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Sports/Recreation

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Heaven on Water
Anglers find a lot to love on the lakes and rivers of Northwest Louisiana

Russell McVey goes after bass in Lake Bistineau.

With the bucolic Red River and an assortment of lakes and bayous, Northwest Louisiana isn’t called a Sportsman’s Paradise for no reason. It is, in fact, a haven for sport fishing.

No one knows this more than Russ McVey, a fishing guide who has plied his trade on local waterways for most of his life.

“Back when I was 12 or 13, I worked at a marina on Lake Bistineau (in Webster Parish) and launched boats, pumped gas and helped load boats on trailers,” says McVey, who now operates Southpaw Guide Service. “A young couple in their early 30s came in one day and rented a boat and wanted to go bream fishing. They stayed out all day, were sunburned and didn’t catch any. I told them that if they’d come back, I’d put them in a couple of bream beds.”

That was his first guide job – a gig that paid $20. In exchange, the couple filled a 48-quart ice chest with fish.

McVey, who still fishes in tournaments and holds the record bass catch on the Red River, now takes fishing parties out on Caddo Lake, Lake Bistineau and the river.

“Caddo has been stocked from Florida, and it’s got the potential for double-digit (in pounds) fish,” McVey says. “People from Dallas, Austin, and East Texas come to fish Caddo to get away from city life because it’s one of the closest (places). It pulls a lot of people from that direction.”

MAGNET FOR MANY

Since the mid-1990s, when locks and dams were completed on the Red River, the waterway has become a magnet for recreational fishing. With a multitude of oxbows, the river provides ample spots for catching good-size, quality fish, McVey says.

Caddo is a trophy lake with potential for large catches, and cypress tree-lined Bistineau – with its state park and camping facilities – is an excellent location for fishing tournaments.

“Bistineau will out-produce any of them,” he says. “It produces a lot of bass in the 3-pound to 5-pound range.”

Generally, February through May or June is a good time for bass fishing, McVey adds.

“Spring is awesome,” he says, “and so is the fall. You get a lot of top-water activity.”

The best months for bream are normally April and May, when the fish are spawning.

White perch are caught year-round. “My favorite time for [perch] is December and January,” he says.

Catfish are normally best fished during the summer, and the river is known to yield large specimens.

Story by Dave Raiford
Photo by Wes Aldridge

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