Union Parish Tourist Commission

FISHING RESOURCES PLACES TO PLAY PLACES TO STAY PLACES TO EAT PLACES TO SHOP

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FISHING RESOURCES PLACES TO PLAY

PLACES TO STAY PLACES TO EAT

PLACES TO SHOP

WELCOME TO UNION PARISH & LAKE D’ARBONNE

Union Parish is home to spirited small towns, undiscovered hidden gems and world-class outdoor adventures.
In Union Parish, let country roads lead you far away from everything. And a little closer to heaven. Feel free to stay awhile.

WELCOME TO
UNION PARISH &
LAKE D’ARBONNE

Union Parish is home to spirited small towns,
undiscovered hidden gems and world-class
outdoor adventures. In Union Parish, let country
roads lead you far away from everything. And a
little closer to heaven. Feel free to stay awhile.

Plan Your Next Lake D’Arbonne Fishing Adventure

Regions

The Fab Five

& Friends

Planning a trip to Lake D'Arbonne? No worries. Let us introduce you to our five main regions, or as we call them, the fab five. Keep scrolling to learn more.

Corney Creek

There’s nothing funny about Corney Creek, the far-north reaching arm of Lake D’Arbonne that flows under the Hwy. 2 bridge to Bernice, where two public fishing ramps are located. The lake is often affected by high waters because the area drains a huge watershed, but Corney clears up quickly because much of the lake bottom is sandy. The area has numerous flats off the main channel and miles of fishy banks and is very stumpy. Idle only when out of the marked channels. This area is fed from the old Corney Creek. In fact, there is a fishable creek remaining above where it feeds into the lake in an area known as Hog Pen.

Forks Ferry

In the early days, before Lake D’Arbonne was a lake, Forks Ferry was a common place to cross the area where the two bayous converged. It’s hard to believe, but there were also steamboats that chugged up and down that area in the late 1840’s where bass and crappie boats now roam. The area is a wide expanse just north of the Hwy. 33 bridge that doesn’t have a specific boundary, but it’s an area that locals know well. With two underwater creeks merging into big Bayou D’Arbonne, it offers a variety of structure for anglers. Anglers need to be careful because when a big wind comes up, it can get rough in a hurry.

The Point

This area is as much about things to do as it is fishing. There’s a huge open area that is good for boating and skiing, but the shores around this area are great for bass and crappie. There’s a big camping area and cabins for rent and also popular eating and recreation area that also rents equipment like kayaks and floats for water sports. The flats out in front of the area are also great for fishing and there is a large pond-like area that holds fish much of the year and is great for small boats like kayaks and is accessible through a small opening in an old road bed and through a huge concrete culvert.

Tech Island & The Mixing Hole

Tech Island and The Mixing Hole are the two most popular areas up the Little D’Arbonne arm. Tech Island is a mass of shallow cypress trees that explodes when the water is about a foot high, and The Mixing Hole has it all — channel holes, current holes, grass, trees, ridges and brush.

Little D'Arbonne

Bayou D’Arbonne, the namesake of the 16,000 acre lake is a big feeder creek that meanders to the southwest of the Hwy. 33 bridge. It, too, is full of stumps and only safe to run a boat fast in the boat lanes. But the same stumps, trees and logs that make boating tough make fishing fantastic.

The Lake D’Arbonne State Park is on this area of the lake and offers an exceptional public boat ramp and parking area, but the park does require a small fee. The are is also easily accessible from the ramps along the Hwy. 33 bridge that separate the creek areas from the Big Lake.

Terrell Island

Terrell Island is an area on the east side of the lake just outside of the city limits of Farmerville. Fishing in the areas out from the island is great, but the real treasure is behind the island where Bear Creek feeds into the Big Lake. The area produces lots of bass and crappie and offers awesome bream fishing.

Big Lake

Half of the water in D’Arbonne is in the Big Lake, an open-looking area located from the spillway up to the Hwy. 33 bridge. While the area looks open, it isn’t. The old submerged river channel runs through it, and there are marked boat lanes down the middle of the lake and to popular coves and residential areas on the Big Lake. But the rest is stumpy. Use caution when boating. Banks and coves offer easy to fish structure, some banks have grassbeds on them and there are dozens of boat piers and docks that provide great fishing for bass, crappie, bream and catfish. The dropoffs from the old winding creek and feeder creeks also hold hosts of fish all year long. Again, there’s a wind warning here. Storms can kick up some scary waves. There are several boat ramps, including those around Jake’s and Ramp Road at the bridge all the way down to the spillway where a new beach is also being constructed. There is also recently improved public ramp at Terrell Island.

Stowe Creek

There’s only one “captive” area on the lake that locals refer to often because of the fishing. That’s Stowe Creek, a small cove separated by a small channel that runs under a bridge into the big lake to the southwest. The whole area is enclosed by land except that channel under the bridge. It’s also like a little lake itself. Stowe Creek’s shallows produce record catches in the spring for crappie and bass fishermen and it’s one area in the 60-year-old lake that still has a lot of live cypress trees, although they are small. There is also a boat ramp at Stowe Creek landing. Besides fishing, it’s also a popular area for kayak anglers because it is protected from wind and fast-moving boats.

The Bridges of the ‘Bonne

There are three bridges on Lake D’Arbonne and they are always popular spots to fish. When there is current in the lake, bass like to hang out around the bridge pillars and the rocky ares of the shore. They are good crappie spots, too. In the winter, crappie congregate around the bridges in the deeper channel. In the summer, the crappie hang out there for shade and cover. The Bridges are on Hwy 2 from Farmerville to Bernice; Hwy 33 from Farmerville to Ruston and Hwy 15 from Farmerville to West Monroe.

The Spillway

The southern-most waters of the lake are called the spillway, a huge open expanse of water where water sports and fishing are both great. It’s the largest open body of water in the lake and there is a triple ramp there, along with a newly constructed beach. Do Not Cross the buoy line marked by huge orange markers or you might slip over the huge concrete spillway that holds the lake behind it.

Boat Ramps

Persons launching a boat shall pay the daily launch fee at the ramp or obtain and display a valid annual launch permit.