When fishing upriver, Smith and Wilson both report that anglers can expect to catch a seven-fish stringer weighing up to 20 pounds, with an occasional big fish weighing more than 7 pounds.

Their approach to catching fish on the upper section differs. Smith's primary pattern is targeting creek mouths, while Wilson fishes in the lakes.

"As the water flows out," Smith said, "the bass move out of the lakes to stage in places where they can ambush bait, which is also flowing out. Actually, anything that drains into the river, no matter how small, will hold fish. But of course, not every inlet will produce. Sometimes, you find fish staging on only five out of 25 creek mouths."

Smith fishes creek mouths thoroughly before moving, since he never knows where the fish stage. However, if an inlet contains either a blown-down tree or a visible current edge, he fishes these first.

"Often," he said, "there's a line where dark creek water meets the muddy river, and bass hold on the line where the water mixes. But my best pattern in April is fishing laydowns at creek mouths. They produce good numbers of fish."

Smith's primary lures for fishing creek mouths are a 200 Series Bandit crankbait in shad or crawfish colors or a 3/8- or 1/2-ounce spinnerbait with tandem willow-leaf blades in white and chartreuse. He slow-rolls the latter to work submerged structure.

Before Wilson launches his boat for a trip upriver, he rigs four rods for fishing the oxbow lakes. The rods are set to fish a Bang-O-Lure, spinnerbait, jig and a Texas-rigged lizard. Wilson uses the Bang-O-lure first.

"The first hour of the morning," he noted, "the big sows on the bed or waiting to go on the bed will take a Bang-O-Lure. Work the lure around the bigger trees off the banks.

"When the topwater bite dies, use a jig or lizard to carefully pick apart available cover, which is mostly cypress trees and lay-downs. Usually, it's calm this time of the day, so these lures work best.

"When the wind starts blowing, move to the windy side of the lake and use a spinnerbait to fish the same types of cover."

Whether it's blow-downs or cypress trees, Wilson said that productive cover is always near deeper water. He often catches 3- to 4-pound bass from this structure in April.

Smith, who also fishes oxbows, advises anglers on how to pick apart blowdowns by using a spinnerbait to fish the shallow water first. Then he uses a 200 or 300 Series Bandit crankbait to search deeper.

"The smaller fish stay shallow and above the larger fish," he pointed out. "The crankbait is for catching big fish.

"Work the lure by running it down to the limb, then pause when it hits and give it a little slack. Often the strike will come when the lure hits the limb or when it backs up."

Smith said that blowdowns in the lakes produce bigger fish than do creek mouths, adding that it's necessary to cull bass on the river to obtain a winning stringer in tournaments.