. It is a beautiful part of the Delta landscape.

The Ridge, as it is known locally, provides a wealth of recreational opportunities for Natural State anglers and hunters. But just after the dogwoods bloom along its wooded slopes in spring, most outdoorsmen in this part of the state will turn their minds to only one thing: bass fishing.

Six small public fishing lakes scattered along the length of the ridge provide first-rate spring largemouth fishing. These include Walcott Lake in Crowley's Ridge State Park, Lake Poinsett in Lake Poinsett State Park, lakes Dunn and Austell in Village Creek State Park and Bear Creek and Storm Creek lakes in St. Francis National Forest. These impoundments are ideal for great bass fishing in an unspoiled setting.

WALCOTT LAKE
Located in Greene County north of Jonesboro, Walcott Lake is the smallest and northernmost of the Crowley's Ridge lakes. It is part of a popular vacation spot called Crowley's Ridge State Park. Nearly a quarter of a million people visit this 270-acre park each year. But even though the park has many visitors, Walcott Lake remains one of the most overlooked fishing spots in northeast Arkansas.

Size has allowed it to remain obscure. The lake barely covers 30 acres, but any angler worth his weight in fish scales knows good catches of big bass often come from small, little-known lakes. Walcott is one of these.

The lakeshores are open and frequently mowed, so you can walk the banks and cast to nearby structure and cover. Or, launch a small boat and paddle as you search for bass among submerged treetops and artificial reefs of tires and cedar trees.

Walcott is fairly shallow throughout, so most bass-attracting cover can be found by scouring open shores for woody cover beneath the surface. Polarized sunglasses greatly aid this endeavor. When cover is found, most anglers cast to it with spinnerbaits, medium-running crankbaits, jig-and-pigs or soft-plastic jerkbaits to entice big bucketmouths. Late in May, many anglers switch to plastic worms and lizards, which are ideally suited for fishing the thick bottom cover.