Cross Lake Bass Fishing

The Fishery at a Glance

Cross Lake punches above its size class for a municipal reservoir. At roughly 8,600 acres with an average depth hovering between 6 and 8 feet — and maximum depths of only 12–14 feet in the dredged channel areas — it's a fundamentally shallow fishery. That shallowness defines everything: fish location, seasonal movement, forage availability, and gear selection. Standing timber is the defining structural feature, remnants of the original bottomland hardwood forest that was inundated when the lake was impounded in the 1920s. Much of that timber has deteriorated over the decades, but enough skeleton structure remains, especially in the northern and western arms, to hold bass year-round.

Water clarity runs from lightly stained to genuinely turbid after heavy rain events in the Red River watershed influence. On cleaner days — particularly in winter and early spring before algae season — visibility can reach 18–24 inches, which is enough to matter for bait selection. Coontail moss and scattered hydrilla beds have expanded in recent years, particularly on the southern and eastern flats, adding a grass dimension to what was historically a pure timber fishery. Shad are the dominant forage, with crawfish filling the secondary forage role in the shallower timber and grass zones.

Seasonal Movement Patterns

February–March is arguably the most reliable window on Cross Lake. Largemouth bass begin staging for the pre-spawn as early as mid-February when afternoon water temps creep into the mid-50s. The northwest coves and protected shallow flats are first to warm, and bass stack on transition timber — the last row of standing stumps or skeletons before the bank flat. A 3/8 oz War Eagle spinnerbait in white or chartreuse-white, slow-rolled just above the bottom at 3–5 ft, will draw strikes from fish that haven't fully committed to feeding aggressively. This is the window that local guides on Cross Lake talk about most: the few weeks before the tournament crowd shows up and before the spawn pressure starts.

April and May bring full spawn and post-spawn activity. Bass move onto the shallow flats in water temps of 62–70°F, and the visible timber stumps and grass pockets in 2–4 ft become staging and bedding areas. Pitching a 1/2 oz black-and-blue jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer to individual stumps is a consistent producer, especially in slightly stained water where fish will sit tighter to cover.

June through August, heat and boat pressure combine to make midday fishing genuinely difficult. The channel edges at 10–14 ft see the most consistent bass action during daylight, particularly in the early morning hours. A 3/4 oz football jig dragged slowly through submerged timber on 15 lb fluorocarbon produces fish that surface-oriented anglers are completely missing. Early morning topwater over the hydrilla flats — a Spro Bronzeye frog in bone or black, worked over matted sections — provides exciting action for roughly the first 90 minutes of daylight before the bass retreat.

October and November are the local consensus pick for the best all-around fishing of the year. Cooling water triggers shad migrations into the creek arms and over the grass flats, and bass follow. A Rat-L-Trap in chrome/blue or Tennessee shad, burned over grass at mid-depth, triggers some of the most explosive strikes Cross Lake produces. This is also when schooling activity shows on the surface — look for bird activity and keep a walking bait rigged and ready.

December through January sees fish consolidate on the deepest available timber, but "deep" on Cross Lake means 10–12 ft, not 30. A suspending Megabass Vision 110 in natural shad colors, fished on 10 lb fluorocarbon with 15–20 second pauses, covers these fish effectively. The mild northwest Louisiana winters mean true lockdown conditions are rare, but fishing still demands slower presentations and smaller profiles than the rest of the year.

Gear and Technique Specifics

For the timber-heavy shallow work that defines most of Cross Lake's fishing calendar, a 7'2" medium-heavy casting rod with a fast tip paired with a 7.3:1 ratio reel — a Shimano Curado DC or Lew's Tournament Pro will handle the conditions — and 15–17 lb fluorocarbon covers the majority of pitching and flipping situations. In the grass mats and heavier cover, bumping up to 50 lb braid on a 7'3" heavy rod is appropriate for punching through with a 1 oz tungsten weight and a Strike King Rage Tail Craw trailer.

For the channel-edge drop shot and football jig work, stepping down to a 7' medium-heavy spinning setup loaded with 10 lb fluorocarbon or 10 lb fluorocarbon leader off 20 lb braid allows better sensitivity on the subtle bottom contact that identifies submerged timber structure. A 1/4 oz drop shot weight, 12-inch leader, and a Roboworm Straight Tail worm in morning dawn or oxblood red consistently reaches fish that ignored everything thrown at them from above.

Lipless crankbaits deserve specific mention for Cross Lake's grass flats. The retrieve that produces isn't a straight burn — it's a rip-and-fall cadence that pulls the bait free of grass momentarily and lets it flutter back down. Most of the strikes come on that fall. A 1/2 oz Rat-L-Trap or Strike King Red Eye Shad in natural shad patterns gives the right action and weight to tick the top of the coontail before ripping free.

What Most Anglers Miss on Cross Lake

The contrarian reality of Cross Lake is this: most visiting anglers focus almost entirely on the standing timber and ignore the grass. Locals who've watched the fishery evolve over the past decade point out that the expanding hydrilla and coontail beds on the southern and eastern flats now hold bass that the timber-hunting crowd never encounters. On calm, clear winter mornings, those grass edges in 5–7 ft of water concentrate bass in ways that the skeletal timber, which provides shade but limited cover, simply can't match.

There's also a consistent misunderstanding about water color. When rain muddies the upper arms, most anglers either leave or keep throwing natural-colored baits and wonder why they're not getting bit. Stained-to-muddy water on Cross Lake calls for contrast: black-and-blue, solid chartreuse, or a white spinnerbait with a chartreuse trailer. The fish are still there — they're just relying on lateral line and color contrast rather than sight. A 1/2 oz jig with a bulky Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw in green pumpkin/black flake, worked with deliberate bottom contact in 3–6 ft, will find fish in conditions that send the average angler packing early.

Finally, boat traffic and municipal restrictions create access quirks worth understanding before launching. Portions of Cross Lake are subject to no-wake and speed restrictions tied to its function as a drinking water source. Verify current access rules and any seasonal closures with the Shreveport Water and Sewerage Department before your first visit — the regulations have historically changed with water level conditions and maintenance periods.

The fishery rewards familiarity. Anglers who spend time mapping the grass edges in fall, learning which timber clusters hold fish in summer, and understanding how the channel cuts influence winter bass location will consistently outperform those who show up and run the obvious bank. Cross Lake isn't a numbers lake by nature, but it's capable of a genuinely big fish on any given morning — and that potential, combined with reasonable boat traffic outside of summer weekends, keeps serious bass anglers coming back.

Year-Round Patterns

Go-To Presentations

Common Questions