First thing in the morning we caught a 23" 8 lb toad. Thought we had an over when we got her in the boat then took the kick to the ----- when we put her on the board! Weighed a 2.25 and was in the 6th place chair with 10 mins left. After that 10 I was in chair 13 and got a tumblr!!! Caught about 15 and had a great time with my beautiful wife so maybe next time!

Fishing freak I saw that nice fish though. So close

Are the fish in a tank each hour that you can see or something? I have never been to such a event and assumed the weigh in hourly would be kept quiet period, it sounds like you guys are saying people stand around the whole hour to see if the should turn in theirs?

There are 'bump tanks' in line. You can hold the fish or weigh it. There is a game to play for the big fish of an hour. You can see the fish that other people brought, if they don't just rush up to weigh in, or if they aren't keeping it in their dark weigh bag (not the clear ones they give you). Once a fish is weighed (at least on Fork), it gets transported to the live release boat for dropping off at the mouth of LFM. On other lakes, they have a large holding tank where they hold the fish until release after the tournament (Sealy's and Oakley Big Bass are the two I've seen).

First off, this was my first big bass event to fish on Fork, I've stayed away all these years because of all the horror stories you hear about it being so crowded that you can jump boat to boat and dangerous to run the lake ect... boy do I feel like an idiot for listening! The entire event from registration to final weigh in was a BLAST! All the folks I encountered were nice as could be, running the lake was a breeze, and never had any issues getting to fish water I wanted to fish. I will be back to fish more of these.

I pulled into my first area, about 15 minutes in I caught a 22 3/4" 8 lb toad. When she jumped the first time I thought I had an over.. so did everyone else in the cove I was fishing LOL. Overall the bite was tough for me, managed about 12 fish for the entire day and didnt catch a good under until 2:15 at midlake on the east arm. The ole Skeeter was FLYING to get to Lake Fork Marina in time, she weighed 2.29 which wasnt good enough for squat in the last hour. I was around other boats all day and only saw 4-5 fish caught, most folks I talked to had 2-3 fish for the entire day. Not that it matters after what Basschamps North did with 3 open, but there was 1 gate wide open on Saturday.

Thanks to Basschamps for running such a great event!

So you can put your fish in a tank and tell them to weigh it or not? Theyll hold your fish?

Sorry Im still a little confused, I assumed you drove up and walked up and dropped off each fish and left. So from livewell to weigh, no standing around listening to fish stories and guessing if you should turn it in or not.

You do not drop off your fish. You can go up to the tanks at the weigh in every hour to see what the other anglers are standing in line with. You can basically stand there as long as you care to. You do not have to weigh your fish unless you decide to.

I have been that other boat before....

Caught this nice slot fish, was exciting up until we measured her. Caught several unders, just not heavy enough. Had a great time, awesome day to fish.

I've got a love hate relationship with Fork.

Ok sorry for all the questions, I was at fork all week and left friday to avoid the event. BUT it seriously intrigues me.

So you have to take your bag and fish out of the live well and stand in line and you can go put it back in your live well if you choose for later? Can you go stand around the line without your fish?

Are the lines long, so you are losing fishing time each time you stand in line?

Yes!!! It was hard to set there and just watch them catch fish after fish. I bet they caught 10 to our 1 or 2.

But did they win anything?

Not sure. They boxed 3 fish.

I caught some solid slots 20-22". The only two unders I caught would not go over 2 lbs. It was a good day of fishing but nothing to weigh in. I like the way the water is looking though. Just has that "right" color to it.