Many of you who fish Fork this tme of the year have been used to seeing the "bank fishermen" and some have had conflicts with them.

I am speaking about the annual Carp and Buffalo tournament held usually around the beginning of March. This year it starts on Thursday March 5th and runs continiously until Sunday March 8 at noon. The anglers are mostly from out of state and many are from out of country. An international cast of pro carp anglers. The tournament is being put on by the Lake Fork Sportsmans Assoc.

Where the conflicts arise is the fact that these anglers fishing from the fixed position of the beach can cast nearly 100 yards. So what you may see is the pro carp guys fishing with long poles and casting out into fishable waters where you may be in your boat.

In addition to just casting their baits into the water to catch the carp and buffalo they also chum. Not in the sense of cat fishing chum. They use various ways to get their chum out where they are casting their lines. Some while it may look like they are throwing something out in the water in your direction they are not. They are just putting their chum baits where they are casting their carp baits.

Any of you who have ever caught a carp or buffalo by mistake know what kind of control you had over the fish until it tired enough so you could get your crankbait or whatever back. So when you see these guys on the bank with rods bent you know that that fish is going to be running around a bit.

I hope you will give these guys some leeway for the 77 hours straight they will be fishing at Fork.

Great post,..Fork needs all the business it can get for the local vendors. I hope they have a great turnout.

Nothing more fun than a shade tree, a box of wheaties and a big summertime carp on your line!