Lake Concordia Fishing Charters & Guides

Lake Concordia, Louisiana

There are two things that keep Ferriday, Louisiana, from just being a small blip on most of the country’s radar screen. First, the small town in Concordia Parish midway up the state on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River is famous for its most well-known native son, Jerry Lee Lewis. Lewis is known for his ability to set a keyboard on fire playing legendary hit songs like “Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On” and “Great Balls of Fire”. Second, there’s an old oxbow that was once a part of the Mississippi River that has been permanently cut off from that water by the river levee. It’s 1,100 acres of fishing paradise called Concordia Lake. The oxbow’s natural beauty strikes fishermen’s attention even before they can get a bait in the water for a fish to strike. Ghostly ancient cypress trees line much of its banks. Private residences cover about 50% of the shore and the winding channel also meets up with Delta farmland along much of it’s other shores. On those banks, a variety of fishing structures from trees to weediness to brush tops offer fantastic fishing.

Fishing Lake Concordia

The main target here is largemouth bass. And it’s a summertime favorite for families who go after just about every type of bream species in the state — bluegills, red-ear sunfish (called chinquapins here) and regular sunperch. The lake isn’t a trophy crappie lake, but it has a good population of slabs and also provides excellent catfishing. Lake Concordia has consistently produced a large number of trophy bass, probably more per acre than most Louisiana waters. The lake waters are rich to start with and the nutrients from area farms end up in the lake pushing the entire food change into a rapid-growth mode. The lake record has stood at 13.04 pounds for years, but has been challenged several times with ten-pound plus fish. The lake was so good in the past that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries designated it one of the state’s official “Trophy Lakes” and size limits and slot regulations were put on the lake. After a while, the slot limit helped grow larger fish, but the overall populations of bass in the lake declined. Those regulations were rescinded and the lake has thrived since. Bass management efforts have also included regularly stocking Florida strain largemouth in the lake for more than 20 years. If you look at the lake from an aerial view, it still looks just like an old narrow river channel. The lake’s contour also matches that look. The lake is shallower on each end and years of current when it was not cut off by the levees left a deep channel in the middle, sloping up to shallower banks. Those banks are lined with boathouses, piers and decks over the water that provide great bass cover. Grassy flats on each end of the lake provide excellent spawning habitat. About half of the lake has some sort of aquatic vegetation, including long stretches of tall grass that are good bass areas. And then, there are those cypress trees. Most of them are in shallow water near the bank, but there are dozens of them out in the lake in five to eight feet of water. Fish are usually related to those trees in one form or fashion all year long. Most popular fishing lures on Concordia include Texas-rigged plastic worms and spinnerbaits up in the trees, deep diving crank baits along the piers and jerkbaits, lipless crank baits and jigs around the grass and vegetation. Frogs and lizards also work around the grass. Hybrid bass usually run in schools around the deeper holes of the lakes and love shad-colored diving and lipless crankbaits. Summertime is a great time to get in on that action. Crappie fishing is best in the spring when the fish go shallow on each end of the lake, but they also tend to school up at the ends of deeper piers and on man-made structure later in the year. Concordia has two large man made reefs placed in the lake by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. These two reefs are located on each end of the popular “blue hole” area of the lake. They hold bass and crappie at different times of the year. Because of the open water in the middle and enhanced structure on the shore, this is a popular night fishing spot for largemouth as well. Fishermen key on docks that have lights to find the bass. The lights draw baitfish and expose them to the feeding frenzies of largemouths after sunset when it is too hot for them to feed comfortably during the day.

Visiting Lake Concordia

Two large commercial lodges are located on the south end of the lake and the LDWF operates a free public ramp on the north end. Ferriday and nearby Vidalia offer anglers options for food and supplies and the lake is only 15 minutes from historic Natchez, Mississippi and its antebellum homes and quaint southern charm.