I've also caught some pretty nice sized Smallmouth around the Dam area and as far east as Little Blakley. Don't quote me but someone from the AGFC came to a fishing club meeting once and said they had put Smallmouth from Tennessee or somewhere like that instead of the strain that gets larger. Since then they haven't put much effort into it since the demand wasn't that strong. Look, we can all complain about the "Bass" fishing on some of our lakes but there are plenty of lakes in Arkansas where you can catch a pretty big Bass. Maybe not on Ouachita, DeGray or other highland lakes but if you ask the Walleye fishermen they will tell you the AGFC has done a great job on managing the Walleye fishing. So it's a matter or opinion not so much fact. Starting Jan 1st on Ouachita there will no longer be a length limit for "spotted" Bass in the effort to thin them out which might improve the LMB fishing. You can bet though that not many people will be keeping those small Spotted Bass so time will only tell. Remember when the slot was in effect on DeGray? How many "overs" did people catch? You could catch some pretty big spots along with a ton of 12 1/2" Largemouth. Has the lake improved since then and with the slot gone? As the person above pointed out highland lakes are not going to be known for real large Bass and our Game and Fish have a very diverse lake system unlike Texas and other states where there isn't as many other types of fish in demand. In the meantime I'll be on Ouachita, DeGray or Hamilton having fun catching a lot of small to medium sized Bass.