East Texas is cool, Fork wouldn't be on my top as lake to move. I would put Bob Sandlin far ahead of Fork. Plus you would be so close to Monticello/Welsh for winter and Cypress Springs, LOP / Winnsborro / Rayburn etc........

Fork is living on it past....

I live less than 20 minutes from Fork and I loved it too in the 80's and 90's. It was crowded at times back then too but the people seemed friendlier then. I hate the crowds as well when I'm fishing. In fact, I just don't like rude or obnoxious folk anywhere. Fortunately, there are a lot of good lakes in East Texas.

love the lake, hate I cant fish it more!

Lake Fork is awesome....isn't it Mike?

Let me clarify my position. I still love Lake Fork and I actually don't hate anyone. I have actually met some really nice people on the lake and at the boat ramp. I made some new friends there last week. I bought my land and built my house, where I did because of Lake Fork. I was raised in the country and lived most of my life in the country. I worked in and around Dallas for a several years and just could not stand the traffic and rude people. I'm not saying that all city folk are rude and that all country folk are nice. I think it comes down to cultural differences. In my job I HAVE to deal with many people from all over and tolerate many things. However, in my personal time (when fishing) my tolerance level is lower. I like to be around considerate people and fully understand that Lake Fork is a popular "public" lake and sometimes you will run across rude or possibly just ignorant people.

Sorry for the rambling rant. Love you all and enjoy the forum.

I fished Fork for the first time last week and hated the crowds and rude fisherman. I'm cruising in one direction and some yahoo runs up with his big motor and starts fishing 50 yards ahead of me. I prefer lakes with little pressure or a lot of space.

One of the best fisheries in the state. Ivie and Falcon are pretty amazing too.

Bottom line is that they're still pulling great fish out of the lake, of different species. It may not be as great as it once was, but its still definitely producing. Its still an awesome lake, but its not like the fish are going to jump in the boat for you anymore.

The lake is still in great shape, sure Fork gets tons of pressure every year, sure the grass isnt what it was (it will be back). But the fish are still there! They may be harder to catch now, but i guess thats what separates the men from the boys. No ones holding a gun to anybodies head, if you dont like the crowds, and can't seem to be able to catch the fish, don't go! I love you all and my god have mercy on your souls.

Fork is alive and well. See my post from today for proof.

actually that was very courteous of the "yahoo"
50 yards is a lot of space ...most fish a lot closer that that

Here is a tip that can save your day. I live about 20 minutes from Fork also and fish it regularly. Honestly, I hate fishing the spawn more than any other time of year because of the mood of the fish. I know this has been mentioned many times before, but I will tell you 1st hand that this is NOW a sure fire way to do it on Fork. There are tons of fish that spawn shallow enough to be sight fished, but I think more now than ever, there are more that spawn deep enough that you can't see them. This is how I approach this time of year. I look on the spawning flats for concentrations of visible beds. It seems that these things will gang up to spawn like they gang up on offshore structure at times. When I find this, it is time to back off a cast length from where my boat is sitting. If there is the slightest bit of wind, I drop an anchor, or if you have the money your power pole. I fish smaller sized plastics SLOWLY and make multiple casts to everything I can reach. Often times only casting a couple feet over from my previous cast. This is a painful way to fish when there are so many fish up shallow and visible. What I have found though is this method will outproduce sight fishing almost everytime.

Case in point. My Uncle and I went out last year in April, which temps last year were more like March this year. He likes to sight fish and we sight fished from around 7:00 am to 1:00 PM. We caught 1 in the 7 range and 3 or 4 more in the 3-5 range and a couple buck bass. I told him that I wanted to fish more my style and see what happens. We went back to a cove that had probably 10-15 beds in one pocket. I backed out in 8 ft of water and dropped an anchor. We only move the anchor 3 times from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM and caught over 30 fish with I don't even remember how many over 4 lbs. I have done this numerous times out there.

Also, look for long points and humps that top out in 4-6ft of water off the shoreline. These can be dynamite.

I will have to try this next time out which looks like Sunday. Thanks for info JiggyTime.

+1. I agree. Common sense tells me sooner or later you are going to have an over population. I really think this is one of the reasons the SAL count keeps going down. IMO

Hey 1249 you ought to try them, they taste just like chicken !