Fishing Bear Lake in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

• Overview

  Set in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, this is Bear Lake. The ground around here is warm bottomland. Roughly 280 acres of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. By elevation it sits in the lower part of our Louisiana listings. 22 miles away sits Gueydan, the nearest town. Kaplan follows at 26 miles, then Lake Arthur at 27 miles. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Bear Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. The channel is where water moves, and fish follow it. Oyster and old piling give the only hard structure in sight. Documented catches and surveys in the area cover blue catfish, bluegill and Atlantic croaker. Records show what people reported, not what is stocked. Treat Bear Lake as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 52°F in January to roughly 82°F in July. Nothing shuts down for cold, so the question is when in the day to go. Heat pushes fish deep from June onwards, so start early. February into May fishes hardest as the water warms. That is the shape of the year on Bear Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Catfish want bait on the bottom: cut bait or worms, a simple running rig, and patience after dark. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. Grande Volle Lake, 1.4 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Treat access at Bear Lake as something to verify.