You and I have had pretty much the same experience Okie. I started fishing Fork in the summer of '86. I bought a new Stratos bass boat at the Dallas winter boat show and for the first time had some electronics and a trolling motor so I started exploring different areas of the lake. One spot in particular really caught my attention, the north main lake point of Little Caney. Back then it was known as bird $hit point because all the trees were full of egrets. What really impressed me was there was hydrilla all the way out to 18' and visibility in most places was 3-4 foot because of the hydrilla everywhere that helped filter the water. The backs of all the major creeks were covered in hydrilla and the creeks were clearly defined. I have no factual knowledge or the reason of the decline of hydrilla but there is no doubt it has made fishing harder and the water clarity is not near as good. Many of the creeks are silted in now, the shorelines which all had hydrilla back then are now covered with boat docks and we now have been inundated with sand bass and there are approximately a million tournaments every year ( well not quite a million but a lot ) and all those thing combined have changed the way the lake fishes and IMO not for the better. Still a good lake but certainly not great. What was the subject ? Oh the virus. I don't know diddly about any virus.

Contaminated water dogs from Louisiana is my guess.

This^^^

Not coincidence they killed the grass and the fish died. LMBV is a cover story for a big time screw up IMO!

Spraying of the grass I think was the main cause. But not by Sabine. In the early 90's was the big boom around Fork for homes being built. I would witness people all the time spraying their own grass on their shorelines with who knows what. You start mixing tons of different chemicals in the water and some in the dead grass, bad $hit is gonna happen, and it did.

So you're telling me that every lake mentioned in that article from Miss, Alabama and Texas all got their grass sprayed in the same 3 year window and had he exact same reaction?!?! There's no doubt the states and even private entities have made huge mistakes involving grass in lakes, but to say a very heavily studied virus where I am sure millions of dollars were spent doing so was just a cover up is about as stubborn bordering on ignorant as it comes.

That article posted was great. I wasn't bass fishing back then but have had numerous friends tell me about the fishing on Fork prior to and after the LMBV hit. Very sad to hear. Maybe with the grass really coming back strong, it could show out in the next few years. I doubt it will ever be what it was simply due to traffic, pressure, etc but we can always hope.

Non grass lakes were annihilated in just about every southern state during the same period. Just sayin'.

pipe dream chris

The grass will never be like it used to be at Fork. Even when it appears to be coming back strong rest assured it will get sprayed at some point to knock back hyacinth or giant salvinia.

It was hard to look at.

Couple things.... first, I was there ... fishing was as good as it gets..... then it was gone..... second, if you believe your state government employees won't lie to you you're mistaken..... somebody killed the grass...it is directly related to what happened

And I don't think they learned a damn thing either... because this year they sprayed ostensibly to kill salvinia in Glade, but killed all the pads too, and all the trees close to the water

The virus wasn't just Lake Fork or even Texas, but the entire southeastern United States. I was the president of the Lake Ray Roberts Sportsman Association at the time. The Lake Fork Sportsman Association was actively involved then also. The Parks and Wildlife wasn't using LMBV as a scapegoat, but rather denying the lakes even had it, until they did their own studies. The irony of this disease is the fish sink to the bottom to die. So, for all the fish you saw floating, there were many more laying on the bottom.
Catching just disappeared. But, when it was over they just started showing up again. Tournament results at Rayburn and Fork were showing numerous six pound plus fish. Where had those fish been the previous couple of years? They didn't just hatch into lunkers, but they definitely weren't biting. Hopefully fish are like humans and developed an immunity for LMBV.

Just stated what I was hearing about sonar during that period since no one ever saw the black helicopters:) However, I disagree with you on the states push to eradicate hydrilla during that period and since. I will see if I can find some old press releases. But this topic was a major one/fight that the Deans - Honey Hole was championing and looking for other alternatives to chemicals. They even did a show on a mechanical harvester to keep areas and lakes controlled versus dumping a bunch of carp or chemicals in the lakes.

Also heard it was the pellets Sonar Q versus the liquid. It is expensive but looks like you could affect a large area of a shallow bay/cover 4ft or less with just 20lbs based on the label and can obtain that amount on the web for just over $200. How far would the residual affect of the pellets carry and how long does it persist? Seems like once the big mats die it could affect the bottom to where it would not support future growth for some time.

I just wish I could use my knowledge and experience fishing a post 2000 Fork and fish it 86-92. Not that my knowledge or experience is all that great but man that would be awesome to fish some spots I can imagine used to be wonderful like you guys describe.
Oddly, I did catch one of my bigger bass there spring 2000, but things were different already.
I missed it at its best for sure.
Anybody have a time machine?

+1