With the right tactics, it's possible to catch largemouths from the oxbows regardless of water levels. Photo by Polly Dean.

Like most Mississippi River bass anglers, Lena's Newt Ford learned to let the rise and fall of river levels guide his selection of fishing tactics in the oxbows connected to the Father of Waters. He would look for more-stable waters, and go elsewhere else during rapid increases or decreases.

However, the luxury of making that choice -- afforded most regular anglers as a matter of course -- wasn't available to Ford when he was participating in a tournament. On the day of a contest, he had to fish whether the lakes were holding steady or heading up or down. Levels meant nothing.

"That's one of the reasons I learned to fish through any condition," said the successful tournament angler, who worships the river lakes. "And I eventually learned how to catch fish in each. I'm glad I did, too, because I love those river lakes. And I particularly love to catch those river bass: They are always so mean, and strong -- and they fight like no other bass."

Ford is so fond of river lakes that he has a camp on one of his favorites, Lake Whittington, north of Greenville. But his affection isn't limited to oxbows still connected to the river: He also likes those now outside the levee. "When you start talking about fishing river oxbows, you have to break it down into two categories: river-connected and non-connected lakes," he said. "Both are entirely different fisheries.

"River-connected lakes have levels that fluctuate with the river; non-connected lakes are stable. River-connected lakes have willow trees; non-connected lakes have cypress. River-connected lakes don't have piers; non-connected lakes have a lot of boathouses and piers. And, finally, river-connected lakes are all oxbows of the Mississippi River -- and not all of the non-connected oxbows, including some of the best, were ever part of the Mississippi River."

Following Ford's definitions, then, we'll review the two types of oxbow separately.

RIVER-CONNECTED OXBOWS
"I fell into the same trap that most fishermen did -- and many still do -- and that was letting the river dictate fishing," Ford remarked. "River levels, or the rise and falls, don't mean as much to me as they used to. It took me a long time to realize that bass were still catchable in any situation, especially in the spring months of April and May. They'll bite -- you just have to know how to do get them to do it."

To do that, fishermen have to absorb the same lessons and break the same habits that Ford did. "First, they need to forget about always fishing the banks in the spring," he offered. "Bass fishermen in the spring get into a trap of always fishing banks, thinking bass are always shallow in the spring. I learned that they do stay shallow, but that doesn't mean they are always in shallow water -- they just stay 'shallow' in deep water."