On day three of The Legends Tournament on Lake Fork I was desperately seeking a place to fish out of the wind, away from other boats and an over the slot because I knew I could not beat a 3 lbs under. I noticed some Great American Egrets (The Big White Ones) landing in the water chasing bait towards the back of a pocket. (Mark Pack uses the blue ones...Humminbird vs. Lowrance.) As I approached I noticed it was big shad that were white. I switched over to a Hitch color rigged on 20lbs Seagar Invisex and a 7'9" XH TFO Rod with a #1 Owner Stinger Treble Hook and a 7.0:1 Shimano Curado and it was game on! I was fishing a flat that the wind was blowing into in 8'. I would reel as slow as I could stand it because the anticipation of one hitting it was intense. This would keep the bait right off of the bottom. As I would feel a bump, I set the hook literally as hard as I could with a sweeping motion bringing them to the boat as fast as I could because of the standing timber. I love those hooks because you do not have to worry about them bending. If I want to bounce it of trees or swim it through grass I will use a big weighted swimbait hook with a twist-lock. Simply use your knife to make an incision in the belly like you are gutting a fish. I only lost one by the boat because I juked when I should of jived. It looked like an over too...grrr. I also ran out of time before I had to get to the weigh in or I feel like I could have kept catching them. Hope this helps catch you some giants!
1. Find the birds.
2. Match the Hatch.
3. Use good equipment.
Sorry about the picture quality. The fish were schooling and I did not want to take too much time taking pics or weighing fish. "Ain't noby got time for that!"



I am no guide but I appreciate the ones who post up-to-date fishing reports on here. I know it has helped me a lot over the past couple of years and I just wanted to give some information out to those who want to know a little more about fishing swimbaits. BTW, I live at and fish Lake Fork all the time and I have never had any issues with thieves or the Law Enforcement. You will be hard-pressed to find an area that is more peaceful and still get to enjoy all the luxuries the lake has to offer. This is the world we are living in today.

Great info.....thanks...

Awesome stuff!

Get your swimbaits!!

Awesome