Fork and boat lanes and wind question

I have a question about Fork and the boat lanes. First off, this will only be my 2nd time on the lake. We rented a cabin on the water and all I plan on doing is fishing right close to the place and just easing around to the few surrounding coves and not getting crazy. I've heard too many horror stories about this lake and the designated boat lanes. I do have the lanes on my Lakemaster maps though I hear they're not 100% spot on. My question - due to the wind direction I'm expecting, I might want to ease directly across the portion of the lake I'll be on to reach the other side of the banks for a little wind protection. So this will be a perpendicular move to the boat lanes. Just idle the entire way? The distance will be about 1.5 miles. Also, what is a 15mph South wind like on this lake?

Where exactly is your cabin ? If you're near one of the bridges you can run across the lake safely there. There are areas where the boat lanes run east and west as well as north and south. For example the mid-lake coves ( Big and Little Mustang, Williams ) have marked boat lanes as well as Glade and Carroll on the Big Caney side. Little Caney is poorly marked. A steady 15mph south wind can be challenging in a 17 ft boat especially if you're fishing main lake points.

If you are on plane outside the lanes even if youve made it many times youre taking a risk... I thought I had a good track laid and was on plane from my ramp to the lane and smoked a stump after many many runs of making it...

Here’s close to where I’ll be. Again, not looking to do anything crazy just fish a little, try to get the boys on a bass or channel cat, and take a break from work.

The big cove to the south is Little Caney and idle only but the south bank would be out of the south wind and is mostly a good area. The north/south boat lanes are on the side of the lake you are on should you decide to travel north or south. They're calling for light winds tomorrow so you should be able to fish the many points for bass on your side of the lake. Both points on either side of Little Caney or good for bass. The bridges are great for crappie fishing should you want to try that. Enjoy your stay and if you love chicken fried steak Oak Ridge on 154 serves the best.

Cool I appreciate it! I’ll be there Sun afternoon - Tuesday. Looks like the wind picks up just a bit those dahs, so that’s why I was wondering.

You are not that far from marked lanes going across the main lake.

Jody

this should get you started. I know you have lake master but they should be pretty similar

Lake Fork Marina sells Lance Vick's chip. Most buoys on the lake are only fairly close. I would highly suggest getting the chip!!

I have only fished fork a couple of times and I would stick to marked lanes and lanes on the chip.

The east side of that western arm seems to be fairly clean and open, but there are huge trees just below the water line all over on the western side of that arm. By western side i mean 40-50 yards outside the buoys all the way to the far west shoreline.

The boat lane chip seemed to be pretty accurate, but you better stay right on that line. I was in some creeks following the boat lanes at an idle and there would be stumps on both sides of the boat at times. Never had enough confidence to run those lanes on plane.

I mostly stay on plane in marked channels and then idle through the marked boat lanes on the chip. If a boat is headed my way on plane, I carefully Idle out of the boat lane on the chip and wait for them to pass.

I'd rather lose a little fishing time than get someone hurt or have to replace my lower unit.

Sounds good I appreciate all the advice. With a SW wind, think I should ease around into Little Caney or go across and hit the coves towards the dam? I have no clue what it’s like over there. I have been in Little Caney before.

Some of the biggest timber in the lake is in/near those southwest creeks. You can run a good ways toward them down by the dam, but once you hit the line of the visible timber north and south, drop off plane and idle. Also, don't trust the generic "Safe Route Reported" marks!

Chaney Ray and Dale have routes in, but I don't know them fully. They are on the 'new' Lance Vick's boatlanes map, but you need to be real careful about cutting any corners!

Keep it simple at first...launch in or near a big creek like Caney, Williams, Mustang or Little Mustang. All are loaded with fish and easily big enough to spend entire days in. Keep your running to a minimum and you are less likely to have issues.

That’s what I plan on doing - keeping it simple and low key. Thanks for everyone’s input - I really appreciate it!

I would load and drive around and put in at Williams if you are worried.

15 mph wind can be a little scary. Boat ramps all around the lake, both public and pay. One in every cove on West arm ,West coves. Throw a wacky rig senko . Good luck!

From fishing a bit out here this week if you want to stay shallow the dock bite is picking up. Some good fish too. The frog bite is still decent. Had some fun yesterday evening chasing schooling bass with a topwater popper. At first I thought they were sandbags but were black bass that was schooling.

Chaney is a great little spot... you can fish deep or shallow and find em'... running across little caney to there is not a bad jaunt. Be careful once you get into the Chaney... PM me if you want any info on the creek it self.

Yeah I figured 15 on the main lake and it gets pretty rough. And then if you're not comfortable on it anyway, looking for the boat lanes, etc - doesn't sound like a good idea. If it rough, I do like the idea of trailering it to the other side. That's no problem at all.