The other thing on Fork that helps a ton is to get the hell off the beaten path. If you get in line and are chunking the same baits in the same areas 100 boats are you will have bad days. Too many fish in that lake to have to do that. Get a good map and honestly start breaking it down one section at a time. If you got a spot in Birch you like go find something similar in a less busy creek. Spend more time on TM than the big motor as well. There are days they simply will not bite so use those days to explore the lake and always make a point to try and fish an area you have little to no experience in. Lots of pleasant surprises when you do that.

One thing this year I have noticed is how much more effective moving baits have been all spring. Hell it was the same way back in the fall for me. I could get a few bites on bottom baits but go to a moving bait and then the bite turns on. Might be attributed to the fish roaming more due to low water and increased competition in shallower water from sandbass etc. Might be a coincidence or a confidence deal for me but this whole spring the moving baits have been a lot better producers. Even on the slowest of days.

Trying to produce the next world record was fun while it lasted but it's time to bring back the more aggressive Northern strain bass to Texas lakes. It is the only long term solution.

Mark is right on! The lake has changed over the years but the fisherman have not! That's a fact! I fish it regularly along with a bunch of other and easily have 50 fish days!

I'll put it to you like this! You keep getting your jaw popped at hooters eating wings you prolly gonna eat a salad from somewhere differen!

I see people constantly throwing spinnerbaits and white lizards and asking me where the fish are in the lake...... When I can see 3-5 slot fish swimming around their boat........

Mark is right, last summer we went down when it was hot. We were throwing cranks, spoons, jigs and plastic in deep water and only caught a few fish. Our last evening there we tied on jigs and went shallow. We caught a 30 lb bag in about 20 minutes and continued catching fish, a lot of fish from 6 pm until 2 am. It was unreal. You just have to try new stuff. I would have never thought a jig in 2' of water would have been the ticket in 100 degree weather.

LOL... Yeah but Zeet, not many of us have peepers like yours I swear, you can see a keeper in a shoe box .
Mark is spot on in how to attack the lake, it's under a lot of fishing pressure the same old same old ain't gonna work in most situations.. Just how good are YOU.

I have to agree with the Post Starter and had this discussion with a retired guide that loved on the lake in the glory days... he won't go back. Why? he says it sickens hm to see what it's become and how it changed.
Housing has lined the banks and cleared trees, brush etc. and changed the run off in many creeks and coves.
Slime started and hydrilla stopped growing. Farms left and golf courses came in changing, no ruining areas that fish never left, now you can't get a bite there. The LLMB? Virus took it's toll to a level we may never know. Timber rotted and brush piles are gone and were never re-built. Gone may be the days the guides constructed holes full of trees and brush and loaded them with crawdads to ensure a Jig Bite like no other. Yeah that happened.
Silt filled in Lake Fork Creek and the banks wore off in Little Caney creek Coffee Creek Area.
Dale Creek Island doesn't fill with grass, No Name Point has a water outlet that ruined it and creates a current that wasn't there for 20+ years.

Every local fisherman's house used to have a Charcoal Skeeter Starfire 150 with Yamaha 150 on it because they knew where every brood pond dam was and they held fish.

The first Guides I ever fished with.... Barnes, Stevenson, McCarty, Collins, Davidson, Clark, Parker, Davenport, Clifton, Kells, Euker, Snider, Canada, Duplechain guys and gals that fished it when it was consistent for 3 days straight we caught more fish larger than 7 lbs. in 2 years than has been caught in the last 10 maybe more.

We're not talking about 15 - 20 3 - 5 lb. Fish more like 27 7 - 10 before lunch on one creek turn! and if the "Sticks" usually northern business men were of any count at detecting bites and setting hooks the number could explode not to mention most fish could break you off on something in 2 seconds.

We followed 100's of 5 - 10+ Lb. fish all year long, from the winter humps, on the road beds, to the Points, back of coves to spawn and back to the humps in the Fall. It was incredible and consistent, neither of which can be said today, at least not near the numbers.

Does she still produce? absolutely and will always be a treasure and if you weren't lucky enough to fish it in the beginning, then you really have no idea what to compare it to because there has never been anything like it since or possibly ever will be.

I have a map that has 300+ 10lb fish caught, weighted and most released that used to hang on Ron Kelly's Door. Very few of those spots has produced a fish over 7 lbs in the last few years due to change.

Say what you want, believe what you know, but it will never be the same.

Denny

Fork can be tough for sure and you have to adjust. Case in point, when I started fishing it in the early 90's it was 3 to 4 feet low and lots of folks were complaining they weren't getting the bites they were used to. I think what it boiled down to was folks were still trying to make holes produce that were holding fish when it was full and the fish had adjusted to the new depth and for the most part weren't holding in the old reliable places. I came into it not knowing any of this info and just fished it based on general fishing knowledge. I didn't get bit at first but once I kind of sorted it out I started catching fish. Like others I think the lack of grass and the extremely cold temps we had this winter are still in play. A few more degrees upward in the lake temp and the hydrilla and lily pads begin to pop and it will get better.....It will never see it hay days but it will get more like what we are used to seeing......

Amen brother!
This man knows what he speaks.

Guess this guy should have read this post before going to Fork.....

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt..._Lake_Fo#UNREAD

I had a great day on Fork this past Friday.

I know you probably doubt me but there were days when guys from Kansas in 1989 I think had 13's 2 days in a row and didn't even want to photo much less weight 8 - 10's.

But I agree Ozio has been on some nice fish lately, hope he keeps it up... Very Impressive.

Denny

Agreed. I've had some of my best days out there the last two or three years in the summer fishing skinny water. One day stands out where we had probably 35-40 fish between 3-8 lbs.

I gave Fork a break for 6 years. Just couldn't produce to expectations. First trip back I boated a 9.75. It was an awesome day. Haven't beat that yet and that was about 10 years ago. Just give it a break, but don't it up completely.

She may not live up to the glory days but she is definitely better than most lakes. The slot fish that people gripe about make most anglers pretty darn happy anywhere else. She still puts out 10+lb fish regularly, the number of other places that do that could probably be counted on one hand. I'm sure not giving up on the old girl.

All lakes change, even great lakes change as they age.


I've had too many great days on Fork recently to agree with someone who would declare that Fork is "dead". She will never be what she was "back in the day" when anyone could chunk at 80% of the bank lines and catch fish all day long.

But a big part of the satisfaction of catching fish is figuring them out day to day.

Don't be so quick to give up on the old girl, she ain't as pretty as she once was but she still has BIG



















FISH!