At this lake, it’s not a matter of whether you’ll catch fish: You will. The lake, with its 10-bass-a-day creel, has a large number of small bass that swim its waters. The trick is to find a nice fish.

But one advantage you have in fishing this lake has to do with its reputation for small bass: The lake is mainly seen as a catfish and bluegill lake, so considering this is a public lake, you have a much better chance than usual of being the only bass angler on the water.

That’s one difference between Davy Crockett and Gibson County lakes. One is going to have pressure, and one is not. Another difference is that one is going to be technically challenging, and one is not. With Crockett, you’ll have a manageable lake that will show its trends and it gives shallow timber to fish, as well as deep dropoffs with more than 30 feet of water to work toward the levee.

Plus, there are a number of stumps and artificial tree attractors that are marked by buoys. However, don’t spend all day fishing these, either. It’s like this: If you can see them to fish, don’t you think everyone else is fishing them, too? They are good cover, so go ahead and make a pass, but then find some subtler locations.

The one spot I would spend my time on, however, is the shallow water, covered in riprap, along the levee.

I’ve fished these riprap areas from two angles, from the boat and from the bank. I went to the lake’s levee one time after getting blown off the lake and began working it extremely quickly, catching fish that were running in and out of the rocks lining its form. Instead of a spinnerbait like I fished at Gibson County, I fished crankbaits here. Outside of bouncing off the rocks under the water, my casts were relatively snag-free.

Make your first cast to your left as you fish the levee from its boat ramp side. A 20-foot cast will work in an area roughly a foot off the bank. If you want to fish right next to the rocks, that’s easy, too. Switch to a white or chartreuse spinnerbait and begin reeling back as soon as the lure hits the water. Fan these casts out until you’ve fished about halfway across the dial, not making long casts into unproductive water but instead focusing on keeping your lures close to the bank.

Repeat this procedure all the way down the levee, making it a point to stop to fish the areas a bit more thoroughly that produce fish.

Most of my bass usually came within 50 yards of the overflow on the far end of the lake, though of course, your mileage may vary.

Now, once you find your fish, because this is the type of strategy that might lend you 30 bass by yourself, catch every one that is filing itself into that area. Then move down 30 yards, and try to do the same thing, and then come back to the exact same place again within the next 15 minutes, giving these fish enough time to get back in the original spot you found them. If you’re fortunate, and I have to say I’ve been very fortunate, the fish will keep being there.