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Dec 30th, 2023
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 Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7334120
03/26/12 01:41 AM
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,627
AndrewG - Lake Fork Guide
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,627 |
Fork is a small lake, and gets more pressure than any lake on the planet. Plenty of fish die from being held out of the water for a dozen pictures, transportation to weigh ins, gut hooks, etc. to keep the population in check.
Yes... the local places would do well for a short while with the extra tournament crowds, but it would be a short while.
The glory days of 15s, 16s, and up were a result of the lake being young and fertile. Look at state records accross the country. Most come from lakes 15 years and younger. The low water we've had will improve the fishing over the next few years. Thats just my theory, Falcon and Oceechobee are good examples of what low water levels can do to help old lakes.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Mark Knuckols]
#7334179
03/26/12 01:49 AM
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 961
-Shawn-
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 961 |
I don't care what anyone says, unless that slot is removed or lowered, there will never be another 16+ from that lake.that being said, its a great gimmick lake for tournaments. The over under deal is unique and fun Care to explain WHY you think this? There is NO competion for Forage right now, so I would love to know how removing the slot will help?
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7334257
03/26/12 02:03 AM
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 521
Jmsteele
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 521 |
Ghost town, I was in grade school back in the 80's but I can't imagine fork was busier than it is now. I have fished alot of the great Texas lakes including falcon and amistad. Fork is way more crowded than any of those. Falcon had areas (Tigres) that were crowded but I've seen fork where the whole lake is crowded. My best day last year on fork was very close to my best day on falcon. You can still very easily have 30+ for your best five on fork. That's hard to find fault with for me. Any of you boys that want to complain need to come fish Oklahoma for a little while. Those Texas lakes have spoiled me to the point where it's hard to not be disappointed with any of the lakes within two hours of my house. And another thing, fork still has more baitfish than any lake I've seen. I don't think competition between fish is a big issue.
Last edited by Jmsteele; 03/26/12 02:05 AM.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7334274
03/26/12 02:07 AM
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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 5,186
Lake Fork Guide Marc Mitchell
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 5,186 |
Less small fish mean more big fish. If a fish had to eat little shad all day long it would be like be like humans having to eat peanuts all day. You would never get big and it would take a butt load of peanuts to keep you full ! Shad are just a filler for our fish like corn is on a game ranch. You cannot grow big horns with just corn and I do not believe you can grow big bass with just shad no matter how many you have. Bream,white bass,yellow bass are all good forage for our fish. The bream beds are few here so I guess it is all on the other. I am going to try and explain this in a different way. If you have a group of 4 people age 70 at the Pizza Inn eating on the buffet and 4 school buses of kids age 14-17 show up. Sooner or later the buffet cannot keep up with what all the young ones are eating and the poor old people/fish cannot get enough to stay big or healthy they just die off and the 14-17 group all become the same size/weight and all are stunted and so you end up with a bunch of fish in the same size/weight range with the old ones who have to wait on food dieing off. That would mean less giants and just lots of good fish.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Lake Fork Guide Marc Mitchell]
#7334910
03/26/12 05:23 AM
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,164
ArkyRX
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 1,164 |
I don't live in TX, so can't speak for Fork or any lakes therein. I have seen th 13-16 slot implied on several AR lakes however. The theory behind in is that the majority of your spawning population of bass lie within that range. ANY biologist will tell you that that slot ONLY works if fish are harvested. As stated before, fish harvesting has greatly declined in the past ten years. What fish are being harvested/STRESSED (in tourneys) are the OVER fish. Doesn't take a scientest to figure out that if you have a certain slot on a lake for 10+ years, that you have SELECTIVELY breeded out the faster growing fish, either by harvesting or overstress. What you end up with are slower growing, stockier, or just poor genetics. Fish are like any other animal, you have small deer and big deer, small humans and big humans....you selectively pick on one group and leave the other alone, you WILL alter the gene pool.
Brad Deal
Peoples Pharmacy and Outdoors
870-285-2111
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Lake Fork Guide Marc Mitchell]
#7335003
03/26/12 06:45 AM
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 13,764
Cameron
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 13,764 |
If you have a group of 4 people age 70 at the Pizza Inn eating on the buffet and 4 school buses of kids age 14-17 show up. Sooner or later the buffet cannot keep up with what all the young ones are eating and the poor old people/fish cannot get enough to stay big or healthy they just die off Sometimes they get a ride by public transportation to Furr's cafeteria (Sharelunker program) and dine on some nice macaroni and potato salad. Best part is...no 14-17 year old would be caught dead in that place.  haha
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: The Fishing Physicist]
#7335088
03/26/12 10:32 AM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,024
90 5.0
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,024 |
Corrected that for you....  TFP The internet is a quirky place, where some typographical errors, or lapse in vernacular is expected, or at the very least accepted. I appreciate your desire to correct the inadequacies of my proof reading in the aforementioned post, however I would appreciate that if you do , your response be grammatically correct as well. I find it humorous that your response to correcting my errors, was with a fragmented sentence.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: 90 5.0]
#7335108
03/26/12 10:47 AM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,979
The Fishing Physicist
YOLO
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YOLO
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,979 |
Corrected that for you.... TFP The internet is a quirky place, where some typographical errors, or lapse in vernacular is expected, or at the very least accepted. I appreciate your desire to correct the inadequacies of my proof reading in the aforementioned post, however I would appreciate that if you do , your response be grammatically correct as well. I find it humorous that your response to correcting my errors, was with a fragmented sentence. Im a horrible speller, but I do use the spell-checking feature in my browser, as well as the dictionary feature that is part and parcel of Mac OSX if Im unsure of usage. Beyond that Im fond of fragmentation grammar grenades.... TFP
Above all else hold these two things in the greatest of circumspection; government and self. YOLO=Schiefspiegler   
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: adam_p]
#7335144
03/26/12 11:20 AM
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Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 195
z7extreme
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 195 |
TRUE! We dont even have any places for people to spend the night!
Boy Pilot Point, Sanger and Aubreys local economy's are just booming since the slot was pulled on Ray Roberts.
Fork's economy sucks because the entire country is in a recession.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7335785
03/26/12 02:45 PM
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 692
senko show
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 692 |
15. Signature images may not be larger than 600 pixels wide by 125 pixels tall. This includes logos, photos and other graphics. Also, no more than one row of images are allowed. If you want four or five logos in your signature, reduce their size to fit in one row.
psalms 91:1-16
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7339078
03/27/12 02:25 AM
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 416
Helm Hammerhand
OP
Angler
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OP
Angler
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 416 |
Fork is still a very special lake and I don't deny that. But anyone who thinks the Business around the lake is not a per say "ghost town" compared to the past is ignorent to the days of late 80's and 90's. Anybody seen Axton's lately??? lol
I just think the slot is sort of pointless now, correct me if I'm wrong but it was all tied into the Sharelunker and Operation World Record thing at the time, when the 17's and 18 came out of there everyone was just for sure that they could get a world record out of her.
So really my point is this, there is NO DOUBT that a world record is NOT going to come out of Fork, there is no Dottie swimming in there, So I don't see the point in a slot.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7339217
03/27/12 02:49 AM
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,756
J C Outdoors
TFF Celebrity
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TFF Celebrity
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 6,756 |
I would like to see the lake become an 18" and under fishery only with no fish over 18" allowed to be retained. Catch, photo and immediate release if over 18".
Restocking of bluegills would benefit the forage base. The whites are here to stay and will be hard on the shad population. Big bass like to eat mud bugs, bluegills, yellow bass, and crappie. I am sure they eat white bass as well when they can catch them.
I think Fork will have a great spawn this year and hopefully the grass will come back.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7339244
03/27/12 02:55 AM
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 961
-Shawn-
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 961 |
There have Been 14 lb SUMMER fish caught out of Fork in the last couple of Years. Care to Guess what those Fish would weigh in Feb?
There are still big Fish in Fork. I just don't get where Folks think they have disapeared too.
It is this Simple............ it is NOt going to happen and if you call and talk to TPWD they will be happy to tell you that.
As far as Ghost town....... Come on! Axtons is in the shape it is in because they quit taking care of it. The last 2 times we stayed there it was horrible. Folks quit going to Axtons because there are better places to stay with far fewer bug problems.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Helm Hammerhand]
#7339322
03/27/12 03:08 AM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 4,196
rxkid2001
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 4,196 |
Fork gets hammered all year long yet people are still catching plenty of big fish. Fisheries go through cycles and right now falcon is on a hot streak. Fork will be back. Get the grass going again plus some time and it will be back. This economy is what is hurting business around fork. Like Cam said, if it ain't broke don't fix it. Fork isn't broke.
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Re: Dropping the slot on FORK
[Re: Lake Fork Guide Marc Mitchell]
#7339429
03/27/12 03:23 AM
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 951
bassfork
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 951 |
You have to have a a harvest of some sort in any management program. The lake maybe good but it could be way better. If you did a slot/no kill on a game ranch like Fork has done with the slot you would have a bunch of [censored] in your herd. That is what we have here. I have seen a recorded data since 1982 and it does not have the genitics to get it back to lots of 10 caught each day. All the lakes that are producing giants right now and will be for 10 mores years have no slot. I honestly think if they would raise the slot to 20 inches and protect the 20 and over in 3-5 years you would start to seen more giants. There is a lot of reasons why this would work. Tournaments have a harvest but here it is the small ones that handle the pressure better.This is a topic that will have both sides but you have to look at a harvest and good gentics to get the best out of what you have.Slots are great for getting a program started but they are only good for so long you cannot leave them in place and expect good results. I think it is broke and it needs fixing the TP&W just cannot see that is broke or they know and like anything else they do nothing about it. Just part of my 2 cents. Back when I first started fishing Fork ( middle 80's ), most people on the lake wanted people to keep all the small fish they caught. I even heard of some of the guides catching the small ones and moving them to ponds just to get them out of the lake. People need to start keeping those "unders" again and see if the lake don't bounce back to her golden years. Of course we all know that a big bass will eat a smaller one in a heart beat. If everyone was required to keep their limit of small fish, like they do the stripers on Texoma I think it would help immensely. If it does not work out, they can go back to releasing them. I do not believe it would hurt the lake at all. It might even help to make it better. Just my .02
U.S.M.C. 1967-1971
RVN 1969
Marble Mountain Air Facility
Da Nang
HML-167 helicopter squadron
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