Lake Fork and stable water level

Already this spring it seems the bigger fish are showing up more regularly for many. I am not a biologist and not stating anything other than my thoughts but wonder if the somewhat stable water level the last 2 years has helped in some way? Seems to help other lakes.

Sure hasn't hurt Mark.

I have another theory as to why the bigguns have shown up. The extra shot of cold weather produced a much better than average shad-kill that allowed the fish to gorge on them before they moved up. That packed some extra weight on them.

Makes a lot of sense.

The lake and the fish we are catching just seem VERY healthy this year. Finding grass in some areas and all in all it seems the lake is on the upswing a bit.

4 years of great spawning conditions probably benefits the forage fish as much as it does the bass....more food, bigger fish.

Yessir. Takes a Ton of baitfish to grow a 15.48!!

I believe the cold winters cause a bigger wave of fish to move shallow once it does warm up. Last few years have been mild so had fish coming up early and sporadic throughout spring

I think the lake levels in spring for the last few years has really jump started the entire bass population.
That and the amount of bait fish I've seen in last two years... and maybe it's just me but I don't see as many sandbass
like I used to,...maybe the bass now have a chance at the shad...I'm all for it.

also there will be some giant crappie on the horizon,..

I have been thinking the same on the Shad kill. If you fish North of DFW you see it more consistently. A good friend and striper guide on Texoma first mentioned it to me with his expectations on the year ahead.... It’s also a GREAT time to catch some big catfish with basketballs in their bellies under the shad in the cold weather. Hopefully the will be chewing again once they close the gates and it clears up a little!

dirty water, fish feel safe and like they are under cover......

bait fish also feel safe in dirty water and move around more its the same on every lake if you see a wind blown dirty area fish it

Shad kill, stable water levels, more abundant forage fish... all great reasons for the perfect storm! Now if we can just get some of that hydrilla back....

Glad to see Mother Fork still moving in the right direction!

Jim I think the larger bass have found a new food source, sand bass. A half pound sandie could last them a couple of days. They've been eating crappie and bar fish for years, sand bass might be tastier.

Their is also the life span of bass. The big bass have a life span of between 12-16 years. Those older bass died off every year. We need good spawns to keep the big fish every year. The spawn this year will be your big fish in about 8 years, without the spawn you will have years where you have no big fish equal to the number of years in a row of bad spawns. We had a few years in a row that had no spawn or very few spawns that survived because we had no shallow water cover. The big bass you are catching now are the 4-6 pound bass we were catching back in 2012 and their were lots of those size fish back then. We have had three to four years now of good spawns and high water with good cover for them to survive.

I would also say when the water was down their was lots of people around the lake that were going out and planting willow and other cover so when the lake came back up their would be cover for the spawns in the spring. Those people should be thanked now for some of the great cover you now have. I remember Micheal Rogue and Barry's wife over at OakRidge were heading up a lot of that back then. Their has been lots of people and marines around the lake that were working hard to try and get the lake back to its days of big fish. They didn't always do the right thing but that cover sure is nice now.

Great points Guy. So it is likely that the two 13's and the 15.48 recently caught were from the 2005 - 2008 spawn, possibly. It would be interesting to be able to track the lake levels during those years.

remember the fish kill several years ago?... what year was that?...mid-2000 something? I wonder what impact that had?

Great thoughts guys.
I believe the 2010 spawn was awesome. 2008-2009 were not too bad either.
Maybe fish from those plus those other factors. Of course, many fish are stocked each year as well.
Also, maybe overall pressure on Fork last few years been a bit less?
Love the increase in grass and yeah would love more hydrilla.

So from that 2016 spawn 2024-25 might be awesome. Plan your trips now-lol.

Thanks for the great input. Enjoyed the opinions. Some really good points made.