We'll be making our annual trip to Fork the week of March 8th and were thinking of hitting some of the smaller lakes just for the heck of it. Any info on these would be great. We were looking at Quitman, Holbrook, Winnsboro, and maybe Hawkins. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Gilmer is awesome in March. Lake has lost of grass, flooded timber, and humps. Its on 154 about 40 minutes east of fork. Winnsboro and Quitman are awesome too. Not a fan of Hawkins and never been on Holbrook.

Never have fished Holbrook or Hawkins but have heard that these are numbers lakes. Lots of fish.

Have had quite a few trips to Quitman and Winnsboro. Good quality fish on these lakes.

what are the crowds like at march-april on Gilmer?

Lots of locals like to fish Gilmer. Should not have too much out of state traffic. Nothing like Fork gets in the spring. I personally try and fish Fork only during the week in the spring. It gets crazy!

Boat ramp is great! Lots of parking. Let me know if you go and I can send you a hand drawn map of the boat lanes.

Purtis Creek and Athens aren't too far away either and both have got nice fish in them. Love Quitman, Holbrook can be real good too. Mill Creek in Canton is another small gem. Made a lot of trips to Fork before finding those small waters. Good places to go if Fork sucks or the wind is howling.

SE Kansas grass grower

Hawkins can be killer!!!

+1 on Athens!

pretty sad fork visitors wan to know what "other lakes to go to
guess that sums it up!!

Man there are a lot of lakes around, I fish Holbrook it's mostly numbers with a few nice fish mixed in. Pretty lake. Speaking of scenery It does not get much better than Purtis Creek. Athens is good, but it will be really crowded. If your willing to drive about an hour Lake O The Pines is an awesome lake. It's got some really nice ones. The spawn should be really good there this year. If your near Lake O The Pines lake Lonestar is just to the north it's a good lake as well. Tons of places I didn't mention.

Holbrook has a LOT of fish in it. Hawkins has some pigs in it. Gilmer is fun. All the Wood County lakes are great. Its a nice change when bite is off at Fork or when the big tourneys are in town.

Lake Hawkins isn't very good. The others mentioned are tho. Winsboro is really low still I believe.

holbrook does have a lot of fish. i have said since the first time i fished it a few years ago that it's the easiest lake to get a bite on in east tx. but last year around march/april, 20 lb bags became somewhat common out there. it was the best it has fished by far since i had been around.

Holbrook can be fun. My biggest out there is only around 6-7lbs. Hawkins can fish a little tougher but those fish are turbo charged out there. Fun lake to fish. It has it all.

Y'all know how tough Fork can be at times. If you drive all the way from Iowa the first part of March and you haven't seen the ground since November you just want to catch fish. If Fork is average to good then it's good to stay with it. If it is in one of it's fickle moods, then move on. Many times I've driven 6 - 8 hours to fish Fork and after a half day with no bites I'll pick up and go to Quitman or somewhere else close and catch quality fish. We don't have the luxury to lower the boat off the lift, fish a couple of hours, if no bites put the boat back on the lift and go mow the yard.

SE Kansas grass grower