Seeing the thread of fish on ice from Falcon, I have a ??? for the Lake Fork regulars (frequent fishermen who can attest to trends there).

Do you see any value in running a series of "kill tournaments" for fish under the slot? On some level, can you see the value in knocking down these numbers? As it is, slots are protected and I have to guess a very very small % of overs that are caught there are kept for consumption.

This is a common practice on ponds / private lakes to maintain balance / sustainability of those waters. Just curious as to what the folks that have a lot of time / experience on Fork think.

I'm no Lake Fork pro, but I think the lake is exactly where it needs to be with a healthy population of bass at all stages.
With no grass, shad is the key. As long as we have a good shad spawn, we will have healthy bass.

+1

Be hard to do , most tourney guys have a hard time finding 5 unders....
lake aint what it used to be

I think it wouldn't hurt to have a few "unders" fish frys

mmmmmm succulant bass fry

I've never heard of, or thought of it like that, but --- there is a level of mortality in every tournament, be it on site or days later.
In all honesty it's more than likely a healthy thing for the overall fish population to decrease the amount of under the slot fish.
Not many anglers that fish Fork keep their 5-fish limit on any trip.. I rarely do if ever, I caught 19 bass today, didn�t keep a one. I know I killed a slot fish 17�er(maybe) with a deep hook in the gullet, my fault, couldn't feel her in the wind today until to late, she ate it.....

Kill whitey. Leave blackie alone. There isn't an overpopulation by any means.

I don't know if it's working Cam.!!! I'm seeing crappie guys catching Magnum Sandies against the pillars with minnows.. Bigg'uns 2+ lbs monsters, some of the biggest I've ever seen anywhere..

We are catching on jigs as well. Magnum whites and blacks. The whiteys go under the knife. I don't think we as non biologist can really manage the resource better than the TPWD.
On the other hand small bass are quite tasty and I see no harm in folks eating their limit, I would suspect that TPWD set the limit at 5 because they thought folks harvesting a limit would not hurt the fishery.
I will be at Toledo Bend next week and on the Texas side it's catch and release and on the Louisiana side it catch and filet. The fishing is similar if not perhaps a little better on the LA side.

Bingo.

...


yep , only been fulltime on fork for seventeen years..(retired with own ramp).

either I have lost fishing skills(possible)
or the fish are harder to find (for me )
But I have a hard time catching any bass, and seems like they have become like "tuna "
i/e roving bands
they follow the shad/baitfish , and if ...if you find them ..then its good ..
but no longer are there fish in every cove ..here today and gone tommorow

I have found the best "fish finder " is
1.call from a buddy who has found them.
2. bent poles .
3.active birds
4.fish finder
5. wait untill they decide to come in the creek where you are at (could be a while )
Oh well...I aint quit yet

I think the TPWD boys do a fine job. For as much as fork gets pounded its amazing you can still catch fish there.

Agree 100%

I recommend just follow TPWD rules.
Question is a good one as a thought experiment but reality is seeing how fat and healthy Fork bass are now- something is going right.