Stories From Megabass

Had some fireworks over a green light and tourney director said my boat was in the right. Fished the light caught some fish. Put 3 understand in the box for me and one for my buddy.

Weighed in at 9am but got bumped from the money.

Caught some good slots and dinks after that but our bite died.

OK, took me a few minutes to figure out what the green light was. With a title like this, you have to give the story about the fireworks. A dock owner, other boater etc. Don't just tease us.

I've had that happen,when the sun comes up there's 10 boats around 2 docks and 2 more stragglers trying to squeeze in at the last minute lol

Reader’s digest version....

Lighted dock above and below water. Headed to it at 4:05am and got there at 4:10am....it is an awesome light and we knew we would have company. As we pull up two guys start waking to their boat slip and tell us they are anchored and we have to stay 50yds away. They are not the boat dock or light owner as he doesn’t bass fish.

In case you missed it, they were just walking to their boat....not in their boat. An argument ensued....both sides...neither cussed or threatened each other. Luckily I got video of them walking around not in their boat and a quick call to Chad with an explanation and he stated we were on the spot first.....put on speaker for them to hear.

They got real quiet for the next hour. Then at fishing time they were still there within 3yds of us and made a cast at the light. Got video told them they were not welcome. They still did not leave so I parked my boat between them and the light. We had to warn them to watch their heads as we were casting. They were right up against our boat.

Caught some fish and they got their panties even further wadded up...turned off the light and left. We stayed and caught a bunch more fish.

The dock owner is a well known @ss and he came down after they moved out of the slip and they whispered with each other and then he came down making as much noise as possible.....washing his deck....feeding HIS catfish and got all kinds of upset when we kept fishing.

If you want to stack your boat full of catfish PM me and I can give you the location.

So who were the other guys? Were they fishing the same tournament?

Some nice fish weighed in....

Fork really showed out. Caught fish early and made a move at 8:30. bad mistake! 5 boats about everywhere we wanted to go. Went back to first spot and 3 other boats had moved in after we left.
By 11:00 I was putting corn in deer feeders at our Ranch. lol

It really fishes small when you put that many boats on it in the summer!

Congrats on a great tournament though. 22 overs for 1 day in July is pretty strong!

Sounds like it was a pretty good day of fishing. I can't imagine 1,800 people out there which I guess would be about 800 boats + whatever crazy people not fishing the tournament decided still fish. Congrats to all of the winners.

Not sure but thinking dock owners brother and yes they were in the tourney.

So I have a cool story.

The husband of the couple I rented the 5th wheel from had a buddy show up on Saturday afternoon and as I was loading up for the day the husband and that buddy came over to chit chat and see how I was doing. The buddy, out of the blue, asked me if I fish sinkos and I said of course so he reached into his pocket and handed me a package of Gary Yamamoto Sinkos with 3 left in the package and said here throw these, I always have luck with them. I accepted and threw them in the boat and we went our separate ways.

Yesterday around 7:30 I was still looking for a bite and eventually grabbed one of the sinkos and on the first cast, before the bait hit bottom, my line was moving sideways and boom fish #1. Next cast, fish #2. Both were equal size, 15" so I strapped up the rods and headed to weigh-in, eventually finishing 11th for the 8am. I stayed for the 9am, just fishing around LFM, and watched weights come in and knew my #2 wasn't in the money so I left to go back out and fish (I eventually let #2 go and was right 2.19lb didn't hunt the rest of the day).

So this morning I see the full results and I'm looking at the picture of the overall winner and think damn, that looks like the buddy who gave me the sinkos Saturday. Well sure enough I sent a message to the couple thanking them for the hospitality and ask how the husband did. The Wife said her husband didn't do well but that his buddy won 15k and the boat! Talk about coincidence!

I had a good time, caught some good slots but it was tough finding a place to fit in. I just started hoping around to areas that were ignored, finding something to throw at from watching my graphs. Most turned out to be nothing but I did luck into a few schools of nice slots but could just not find anything else to run to weigh-in about.

I did witness a few squabbles and words thrown between few jockeying for fishing area but for the most part most everyone I fished around did well sharing water.

I'll be back next year to try again!

Caught a couple early and weighed the 1st 2 hours. Tied for 9th the 1st hour. Caught a few more the rest of the day. Either slots or 2 small. It was hot

Actually Sinkey we processed 25 overs on the live release boat. One died. It was the first over of the morning and had a big slice in the jaw making it so it could not keep anything in it's mouth. Didn't look fresh. We could not save her.

Because of the TPWD survey we do with the overs we were really busy. Each over has the be measured in centimeters, recorded, pounds converted to grams, time caught and a fin sample taken. We had 25 vials avaible to us and used them all. The dead fish was taken to our freezer to be sent into TPWD for an autopsy. They try to figure out what killed them.

Keeping 25 overs straight and going thru all the steps when they come in, in groups while at the same time processing the unders, some of which had to be fizzed was an exhausting deal for the 4 volunteers. One time they brought 2 overs in the same bag, told us the weights. Being ounces apart it was guess time on which was the bigger. Or the one that the weigh master told the runner 6 something because of all of the overs that hour.

And then there was the young guy in the real pretty red Champion that came flying in at the last minute around noon waking every boat in the marina only to get bumped out. Which he repeated on the last hour. No regard for anyone but himself and once again his fish was to small.

All in all I'd say Bass Champs put on another great tournament and Lake Fork provided plenty of big fish for everyone.

After looking at the number posted by Bass Champs I'd say that they might have sent us a few big slots but didn't bother telling the kids running the fish to tell us of that. We don't normally process slots but I guess 3 got through. I did see one ticket fish that went in at 16.5".

Sounds like everyone had a good time.

Only 22 overs got paid. I guess the other 3 got disqualified

22 were weighed. Not sure on the other 3.

How many citations were handed out by the wardens?

Sinkey's comment about Fork fishing small in a summer tournament this size is dead on. Spots I had forgotten about were loaded up with multiple boats. We had what we thought was a good plan for the day, but the inability to get on a spot started early and lasted throughout the day. When we were able to find something open, we stayed way too long, hoping the fish would turn on... plus we were hesitant to move over to graph the area we were fishing, thinking we might lose that spot, altogether. The results were impressive, but I would expect that from Fork when every good deep spot on the lake is being fished for 8 hours straight.

While most of the anglers were courteous and safe, we also encountered a few wanna' be Kamikaze pilots.

Congratulations to all that cashed!

I don't normally fish Fork, but I was on Fork yesterday, and got to witness that mad house first hand. Probably more boats per acre than I have seen in a long, long time. I do agree with Sinkey that the lake was certainly fishing small when you put that many boats out there in the summer time. For those that say "Fork Showed Out", I am not sure I 100% agree. 1800 competitors x 8 hours of fishing = 14,400 man hours of fishing. 22 overs weighed in = 654.54 hours per over. To put it in perspective if you fished Fork for 8 hours a day for an entire year (365 full days) you would stand to catch 4.5 overs. I can think of a lot of lakes in Texas that would give you better odds than that.

We fished every area we knew off shore from 15-30 feet. Not a single bite all day long.

Time of year has a lot to do with it.

I've got a lot more than 654.54 hours out there and still don't have an over. Come close, but not quite.

I have one over and the thing weighed 5.99 lbs.. My luck to not have any weight behind her.

There are lots of guys that have fished Fork 6,500 hours and still not caught a Legit over so don't feel badly. Seen some measured that thought they had one but the goober didn't know how to measure a fish!

Wow, the boat dock with the light thing sounds like a carbon copy of what happened to us a few years ago when the ice delayed the tourney. We were in Chaney sitting on a point about casting distance away from a lighted dock. Couple of guys get in a boat and proceed to move right in front of us. They go so close to our boat at one point we could almost reach out and touch it. They eventually got upset that they could not intimidate us into moving so they went back and turned off the light.

Caught 3 fish off the same spot, and that was it. Screamed at a Pontoon boat full of people that came pretty close to me and another guy fishing

I agree with this statement aggieangler01 and had this very discussion with a fishing buddy today. I fished the tournament and fork often, but I was also lucky enough to fish it in the late 80s early 90s. Its concerning to me because of the number of overs and condition of the fish. 6lb., 7lb. overs are skinny/poor fish. 1800 fisherman and 22 overs is barely above 1%. You dial back time and put 1800 fisherman on fork in late 80s, 90s and even early 2000 and you would have seen some share a lunker fish. Fork is not near the lake it once was, but I hope it returns some day along with the hydrilla.

Was this on Little Caney? I know of one owner that feeds hundreds of catfish and has an awsome light but he has had it on a short timer for almost 2 years. I really miss that light. He was always a nice guy to me and would sit and talk to me while I fished his dock. I thought they had done away with the distance rule for the big bass tourneys years ago because of the number of boats.

It is in Dale

when covid hit and everyone was supposed to be hiding under whatever rock they lived in the boat ramps at Fork became so crowded you could hardly get a spot within walking distance. Well, folks besides Mega Bass that has continued to this day.

For those that think Fork was crowded because of Mega Bass they should visit during Legend of Lake Fork, Skeeter Owners or Sealy (McDonalds) and really see boats on every spot.

Time of year is not the issue. Covid 19 is the issue. Summer is not normally crowded at all and yet all of those overs and many more are still swimming in our lake. Did any of you notice how many of the overs were small? And skinny too.

We did talk to one guy who caught his personal best. A 22" 5 1/2. That is what is so great about the slot. Many people come here with a real good opportunity of catching their PB because of all of the mid range and much bigger bass swimming in Lake Fork.

"Time of year is not the issue. Covid 19 is the issue. Summer is not normally crowded at all and yet all of those overs and many more are still swimming in our lake. Did any of you notice how many of the overs were small? And skinny too."

Yep. Same down here.

Went out there two weeks ago on a Wed. 100 degree day with no wind and boats were stacked on every spot. Pretty ridiculous

I hadn't been on the lake in months. As for the fishing it was so-so. One of the fish I caught was 15 15/16ths but wasn't fat at all. Weighed 2.05 at weigh in. I would've normally known the weight, but when I went to replace the battery in my scale, the scales lead busted off.

As far as the boat traffic, where I was it had traffic, but not as bad as McDonalds. There were 6 boats on the same mainlake point, but everyone played well together. Didn't hear any bellyaching. Like many of you, I've fished several of the big bass tourneys over the years...probably 20 of them or so. Yes...you need to allow extra time at the ramp. Yes, boats are probably going to be sitting on the holes you want to fish. However, in all of those tourneys I've always been surrounded by some really cool dudes.

Oh yeah, I always wonder about the boats that have no clue where they're driving. Had one blow thru inside of everyone on the point. He couldn't have been in three foot of water. Wonder if he puckered up when his depth finder jumped up??? It didn't upset me though...just know that some people don't know the lay of the lake. It's not personal.

Really enjoyed another well run tournament. Congrats to those that cashed a check.

Saturday was pretty much eliminating water for us. Not by intent, just how bad we sucked. Made an adjustment Sunday and caught all good slot fish. Felt we were running the right stuff and sooner or later might get lucky on an over, that never happened. For the most part everyone we encountered was more than courteous on the water.

Now at the LFM ramp Sunday evening was a different story. There was a little man that came up to my truck passenger window while I was waiting to pull into the back ramp. He asked me to move so he could pull through but literally I was next to pull down and had nowhere I could go other than down to the ramp. I politely said sure thing just one minute buddy at which time he said "if you gonna be an a$$hole then go right ahead". Well being in the heat all day that got my temper going pretty good and I told him he best get away from my truck window, I didn't cuss him, don't go cussing at me. He offered me to stop by his trailer by the gas pump and walked off. It was less than 5 minutes I had the boat loaded and was up by that trailer at the gas pump and good thing for both of us he was nowhere to be found. When we got back to our room the guys next to us was talking about the same guy and apparently he was giving others a bunch of [censored] down at the ramp too. So little buddy, if you on this forum you now know my name. I frequent LFM almost weekly and look forward to formerly introducing myself.

Our day was interesting and blessed. On Saturday night as we were rigging up, I told my youngest son that I was breaking out the "special" reel for this event. This is the one my oldest son gave me as Best Man present at his wedding in 2007. Little did we know that 3 months later he would be diagnosed with stomach cancer.

I 've only used that reel about 5-6 times since Clay passed in '09, but I felt that the time was right for another outing with that important reminder of a very special son. Like everyone, Kaden and I passed about 5 different structure locations with one or more boats and quickly realized we had to find more obscure locations. After about 3 hours up Big Caney arm, I told him lets start hitting our crappie brushpiles. Everyone knows that big bass love hanging around crappie schools. There's always good cover and easy meals within about 10 fin strokes when they're ready to eat.

On our third pile, I was working the zoom ol monster across the top of a limb when I felt that famous tick and light pressure. She dove in when I set, but luckily was able to keep good pressure and she swam up out of it for that famous head shake to try and throw the worm. After a 45 second harrowing battle, Kaden slid the net under a 24 1/2" bass and I knew the premonition was correct.

We went in for the 11:00 hour and I didn't wait, as the fish needed fizzing and I don't like holding these great fish any longer than necessary. She weighed 8.63 and incredibly held up for the half hour and to net a $15,000 hourly check. I was the only over, followed by 6 overs in the 12:00 hour. Son, thank you for holding all those people off....

At 1:15, Kaden reared back and set the hook on the edge of a 20' brushpile and it was on. It was like he hooked on the back of an 18-wheeler, there was no winner emerging. He had all 225 lbs leaned into her trying to keep her out of the big tree around which the brushpile is laid, when all of a sudden is rod snapped 18" above the handle and the frayed graphite cut his line. His was bigger than my 11.59 in McDonalds several years back, we were sick.... Last night, spent 4 figures ordering made in the USA top graphite blank Xheavy rods for Kaden, that ain't happening again! These made in China blanks are [censored].

But, we had a great day and the invisible boat captain by my side took care of his dad and brother, without a doubt. Had one 6, two 7's the 8.63 and the heartbreaker. Thanks for the ride along, son. I love you Clay, see you on the other side, buddy......

Great story and thanks for sharing! Sounds like you won before you put the boat in the water!

Great story Fork Man! Glad for your success with such a special reel!

I think it was bad in the Spring with Covid. But honestly the last few weeks Ive been fishing havent been bad at all. Some days hardly nobody out there. Havent even seen many guides out.

Great story man...love hearing stuff like that

Pretty slim pickings for us. Actually found a decent spot without a boat where I wanted to fish first thing. Partner caught a good slot on a jig right off the bat and I followed up with a 15 7/8” 1.97 rail of a fish on a ol monster. Left there at 8:30 and ran around looking for somewhere to fit in. Went and hit a few brushpiles that were open to no avail. Set down on a fish I couldn’t turn for a few seconds until she opened up and gave me my mag shakey back. Caught 2 more slots the rest of the day off brush and that about sums it up. I told my partner who has never fished a big bass event that he was gonna get to see some knuckleheads and he wasn’t disappointed as we saw some pretty comical moves by some guys. I was graphing a point and another boat just came off plane. I waypointed a spot and go about 10yds to drop the tm and fish it. I turn around and this guy is hitting a waypoint where he saw me do it. Another guy trolled over on top of a pile we were throwing in, looked down at his livescope and told us there were just crappie there, no bass. I actually think this guy thought he was helping us out. I just laughed and kept casting.

I didn't fish it..........

I fished shallow early and caught one dink; found my crowded deep water point around 9AM and spot locked and sat until I finally got a bite - 6lb 14oz slot, 23 inches. No more bites the rest of the day.

Fork Man..great story thanks for sharing.

Fork Man, awesome story sir and congratulations. But, more importantly, just shows how much fishing means to the relationship between sons/daughters and Dads. Man, I am sitting here with giant tears. I have 4 sons and a daughter. Can't imagine the pain of losing a child. But, I know your heart was so warmed by feeling your son's presence in the boat with you and Kaden.

So, Megabass. Started on the dam, caught 4,000 one pound fish. Got sick of reeling. Kept thinking we might hang a 2.5 or an over. We did catch one slot, but after the hour and a half of sitting, then 2 hours of catching midgets, we moved. Ran around, Little Caney, Chaney road bed, up into Birch, Dale, past Axton's, all over. Caught 4 more fish all day, with nothing to weigh. Closest to being able to weigh was a 1.5. Did have some dummies running right at us in the lane, just split the middle. Also, had a fool at take off from Fisherman's, who was running about 25, along with the rest of us fools out of there. Hit my horn twice, went to pass on the left, WIDE of buoys, and the dude cuts dead left in front of me, and shuts down in the lane. My partner and I scream, he gasses it, and barely gets out of our way. Really felt like we were gonna be on top of him. So, after that, the day was great!!

I will say, all day, the people we encountered, were all very nice. Seemed everyone was playing nice! Not happy the one dude and his wife/girlfriend sat on my personal Little Caney brushpile spot all freakin' day!! Dang him!!

I never got bit after 9:00am I couldn't fish anywhere...

Thanks Fork man....I always fished these with my dad....legends, Berkley....dad passed away Christmas eve 2017 and I have not been able to go do it without him.....I am going to remedy that with my son this fall. God bless you and keep you sir.

MJ

How could you not fish anywhere. Do you mean your regular spots had boats on them. I never had a problem fishing anywhere all day

That’s feel good, Fork Man. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for sharing Fork Man. That made my day. Stay safe

+100

Great job Fork Man! (Thanks for sharing) A lot of the locals or regulars would be discouraged about all of the pressure and crowding. You just rolled with it! I took my Dad and he doesn’t get to fish very often. I’ll tell y’all one thing..... I would have loved to had drone video footage of that boat lane on the east side at 4:01 am!! 🔥 My Allison was running 83.2 down that bad boy as I was watching for the boats coming from Oak Ridge ramp! There seemed to be a few of the boats that didn’t understand the 4:00 rule. Everyone we encountered during the day was very friendly and courteous. I told my Dad that we were going to fish for 2 to 5 bites all day and that’s exactly what we got. 22” and a 23.25”. I was very proud of the fact that all of my fellow fishing competitors have great sportsmanship! (For the most part) No other place but TEXAS
Until next time - tight lines