For those fly fishers out there who have never fished Fork, let me just say "Go try it, it's great!" I have never fly fished the spawn before on any lake, but this year I've had the time to do it and since I live in Tyler, not too far from Fork, I decided to give it a try.

Wednesday of last week, I enticed a 4 1/2 lber off the bed with a crawfish pattern fly after taunting her for 20 minutes.

Friday I caught 5 bass, largest was 5 lbs and smallest was 3 lbs. Three off the beds and two on popping bugs (between 12:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon).Two of the ones off the beds I caught on an Enrico's Bluegill fly, the other on one of Jim Green's flies (Backcountry USA in Tyler - Jim ties some fantastic flies). Five bass stringer weighed 21-22 lbs.

This morning I went out in 15mph winds and the temp at 45 degrees,impossible fly fishing conditions. I was throwing a chartruese Peck's popping Bug up near the shoreline (it was impossible to place it properly in the high winds) when a bass slurped it under. After wrestling her for a few minutes I finally got her into the net. She was 25 1/2" long and weighed 9 lbs, the biggest bass I have ever caught. After measuring, weighing her and taking pictures, I let her go back to her nest. Within the next 1 1/2 hrs I caught two more 3 lbers on popping bugs. The wind finally drove me off the lake.

If you haven't fished Fork, go try, you'll probably like it!

I was fishing in the southwest portion of the lake in one of the creeks. The specific one I'll not name because the place would be jammed with boats fo rthe next few weeks.

Cliff Hilbert

Hey Cliff, Wow I may HAVE to try fly fishing after all!

Have never fished Fork, but this may be the proper motivation!

Congrats!

Hey Cliff,
Congrats.... so you broke your water body record for largemouth on flyrod, right?!?
It you ever need some company I would love to join you sometime. I wonder how long the spawn typically lasts?

-Christian

Christian, it won't be an official record because I didn't have her weighed on a certified scale. I don't have a live well in my boat, and the stress of trying to get her to one of the marinas to have her weighed would probably have killed her. So my old record of 7.9 lbs will still be the official one.

I really don't know how long the spawn lasts, but I've heard it goes on for a couple of months.

You can see her picture at this site http://www.texasflyreport.com/forums/showtopic.asp?p=979

Hey Cliff,
If you didn't fish so much you might be able to afford a reel for that rod!

Hahahahaha. When I went to take a pic of her, I noticed that the reel had come off while I was fighting her and I didn't even know it, lol.

I went back to Fork on Wednesday and caught three more, a 7-1, a 4-13 and a 3 lber. The 3 lber I caught early on a chartreuse popping bug, the other two I caught off the same bed with one of Jim Green's creations called a Purple Pig (Jim runs the fly shop at Backcountry USA in Tyler).

Ten minutea after launching at Little Mustang Creek on Fork this morning I caught a 6-2 on a chartreuse popping bug. About two hours later I was bed fishing with a crawfish pattrern fly and pulled a 4-5 off the nest. On this same bed I saw one that was 8-10 lbs swim over it once but I didn't see her again. The water was murky from all the winds of the past week, and it made sight fishing difficult.