Another topwater lure on which Reed relies during the summer is a light-colored Heddon Zara Spook Puppy that he likes to retrieve in a walk-the-dog fashion.

When bass are hugging tight to the wood cover, Reed opts for a 6-inch plastic worm in dark hues -- black, olive green, grape or tequila sunrise. He occasionally uses 4- or 8-inch worms, but most of the time stays with the 6-inch version, rigging it Texas-style with a 1/8-ounce slip-sinker. He favors the lighter weight because it allows his worm to fall slowly to tempt any bass suspended above the branches of a laydown. Soft-plastic jerkbaits such as Slug-Gos and Zoom Super Flukes are also effective baits for largemouths suspended above the wood cover. Reed chooses these lures in bubblegum, white, pearl or gray-and-black hues; he inserts a nail weight into the bait to make it fall slowly into the tree.

When he wants his lure to imitate a crawfish, Reed goes with a 1/8-ounce skirted jig in dark brown or green colors that he works along the bottom. This, he's noticed, attracts the attention of all three bass species as well as that of goggle-eyes.

Using baitcasting equipment allows Reed to throw all of his favorite Big River baits except the tiny jig. Since he's frequently fishing in cover and stained water, he picks braided line in 10- to 14-pound-test. "When you are fishing in a tree you can't let that fish hang around in that root wad," he remarked on using heavier line on the river.

The river expert uses spinning tackle for casting his lightweight jig.

A few summers ago, this writer got a chance to fish the Big River with renowned wildlife artist Al Agnew. The first part of the day we floated a section of the river above Washington State Park and caught several smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass despite fishing on a sweltering summer day during which the temperature soared above 100 degrees. Later that evening, we waded some pools around Desloge; there, Agnew caught a 2-pound smallmouth.

I caught smallmouths by running a 1/4-ounce chartreuse-and-white spinnerbait with double willow-leaf blades and a brown Rebel Crawfish crankbait along riffles, laydowns and big rocks. A pumpkin-chartreuse or motor-oil Fat Gitzit tube bait attached to a 1/16-ounce jighead also produced bass for me around laydowns.

The most pleasant part of our trip was the lack of fishing pressure. We never saw another angler on our float and met only a couple of fishermen while wading around Desloge.

For more information about access areas and floating the Big River, call the MDC Southeast Region office at (573) 290-5730.