Back from Fork..and humbled!

[Hawgin]

Well fellas got back from my trip to Lake Fork and I must say that I received a big does of humble pie while there.  The fishing was extremely tough the two days we were able to get on the water, and it sounds like  that was the case for most everyone we talked to down there.  Even the guides struggled to catch numbers of fish.  However, for those of you making the trip in a few weeks, it sounds like you are going to catch everything at the perfect time to fish for both bedding fish and staging fish.  

We arrived Wednesday night at the Minnow Bucket Marina where we were staying, and after unpacking our gear we talked to a group of guys just coming in for the day.  They told us they had 10 boats with 23 guys and they were only able to catch 40 fish between them, and it had been so tough they decided to resort to fishing live shiners that day.  Most of their fish they caught were between 4.5 and 7 pounds with one going 10.  They were nice enough to show us on the map where they fished since they were leaving.  

The next morning we launched around 7:30 and made a short run to Little Canney Creek.  The water temps were in the low 50's to start the day so we fished grass flats and points looking for staging fish.  We worked our way up through the creek using red rattletraps and white "bleeding" spinnerbaits with very little success only picking up a few smaller (2.5 lb) fish.  Around 1:00 we decided to run up to Birch Creek for the rest of the day, and fished the same pattern.  After an hour with no success my buddy switched to a white chatterbait with the tail dipped in pink spike it(we didn't have red with us.)  We picked up a few more fish with that, the best of which was 5lbs.  Around 5:00 we ran back to Little Canney to fish a few points and flats hoping the bite would turn on right before dark.  We switched to fishing shakey heads in short grass and my buddy got one on that was pulling drag as soon as it hit, and it eventually ended up breaking his 10 lb flouro after wrapping around a stump.  We guess that fish would have went 7-9 lbs, but it's hard to tell for sure.  

We went out Friday and water temps had moved up into the mid 50's, blue skies, and 10 mph winds.  We started out again by patterning grass flats with rattletraps.  Again not much luck.  Around 10:00 we decided to look for smaller coves with warmer water and found one with water temps around 58 degrees.   This is where we had our best success, as we found males starting to move up to make beds.  My buddy was fishing jigs on the beds, and I was fishing out the opposite side of the boat, throwing a chatterbait past the drop offs hoping to catch staging females.  He picked a few nice ones up in shallow water, including a chunky 5.5 lber.  I caught one fish weighing just over 5 lbs on the chatterbait.   Around 3:00 a storm front started to move in, bringing cloud cover finally.  We ran back to Little Canney and had some success with chatterbaits, but we didn't catch anything big.  Right at sunset we went in for the night, and as we arrived at the marina a boat came in behind us, and I could tell they were excited about something, then I saw it.  They pulled a fish out of the livewell to have weighed on a certified scale to see if it qaulified as a sharelunker.  It only weighed in at 12.83, but it is the biggest fish I've ever seen with my own eyes.  Of course it came off a grass covered point in Little Canney on a red rattletrap with a chartruese belly.  I'm not sure how I missed it.   ;D

Saturday morning we woke up to rain and 50 mph winds that were causing big white caps on the lake.  We made a short run to a cove out of the wind, but quickly realized if we didn't head back in we were going to be stuck in that cove until the wind died down after sunset, so we headed back in a called off the last day of the trip.   We only caught 12 fish over two days with 3 going bigger than 5 lbs.  We were disappointed, but we talked to a couple of guides and several others there fishing it sounded like that was about the same luck everyone else was having, only we didn't get that one big bite that a few others enjoyed.  All things considered it was still a fun trip, I was just hoping to break my PB while there, but maybe next time.  

For those of you heading down in a few weeks, everyone we talked to indicated that Little Canney has a ton of big fish in it, and the guides told us that it usually spawns later than many of the other areas because the bigger fish spawn later.  It should be in a good prespawn pattern when you guys go.  We were pretty much told to stay in the the left "arm" of the lake because that's were most of the good fishing, and the bigger fish are located.  If there is any other info I can give you guys to help you out I will be more than happy to.  

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

HUMBLED? HUMBLED?

This is the grand total of 5 days on that monster. 1 dink.

I guess I'm sayin'...."It could have been worse! lol  Same as us, many guides zero'd during the time we were there so I didn't feel retarded but....I sure felt inadequate!!

I appreciate the report back for sure!!

[buzzbaitfool12]

Man sorry for the tought trip :-/...It has been tough on Lake Nunya with live bait the main thing we have been catching them on..I appreciate the info since we will be there on the 18th..I have a guide booked for Monday, so hopefully we can get some insight on what to do..

[KU_Bassmaster.]

<--------- A Little Caney resident. That arm is the BOMB.

All in all it doesn't sound like a bad trip. And it sounds like you guys did get that one big bite, but unfortunately have the same story I am sure thousands of people have on that lake

[Redlinerobert]

5 fish is better than no fish.  sounds like you were fishing the right patterns though?

[bighed]

Sorry to hear of the tough conditions.   Looks like some of the same that I experienced last week.  Between the weather conditions and the fact that the fish are some of the most educated in the world it can be brutal at times.  You made a good call to get off the water Saturday.  We spent about 8 hours in DFW Saturday night trying to get to the Classic.  They had shut the place down for about 6 hours due to gusts to 60 mph.  I heard a boat was lost during the Texoma Media T the same day.  big

[roadwarrior]

Thank you for the post, there is nothing you can do about the weather. It seems to me you guys did alright under the circumstances. We're three weeks away with fingers crossed!

[Hawgin]

I feel comfortable that we were fishing the right areas and patterns, because our first morning out we had a guide boat that basically followed us around the whole time, and we never saw them catching much either.  I'm not disappointed that I went, and I have every intention of going back next year (only a few weeks later if the schedule allows), I guess I just went with my hopes to high of catching at least one fish that was 7-8 lbs or bigger.   I did learn a valuable lesson that somedays you can be on the correct pattern in the right area, and things just don't work out your way.  

[lunchbox508]

Thank you so much for the info i am going down to Fork on thursday night or early friday and leaving on monday morning. I guess i will also go back to my roots and fish little Canney.

[5bass]

Thanks for posting the update. I have my order in for a major warming trend to hit Lake Fork the weekend after next and little or no rain from now until March 23rd.