Bayou Outdoors | The Tarnished Diamond

article by Dan Chason

When Caney Creek Lake or “Caney” as referred by locals was formed in 1985, this 5000-acre impoundment had one goal:  Create a trophy bass lake in the heart of Jackson Parish.  I can remember when it opened and for years it was not uncommon for a line of trailered boats and trucks to wait in line for hours for the chance to fish this awesome lake.  It was one of a very few lakes where true hydrilla lived and it didn’t require a trip to East Texas to find it.  Grass makes bass and Caney was a grass fisherman’s dream.  This flush green grass gave bait fish a place to thrive and right behind that were the gargantuan bass, chinqapin and crappie that anglers pursued.  Topped out by a whopping 15.94 lb bass caught by Greg Wiggins, Caney produced the top 6 largest largemouth bass in the state.  Anglers came by the droves and it was not uncommon to see license plates from as far as Wisconsin on a regular basis.  That was until the decision was made to introduce triploid “sterile” grass carp and regular spraying of herbicides to combat the grass.   That is where the war started and the lake was the ultimate victim.  Property owners complained about and still complain about grass.  Coon tail, hydrilla, milfoil and dollar lilies that the fish depended on to flourish was killed.  Where it was not uncommon to have 40 to 50 fish caught on a trip, suddenly plummeted.  The common big bass became a thing of the past and businesses suffered and fishermen quit coming.  I was one of those fishermen.

There are basically three dimensions of opinions on Caney:  Fishermen, water sport enthusiasts and property owners.  Many folks who invested in some very lavish camps and homes were not vested in the reason that Caney was constructed.  They were concerned about property values without taking into account the serious affect of the decline in fishing relating to maintaining those property values.  It affected many businesses at or near Caney which was a direct influence on the desire to live on and near the lake.  People were not coming to Caney from Wisconsin to jet ski.  A typical Fourth of July excursion for me reminded me of the movie “Caddy Shack” with the sheer number of party barges, jet skis and water recreational vehicles.  The grass was the “enemy” so the State reacted. Overreacted, in my opinion as 5000 surface acres just isn’t enough for even lake residents and certainly too small to accomodate additional pressure on this resource.  Where there once were several thriving guide services has dwindled thanks to our legislators who enacted the same regulations as charter Captains on the gulf actually pushing anyone wanting to guide on freshwater lakes completely out of business.  Spending $10,000 to meet the requirements has led to no one able to make the numbers work which affects commerce when tourists cannot hire a guide when there are none to be found.

Such is the case with Dustin Chelette.  When the term “born to fish” was written and published in the dictionary, his picture should be next to it.  This 44-year old angler from Pineville came to Caney over 7 years ago.  Purchasing a home on the lake, he soon laid down his deer rifles and now fishes literally every day.  I am quite familiar with Caney having guided there years ago.  However, my afternoon on the lake with Dustin soon showed me a simplistic approach where Dustin proved that Caney’s bass fishing is alive and well.  We hit very few locations and at every location we fished, we caught bass.  Fishing beds is actually quite difficult as the stars have to align to catch them right.  The afternoon was spent scoping for the obvious beds where the fish spawn and it was common to see 5-plus-pound females roaming and moving in the shallows.  Dustin has a simple approach to the spawn and it revolves around the Zoom “Super Fluke.”  The approach is slow and boat position is crucial.  The cast is long and the retrieve is slow.  We had a very good day for the conditions and our conversation soon moved to “what happened to Caney” and his answer was a common ground on which we agreed.     This Navy veteran eats, sleeps and dreams of bass.  Dustin surprised me when I asked him what was his favorite month to fish.  “June” was his answer.  His favorite and most consistent time to catch the big girls is when they move from the shallow cover and begin their summer pattern in 16 plus feet of water.  “Not everybody can find them that time of year.  Those big ones are thick and a man can get his arm broke fishing the break lines starting at 16 feet.  They don’t get a ton of pressure and they are there pretty much the whole summer.”  That was true for me as well “back in the day.”  The biggest difference is we keyed on grass beds but those are few and far between in Caney due to the carp, spraying and boat traffic.  Grass gets thick shallower but the deep grass is hard to find.  Find that and you find a consistent bite.

When I asked Dustin why he didn’t offer his services and guide, his answer was simple:  The numbers don’t add up.  “You can’t afford to invest that kind of money to guide on Caney.  It’s not Toledo Bend and the demand isn’t there.”  That is a sad reminder that the downfall of Caney isn’t just the obvious.  Bring all the MLF’s and other big tournaments you can.  All the exposure in the world isn’t going to change attitudes.  The slot is gone, the glory days of Caney are gone.  The only thing that will save this lake and bring back its glory days are a coming of the minds, a dedicated stocking program of largemouth bass (on a regular basis), parking the spray rigs and let this lake get a breath and come back to the reason it was constructed.  There is a common ground but no one has found it yet.