Went out from 9:45 to 11:45 this morning and decided try and find some new fish. All three holes I stopped at produced fish, most in the 12-14″ range and had 2 slots that were 18″ and 18.5″, ended up with 17 and left fish biting. Just find a grass line and go to town.
I feel like a broken record giving similar reports over and over…but A LOT of people are struggling and there is absolutely no reason you can’t go out and have an exceptional day of fishing.
3/8 oz Yo-zuri Rattlin Vibe in Ghost Minnow or Baby Bass.
I threw a bill lewis 1/4oz for a while and didn’t have a strike…tried the slightly larger 5/8oz Yo-zuri and no luck. If you are looking for the 3/8oz Rattlin Vibe try and find them around your home lake or on the internet. I am sold out and I bought the only 2 on the lake I could find for my personal stash.
Just a dull Saturday morning, about to go hit the lake for a couple of hours…went out Friday with a friend.
Ended up with 25 in under 3 hours, 3/8oz yozuri rattlnvibe in baby bass. Not the best color but it was the closet to threadfin shad I had in stock at the marina. No monsters, but would have had a mean tournament bag. Big fish are not turning up at all really and I have quizzed tons of people.
Everyone that is struggling for a bite is fishing the south end, the key for me for the last couple of weeks has been finding ANY grass, dirty water and backing off from the bank. 7-10 foot slow. Been pushing up threadfins with the trap nearly everywhere I have fished. Some freaky fat short fish.
Covered a lot of water and my partner and I constantly had fish. Very scattered
I was planning on fishing today, but after talking with several guides that braved the tough conditions I changed my mind. Seems like water temp is still hovering around 70 degrees and the “easy” pickings up shallow have moved off. There were some decent fish reported today, but most of the fisherman had that disgruntled “Lake Fork” face on. Give it a few days and the big fish should start popping up with the cooler weather. I was pretty surprised to hear that the topwater bite was on this morning
If you have been waiting for Fork fishing to take off…you should be here now. Size isn’t the game right now, but you can SLAY numbers in the backs of creeks on wacky worms and 3/8oz Yo-Zuri Rattl’nvibes
I was fishing the Ghost Shad color and was out catching guys with me throwing Red Crawfish. Once they switched we had 2 triples and several doubles. Nothing over 21″ but a lot of good 14-17″ fish. We had 38 fish in 3 hours, the majority came in a 1 hour span around 3-4pm. We had several fish throw up threadfin shad the same size as the yo-zuri rattl’nvibes.
I haven’t been able to repeat the outstanding day we had, once those shad moved out so did the fish and they haven’t been there since. BUT you can throw the trap and cover water in the back of nearly any cove holding grass and catch scattered fish all afternoon, very north end of birch has been outstanding lately…even with the muddy water.
Just thought I’d pass along why I haven’t been posting many reports recently. Honestly the fishing has SUCKED up until the last few days. The water was a consistant 87-90 and there was some very predictable patterns…well a week before hurricane Ike blacked Fork out during the McDonalds Big Bass Splash the north end of the lake began to turn. People will disagree with me but the north end had the smell, color, foamy muck and there were some decaying corpses floating that had been on the bottom for a long time.
After Ike water temp fell to a low of 72, which confused me on what exactly to try…the temp drop came too fast and I really don’t think anyone had a pattern pegged for a week and a half. There were some good sized fish coming out of the south end up shallow, but the numbers were few and far between. SCATTERED
I can finally say with confidence the fishing is turning back on and the fish are falling back to the normal fall routine, only problem I have had is finding a place that isn’t covered in bait. The lake could really use a good shad die off this year, can’t remember the last harsh winter die off we had but it is a wonder the bass eat at all with the football field shad schools everywhere.
Really looking forward to the fall pattern kicking in. I don’t think any guides or locals will disagree we are going to be seeing some very fat pigs pulled out over the next month and a half.
I was beginning to wonder if the lake was ever going to come back, it has been literally a month since I have heard anyone PUMPED up about an exceptional day of fishing. I’m happy to report there are FINALLY some monsters showing up.
First eyebrow raiser I had in month was when an angler brought in a 29″ 12lb bass, while she was somewhat skinny her frame wasn’t capable of being a 15lb fish. 10″ black power worm-
The next day there was an 11.59 caught by a guides client. Hm…
We had a nice overcast and we had a 9.91lb and a 10.68 brought in within an hour of each other. With these cooler temps and slow showers I’m hoping the fishing will start being more predictable. Most of the larger fish seem to be in 10-15′. Berkley 10″ power worms are the ticket-
Sorry for the lack of reports lately, I have been fishing at night during weird hours but I haven’t been catching many fish. My old summer night holes are really hit and miss this year with fish moving in and back out before I can land more than a couple. No black spinnerbait bite to speak of this year, only thing producing any bites for me has been the black and blue Gene Larew hawg craw and 10″ Plum Berkley Power Worms. I decided to do a reorder on plum power worms and found out that Berkley discontinued the color this year, so I am stuck with only 80 for personal use. (If you have any sources on where to find them please email me cameron@lakeforkmarina.com)
Not exactly sure why this summer bite isn’t as predictable as it has been in recent years, swim bait bite has dried up and about the only thing that is really selling are 1oz and 3/4oz carolina rig weights and the Norman DD22. Oddly I have not seen or heard of any fish over the 11lb mark in almost 2 weeks, I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the lack of traffic…but it is definitely an off time.
Not a whole lot of traffic during the weekdays. On the rare day I get to go out I have the most publicly known holes all to myself…but I am finding a TON of suspended fish and very sparse balls of shad on the north end. I am completely clueless on what the hell these fish are doing. Seems like the guides that are fishing are having trouble finding a reliable pattern as well, good numbers and size one day and almost a blank the next.
I could really use a few more report writers…feel free to email me at: cameron@lakeforkmarina.com
Went out for a few hours last night and ended up with some good fish off my usual night hole.
Big fish was a 9.20 24 1/2″ fish caught on a texas rig black/blue Gene Larew Hawg Craw with a 1/4oz Tungsten weight. Fish averaged about 4lbs- Fish moved off around 11pm. Bite kicked up right at dark, 10-14foot holding tight to brush.
Going back again tonight, will give another report-
Yesterday an angler caught a 12.92 on a 1oz spinnerbait in deep water here at Lake fork. It was brought over to our place ( Lake Fork Marina ) because no one knew how to bleed the bladder. After the boat ride from the dam to the marina it was a lost cause and the fish was taken to the taxidermy.
ANYONE that needs a legal fish weighed day or night feel free to call me 24/7, if there is a bladder issue I can meet you at any boat ramp.
If I happen not to be in the area I can contact someone that is to weigh the fish or bleed the bladder. This is my personal cellphone so please do not call for reservations and such as I will not be at the office. 903-850-8894
There is no sense in losing true giants like this over something as simple as an inflated air bladder.
No monsters, but would have had a mean tournament bag. Big fish are not turning up at all really and I have quizzed tons of people.
