Well, I haven't been posting much over the last month or so. The main reason is I haven't been catching much. I've slowed down a little with the much hotter weather, that combined with lackluster results and trying to learn a couple of new tactics has taken some of the fun out of fishing. Most of the time I end up putting the spinner bait back on to keep from getting skunked and end the day not having learned much other than how frustrating not catching can be.

The plan was to arrive on Friday night, get a good night sleep and hit the water a few hours before sun up and fish until I couldn't stand the heat. That plan changed to fish a little Friday night when I got there around 6 p.m. and couldn't wait to get on the water.

Got one bite at dark, lost it at the boat, on a spinner bait, my spot on the main lake too windy to fish and I didn't want to anchor. The more protected areas were too buggy and though they weren't mosquitoes, just annoying with the lack of bites. Headed in around 10:30 p.m., loaded up, and drove into town (Emory) just in time to watch the lights at Sonic turn off at 11 p.m. Now I have to eat micro wave food at all night gas station. Decide to go to all night laundry to dry my fishing clothes so I'll have spare for drive home Saturday. Thought about hitting the water again but couldn't decide where. Got sleepy after eating and decided to sleep a few hours in truck. Set alarm for 5 a.m. but wake up at 4:00 as ramp was busy all night long (big high school tournament going on Sat and Sun). Make a drive to different area of the lake where no one is at ramp...wind blowing too hard to get excited. Decide on another area. Some how I managed to blow a couple of hours driving around the lake in the dark. Finally decide on plan X.

Couldn't get a bite to save my soul...not on topwater, spinner bait, or worm even though there was bait all around. Even tried a small crappie jig minnow hoping for anything. Decide to head out away from shore and fish the 18 to 22 foot depths. Seeing a few bigger fish on fishfinder but very scattered and not sure they are bass. Still nothing. Around 9 a.m. fishfinder quits working.

Finally out of desperation I rig up a swimbait. As I'm waiting for it to reach bottom I grab paddle with other hand to make a correction stroke as wind has blown me around. I'm not paying attention when I almost get rod jerked out of hand. Damn! I haven't had a bite like that in a long time. It wasn't a strong tap, it was a rod jerk. Try to remember everything I did on the cast, check wind direction, which side of stump, how far past it did I cast, how long from time it hit water to when I got strike and how much slack I had in line. Then I remember seeing the fish on fish finder earlier all suspended at 5 feet from surface regardless of water depth. Five minutes later another explosive strike and I'm looking at a 23 inch bass in my kayak. I'm possessed now, making sure I attack every likely stump from the same direction, fishing against the wind, casting the same distance past the stump, and at the same angle. I'm looking for the strongest wind currents visible on the water. The most important factor to me was making sure my bait naturally dropped down with slack in line and no sudden movements...exactly like I fish a spinner bait. I was convinced on that second bite it would work and it did. If I didn't get hit at the five foot mark my bait would fall all the way to bottom. I never got bit bouncing off bottom but only by lightly feathering the line in much the way you'd fish for crappie while trying to keep from getting hung up on bottom. Took an hour break and paddled back in to get something to eat and try to see what was wrong with fishfinder. Couldn't fix it. Last fish caught at 6:30. For the day I caught 6 fish on 8 bites...all on swimbaits, all vicious strikes. I measured all six...23,23,22,22,22,17. It only takes one good day to make a confidence bait. Find a color you like and try some of the Fringe Tackle Company baits.


Back at the launch after getting wet, bugged, and skunked Friday night.


First fish, 23 inches


23 inches




This was the color that I started out with. Caught four on it before it was too torn up to continue, flew off hook on the last fish. I don't even remember what color it's called, you'll have to ask Jeff at Fringe Tackle. He include a few extra colors when I ordered and I gave most of them away. The other two fish were caught on TFF Swampfox color (darker colored one).

Below is a link to the post in bass forum that got me interested in fishing these type baits.


http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/9930625/1


Picture from above link that I moved when I organized photo album thus broken link.

Thanks for an awesome report

Very nice, thats a good looking bait

Great post on a great day! Congrats!

That's a great day of fishing Louis. Its been a pretty good while since I had a day like that on Fork. I'm happy for you because I know how hard you get after them. I've been throwing those Fringe Tackle baits for a while now too. My favorite color has been the orange throat bluegill. The fish absolutely clobber those baits. That's probably the biggest thing that got me into fishing swimbaits, the freight train strikes.. Thanks for sharing

Nice fishes!

Wow awesome. way to hang in there and try something new. Iconn is a diehard.

Great report! Congrats!
Fork is my new favorite yak fishing lake.
I hated it as a boater but from a yak I love it.

Great report and awesome fishing/catching!

Congrats Louis. I had a few days almost as good as that in 2011 out at Fork... Big fish suspending in the trees. It's days like this that make you want to come back to Fork. I'm glad to see that it's still possible to have that type of day from the yak (I was starting to wonder).

Everyone knows how hard and how often you fish. This is the well deserved payoff. Kudos!

Been a while since I've thrown a swimbait all day, looks like I'll be headed out there in a couple of weeks with a few friends I met up in Kentucky at the Hobie Open.

Excellent job Louis! Did your camera die or something? I would hate to have a day like you just had and not get pictures of all the fish to prove it, just saying. Your one of the most hardcore kayak fishermen in the state so I believe it man but as they say "the proof is in the pictures".

That's a great day, thanks for the report and the info on your Swim Bait. Sounds like you worked hard for those fish.

I thought about how your day on Ivie must have felt and also Ninja's day earlier this year.

outstanding stringer!!!!! great job on finding some great fish in what sounds like hard fishing conditions