Ray Hubbard hasn't produced 35 of the Texas Top 50 and two state records. Your argument doesn't hold water and I am 50 BTW.

mr no skunk is right,Lake Fork stinks!I would NEVER go there if I was ya,ll! WInk Wink

My argument is based on reality..mine and many, many other anglers. The past is the past in my opinion. I will be sticking to local lakes for a good while and I'll keep hearing about the incredible days on the Fork on here. Good luck to all! My bedtime and good night!

brings back memories of the old Ugly Stick days. Good times.

You posted The mighty lake fork and stated your opinion about it looking for a argument about it. If you did not want to poke someone in the ribs about Fork you would have started the post in a different way and had a different attitude about it. Why wouldn't you ask questions about fork or something before you go and if you did so be it, Lake Fork is not the lake for you. It might just not be your style of fishing now. I have friends here that post about the lake all the time and you are bashing them for talking about how good it is to them. They might go to your favorit lake and Zero every time but you will not see them talk about how bad the lake is. A good angler will take that as a personal challenge to make the lake work for them. I fish all over Texas and Lake Fork is the best to ME, Just Me, I don't care about others opinions about any lake I fish. If I like it I will talk about how good it is and if I don't SO BE IT. It's not the lake its me that can't fish it correctly.

We are all brothers of bass fishing here. If you would like to go fishing with me on fork sometime that would be great. I can't say that we will even catch a fish out there but the challenge of trying to catch is what i'm after..

Well some of us do ...and still have some of those Skylines in the rod closet...It was a bad day when 30 lb. Trilene x-t wouldn't hold some of those fish' but if you were fishing there back when it opened and thru the early 90's then yes it was a bad day when i didn't have 2-3 over 9 lb. and a 10+ some times....but all those fish are gone now...

Mr No Skunk..

I have to agree Fork is more of a challenge since the glory daze of the 80's and 90's. You pretty much have to spend a lot of time there patterning fish to get the same results we used to get on a regular basis as weekend warriors. Now it's more of a luck deal wheather you get on them or not.

However I'd rather go to a lake that I know I can get a fish of a life time on any given cast... regardless of the actual results for a given day.

The last tournament We fished there in June it had been a month since I saw the lake.. we still got 25 fish and 15 were over 4# with the largest around 7#.. slot fish were hungry.

Next time you find the same situation try crank baits in deep timber.. it has seldom failed to produce some fish for us... but it is hard work in the summer heat.

I won a boat in the McDonalds BBS in 98 crank fishing deep timber.. Bob decided to have it in August to keep from being the first tournament to fish Fork after the Top of the Slot went from up 21 to 22".. man it was HOT!

Just don't let a Bad Trip ruin your love of a great lake.

Bazz

Exactly. It is just like calling up your buddy that you know drives a Ford and has always driven a Ford and you start bashing Fords and talking about how they just aren't anything like they used to be and how much of a piece of junk you think they are now.

Then when he says something about you running down his favorite pickup truck you say, "Oh why are you freaking out about me just giving you my opinion about Fords??"

Dude, get a clue!

BJH..

I don't have any more Skylines but I do have an original Cotton Cordell Lightening rod spiral boron with a Green 5000-D Garcia mounted in the reel seat... I think it's still spooled with green 25# AN 40.

Well Said!!!

I am going to chime in on this real quick.

Back in the day (86-87), I spent a lot of time on "Lake Fork". Back then, the lake was on fire. Those were the days of throwing Slug O's, Hildebrandt SB's, Gene Larew Hawg Craws and such. No the lake isn't like it was back then but come on....that was 20 years ago.

Name one lake that hasn't changed. They all go through cycles up and down. Many never return to "the good ole days" status. Any lake that gets a good reputation will ultimately get more pressure, more hype along with bigger expectations from the people that go fish it.

Fork is still an awesome fishery. Even if you aren't catching fish like you did 5 years ago. Expressing disappointment in ones outings comes from all us at some time or the other but, somewhere down the line, the argument here needs to stop.

It is pretty obvious that skunk has an opinion about Fork right now and no matter how hard anyone tries to defend or voice a positive statement about the lake, he is going to come back with more negativity. So leave it be.

Skunk, I am not trying to take a shot at you, I am just voicing what I have seen in this thread. Every post was read up to my reply. I respect your opinion and completely understand where you are coming from. There are lakes out there that I used to be able to stick good fish on on a regular basis. Here of lately, I have been stinking it up but I am not going to continue to post the downside remarks to everyone that does reply with constructive responses.

Hopefully it will be realized by all that the lake isn't what it used to be but that it is still one of the best fisheries we have in the state of Texas. Continue to spend time on the water and try new things. Those fish are there and catchable.

Tight Lines to all.

I found an old reel in my fishing drawer in the garage that still has "Flat line" on it. My Granddad got sick of breaking off fish on Fork in the 80's and 90's so he tried the flat line and loved it. He would say that stuff is the best line ever and now he just laughs about it...

I still love Lake Fork. Good people, good lake, good fish. 100 degree weekdays are an awesome time to be there. Not a lot of traffic, lower pressure, narrower set of options on where the fish are going to be. If I went down for a two or three day trip, I'd make a point to fish more than just the morning and early night bite.

I feel your pain, though. Here's to better luck next time...

Ooops. Sorry Keeb. Was typing my post above up when you posted your plea...

ME and the wife camped and fished for 3 days out at Fork a few weeks ago... didn't catch a lot of fish... but then again sometimes fishing isn't about the fish

it was a little long winded.........

I find this very funny. Just back from Fork and was thinking about starting a post about how good Fork is and how lucky we are to have it so close to the Metroplex. I don't get to fish Fork much anymore but I have been very impress by the fishery this year. I have fished Fork 3 times this summer and every time it has been excellent. The lake seems to be full of 4-6 lb. bass. I have fished just about every lake in Texas in the past year and with the exception of Falcon, Fork is the best. Amistad and Rayburn are excellent lakes but in my opinion Fork is better than both right now. I feel Fork is getting back to where it was 15 years ago with the possible exception of the true giant fish. I caught about 20-25 fish this afternoon with the majority weighing between 3-5 lbs. I would say about 7 weighed more than 5 and the largest being about 7 1/2. I caught fish on a small H2O crank, Big Bite Baits Kriet Kreature, Reaction Vixen, and a swimbait. All the fish were caught off structure and relating to and eating baitfish.

You guys down there have no idea how good ya got it!
Up here in the suburban Chicago area the bigger lakes have so many jetskiers and drunken pleasure boaters you have to get off the lake by 8am!
Ray Hubbard / Lake Fork / Sam Rayburn / Amistad / Falcon
More bass water there than all the water in Lake Michigan!
Please keep zeroing so there will be some left when I come back down next year!

KaRu..

We have our share of Lake Lice (Jet ski, Power Boats and Wake boarders) too and they hit the lake around 9 Am... but you can usually get up in a marina or up creek and get away from most of them.

We have a tournament on Fork Aug 16th.. We don't plan on a Zero!

This is probably going to be long but I have to chime in. Went to Fork for the first time in '91 and make more trips every year. I, like most, have had increadible days and have had days where I swore there wasn't a fish in the lake. The lake and patterns, except for spring, has changed a bunch. The LMB virus hurt it for several years but relieved some of the fishing pressure.

Y'all don't know how lucky you are with the quality of lakes and fish in the lakes you have. I live within 30 minutes of the two best bass lakes in Kansas. I've fished about 30 or so lakes in Texas and with the exception of Cleburne St. Park (I hate it) all the lakes I've fished down there blow my lakes up here out of the water! (pun)

My only double digit fish came out of Purtis, but I've caught many 7 - 9+ pound fish out of Fork. I don't care who you are, a 7# fish is a nice fish. I don't fish the same areas as I did in the early 90's and I don't fish the same patterns as I did then. I've fished it when grass has been so thick you couldn't fish areas and I've fished it when if you saw a coot you would b-line it toward it to find a little clump of grass.

No Skunk doesn't like the lake now and that's fine. I just keep going back because Fork has the ability to produce a SAL on any given cast. I'll probably never catch one, BUT it gives me the best chance. The Kansas state record of 11# 12.8oz. was caught 10 miles from my house this spring. How many fish are caught every year out of Fork that beats that?

OK, I'm done, just be thankful for what you have down there.

SE Kansas grass grower

I did ask for some advice before I went. Not a single reply.

I JUST DON'T THINK ALL THE BUSINESS'S AROUND THE LAKE ARE GHOST TOWNS. I AM HAVING TO BEST YEAR EVER IN MY OWN BUSINESS AND THE PLACE I WORK OUT OF IS ALSO HAVING THEIR BEST YEAR IN EVERY DEPT.

wow, just wow. Okay Fork freaks, I'll stop posting my opinion about the lake. Good luck to all.