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Home › Waters › Louisiana › Lake Bistineau
Reservoir · Northwest Louisiana · Louisiana

Lake Bistineau Fishing Guides

An old, shallow, cypress-filled lake south of Shreveport with a long history, a persistent salvinia problem, and excellent fishing when the vegetation is under control.

The bow of a boat on flat reservoir water in early light
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Lake Bistineau

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Lake Bistineau

Lake Bistineau is one of the older lakes in Louisiana, a shallow cypress-filled water south of Shreveport that was formed when the Red River raft dammed the Loggy Bayou drainage and later stabilised behind a dam. It is dark, shallow and full of standing timber, and it looks more like a flooded forest than a reservoir.

Largemouth bass fishing around the cypress, the stumps and the vegetation is the main draw, and it is close-quarters fishing: flipping and pitching to cover rather than covering water. Crappie fishing around the timber is very good, and the bream and redear fishing in early summer is excellent. Chain pickerel and bowfin add fish that fight harder than their reputation suggests.

The defining management problem here is giant salvinia, an invasive floating fern that can cover large areas of the lake and make it unfishable. The state has fought it with drawdowns and treatment for years, and those drawdowns are themselves a major feature of the lake calendar. Anyone planning a trip should check the current status rather than assume.

When the lake is in good condition it is one of the most pleasant places to fish in the state, quiet and shaded and full of cover. It is also a genuinely good paddling lake, and a kayak gets into the back of the timbered arms where a bass boat cannot follow.

The gauge below reports pool elevation. On Bistineau that number carries more meaning than usual, because a deliberate drawdown to control vegetation is a normal part of the year rather than an emergency, and it changes the lake completely.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not Lake Bistineau.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Pool right now

133.50ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours-0.03 ft → steady

Reading taken 2h ago at USGS 07349250, Lake Bistineau near Ringgold, LA. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Lake Bistineau.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Lake Bistineau ft (NGVD29)

Now: 133.50 ft pool elevation, read 10:00 pm CDT, Wed Oct 21, 2026 (USGS 07349250, Lake Bistineau near Ringgold, LA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Lake Bistineau State Park: ramps, cabins and camping on the east side.
Public ramps at Ringgold, Doyline and Koran: spread around the lake.
Bayou Dorcheat arm: the upper end, shallow and heavily timbered.
Dam area near Ringgold: the deepest water and the gauge.
Bank access is limited outside the state park.
Shreveport and Minden are the nearest towns with services.
Note: drawdowns for vegetation control are routine. Check the level before you go.

Seasons

Winter: crappie on the timber and a drawdown often in progress.
Spring: the refill, the bass and crappie spawn, and the best fishing of the year.
Summer: bream on the beds, bass in the shade, and salvinia at its worst.
Fall: cooling water, clearing vegetation, and steady bass and crappie fishing.

From the water

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Lake Bistineau?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Bowfin, Chain Pickerel, Channel Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Redear Sunfish, White Crappie on the Lake Bistineau in Louisiana.

Are there fishing guides on the Lake Bistineau?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Lake Bistineau. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Lake Bistineau?

Lake Bistineau State Park: ramps, cabins and camping on the east side. Public ramps at Ringgold, Doyline and Koran: spread around the lake. Bayou Dorcheat arm: the upper end, shallow and heavily timbered. Dam area near Ringgold: the deepest water and the gauge. Bank access is limited outside the state park. Shreveport and Minden are the nearest towns with services. Note: drawdowns for vegetation control are routine. Check the level before you go.

When is the best time to fish the Lake Bistineau?

Winter: crappie on the timber and a drawdown often in progress. Spring: the refill, the bass and crappie spawn, and the best fishing of the year. Summer: bream on the beds, bass in the shade, and salvinia at its worst. Fall: cooling water, clearing vegetation, and steady bass and crappie fishing.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Lake Bistineau?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Louisiana agency site: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/recreational-freshwater-finfish-and-crawfish