Lake Fork

[Jake P]

Im taking a trip to Fork for the first time on April 3rd. Obviously am unsure of the weather since its so far ahead. Im assuming by the this time the girls should be on beds and up shallow.

 

Any guys here fish fork frequently or are familiar with it?

 

Any tips, tricks, advice or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Feeling overwhelmed cause I only have 1 full day to find  pattern and make it work and I want to make this a trip of a lifetime if at all possible.

 

Thanks, Jake.

[Bass_Fanatic]

Get some 4.5" Rattlesnakes in green pumpkin or Trophy hunter and throw it around stumps and pads in shallow water.  Cuaght 30+ last year with 1 over the slot doing this in the spawn.

[bassman31783]

You've got a PM.

[bighed]

Here's a message I sent another member several years ago about Fork bed fishing.  Hope it helps a little!

 

 I'm sure you've read the posts that the spawn has been going on for about 3-4 weeks already.  The next full moon will be during your trip and should pull a new (but smaller) batch of fish onto the beds.  If you like bed fishing here's my take:  Bring sunglasses with brown lenses, this is important if you want to be able to see fish.  I'd expect to see some fish that have been bedded and are almost done.  These fish will have probably been caught multiple times already and will be very hard to catch.  If some new fish move up with the moon they will be pretty aggresive until they have been caught a couple of times.  I like to bed fish by anchoring the boat as far away from the bed as I can and still be able to see the fish.  On a shallow bed in clear water on a calm sunny day this may be 30' away.  If it's cloudy, windy, stained, etc. move only as close as you need to see the fish.  I like to use a small frog or creature bait on a Texas rig.  Some use white to aid seeing the bait, I like a watermellon or pumpkin.  Flip the bait into the center of the bed and twitch it hard when the fish gives it a look, pull out and repeat.  The bigger fish usually bed deep and are harder to see.  For non bed fishing I'd throw a T rigged lizard with the smallest weight you have and slow swim it over any grass you can find in 2-7' of water.  Reel just fast enough to feel the bait hitting the top of the grass.  There's plenty of grass up in Glade but I think the fish up there are mostly post spawn.  Just watch the graph and when you see puffy looking bottom that's a grass bed.  We caught several fish on pumpkin Senkos the other day fishing them tight to cover like timber and dock pilings in 4-10' of water.  Pitch the bait past the timber,  reel it back to the stump or ??? and just let it fall on a slack line watching the line the whole time.  If the line jumps a bit set the hook hard.  The top water bite is getting started so a popper or buzzbait early or on a cloud day will work.  I think I'd stay in the lower part of the lake, south of the 515 bridges right now.  Some good places near Fishermans Cove to try would be:  North shoreline of little mustang west of the 17 bridge.  The old brood ponds in the back of No name creek. The brood pond at the mouth of Dale Creek.  The island between Little Mustang and Williams.  Cow head cove on the east side.  Should be pretty good all over.  When it gets late in the spawn like this sometimes you'll even find fish bedding on main lake shoreline.  Some things to remember:  bring your A game and grind hard all day.  These are some of the most pressured fish in the world and sometimes you really have to fish long and hard to have a good day.  Too many guys give up and hang out under the bridges crappie fishing when they should have been grinding out a good day one cast at a time.  Be carefull motoring around the lake.  Go slow, wear your life jacket, and expect to have contact with the stumps.  The game warden has been out alot so be sure you have a license, life jackets for everybody, a throw cusion, and a good fire extingusher.   Always unload all your tackle from the boat and take it to your room every evening or it may end up at the local flee market.  Lots of petty theft this time of year.  Good luck, enjoy the fork

[BigBassBarry]

I fished it on march 18th and 19th 

I caught this one, water temps where mid 50s in morning but warmed up to 60 to 63 degrees.  My wife and I caught 14 bass each day.  Also there were twice as many boats on Monday compared to Tuesday.