At 6,700 acres, Lake Conway is still the largest lake ever built by a state wildlife agency even though the impoundment is over 50 years. Although the lake has been known for its bream and crappie fishing, throughout its history the constant thread has always been its strong bass population.
Conway was built around a living forest, and while most of the above-surface dead timber has fallen over the years, beneath the surface it's an absolute jungle. Log jams, stumps, lily pad fields, coontail moss all provide great cover.
Since the lake is a rather shallow lake, the bass is within reach of fishermen’s lures, no matter how hot the summer gets. The bass may not like hot weather, but they can’t escape it by going deep the way they do in other lakes. This makes daytime fishing on Lake Conway much more productive during summer than some Arkansas lakes.
Some of the best areas on the lake to start looking for bass include the big flat near Gold Creek channel and the creek channels of the Pierce Creek and Palarm Creek arms on the south. The section of the lake south of the Highway 89 bridge is slightly deeper than the rest of the lake, and the Palarm Creek channel winding through this section also holds some good bass.
