BASS Fork predictions?

I always enjoy reading what ya'll have to say about Fork. As a South Texas guy, I have never really even been on the lake. So what kind of predictions do ya'll Fork guys have? Another century belt or 2? Total weight to win? Can LL make it 3 in a row? Winning pattern? Any bed fishing? etc etc etc

109.00. Shaking Minnow!
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With the full moon and 80 degree temps it could be a crush fest. Never bet against LL !

110-115lbs

I think you'll see 4 or 5 century belts. Winner will be using scope. Dean Rojas' all-time single day limit record will be broken. Livesay will not threepeat.

I predict we'll all get it wrong, they'll catch fish, some will be jealous, some will say FFS is the devil, and we'll all be the next day to watch drama unfold.

105 pounds to win, minnow rig

I think the harsh weather is gonna make the bite hard on Thursday-Friday. I’m going with 85 pounds to win.

Im really hoping they put a camera in Lee's boat. Swindell did real good last year also if I remember right. It could actually be an entertaining watch if those 2 get camera time!!

I don't think it's gonna be terribly cold. It was in the 90s yesterday and today.

Multiple Century Belts will be handed out Sunday. My guess is it will be a new record for total weight @ Fork in a BASS Derby, most fish are heavier right now than they’ve been in a year. The weather won’t slow the anglers down, but those 3-4 foot rollers could make navigation interesting!

I believe this will be the best year for Fork in the past 5 years. The lake is in really great shape after the draw down. I was out Sunday and there were a lot of big fish spawning and right outside of spawning areas just roaming. I caught them pretty good and I expect the elites to do even better. The majority of the fish will still be prespawn so guys will catch them shallow and deep with big bellies.

96lbs will win it.. Fork is way overfished, small and full of bait, fish can't hide anymore so they are wary and smart. I
Lots of guys will stack up in little caney like always. Winner will be in little caney as well .. Just my old opinion... Love from Dash.

You might be surprised how low the weights will be. Time will tell. Brutal high winds for 3 days straight, and a cold front tonight might make it tough.

For the majority of that time the air temperature will be warmer than the water temperature. Think about it.

My money would be on Fujita

This! Fished this weekend as well and caught them about every way. Even found a bunch on beds. Big slots. They will smash them like usual when they show up. Plus the weather Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is nice!!!
I expect 3-4 century belts and 2 bags maybe more over 30 lbs. and lots of 20 lbs bags.

Crappie jigs and fairy wands.

Will be won fishing traditional methods (non ffs) with 107 lbs. Second and third with FFS 95-98 lbs. If top 10 all fish with FFS, the demand for new tech will skyrocket next week! Rest of us will keep chunking yellow spinnerbaits and beetlespins next to stumps while wearing NB gear!

113.6

Heads will explode if it's won on the bank. The "yeah but's" will be plentiful....

110# on a jerker and a big swimmer

105lbs 14oz.

It would be neat to see both methods duke it out on day 4, better yet someone win by doing both.

115-118 is my guess. Might we see an early topwater bite Sat/Sun?

I don’t know what the weights will be but these guys work their tails off during the practice days.
Should be very exciting.

^^^This. Thursdays weather may play a determining factor in total weights.

This is what I’m hoping for-Seeing Lee pop those fish on a spook was fun to watch.

I was at Fork yesterday, just driving around, fished from bank for about an hour in a couple of places ... interesting watching where these guys were fishing in different areas of the lake both deep and shallow. Watched a boat coming from a long ways shut it down and start graphing... then see something he must have liked and circle around.. half an hour later another boat did the exact same thing at the same place. From my hour of fishing shallow, I predict the ffs guys will prevail.

I'm thinking won't break 100. First couple of days weights gonna be 18-20 and weekend 25-30. 93 for the win.

Winner won't break 90.. Nobody will have a consistent 4 day big bite. The patterns are going to change daily. 88lbs is my prediction.

The reports from practice are saying it's gonna be a slugfest. Several are saying they will be far more surprised if the big weights don't show up.

Will take 30 plus each day to be top ten. Will catch em looking at them on the bank or in staging areas on scope. I have found some of those 1990s mother loads recently and I don’t have live scope. So I think those good at it will find these schools quick scoping.

Lake is also fishing small one area will be on fire while another area that is holding fish is cold. Strange thing is the some of the areas not producing now have been holding fish for a few weeks, had 60 plus degree water last weekend and were fishing crazy good three weeks ago. But nothing is on the bank yet and can’t buy a bite in them now.

With all that said, I think there will be multiple people over 100lbs. Bed fish we have been catching are consistently 4-7 lbs with a 8-10 thrown in each trip. Cold spell not going to be too cold and will just back em off but they won’t leave the area and may not pull off the beds especially the deeper beds. Those that move off should be back up Friday afternoon. The wave that was up this past weekend was major and no one was fishing them for the most part. I think many thought it was too early as the lake was mostly empty for a change.

at least one sal, 3-5 over 100 # with a lot real close to triple digit.

it's fork.

Well of course they are going to say that, it brings in the views.
But nahh, I hope they do whack em. I hope multiple double digit fish and lots of 30lb stringers are caught, I just don’t see anyone being consistent over 4 days with the weather.

The big fish are already showing up on score tracker.

All the b-roll footage they are showing was from last year when it was still low. Saved a few bucks by not filming and showing current lake and conditions I guess. The lake looks fantastic and not sandy beaches as it’s portrayed. Odd for sure.

There are a bunch of 5lb plus fish already.

They have started out wide open. Weather only gets better as the event progresses. My comments about the weights are not based on what they said publicly.

I predicted 95.5lbs on my fantasy team... Dan

An hour into it and already almost a 30lb bag.

And the first DD shows up....he has 26lbs on 3 fish.

Fork is dead, nothing to see here.

I guess they wanted to get camera time for the no scope crowd. People busting them and we get to see someone practice casting a frog....

Yup. Day 2, 3, and 4 will be scopers. Stupid move by BASS

Rest assured everyone knew about the bite being this good out there....

There may be 5 or more 30 lb bags today. Already 2 and 5 others have 25+

1/4 of tge field at 20lbs before 10:30AM

40+ is achievable by a few of these guys today for sure at this rate

The shallow bite is really tuff right as I thought it would be. The livescopers will have a big day today and tomorrow before the shallow bite gets good again. The shallow guys are going to get left too far behind to catch up.

I still think someone is going to beat Rojas' single day record. They are straight thumping them.

John Cox can’t get a bite.

He goes,

Man, that was a perfect cast

Sounds like Stetson caught his bag off the nest. Take that scopers!

Yeah where's all the spinnerbait/bank beating guys that talk negative about Fork all the time. Not many lakes in the US that a 20 lbs. bag gets you laughed at and not even close to the top 10. Ive learned you cant compare to the early years anymore. But its loaded with big fish.

6 bags over 30 lbs. right now and several at 28 lbs.

It may take 90 to make top 10 for day 4

LunkersTv favorite angler is over 30.

4 pros have yet to catch a fish.

Yep.

What is Drew Benton spraying in the water before he casts?

Yep.


Isn't the current leader fishing shallow?

Those that knew forgot how to talk or swore their buddies to secrecy. Lake has been fishing crazy good and was empty last weekend during the Feb full moon. Of course the elites would show up when it got good again. lol

Screen cleaner!! Makes him feel like a scoper!

The circus will be there tomorrow

10 anglers or more will break 100lbs for the 4 days. Someone will break the all time weight record of 132lbs for 4 days. And im on the fence about someone breaking the all time 44lbs in one day record.

I’d be throwing a senko and have 5 for 7 pounds by now.

Yankees will overrun the place now

6 of the current top 10 are "old" BASS guys....


Looks like we could see a 40lb bag today.

That's exactly what I think I would be doing, but hey, I got my 5.

It’s about to rain this evening and wind dies tomorrow. Weights and numbers will be down a bit on Friday but there will still be 30 lb bags. Saturday and Sunday should be off the chain.

Yep- was nice to have an empty lake fork during the spring for a few weeks tho. Couldn’t hit all the spots I wanted to as it was fishing so good.

Anyone launch behind secret culverts for these big bags?

2 days after a cold front. 38-11 in the shallows. 7 3/4 average. amazing.

Some of these guys on live are gonna have a rude awakening when they get off the water and see basstrak

14 guys with 30+ bags! Crazy.

I'm gassing up now

Yep....everyone was right all along Fork is dead.

Several knew last night that weights were gonna be insane. Some were stunned at what they were seeing in practice.

Dang, this is a smash fest however they catch them!

Probably driving through San Antonio on 35N about now. It’s probably 10 hours from Falcon.

I have not read through this whole thread so forgive me if it’s in here somewhere. How many overs were caught today?

And none of them are in the slot.

I would crush those guys.

If you weighed in 25#'s today you'd be in 32nd place. Do the math

Reread the question. An “over” is a fish over 24”. Has nothing to do with how many pounds someone had for five fish.

I believe there were 4 or 5.

Thank you sir

What does a 24” fish weigh in Texas?

I don’t know about overs but there were two 10’s and four 9’s.

It's all over the chart. There have been 6 lb overs and 9 pound slot fish on that lake.

This! We’ve caught fish over 10 lbs. that wouldn’t go 24”. Which really hurts in a tournament.

Since you’re from KY, I’m not sure if you are familiar with the slot limit on Fork. The reason for the question. Not many overs are caught during tournaments. A two man team can bring two to weigh in (very rare). Also, I believe each team member would have to catch one for two to be brought in. So the elites could only bring their biggest over to weigh in if they caught two or more overs.

“Bass 16 inches and less or 24 inches or greater in length may be retained. Only one largemouth bass 24 inches or greater may be retained each day.”

How many Bass Pro Shops & Strike King SALs?

Dozens.

Thanks. Sounds like here. Our smallmouth are much leaner and longer than northern smallmouth. Generally a 24” largemouth is 5.5-7lbs here. Unfortunately we don’t get many nines.

I’m 30 minutes from Dale Hollow that has a 16”-21” slot limit. Even in team tournaments only two smallmouth can be kept. One below 16” and one above 21”.

That’s because you have Northern strain largemouth there and Fork is stocked with Florida strain largemouth. Different genetics.

Agreed but they seem reasonably close without the bigs. Smallmouth is completely different from northern strain.

I think the over that milliken brought in was 7 lb something oz

Is Lake Fork the best lake in country? The results say yes.

I was kind of disappointed, I was expecting Lee Livesay to come in hot in the top 5 or at least top 10. He must have had a really bad day coming in 95th. Frank Talley is in 25th and with a good day tomorrow; move way up the leaderboard. Robert Gee had a really good run @ Toledo Bend but is dead last. The good part about being on this lake is most of the guys back in the field can move way up tomorrow.
Note to self: Don't show up on Thursday morning they have nothing set up. I'll probably go back on Sunday for the final weigh in.
I absolutely love the new SRA boat ramps and marina.

Do yall think it will really get better tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday? If so, we’re talking 40-45 pound bags.

John Cox with 19 lbs? Doesn’t even register . Guarantee he is still smiling though.

When I rolled up into the SRA parking lot yesterday they had a boat in the back of it under an awning working on it in the transom area, it was probably about 10:00 am. Just wonder if it was one of the guys that normally does real good on Fork?

No.

I wonder who Miliken pissed off at BASS? Number 1 in AOY to start the day. Top 10 after day 1 and obviously someone people want to watch and no camera.

I just got back taking my wife to work; her car is in the shop, and was listening to the radio driving back and the weather was in the broadcast. They are expecting winds gusting to 25 mph Saturday and to 35 mph Sunday. Could today be the last day of the tournament?

Hell no. lol. Lake fork dont get that big. Forecast shows 10-15 out of the south both days. They will be fine.

It’ll be nothing compared to when they head north later in the year.

I forgot that I'd fished it with a tropical storm parked over it in the 90's out of a 17 foot aluminum Tracker boat, yep they'll be fine but they'll have to use a little caution and common sense.
That same storm I had a buddy spend the night laying in a cat tail thicket in the mouth of Little Caney. He was idling out to deeper water; the best I can remember, to take off and his big motor died and wouldn't restart. A wave hit him and spun him in the direction the waves were going, the next wave came over the transom and swamped him, and then another one hit his rig and flipped it. They found his 21 foot Charger on the rocks at the dam. He was just close enough to shore to swim from some stumps to get to shore and survive.

He upsets old people .......

They want to wait until Saturday, when the kids are out of school.

He is on bassmaster YouTube live feed.

Looks like they are busting them again today. Not even 2 hours in and theres already several 30 lbs. bags again.

You sure that wasn’t yesterday’s feed? I didn’t see it on today

6 cameras and he was in 7th place starting today

Probably because his jersey and boat aren’t littered with sponsors.

Holy cow, they're smashing em. Impressed with 19 year old, Trey McKinney. Over 60lbs for 2 days is unbelievable...5 guys w/that so far. It's bustin loose, fellers!

And he turned 19 last week!

Not the forecast I've seen. Gonna be nice.

There is several.

Playing devil’s advocate here….

Is it easier to catch slots all day, or catch a magic legal bag of 1 over and 4 big unders? I know the answer….

sat. 12-15 from sse turning out of s by noon, sun. 15 from the s again.

highs, 80 sat, 78 sun.

full sun both days.

With live coverage content demands they just bump days 3 and 4 into next week rather than shorten events anymore. They tend to get better streaming #'s during the week than weekend anyway with people watching at work

He could legit break 100 lbs in 3 days

Entirely possible the entire Top 10 get 100 belts.

Guilty as charged

Having a catch-weigh-release tourney on a slot lake is not a real tourney. The weights aren't realistic.

only difference is it is catch n release with a 5 fish limit, I don't see any difference since all fish count, just the best 5 get recorded.

Having a weighin tournament on a slot lake is moronic.

With your logic BPT isn't a reap tournament at all. All they do is catch weigh release.

Weights are very realistic since they are counting the 5 biggest caught

Exactly

Ben just caught a 9-10 to get him in the cut for now. Lots of big fish being caught the last 30 min.Tomorrow is going to be incredible. Someone with a Century Belt is finishing 10th.

Pretty sure the whole top 10 will be getting belts tomorrow!

Milliken caught a 9-10 a few mins ago that puts him into top 10

I bet ole Randy is crying like a baby..😆

Kiddo needs about 36lbs to break the record, just don’t see it happening; but just never know.

There will be 10 century belts handed out tomorrow. 97+ pounds in three days is a slug fest.

I think only 10 fish tomorrow.

10th has 87lbs. Guys 11th-35th gotta feel like they're getting robbed @ the chance for a century belt.

Which is why there will ONLY be 10 century belts handed out. There were a lot of guys headed that way, but they didn’t make the 10-cut. They were talking behind the stage about wanting a losers bracket, so they could fish for a century belt too.

Crazy hearing some at weigh in explain how hard headed they are to the scope, but a couple fessed up and said they are going to start learning it more. Livesay even said he was “pretty sure” he couldn’t win without it and still didn’t use it on day 1…

One even called himself a dinosaur headed for the glue factory.

So the new kid that only throws jigs is not scoping is he? Tyler Williams very impressive!

100 percent is scoping

He is scoping with a jig, same thing he did in the opens. The MLF event going on there is a guy in the top 10 doing the same thing with a big jig.

Yep. He’s a grapher guy. He said he threw two different iigs. A white one and a green one. Tomorrow, he said he’s gonna throw a jig. Haha

Besides some sight fishing by Stetson, another scope or hope derb!

#blackyellowtailworm
#yellowspinnerbait
#whitenewbalance

On the bottom?

Swim jigs

Swim jig? Never heard of her.😆

Agreed. Some of them flat said they knew the fish they wanted to catch had not moved up yet and they still couldn’t make themselves adjust. “fish the way I like to fish” was a ticket to watching from the sidelines for those guys. Those young guys looked at the shallows and screens and knew they had to go deeper to find the heavy bags consistently and it paid off. Some of these vets are psyched out before they even put the boat in the water.

They get to watch the Randy videos on the car ride home.

There’s should be a wave moving up tonight…I wish I could watch it but I’ll be fishing tomorrow.

Me too. I’ll be looking for 5 fish for 30plus, but I’ll wind up with 3 for bout 7pounds.

The fish don't know they are in a slot lake.

Anyone catching 25-30lbs or better per day three days in a row is damn impressive anywhere.

I can catch dinks with the best of them.

Don’t change anything. Fork is still the goat for numbers of 5-10lb fish. I’ve never fished her but the lake appears to be in great shape.

When they get reduced to the 20 percent discount club by their sponsors next year they will get more serious

First two tournaments I’ve really enjoyed- it’s neat to watch new guys have success, hopefully some big sponsors head their way.

I was a judge for Thursday and Friday. Paired with veterans on the Elites series. Thursday I was fortunate to witness and weigh a 30# bag and brought 1 to the stage as an over. He had 2D on the bow on all day and never turned on the Garmin unit.

Yesterday we fished a spawning flat sitting in 3-5' in flooded timber that came up 2' or so from the bottom. He sporadically utilized his Garmin units and could see fish in the tops of the stumps but struggled to get bit.

They all know how to utilize the tech so psyched out is not a characterization I would take it to...stubborn maybe but they are not intimidated by it.

This did not age well.....

Whats wrong with purple worm and yellow spinnerbaits?

May be with the guys you were with but watching the interviews from the first two days it is clear FFS lives rent free in a few of those guys heads.

I agree and some of it has to do with guys that have been bass fishing 10, 15, 20, 30+ years don't necessarily consider it "fishing". An unnamed pro said out of frustration this is not B.A.S.S., it is the Southern Swing of the Walleye Tour.

The next 2 seasons will be interesting to see who retires, leaves, and/or adapts. Interestingly the competition committee is only made up of 1 retired pro....none current. Don't expect sweeping changes as there is too much funding tied to the tech. The big 3 (H'bird, L'rance, G'min) don't make all their revenue off bass fishing but I'm sure it's a basis of the silo.

The entire Top 10 will get Century belts with 4 of them breaking 120lbs... :

Is that a first for the top 10?

I think so. I could be wrong. I think the original TTBC events were 3 day events and a couple of guys broke 100lbs in those.

All the top 12 at Falcon earned century belts

good 'ol days of Falcon before it got raped.

This still stands as the most impressive win to me. Combs won with the 3 day event with 15 bass that went 110# in MAY 2014!!

I was a volunteer at this one, watched day 2 from the 184.

they were long lining off little caney main lake point, boatlane/river channel.

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/combs-wins-toyota-texas-bass-classic-with-110-pounds/

Fork is always raped.....Bois Darc can't open soon enough

Tpwd tit baby.

Best bass anglers.

Newest technology.

Pre spawn.


Someone's impressed?

Yep. I was Jason Christie's camera boat. He did it with a swimbait out deep and junk fishing up shallow.

You said Fork was dead so your vote is void

Ol mother fork ain’t dead yet

All the fish I weighed were super healthy.

MFGA