Go…

You can tell when cabin fever starts to set in by what is posted here.

There are so many good ones at Fork. I am sure you will get an interesting response from this crew

Yep. Thanks, Ken.

I couldn’t name one…..much less 5! Five of all time?

Let’s talk about wacky rigs or something else….again.

I heard it might snow tomorrow

The only guides from Lake Fork that I’ve ever heard of are the ones selling their boats in the boats for sale section every year.

Don’t know if they catch fish, but they use some nice boats.

Aren’t most of them “travelers” now?

Lee Livesay, I win.

That's easy...

YOUR Lake Fork guide!

I'm only going to comment on the "old" ones because I haven't arranged guide trips here at the lodge for about 10 years or so. However, from the early 1990's through about 2010, I set up a lot of trips. I would talk to the customers and the guide at some point after the trip and a lot of times their "recounts'' of the trip wouldn't align. There were some guides who's stories never aligned with the customer's. So I learned very quickly who was a fisherman and who was a salesman. I'll also say that all the guides I used fished predominantly on the west (Fork creek) arm of the lake.

These are my top 5 fish catching guides, not necessarily in order.

Richard McCarty
Dennis Canada
Mark Stevenson
Tony Clark
Brooks Rogers
Dennis States

Ok that's six.

Mark Pack
Brian Duplechain
Larry Barnes
Mark Stevenson

With or without prior convictions?

Is that guy that created mayhem in the 19th hole still guiding?

Hollis Joiner is worthy

Aren't they all at ivie

Either there, or JB Thomas.

Mark Pack Will always get my first vote. Still miss that guy every day.


Lots of good ones out there. Simple ways to choose a Fork guide.

1. They have a 903 area code and live in the area.
2. Go to their website, see if clients are holding more fish in pictures than they are.
3. Do a search on here and you will see the guys routinely recommended here over the years. There is a good reason for that. Pay attention to the ones that get a lot of repeat business.
4. Pay attention to the ones that stay out of drama on social media.

The above criteria is not fool proof but it's a good starting point.

Thanks, Mark. More of a conversation piece than a recommendation. Interested if any of the relatively “newer” guides the last 10-15 years were as good as some old school guides. Did the golden years on fork play a role in how we view their success? Ton of respect for the old school guides. I’ve been in the boat with three who were really good, mix of older and “newer” - Canada, Everett, and Livesay. Appreciate the responses.

Therman Selman

The live bait guy with a 20 seater tin boat

Good questions. I don't go out there much these days so I don't know many of the newer guides.

Any list without John Tanner's name on it is incomplete. I fished with him many times and he is now a "fisher of men", surrendering his life for a higher calling.

Jimmy Everett.

That's 4 bro. You left out Ronnie Byrd

You got that right Ken. Ronnie Byrd was the best Jig fisherman I ever fished with and the most fun to be with.

Top Waters - Been a friend of John since our early days in the Century Bass Club and witnessed his transformation from a club member to a Fork guide to fishing FLW and Everstart tournaments to his current life which overshadows everything before that.

The 5th could be a bunch of guys. That’s my top 4 for sure.

Mark Pack. Great guide, friend, business partner but most of all an outstanding individual. He passed away 4 years ago today. Hard to believe.

I have 2 pictures framed in our house at Fork. Both of these guys influenced and taught me more about fishing out there over the years til they passed. Both of them would give you the shirt off their back. Miss them daily.

Just the ones I've heard of and know stories behind some of their guide trips, Tony Clark, Larry Barnes, Lance Vick, and Mark Pack.

Literally impossible question to answer unless you’ve fished with 75-100 of them. There are and have been so many world-class bass guides at Fork from 1984 until today.

In the order I fished with them over that period;

Ronnie Byrd
Mark Pack
Kelly Jordon
Lance Vick
Lee Livesay

p.s. - not saying these men above are/were the best 5.

You are correct. John Tanner was the man, and top of being a great guide, he is an even better human. Miss fishing with him. I will always remember the first bass I hooked with him, My Dad always taught me to set the hook, and I mean set it. So, my whole life I have always swung on em when I get bit. We were dead sticking flukes in the shallows and I set the hook, he just looked at me and smiled and said "I like you, I don't have to tell you to set the hook" LOL

Jimmy Everett? Now there is a name from the distant past. Fished with him twice. Wasn’t impressed.

Another vote for Richard McCarty, best jig fisherman I know.

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Anyone know how to fix that? ^^^

I'm not qualified to say but here is 3 good ones.


Ken Addington, Mark Stevenson, and Larry Barnes.

Definitely legends

I have fished with many. My top 5
1. Mark Pack
2.Johnny Guice
3. Pake South
4.Ritchie White
5. Tony Clarke
Hon. Mention: Jason Margraves, Eddie Garrett, Cody Malone

Some guy named Addington...except he left the guiding business to sell funny water additives, maybe it was tea leaves or something.

Mark Pack, Mark Stevenson, Gene Snider, Ken A.

Damn Ken. Mark and Larry are better than El Fenix!

Marc Mitchell should be on the list !

Now that’s a good list👍

Cody Malone
Jack York - yes he's young and new, but the dude can fish.

Had one of best trips ever with that guy. He was dialed in on that trip. Really don't know how he'd rank, but I've fished with a lot of the guys listed above and I can say my trip with Jimmy was tops.

Redington has to be on this list somewhere?

Bill Kells who owned Rainswood Marina 25 plus years ago. The absolute cleanest restaurant on the lake with the Best open face chilli cheeseburger. He was a gruff old fart but took a liking to me and my fishin buddy Ringfry. Caught my PB a 10.88 out of his boat. I remember two tips he gave us. 1. When you think you’re fishing slow enough…….SLOW down. 2. If he had to pick one lure to throw year round it would be a jig, won’t catch as many but his average will be bigger. And his wife Becky was a sweetheart too, especially for putting up with him.

Smart man, can't be emphasized enough. Slow down, fish a jig.

LOL, I would've been afraid to be on a boat with Bill. He'd get mad and push you into the water. He was grumpy but he sure could make a great burger.

I never knew what mood Bill was going to be in when I walked in Rainswood. But he was always nice to me as well. Never fished with him but hands down had the best food this lake has ever had. Miss his place.

Bro, when in Rome eat like Romans!

I fished with Bill many times at Fork and Monty. He was as good as gold if he liked you.

I recall walking thru the doors at Rainswood a thousand times and he would be behind the cash register reading a Louis Lamour novel. The door chime would ding and he'd look up at me and say, "What the hell do you want??"

That was Bill. We’d stay there and we’d be standing at front door for breakfast at 5:55am or whenever and like clockwork at 6:00am, never a minute before or after the lights came on and he’d unlock the door!

I have had a few guides on Fork, including 1 on your list. He was absolutely the worse of all time.

Love Fork. My old man guide showed me how to dead stick on the bottom in the middle of August. Big big bass

David Vance has been there a long time!

If you wanted to get under Bills skin ask for biscuits when you ordered breakfast, he would let you know that was only on weekends. When we went we would always take our schnauzer with us. He would tell us we could just leave the dog with him, he would sit in his chair and hold that schnauzer all day. Bill was a good man.

One time when our club finished a weigh-in at the ramp near Rainswood, Bill closed and locked his restaurant as about 10 of us were walking up to get a late lunch. He just said "We're Closed". It was about 4:00. Guess he did not want to mess with our group.

He threw me out of his restaurant after I had fell in the lake on a really cold February day because I took my wet shoes off. I wished bad things on him that day.

Lance Vick
Gary Paris
Mark Pack
Richie White
Richard McCarty

In no particular order

Gotta mention Lance Vick

I'd like to add Skeeter Fowler to your list

Anyone fished with Roy Greer?

I have and was he was very informative on certain presentations, water to fish and how to read your fish finder.

Jack is def one of the new up & coming guides. I fished with him a short time ago and he is Legit!

This is shocking to me that he hasn't come up yet. My dad had fished Fork and Toledo Bend back in the 80s and early 90s. He always says his favorite days on the water were when we went out with Tom. We caught tons of fish, had a great time, and I'd give anything for one more of them.