It’s gonna be more like “30 of the top 50 biggest” after this week at OHI.

I have some unbelievable good memories from the 90's at Fork. I also don't remember alot from the 90's at Fork after spending all night drinking at Fisherman's Cove

I remember one trip me and my buddy visited with Brian Duplechain at breakfast at Lake Fork Lunker Motel ( I think that was the name, just south of 515 bridge on HW17) . He told us to get up real early and idle to the farthest reaches at the back of birch and throw a black buzzbait before the sun comes up. We got out there about an hour before sunup and yes it was spooky getting back there while pitch black but we did it. All we heard was toilet bowls flushing when a fish would hit the bait. We caught prolly 8 fish or so that went from 4-7 lbs before sunup and right went it got a little light where you could see, my partner caught a mule that he knew was over 10. We didn’t have a good scale in the boat so we took the fish in and had it weighed. He had finally caught his first double digit. WRONG! That dude looked at the fish and looked back at my buddy and said, sorry partner. That fish won’t go over 9. He weighed it and it weighed a whopping 8lb 15oz. I’ve never seen a more dejected look on a person’s face in all of my life!!

Yep. No doubt Fork is not what she used to be. Since the fish kill in '95 it has sucked. After that she has only put 9 fish in the top 50. Here they are.

15.48, 15.50, 15.61, 15.64, 15.65, 16.04, 16.12, 16.44, 16.63.

What a mud hole.

Here's the rest since '95

Rayburn 16.80
Caddo 16.17 & 15.70
Ivie 16.08
Austin 16.03
Conroe 15.93
OC Fisher 15.69
Amistad 15.68
Falcon 15.63
Choke Canyon 15.45

What was the slot limit in 92', 14-21 or 14-22 inches? I remember those days long ago. Catching an "over" was not that hard to do.

She's not what she used to be. 2013 was the last year of the giants. Since then a few have been caught, but nowhere near what it was 10 years ago.

Think it was 21”

Had my best days on Fork during the 80's. We would bring rods with us to fish after the ducks stopped flying.

Bring back the dairies so the run off can fertilize the lake again.

Three of the best memories for me on Fork:

1) Took the first 8 pounder I ever caught up to Rainswood to get Bill to weigh it and get a Polaroid made. He snarled at me and told me I'd have to buy the Polariod for a fish "that small!" I thought he was kidding...he wasn't! Good ol Bill! (R.I.P,)

2) Fishing in Williams in the cut between Williams and Little Mustang one spring and hear a guy about 50 yards away on the Little Mustang side holler, "get the net"! My fishin buddy and I were giggling when his partner dipped a 2 pounder. I yelled, "nice one" being kinda of a smart arse. He said, "I just caught a 16 pounder about an hour ago"! Me: "yeah...ok". He was a pretty geeky dude and me and my partner both were thinking...probably about a 6 pounder. Went to dinner that night and there he was on the board...16+ pounds! Dang!!!

3) The December early 90's gizzard shad/bass extravaganza in Big Mustang along the bridge. Unbelievable for about 3 years! AC Plugs just came out and they were whacking em!

Wow, didn't know that Bill Kells had died. He was a mean ole' codger to most, but him and I got along great. I sure miss staying at Rainswood "no frills" Marina and experiencing the greatness of Lake Fork. We did it consistently from '88 up until '95. Then, the lake started it's slow, gradual down turn after the bass virus.

The ole gal still has her moments.. wondering what we’re fixing to see out there with bass champs and TTO back to back weekends. Both draw the best anglers in the area... Fork may have a little something to say about Ivie taking the early lead. We’ll see!

Hope you're right buddy. There is nothing I would like more than to see Fork produce another fish over 17 pounds!

Yes, Bill was a grumpy old guy. I was fishing a club tournament on Fork out of the Rainswood ramp. After weigh-in several of us decided to go to Rainswood for a burger. It was maybe 3:30. He saw us walking up from the parking lot. Just as we got close he came up and locked the door on us. He said through the door he was closed and he turned around the open sign to say closed. As we got in our trucks to leave, we saw that he had turned the sign around again and he was now open. Guess he did not want to cook up some burgers.