Tom Redington

Lake Fork Report & Pics—November 18, 2010 A few representative samples of solid fall fish we’ve been catching. This fall has been very mild and a lot of fun on Lake Fork. Last year’s autumn was rainy and cold, with muddy water and overall the slowest fall and winter bite that I can recall. Fall 2010, on the other hand, has generally been mild, dry, and warm; and the fish have responded. After an active shallow bite in the first half of the fall, Fork finished up turnover in October and the deep bite has been quite consistent. I’m still catching most of my offshore fish in the shallower range, about 17 to 25 feet, whereas I normally catch a lot of fish in 28’ to 38’ zone by this time of year, so expect the good fall bite to carry on for a while. Furthermore, with the warm water temps and low water levels, winter and spring fishing should be excellent this year for wintering and early staging females in the creeks. With the holidays just around the corner, I do have gift certificates available for those looking for a present for their angling buddies. 2010 has been another super year on Fork, and the prospects for 2011 look even better with the low lake level and warm temps. Moreover, forecasters are calling for a warmer and drier than normal winter and spring, setting up perfectly for good spring fishing. Prespawn starts in late-December, so it won’t be long until my favorite lunker time of the year is here, January through March. If you’re looking for a fish of a lifetime, prespawn is the time to head to Fork. My fishing report is below. If you want more information on fall fishing, check out the articles on my website: http://www.lakeforkguidetrips.com/fishingarticles.htm . Included is the In-Fisherman story from the October issue with me talking about fall fishing, an article with my flutter spoon techniques in Bass West, plus the dozens of articles I’ve written, including the Nov 2010 article about the basics of deep water fishing. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Fork’s water level continues to slowly drop, as it has all autumn. The lake level is currently 400.04’ (just less than 3’ below full pool) and a lot of stumps are now visible. The boat lanes are still safe to run in general, but definitely exercise caution when heading out of the clear-cut areas. Water temps have been bouncing up and down with the regular passage of fronts, but in general the main lake has been holding in the mid-60s. The main lake has returned to the normal greenish clear color, except on the north ends where it is more stained. Some of the creeks are stained, but those with grass are pretty clear. Location Pattern: There are still lots of fish to be caught up shallow. Grass on the main lake or around points in the creeks has been consistently good, while I haven’t done as well in the very backs of creeks lately. With all of the exposed timber, creek channel edges, fencerows, and treelines are all productive areas as well. For the past couple of weeks, the deep bite has been my most consistent bite during the middle of the days. The schools have been big and easy to find with your graph. Some of the schools are very large, with huge numbers of yellow bass, white bass, and catfish mixed in the with largemouth; while other schools have been entirely largemouth. It is a safe assumption this time of year that if you find the white bass and yellow bass, the largemouth will be there with them. Usually it is just a matter of figuring out some that the bass will eat and the smaller fish will leave alone, but sometimes you just have to weed through all the smaller fish to get to the black bass. Shallower main lake structures still seem to be best for the offshore bite, with areas topping out in 17’ to 25’ being the most productive. Presentation Pattern: During fall, bass key on shad and most of my lure choices and colors will reflect that preference. Shades of white or chrome are always good choices in the fall on Fork. In the shallows, the topwater action has slowed for me, especially on cool mornings. I have had better luck, especially in the afternoons, in areas with loosely matted grass using topwaters like buzzbaits and Fork Frogs. Shallow running crankbaits like Lucky Craft’s RC 1.5 or BDS3 square bills, spinnerbaits and rattle baits, and 3/8 oz chatterbaits with 3.5” Live Magic shads have been productive, especially on the windy and cloudy days. As I mentioned before, bass are grouping on grass points, main lake grass, and treelines, so try these lures out in those areas and experiment until you find the hot lure that day. As you might expect, the best bait and color changes dramatically from day-to-day. It’s the time of year when dozens of different baits will work, so having several jack-of-all-trade rods on the deck is more helpful than a few specialized Carolina rig or cranking rods. Rods like the Dobyns Champion 733C and 734C (7’3” rods in medium to medium heavy powers) are equally adept at throwing topwaters and spinnerbaits to weightless soft plastics and jigs. Pair them with easy casting 15 lb PowerSilk mono and you’ll have some rigs that will be up to all but the most demanding bass fishing tasks this fall. If the bass aren’t in a chasing mood, switch to a Carolina rigged Baby Ring Fry or Baby Fork Creature with a ¼ oz weight and a 12” leader and work along the grass edges for quality fish. If the bass won’t respond to the C-rig, slow down even more with a wacky rigged Hyper Finesse Worm and the slow fall of these worms will get lots of action from the smaller fish and an occasional good one. For these soft plastics, green pumpkin and junebug colors are working best on cloudy days, while watermelon/red and watermelon candy are better on sunny days. These techniques will also catch additional fish in areas where I’ve already caught some fish on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwaters. For a shot at a true lunker, a 3/8 oz green pumpkin or blue bruiser colored MPack Jig with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer or a 10” Fork Worm Texas rigged will produce big bass when pitched to the deep weed edge, especially on points and around creek channels. For the bass out deep, Fork Flutter Spoons and tail spinners are catching a lot of suspended fish. The more wind and cloud cover, the greater the likelihood that the bass will be suspended. Here again, the 3 and 4 power Dobyns rods do these chores well, with the 733C working great with tail spinners and smaller spoons, while the 734C is better when you break out 1 oz jigging spoons or throw the big 5” and 6” Fork Flutter Spoons. Fish relating to the bottom are a lot more dependable, so seek out these schools if you can locate them. Carolina rigged Baby Ring Frys and Twitch Worms and drop shotting Hyper Finesse worms work best. Once you get around a good school, catching these fish is usually just a matter of staying on them. The real key is finding the good schools with your graph. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Prespawn bass fishing is my favorite time of year and is the best time to catch a monster bass on Lake Fork. Prespawn starts in late December and runs through mid-March on Lake Fork, home of 34 of the 50 all-time largest bass caught in Texas (as a side note, 50th place is 15.34 lbs and no other lake has more than 2 entries). Most of my customers and my own very largest bass are caught during this period, with average trips yielding 8 to 12 bass per day and the average size being in the 4 to 5 lb range, plus a good shot at catching bass of 7 lbs or bigger. The bite can be better or worse depending on the fronts, with a number of days with catches of over 30 good bass, while I’ve had trips catching as few as 2 for a whole day. The pattern is very simple—spinnerbaits, jigs, and lipless crankbaits, fished on points, grass flats, and creek channel bends near spawning areas. To fish the jig and spinnerbait well you have to cast next to trees on the creek channel and low water conditions make the stumps on the creek channels and timberlines visible. After being over full pool for the past couple of years, Fork is currently 3’ low and it is shaping up to be perfect for prespawn fishing. We’ve had a much drier and warmer fall than normal, which bodes well for our January bite. January is our coolest month in north Texas, with average daytime highs of 52 at the beginning of the month and 55 degrees by the end of January. Depending on the fronts, high temps can be in the lower 30s to the lower 80s. Due to the cooler temps, fishing pressure is very light during the month. As a result, I’m offering a special during the month of January. Book a 2-day guide trip and I’ll add an extra half day trip for free. Book a 3-day or longer guide trip and I’ll add an extra full day trip for free. In addition, I worked with the most popular resort on Lake Fork to secure special hotel pricing as well. I do get some folks each year to come along and fish, but a lot of days I can’t talk anyone into braving the cold. Even without customers, I find it hard to stay off the water when the big ones are pulling up. A few pics from recent January bass: My customers: Fishing Solo: Here’s my biggest ever, 12.3 lbs, she came just after the end of January on 2/4/06 Full details on my guide services are available on my website, http://www.lakeforkguidetrips.com . If big bass, open water, and our “cold temps” sound better than -20 and ice fishing, drop me a line. The big bass and me eagerly await your company. Good Fishing, Tom tom@lakeforkguidetrips.com 214-683-9572

A few representative samples of solid fall fish we’ve been catching. High pressure has dominated the weather at Lake Fork for the better part of 3 weeks now, with cool mornings and comfortably warm mid-70s to low-80s bluebird days and light winds. Lots and lots of small to keeper sized bass are in the shallows and very willing to bite most days, with the occasional very aggressive or slow day mixed in around the infrequent weather fronts. The lake seems to be getting closer to finishing up turning over, but until then, the deep bite has been less consistent that the shallow bite. In another week or two the deep bite will really turn on as bass follow the hordes of shad and yellow bass school up. In the meantime, we are slowly but surely starting to see the big fish being caught more regularly in the shallows as the water continues to cool. At this point last year, the lily pads and cattails had already died way back, yet they remain green and thick now. This suggests to me that fall is running significantly later this year on Fork and we should have good fishing well into November this year, both shallow and deep. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Fork’s water level continues to drop after a small rise from a healthy rain on Monday. The lake level is currently 400.34’ (about 2’ 8” below full pool) and a lot of stumps are now visible. The boat lanes are still safe to run in general, but definitely exercise caution when heading out of the clear-cut areas. Water temps fell quickly early in October but have now stabilized, holding in the 71 to 72 range in most areas, although I have seen it as low as 66 degrees a couple of times in the creeks. The main lake is closer to the normal Fork clear-greenish color in some areas, yet many places are still brownish and murky from the turnover. Most of the creeks remain stained. Location Pattern: The most consistent pattern continues to be shallow grassbeds. Some days they are biting better on points and flats with grass on the main lake, while other days the points, creek channels and flats in the backs of creeks are better. Regardless, I’ve consistently done better in areas with hydrilla, milfoil, or coontail. Early and late and all day on cloudy and windy days, I’m focusing on shoreline grass, openings in clumps of grass, and the inside weedline. When the sun gets up, concentrate on the deep weed edge in 6’ to 10’. Key on points, inside turns, and along ledges and you’re likely to find more fish. Most of the shallow fish have been in groups, so you’ll fish for a while without getting a bite, and then catch several in a small area. I’ve found a few good schools out deep, but the shallow bite remains more consistent. Shallower main lake structures seem to be best for the offshore bite, with areas topping out in 12’ to 24’ being the most productive. Presentation Pattern: During fall, bass key on shad and most of my lure choices and colors will reflect that preference. Shades of white or chrome are always good choices in the fall on Fork. In the shallows, topwaters are catching a lot of good keeper fish early and late. Smaller topwaters closely imitate the size of the shad and catch lots of keeper fish, so go with smaller sizes of poppers like Lucky Craft G-Splashes or Gun Fish when it is calm, or switch to the walking baits like Sammys if there is more chop on the water. I throw these topwaters on floating mono line like PowerSilk for the best action with my lures. Bass in areas with loosely matted grass will bite topwaters like buzzbaits and Fork Frogs even with the sun beating down, so try these on braided line if you want to topwater fish all day. After the sun gets up a bit, I normally switch to shallow running crankbaits like Lucky Craft RC 0.5, RC 1.5, or BDS 0 square bills, ¼ oz spinnerbaits and rattle baits, and 3/8 oz chatterbaits with 3.5” Live Magic shads. To keep those money fish hooked up on crankbaits with treble hooks, I like fiberglass rods like the Dobyns 705CB Glass. The slower action of fiberglass allows bass to deeply take the lures and also keeps them hooked up well when fighting them in. Match it with sensitive line like FluoroHybrid Pro and you’ll still have great feel, even with a fiberglass rod. If the bass aren’t in a chasing mood, switch to a Carolina rigged Baby Ring Fry or Baby Fork Creature with a ¼ oz weight and a 12” leader and work along the grass edges for quality fish. If the bass won’t respond to the C-rig, slow down even more with a wacky rigged Hyper Finesse Worm and the slow fall of these worms will get lots of action from the smaller fish and an occasional good one. For these soft plastics, green pumpkin and junebug colors are working best on cloudy days, while watermelon/red and watermelon candy are better on sunny days. These techniques will also catch additional fish in areas where I’ve already caught some fish on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwaters. For a shot at a true lunker, a 3/8 oz green pumpkin or blue bruiser colored MPack Jig with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer or a 10” Fork Worm Texas rigged will produce big bass when pitched to the deep weed edge, especially on points and around creek channels. For the bass out deep, Fork Flutter Spoons and Lucky Craft deep diving crankbaits in shad or yellow bass patterns will catch some suspended fish. Fish relating to the bottom are a lot more dependable, so seek out these schools if you can locate them. Carolina rigged Baby Ring Frys and Twitch Worms and drop shotting Hyper Finesse worms are working best. I like using the 7’8” Dobyns Champion Extreme model DX784ML for Carolina rigs and the extra length allows me take up extra line and get control of big fish at the end of long casts. If you haven’t tried worm and jig fishing with a longer rod, give it a try and you’ll land more fish. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

My 4 year old son with a few representative topwater samples from last week: It’s tournament season on Lake Fork, with a big tournament or two every weekend for the coming month. The Big Bass Splash this weekend kicks things up a notch with the 3000+ anglers competing for $500,000 in cash and prizes. The good news for the tourney crowds is that the shad and tons of keeper sized fish are hitting the shallows of Fork right now. Bass are visibly chasing shad all around the lake, including in the backs of many creeks and we are catching a lot of fish on most of our trips. Although we are still catching a big fish now and then, it has been more of a quantity than quality deal for the past few weeks. There are still some fish in deep water holding in about 14 to 22’, but the shallow fish are more consistent day-in and day-out. Considering most of the attention on Fork right now is on tournament fishing, I’ll deviate a bit from my normal report and include my article about tournament fishing on Lake Fork. Good luck to everyone this fall and I hope some of this info helps. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Fork’s water level continues to drop. The lake level is currently 401.00’ (2’ below full pool) and a lot of stumps are now visible. Water temps are in the low-80s (I was reading 81-82 this morning) and water clarity is clear on the south end and stained up the lake. The hydrilla and milfoil are really starting to mat up in the shallows as the water drops. Fork Tournament Fishing in the Fall Fall is tournament season on Lake Fork, with thousands of anglers in several big bass tournaments, as well as a number of regional trail events. Due to the restrictive 16” to 24” slot limit on Fork that remains in effect for all tournaments, anglers’ strategies are a little different on Fork than on most lakes. Since the vast majority of prizes for Fork tournaments are won by anglers with fish under 16”, I’ll focus on those patterns. During the fall tournament season (Sep-early Nov), numbers of bass are available in both the shallow and deep sections of Fork. As the water cools, many bass move back into creeks and onto the flats near creek channels chasing shad. At the same time, shallow main lake grassbeds and timber hold lots of bass, too. After spending most of the summer fishing deep water structure, the shallow fisherman can consistently catch bass in the fall, so begin your fishing there. Start your search for productive areas with moving baits, and then switch to soft plastics to catch numbers from those areas. Keeping in mind that you’re looking for bass that are 16” and smaller, downsized lures typically work best. Topwaters are a great starting lure, and the smaller sizes of poppers and walking baits like Lucky Craft’s Sammy, G-Splash, and Gunfish are very productive. The G-Splash is a popper that works best on calm days, while the walking and spitting Sammys and Gunfish work great when there is more chop. With the G-Splash, you can work it very slowly like a regular popper, or work it fast and it will spit while walking side-to-side. Depending on the mood of the fish, they’ll prefer one retrieve over the other. Remember to cast these on a floating line like with low memory PowerSilk mono so you can cast these baits a long ways and still keep them on the surface. A long rod with a soft tip helps a lot too, with the Dobyns Champion 7’ long 704CB being a good example. After the sun gets up and bass won’t commit to surface baits, shallow crankbaits and lipless crankbaits work best. Bass are keying on small shad now, so chrome or shad colors of LVR Mini lipless crankbaits work all fall long. While the water stays warm, wider wobbling crankbaits like RC 0.5 or BDS 0 and BDS 1 square bill cranks move a lot of water and catch fish. Once water temps cool into the lower 60s, tighter wiggling cranks like the SKT Mini MR will garner more attention. And certainly don’t forget spinnerbaits. A ¼ oz Redemption spinnerbait with two silver blades and a translucent white skirt fools many bass in the fall, especially on windy banks. Cover water with these baits until you get a couple of bites in an area and locate a school. Once you’ve found a few fish in an area, soft plastics will normally produce more bass from the spot. The #1 option is a wacky worm. Rig a Hyper Finesse Worm on the weedless wacky weight system from Lake Fork Trophy Lures and cast it to the edge of grass, concentrating on points or along creek channels. If conditions are a little windier, the Hyper Finesse Worms and 4” Hyper Worms work great on a 1/8 oz jighead, fished shaky style. Fish these very slowly around areas where you’ve picked up fish with the moving baits and you’ll be able to seine out more bass. When the bite is off and bass bury up in the grass a little more, or when they’re holding in deeper water just off the edge of the grass, a finesse Carolina rig with 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro on a 7’4” Dobyns Extreme DX743 rod, a ¼ oz sinker and a 12” leader can be dynamite. Rig a Fork Baby Creature, Baby Ring Fry, or the Hyper Finesse Worm on the hook and you’ll be in business. Finally, a 3.5” Live Magic Shad rigged on a weighted 3/0 Ultimate Swimbait Hook will catch neutral bass that are suspended around the grass. I primarily like shades of green for these lures in clearer sections of the lake, with green pumpkin and watermelon shades being consistent producers. In murkier water, June bug does well on Fork. For a shot at a 24”+ over the slot bass, normally the largest bass are caught very first thing in the morning before the fish become pressured. Try a 10” Fork Worm on a TX or Carolina rig, or a ½ oz MPack Jig with a matching Fork Craw or Pig Claw trailer early in the morning along the deep grass edge on main lake points. Best of luck to those of you tourney fishing Fork this fall. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through my website, www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com.

Ben Hogan, owner of Ranger dealer Diamond Sports Marine, with a summertime double: Chase caught numbers with worms while Chad went for size with crankbaits: Despite the hot weather, the big bass continue to feed, including a 14.4 lb trophy caught by my friend Cameron, whose family owns Lake Fork Marina. The bass are certainly not feeding all of the time or everywhere, so you really have to hit it right. Some days the best bite is during the day, others it is early or late. Some days they are schooled up and eating out deep, while other days you they will bite better up shallow. If you time it wrong, it can make for some pretty slow fishing. Keep at it and try a mix of shallow and deep until you find them though and you can get some good action, including some lunkers. Looking forward, September & October are always popular months on Fork as the fall tournament season really cranks up. It’s perfect timing for the tournaments too, because the cooling water turns on the fishing in both the shallows and out deep. September-November normally produces our fastest action on Fork for numbers, with lots of keeper sized fish chasing bait in the shallows, while big groups of bass school up out deep. Whether you like topwaters, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits up shallow or fishing with soft plastics and spoons out deeper, fall is a fun time to fish Lake Fork. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Fork is in good shape for the late summer. The lake level is currently 401.94’ (about 1’ below full pool) and dropping. Water temps are holding in the upper-80s to low-90s in the main lake and water clarity is the normal Fork clear green to light stain. The hydrilla and milfoil are really starting to mat up in the shallows as the water drops. Location Pattern: Early and late and when it is cloudy/windy/rainy, I’m finding bass feeding on points and flats near or in the main lake. These fish are mostly in 6’ to 12’, often around the deep edge of the hydrilla or milfoil. Deep structure like points, humps, and roadbeds in 20’ to 28’ is good when you graph schools of fish on the bottom. Many days, they are suspending in the submerged timber or schooling near the surface and tougher to catch. On those days, fishing creek channel bends and drop offs in 10’ to 18’ is producing better. Presentation Pattern: Topwaters have been good some mornings but the bite only lasts until the sun cracks over the horizon. Poppers like the Lucky Craft G Splash work best some days, while walkers like Sammys and Gunfish are better on others. Around heavier grass or pads, throw Fork Frogs and buzzbaits too. Once the topwater action slows, Texas rigged worms and wacky worms have been the best producers on the edge of the grass. We’ve had good luck on blue fleck, junebug, and green pumpkin 8” and 10” Fork Worms (TX rigs) and Hyper Finesse Worms (wacky rigs). On offshore structure like humps and points, deep diving cranks and spoons will catch suspended fish while Carolina rigs, drop shots, and TX rigs will get the bottom dwellers. The key is to first locate fish on your graph, then let their position dictate your lure selection. Lots of bass are suspend this summer, often schooling on the surface. Deep diving cranks like Lucky Craft’s Flat CB D20 and RC3.5XD are very effective, with Sexy Chartreuse Shad and Chartreuse Light Blue being my favorite colors. When bass are high in the water column and schooling, I’ll throw them on 20 lb PowerSilk line and use a stop-and-go retrieve to keep my lure running shallower. When they are closer to the bottom, use a small diameter sinking line like 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro and launch them as far as you can. The hands down best deep cranking rod these days is the 8’ Dobyns 805CB RM—it’s a unique blend of a rod that can cast a country mile, yet has the power to handle a leaping lunker at great distance. Deep cranks are notorious for losing fish and this rod will help you keep them on-line. When bass group up on the bottom, they are easier to catch. Carolina and Texas rigs are my first choice. I’ll try a variety of baits on both rigs and let the bass tell me how much or how little action they want. Hyper Worms, Fork Worms, Fork Creatures, Hyper Lizards, & Hyper Freaks have a lot of action and trigger big aggressive fish. If the bass are more finicky, straight tail baits like Hyper Finesse Worms, Hyper Sticks, and Twitch Worms are normally more productive. The most productive bait seems to change daily, so experiment until you find what they want. If the bass won’t respond to those offerings, switch to a Hyper Finesse Worm on a drop shot with 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line and a Dobyns DX743 spinning rod and you can still catch them, although the average bass size will run a bit smaller. On darker days, junebug, green pumpkin, and Bama bug have been good, while the various shades of watermelon have worked on the bright days. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

A representative sample from the past week, including an 8 lb 10 oz lunker that Tom nervously fought through a deep tree with 7 lb PowerSilk line yesterday: With the spawn behind us (well mostly, there were still a few on beds last week!) and the weather turning hot, bass are settling into traditional summer patterns. The hot days with lots of sunshine have been best for me, grouping big schools up on deep structure. These deep fish have been hard to find because they are normally relating to a single tree or two. If you’re good at deciphering your graph and can position your boat correctly, once you find them you can mine bass after bass from a small area though. On the many windy, overcast, and rainy days, bass have been suspending and the deep bite is tougher. Those days, we’ve had better luck by fishing shallow grassbeds and points. All things being equal, the sunny and hot days have been considerably better for me. The hot, sunny afternoons of summer are prime time to catch these big schools of big fish, and thankfully we have a nice breeze most days to keep us cool. If you’re looking to learn deep structure fishing skills—reading topo maps, setting up your graph correctly & decoding the images on your sonar to find schools, and learning deep water techniques like big spoons, football jigs, drop shots, Carolina rigs, swimbaits and deep crankbaits—now through early September is the time to head to Lake Fork. And not only is it a great time to learn, but you’ll probably catch a lot of big fish as well. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer with low hours and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Lake Fork is full and has finally cleared to its normal water color. The lake level is currently 402.98’ (full pool is 403’). Water temps were reading from 84 to 86 in the main lake yesterday (Tuesday). The hydrilla and milfoil are rapidly growing and expanding in coverage in the shallows all over the lake, as are the lily pads. The grass has not matted up yet in most areas, so you can still work topwaters over it without fouling too often. Location Pattern: Early and late and when it is cloudy/windy/rainy, I’m finding bass feeding on points and flats near or in the main lake. These fish are mostly in 6’ to 12’, often around the deep edge of the hydrilla or milfoil. Deep structure like points, humps, and roadbeds in 12’ to 30’ are best on the sunny days, producing both good numbers and size. While bass are suspended over many deep structure spots, finding places where they are one the bottom has been the key. Most of these schools are relating to a few pieces of isolated cover, so watch your depth finder closely or you’ll bypass the mother lode. Presentation Pattern: Topwaters have been good some mornings but the bite only lasts until the sun cracks over the horizon. Poppers like the Lucky Craft G Splash work best some days, while walkers like Sammys and Gunfish are better on others. Around heavier grass or pads, throw Fork Frogs and buzzbaits too. Once the topwater action slows, Texas rigged worms and wacky worms have been the best producers on the edge of the grass. We’ve had good luck on blue fleck, junebug, and green pumpkin 8” and 10” Fork Worms (TX rigs) and Hyper Finesse Worms (wacky rigs). Finally, I’ll pitch a 3/8 oz green pumpkin MPack jig with a matching Fork Craw with a 7’3” Dobyns 736C Champion rod and 25 lb FluoroHybrid Pro to shallow cover like stumps, laydowns, and clumps of grass, plus pitch to the deep weed edge. The jig will produce less bites but a good shot at a lunker. On offshore structure like humps and points, deep diving cranks and spoons will catch suspended fish while Carolina rigs, drop shots, and TX rigs will get the bottom dwellers. The key is to first locate fish on your graph, then let their position dictate your lure selection. Lots of bass are suspend this summer, often schooling on the surface. Deep diving cranks like Lucky Craft’s Flat CB D20 and RC3.5XD are very effective, with Sexy Chartreuse Shad and Chartreuse Light Blue being my favorite colors. When bass are high in the water column and schooling, I’ll throw them on 20 lb PowerSilk line and use a stop-and-go retrieve to keep my lure running shallower. When they are closer to the bottom, use a small diameter sinking line like 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro and launch them as far as you can. The hands down best deep cranking rod these days is the 8’ Dobyns 805CB RM—it’s a unique blend of a rod that can cast a country mile, yet has the power to handle a leaping lunker at great distance. Deep cranks are notorious for losing fish and this rod will help you keep them on-line. When bass group up on the bottom, they are easier to catch. Carolina and Texas rigs are my first choice. I’ll try a variety of baits on both rigs and let the bass tell me how much or how little action they want. Hyper Worms, Fork Worms, Fork Creatures, Hyper Lizards, & Hyper Freaks have a lot of action and trigger big aggressive fish. If the bass are more finicky, straight tail baits like Hyper Finesse Worms, Hyper Sticks, and Twitch Worms are normally more productive. The most productive bait seems to change daily, so experiment until you find what they want. If the bass won’t respond to those offerings, switch to a Hyper Finesse Worm on a drop shot with 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line and a Dobyns DX743 spinning rod and you can still catch them, although the average bass size will run a bit smaller. On darker days, junebug, green pumpkin, and Bama bug have been good, while the various shades of watermelon have worked on the bright days. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Steve and Mark had 3 over 7 lbs (for frame of reference, Steve’s 6’5”): Darrell enjoyed a birthday gift trip with two over 7 lbs: Mike won his company’s big bass pot for the day with this 8 lb 9 oz lunker: Todd brought his son from AR and we caught three fish between 7 and 8 lbs: It’s that wonderful time of year on Fork. Most bass remain shallow and even a few are still spawning, with some already making their way out deep. Having finished up their reproductive duties, the bass are now hungry and feeding aggressively on the spawning shad and bluegill. Whether you like fishing shallow or deep and anything from topwaters to deep diving crankbaits, you can consistently catch fish right now. Sure the best tactic will vary from day-to-day depending on the conditions, but in the course of a week just about anything in the tackle box will work right now. With so many aggressive fish, now’s the perfect time to try a new fishing tactic and improve your skills. And if the new lure you bought can’t get bit right now, you’d better find the receipt and take it back because it’s a dud! Because of the late spring, things are running behind and awesome fishing is just around the corner. As the bass feed up after the spawn, the result is our most consistent fishing of the year for numbers of quality fish in the 3 to 7 lb range, with a shot at a 10+. That means topwaters early or all day on cloudy days. After that, it is offshore structure fishing the rest of the day on possibly the best structure fishing lake in the country. So if your plans didn’t allow you to take advantage of the spawn this year on Fork, don’t despair, you can still enjoy what most locals consider the best fishing of the year on Fork—May through July. In addition to catching a lot of big fish, it is also the premier time to learn how to read your electronics to graph big schools of bass on deep structure. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer with low hours and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Lake Fork is full and much more stained than normal but slowly clearing. The lake level is currently 403.13’ and slowly dropping, about 2” above full pool. Water temps were reading from 74 to 80 in the main lake yesterday (Tuesday). The hydrilla and milfoil are rapidly growing and expanding in coverage in the shallows all over the lake, as are the lily pads. Location Pattern: For the last of the spawners, check out the main lake flats on the south end of the lake. The slightly deeper structure like points, creek channels, and ledges in 4’ to 12’, adjacent to areas with numbers of shallow spawning bass, is where we’ve found most of the bigger females, staging on their way back to deep water. On the northern half of the lake, grass flats and points will continue to hold numbers of fish until the bluegill and shad finish their spawns and temps turn hot. In general, the fish up north are getting way less pressure than the areas down south too. Some of the early spawners are showing up on offshore structure in 12’ to 30’ as well. Presentation Pattern: Topwaters remain good producers, so try your Lucky Craft G Splashes, Kelly J’s, and Gunfish early and late. You can work these baits all day long and catch good fish, especially if you are in areas with lots of bass fry. Work these lures on a floating mono line like 15 lb PowerSilk. Around heavier grass or pads, throw Fork Frogs and buzzbaits too. If the wind kicks up, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and vibrating jigs work well in shad or bluegill color schemes. ¼ oz Redemption spinnerbaits, Lucky Craft RC 1.5 square billed cranks, and Phenix Vibrator jigs with 3.5” Live Magic Shads will all catch good bass, especially on the windy and cloudy days. For a real pig, try slow swimming a 5.5” or 8” Live Magic Shad on a swimbait hook through the same areas. You’ll get fewer bites, but some real monsters. For bass that are on weed flats and on points, weightless Texas rigged or wacky rigged soft plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads, Zig Zags, and the all new Hyper Stick work. Shades of green pumpkin and watermelon are normally top colors, but don’t forget Blue Bruiser with the muddy water this year. These fish are often spooky, so long casts are key. For weightless soft plastic jerkbaits, I’m using Dobyns’ 733C with 14 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line. The 7’3” rod whips the baits out there, while it still has enough backbone to drive the hook through thick worms on long casts. The new FluoroHybrid Pro line has the feel and invisibility of fluorocarbon, yet it casts well and ties strong knots like mono—it’s truly the best of both worlds. If the wind is blowing, rig the Hyper Stick or Zig Zag on a 12” leader and a ¼ oz weight on a Carolina rig with 17 lb FHP line and you’ll keep on catching them. Finally, I’ll pitch a 3/8 oz green pumpkin MPack jig with a matching Fork Craw with a 7’3” Dobyns 736C Champion rod to shallow cover like stumps, laydowns, and clumps of grass, plus pitch to the deep weed edge. Big females hang out here before and after the spawn and this is a great way to catch a lunker in the late spring. On offshore structure like humps and points, deep diving cranks will catch suspended fish while Carolina and TX rigs will get the bottom dwellers. The key is to first locate fish on your graph, then let their position dictate your lure selection. Lots of bass suspend early in the season and super deep cranks like Lucky Craft’s Flat CB D20 and RC3.5XD are very effective, with Sexy Chartreuse Shad and Chartreuse Light Blue being my favorite colors. To get the most depth out of them, use a small diameter sinking line like 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro and launch them as far as you can. The hands down best deep cranking rod these days is the 8’ Dobyns 805CB RM—it’s a unique blend of a rod that can cast a country mile, yet has the power to handle a leaping lunker at great distance. Deep cranks are notorious for losing fish and this rod will help you keep them on-line. When bass group up on the bottom they are easier to catch. Simply keep a Carolina rigged Baby Fork Creature or a TX rigged 10” Fork Worm in front of them long enough and they’ll eat sooner or later. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

April 27 had nice ones for Lance, including a 7.5 and one that ate a baseball???: April 28: Alan caught numbers, Jason his biggest ever (9-02) and a 9-14 for me: A couple more over 7 on April 29th: April 30: Mark enjoyed a day hammering slot fish, with our two biggest going 7-01 and 8-14: May 1: Enjoyed a great afternoon with my brother. Steak and eggs at Moser’s for a late breakfast, then a 36 lb limit that included two 8-01s and a 7-11. May 2: While some guys hammered them, I lost track of the big ones that day and my trip was slower. We broke off and jumped off a couple good ones, but mostly just caught dinks except for a 7-06, a nice catfish, and a gar. May 3: Doing a bit of sponsor “work” The fishing at Lake Fork has been good to fantastic almost everyday for the past week. Since last Tuesday (April 27) through yesterday (Monday), we’ve had at least a 7 lb’er in the boat every single trip and a number of 8 to 10 pounders. Our best 5 fish weighed 31 to 36 lbs each day from Wednesday through Saturday. The good news is that most of the fish are still up shallow and many folks are really strokin’ them right now on a wide range of presentations. Basically, focus on a shallow technique that you like and you’ll probably be able to catch some good fish right now. Muddier than normal conditions have them holding shallow and actively feeding as opposed to being spooky while shallow in clearer water. Because of the late spring, a lot of bass are still spawning and many of the early spawners are just now starting to turn on again while chasing shad and bluegill. As those females feed up after the spawn, the result is our most consistent fishing of the year for numbers of quality fish in the 3 to 7 lb range, with a shot at a 10+. That means topwaters early or all day on cloudy days. After that, it is offshore structure fishing the rest of the day on possibly the best structure fishing lake in the country. So if your plans didn’t allow you to take advantage of the spawn this year on Fork, don’t despair, you can still enjoy what most locals consider the best fishing of the year on Fork—May through July. In addition to catching a lot of big fish, it is also the premier time to learn how to read your electronics to graph big schools of bass on deep structure. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer with low hours and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Lake Fork is full and considerably more stained than normal. The lake level is currently 403.29’ and steady, about 3” above full pool. Water temps are reading from 68 to 72 in the main lake, warmer in the creeks. Location Pattern: I’m finding most of the bigger spawning fish near the mouths of coves and on main lake flats in 6’ and less. The northern half of the lake still has a few spawners, but the south end has more fish moving up. The slightly deeper structure like points, creek channels, and ledges in 4’ to 12’, adjacent to areas with numbers of shallow spawning bass, is where we’ve found most of the bigger females, both prespawn and postspawn. On the northern half of the lake, grass flats and points will continue to hold numbers of fish until the bluegill and shad finish their spawns and temps turn hot. In general, the fish up north are getting way less pressure than the areas down south too. Presentation Pattern: Topwaters are starting to turn on, and Lucky Craft G Splash, Kelly J’s, and Gunfish will get a lot of bites early and late. You can work these baits all day long and catch good fish, especially if you are in areas with lots of bass fry. Work these lures on a floating mono line, like 15 lb PowerSilk. A Dobyns 704CB Champion rod will cast these smaller topwaters very well and has a soft tip to help you land more fish too. Around heavier grass or pads, throw Fork Frogs and buzzbaits too. If the wind kicks up, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and vibrating jigs work well in shad or bluegill color schemes. ¼ oz Redemption spinnerbaits, Lucky Craft RC 2.0 square billed cranks, and Phenix Vibrator jigs with 3.5” Live Magic Shads will all catch good bass, especially on the windy and cloudy days. For a real pig, try slow swimming a 5.5” or 8” Live Magic Shad on a swimbait hook through the same areas. You’ll get fewer bites, but some real monsters. For bass that are on spawning flats and on points, weightless Texas rigged or wacky rigged soft plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads, Zig Zags, and the all new Hyper Stick work. The Hyper Stick combines the shape of Senko-style stick worm baits with the segmented body action of the Live Magic Shad. The result is a worm with unique action from even the slightest rod movement. Shades of green pumpkin and watermelon are normally top colors, but don’t forget Blue Bruiser with the muddy water this year. These fish are often spooky, so long casts are key. For weightless soft plastic jerkbaits, I’m using Dobyns’ 733C with 14 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line. The 7’3” rod whips the baits out there, while it still has enough backbone to drive the hook through thick worms on long casts. The new FluoroHybrid Pro line has the feel and invisibility of fluorocarbon, yet it casts well and ties strong knots like mono—it’s truly the best of both worlds. If the wind is blowing, rig the Hyper Stick on a 12” leader and a ¼ oz weight on a Carolina rig with 17 lb FHP line and you’ll keep on catching them. Finally, I’ll pitch a 3/8 oz green pumpkin MPack jig with a matching Fork Craw with a 7’3” Dobyns 736C Champion rod to shallow cover like stumps, laydowns, and clumps of grass, plus pitch to the deep weed edge. Big females hang out here before and after the spawn and this is a great way to catch a lunker in the late spring. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Dale caught largemouth bass and Bobby caught “spotty bass” Laura and Glenn enjoying a day off with some nice ones: A nice bass for me while fishing with an outdoors writer: An extended period of warm and sunny days has a lot of bass actively roaming up shallow at Lake Fork. Male bass are showing up en masse in the back of creeks, a sure sign that the females aren’t far behind. With the new moon on Monday and more nice days in the forecast, I expect our first major wave of spawning next week and a lot of big fish will be caught. (Duran Duran fans might even point out that with a “New Moon on Monday” the bass will be “Hungry Like the Wolf”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Until the bass start bedding, prespawn moving bait patterns still dominate. As the bass in the backs of creeks start to spawn, anglers will still have the choice of fishing for spawning bass in the shallows or chasing the bigger prespawn fish nearer the mouths of creeks and on the south end of the lake. With such a late start to the spawn, the spring bite should carry well into May this year. Speaking of prespawn action, watch me catch big bass with lipless crankbaits on the “Scott Martin Challenge” fishing show on Versus. The show airs in 2-parts during the weeks of March 22nd and 29th. Check your local listings for the show times, as it’ll air several times each week. Boat for Sale: My 2010 Ranger Z521 boat is for sale. It is a demo boat through my dealer with low hours and you’d be titled as the first owner. She’s value priced to save you big bucks off the cost a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Here’s a video: Lake Conditions: Lake Fork is full and more stained than normal, but warming. The lake level is currently 403.11’ and dropping, still 1” above full pool. Because of big rains last week, the water clarity is clearer on the south end, getting more stained as you head up the lake and quite muddy in some creeks up north. Water temps are reading 51 to 56 in the main lake, while 61 was the warmest we found in the creeks yesterday. Location Pattern: For prespawn and staging fish, key on points and along edges of flats or creek channels. Areas with submerged vegetation for cover will typically have the most fish. Main lake grass beds near the mouths of these coves are holding some fish, as are main and secondary points inside the coves. During warming trends, follow bass back into the creeks and check the edges of grass flats and creek channels. After the fronts, drop back to deeper water adjacent to where the fish were before the front and you’ll quickly relocate them. For spawning fish, look for protected bays in the north end of the lake or at the very backs of major creeks. As the water continues to warm and we move towards April, bass will start spawning nearer the mouths of creeks and in deeper creeks. The main lake flats are typically the last areas to spawn, often as late as early-May. Presentation Pattern: For prespawn bass, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jigs, and lipless crankbaits are catching numbers of good fish, especially on overcast and windy days. First and foremost are lipless crankbaits in ½ or ¾ oz, like the Lucky Craft LV500 and LVR D-7. Red and crawfish colors are most popular and they often work well, although oddball colors often produce better on any given day. ½ oz Redemption spinnerbaits with tandem or double willow blades with white or chartreuse and white skirts will produce some nice bass in the same areas that the lipless cranks work, as will shallow running crankbaits like Lucky Craft RC 2.0 or BDS4 square bills. For big bass, try swimming a 4.5” Live Magic Shad on the back of a ½ oz Phenix Vibrator Jig and fish it in the same areas you’d throw a spinnerbait. White or white/chartreuse vibrator jigs with Fire Perch or Albino Shad Live Magic Shads work well. And for a real prespawn monster, pitching heavy cover along the first breakline and creek channels is the way to go. I go with a 3/8 oz MPack Jig in black and blue or green pumpkin jig with a Lake Fork Craw trailer in the blue bruiser or watermelon candy colors. For the Texas rig, I’ll pitch a Lake Fork Flipper or Hyper Freak in black neon, Bama Bug or watermelon/red with a 1/8 to 3/8 oz bullet weight and slowly work it around cover. Or try the new 6” Hyper Lizard from Lake Fork Trophy Lures. It features a huge thumper on a segmented tail and produces a wild thumping action when it swims and hops along cover. I like pitching all of these baits with the Dobyns Champion series 736C pitching rod. At 7’3”, it is light and easy to fish all day with a soft enough tip to pitch well, yet it has plenty of power to pull even the biggest fish out of heavy cover with big braided line. For bass that have moved onto spawning flats, weightless Texas rigged or wacky rigged soft plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads, Zig Zags, and the all new Hyper Stick become your best option. The Hyper Stick combines the shape of Senko-style stick worm baits with the segmented body action of the Live Magic Shad. The result is a worm with unique action from even the slightest rod movement. This year, I’m using Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ new weedless weighted wacky rigging system primarily. The small weighted disc gives it just enough weight to cast well and fall just right, while also keeping your wacky worm from flying off the hook on casts. The large size ring fits the Zig Zags and Hyper Sticks perfectly, while the smaller size works wonders with Hyper Finesse Worms, Twitch Worms, and Hyper Whack’n Worms. Shades of green pumpkin and watermelon are normally top colors, but don’t forget Blue Bruiser with the muddy water this year. These fish are often spooky, so long casts are key. For weightless soft plastic jerkbaits, I’m using Dobyns’ 733C with 14 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line. The 7’3” rod whips the baits out there, while it still has enough backbone to drive the hook through thick worms on long casts. The new FluoroHybrid Pro line has the feel and invisibility of fluorocarbon, yet it casts well and ties strong knots like mono—it’s truly the best of both worlds. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Thanks, glad you like the report.

An 8 pounder caught on the new MPack jig with a Fork Craw trailer made up for a slow bite for Rodney. After a brutally cold start to 2010 at Lake Fork, we’ve had over a week of very mild weather, including a couple nights in the 60s and some warm sunny days in the 70s. Water temps have risen steadily and there are even a few fish in the very backs of the creeks. I’ve fished Fork the last 6 days in a row and although it has warmed dramatically, the bass are only slowly working their way back shallow. With the warm weather continuing this week, look for them to steadily show up shallow. Last week started off well and slowed as it went on for numbers, but the size of the fish has been very good and the females are already fat with a lot of eggs. Depending on our weather, the earliest spawners are only 20 to 45 days away, so my favorite time of year (the prespawn) is getting going. Numbers run lower this time of year; however, the average size of your catch is at its highest for the year, usually in the 3.5 to 5 lb range, with a good shot at bass 7 lbs or greater. It’s also the time of year when more 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, and bigger are caught. Best of all, you’ll have the lake mostly to yourself, especially on the cold and nasty days when the lunkers bite the best! Boat for Sale: My 2009 Ranger Z520 boat is for sale. It is fully loaded, rigged with a 250 HP Mercury Pro XS motor with a 5 year warranty (good until 2014). It’s value priced and will save you about $10,000 off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Following are videos of the boat, taken December 9th: Walk around video: Inside of boat video: Seats video: Storage boxes video: Hull video: Lake Conditions: The lake is full right now and a bit more stained than normal, with temps rebounding this week. The lake level is currently at 403.15’ (2” above full pool). The water clarity is clear on the south end, getting more stained as you head up the lake, and even muddy in some creeks. Water temps are reading 48 to 51 in the main lake, while the backs of some creeks have been as warm as 57 the past few days. Location Pattern: Many big bass are schooled up in deep water right now and it’s still a good time for structure fishermen. If you’re like me though, from late-December through much of March, I concentrate on the early prespawn and staging fish on points and along edges of flats or creek channels. Areas with submerged vegetation (primarily hydrilla, milfoil, or coontail) for cover will typically have the most active fish. While about any grassy area will hold a few fish, start your search in areas that have lots of spawning fish in late February through March. It stands to reason that the coves that hold the most spawning fish in early spring will have the most prespawn fish in the winter. Main lake grass beds near the mouths of these coves are holding fish now, as are main and secondary points inside the coves—provided there is deep water nearby. During warming trends, follow bass back into the creeks and check the edges of grass flats and creek channels. As I say each spring, bear in mind that the absolute water temperature is not nearly as important now as the recent water temperature trend. For instance, water temps that are showing 52 degrees can result in slow fishing if the temps were 58 a couple days ago. In contrast, fishing can be great if the temps warm up to 50 while they were 44 a few days before. In general, look for bass on the flats and farther back in creeks during warming trends; conversely, drop back to points and main lake grassbeds after cold fronts. Finally, the day of and the day after cold fronts can be absolutely miserable to fish, but these frontal days after a long warming trend are usually the most productive times to fish. Presentation Pattern: A few simple lures produce big bass each winter from grasslines and creek channels. First and foremost are lipless crankbaits in ½ or ¾ oz, like the Lucky Craft LV500 and LVR D-7. Red and crawfish colors are most popular and they often work well, although oddball colors often produce better on any given day. Buzzing these over the top of the grass on a quick retrieve is normally best, but after cold fronts, letting the bait fall and ripping these out of the grass will trigger most of the bites. Lipless cranks are notorious for losing fish, so I’ve gone to the 8’ Dobyns 804CB cranking rod. You can whip baits a country mile and it is so well balanced that it feels like having a little 6’6” rod in your hands. The 804CB has plenty of backbone to rip baits free from grass, yet a soft tip to let the bass eat the bait deeply and to keep them on. And a long rod moves a lot of line and keeps steady pressure on fish, resulting in more landed lunkers. If you’re out at the lake, run by Lake Fork Tackle’s pro shop in Emory and check it out for yourself. ½ oz Redemption spinnerbaits with tandem or double willow blades with white or chartreuse and white skirts will produce some really large bass in the same areas that the lipless cranks work, especially on windy and cloudy days. For a true giant, try swimming a 4.5” Live Magic Shad on the back of a ½ oz Phenix Vibrator Jig and fish it in the same areas you’d throw a spinnerbait. With the spinnerbait, mono like 28 lb PowerSilk line works best, while 30 to 50 lb braided line works better with the lipless cranks and vibrating jigs to help rip them through the grass. When the bite slows or the conditions are sunny and calm, I’ll switch to a suspending jerkbait or pitch a jig and a Texas rig. Lucky Craft’s model 100SP Pointers in gold or chrome patterns are my traditional choices, although the new Gunmetal Shad & Phantom Chartreuse Shad are my new favorites. Work these with long pauses over the grass and along the edges. A long rod with a forgiving tip helps land big fish that just slap at these baits, so I throw them on a Dobyns 705CB cranking rod. Match it with 12 to 17 lb Fluorohybrid Pro, a new line that is as clear and sensitive as fluorocarbon, yet as smooth and easy handling as mono. For jigs, I go with the new ½ oz black and blue MPack jig from Lake Fork Trophy Lures and pair it with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer in the blue bruiser color. For the Texas rig, I’ll pitch a Lake Fork Flipper or Hyper Freak in black neon or blue bruiser with a 3/8 oz Mega Weight. Work your jig or Texas rig very slowly along creek channels or through deep grass for a great shot at a lunker. Cover lots of water until you get bit. Once you catch one, work the area over thoroughly with multiple passes, employing several different baits. Fish tend to stack up in key staging areas during the winter and these spots will replenish themselves with more fish during the prespawn as more and more big bass move shallow. Find some good staging spots and you’ll have a milk run of honey holes now through March. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Happy Holidays to everyone. Thanks to all of my friends, family, sponsors, and customers for a fabulous 2009 and I hope everyone has a year of great catches in 2010. 2009 was a big year for me, with lots of good bass caught on Fork, plus my rookie year as a Pro on the FLW Tour. Next year, I’ll be fishing the FLW Tour and BASS Central Opens, in addition to guiding regularly on Fork in between my travels. I learned a lot by competing at the top level of bass fishing this season, and I look forward to making good use of that information on the tourney trail and guiding this year. Heading into the New Year, the early stages of prespawn are ready to get underway in some areas of Lake Fork. Considering I’ve seen some bass on beds as early as Feb 10th in years past, spring on Lake Fork is truly just around the corner. Meanwhile, lunker bass continue to be caught from deep water as well, including one over 15 lbs recently. With big prespawn bass smoking jigs, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and lipless crankbaits now through March, this is my favorite time of the year on Fork. Numbers run lower this time of year; however, the average size of your catch is at its highest for the year, usually in the 3.5 to 5 lb range, with a good shot at bass 7 lbs or greater. It’s also the time of year that more 10s, 11s, 12s, 13s, and bigger are caught. Best of all, you’ll have the lake mostly to yourself, especially on the cold and nasty days when the lunkers bite the best! My fishing report is below. For more info on winter fishing, I am featured in the current issue of Texas Sportsman. You can read that article here: http://www.lakeforkguidetrips.com/fishingarticles.htm Boat for Sale: My 2009 Ranger Z520 boat is for sale. It is fully loaded, rigged with a 250 HP Mercury Pro XS motor with a 5 year warranty (good until 2014). It’s value priced and will save you about $10,000 off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Following are videos of the boat, taken December 9th: Walk around video: Inside of boat video: Seats video: Storage boxes video: Hull video: Lake Conditions: The fall rains finally relented and Lake Fork is back to her normal self. The lake level is currently at 403.16’ (2” above full pool). The water clarity is clear on the south end, getting more stained as you head up the lake. Water temps are reading in the lower 50s in the main lake, while the backs of creeks can be much warmer or cooler, depending on the day. Location Pattern: Many big bass are schooled up in deep water right now and it’s a great time for spoon fishermen. If you’re like me though, from late-December through much of March, I concentrate on the early prespawn and staging fish on points and along edges of flats or creek channels. Areas with submerged vegetation (primarily hydrilla, milfoil, or coontail) for cover will typically have the most active fish. While about any grassy area will hold a few fish, start your search in areas that have lots of spawning fish in late February through March. It stands to reason that the coves that hold the most spawning fish in early spring will have the most prespawn fish in the winter. Main lake grass beds near the mouths of these coves are holding fish now, as are main and secondary points inside the coves—provided there is deep water nearby. During warming trends, follow bass back into the creeks and check the edges of grass flats and creek channels. As I say each spring, bear in mind that the absolute water temperature is not nearly as important now as the recent water temperature trend. For instance, water temps that are showing 52 degrees can result in slow fishing if the temps were 58 a couple days ago. In contrast, fishing can be great if the temps warm up to 50 while they were 44 a few days before. In general, look for bass on the flats and farther back in creeks during warming trends; conversely, drop back to points and main lake grassbeds after cold fronts. Finally, the day of and the day after cold fronts can be absolutely miserable to fish, but these frontal days after a long warming trend are usually the most productive times to fish. For deep structure enthusiasts, points, roadbeds, humps, flats and ledges in 18’ to 38’ will produce some big fish during the winter months as well. Use your electronics to find the schools of bass and baitfish and work them over with spoons and dropshots. I’m primarily concentrating on the shallow bass, so my presentation pattern will focus on that. Presentation Pattern: A few simple lures produce big bass each winter from grasslines and creek channels. First and foremost are lipless crankbaits in ½ or ¾ oz, like the Lucky Craft LV500 and LVR D-7. Red and crawfish colors are most popular and they often work well, although oddball colors often produce better on any given day. Buzzing these over the top of the grass on a quick retrieve is normally best, but after cold fronts, letting the bait fall and ripping these out of the grass will trigger most of the bites. ½ oz Redemption spinnerbaits with tandem or double willow blades with white or chartreuse and white skirts will produce some really large bass in the same areas that the lipless cranks work, especially on windy and cloudy days. For a true giant, try swimming a 4.5” Live Magic Shad on the back of a ½ oz Phenix Vibrator Jig and fish it in the same areas you’d throw a spinnerbait. I’ll rig both the spinnerbait and vibrating jig on a 7’ 3” Dobyns 734C rod so I can cast them a mile to cover water, yet still have enough power to bring big fish under control. With the spinnerbait, mono like 28 lb PowerSilk line works best, while 30 to 50 lb braided line works better with the vibrating jig to help get it through the grass. When the bite slows or the conditions are sunny and calm, I’ll switch to a suspending jerkbait or pitch a jig and a Texas rig. Lucky Craft’s model 100SP Pointers in gold or chrome patterns are my traditional choices, although the new Gunmetal Shad & Phantom Chartreuse Shad are my new favorites. Work these with long pauses over the grass and along the edges. A long rod with a forgiving tip helps land big fish that just slap at these baits, so I throw them on a Dobyns 705CB cranking rod. Match it with 12 to 17 lb Fluorohybrid Pro, a new line that is as clear and sensitive as fluorocarbon, yet as smooth and easy handling as mono. On cold winter days, the reduced memory of FHP really makes jerkbait fishing a lot easier. For jigs, I go with the new ½ oz black and blue MPack jig from Lake Fork Trophy Lures and pair it with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer in the blue bruiser color. For the Texas rig, I’ll pitch a Lake Fork Flipper or Hyper Freak in black neon or blue bruiser with a 3/8 oz Mega Weight. Work your jig or Texas rig very slowly along creek channels or through deep grass for a great shot at a lunker. Cover lots of water until you get bit. Once you catch one, work the area over thoroughly with multiple passes, employing several different baits. Fish tend to stack up in key staging areas during the winter and these spots will replenish themselves with more fish during the prespawn as more and more big bass move shallow. Find some good staging spots and you’ll have a milk run of honey holes now through March. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Prespawn bass fishing is my favorite time of year and is the best time to catch a monster bass on Lake Fork. Prespawn starts in late December and runs through mid-March on Lake Fork, home of 35 of the 50 all-time largest bass caught in Texas (as a side note, 50th place is 15.32 lbs and no other lake has more than 2 entries). Most of my customers and my own very largest bass are caught during this period, with average trips yielding 8 to 12 bass per day and the average size being in the 4 to 5 lb range, plus a good shot at catching bass of 7 lbs or bigger. The bite can be better or worse depending on the fronts, with a number of days with catches of over 30 good bass, while I’ve had trips catching as few as 2 for a whole day. If our warm fall continues, January should be quite good this year. The pattern is very simple—spinnerbaits, jigs, and lipless crankbaits, fished on points, grass flats, and creek channel bends near spawning areas. January is our coolest month in north Texas, with average daytime highs of 52 at the beginning of the month and 55 degrees by the end of January. Depending on the fronts, high temps can be in the lower 30s to the lower 80s. Due to the cooler temps, fishing pressure is very light during the month. As a result, I’m offering a special during the month of January. Book a 2-day guide trip and I’ll add an extra half day trip for free. Book a 3-day or longer guide trip and I’ll add an extra full day trip for free. In addition, I worked with the most popular resort on Lake Fork to secure special hotel pricing as well. Full details on my guide services are available on my website, www.lakeforkguidetrips.com . If big bass, open water, and our “cold temps” sound better than -20 and ice fishing, drop me a line. A few January pics. 9 lb 13 oz from 1/19/09 Craig with a big one on 1/28/09 A lunker on 1/30/09 Here’s my biggest ever, 12.3 lbs, she came just after the end of January on 2/4/06 Good Fishing, Tom tom@lakeforkguidetrips.com 214-683-9572

Lake Fork has finally settled down after repeated flooding rains. Despite the water clearing and the lake level being back at normal pool, the fish seem to be stuck in a late summer malaise with all of the warm days lately. The result has been a pretty slow bite overall this fall. As cold fronts make their way through Texas with more regularity in the coming weeks, look for the shad to show up in their regular cooler water spots and both the shallow and deep bites will become consistent. The good news is that the fall fishing should stay good into December this year instead of slowing down quickly in some years when things turn bitterly cold early. With the holidays just around the corner, I do have gift certificates available for those looking for a present for their angling buddies. 2009 has been another super year on Fork, with the lake being full and in great shape for the coming season. Prespawn starts in late-December, so it won’t be long until my favorite lunker time of the year is here, January through March. If you’re looking for a fish of a lifetime, prespawn is the time to head to Fork. Boat for Sale: My 2009 Ranger Z520 boat is for sale. It is fully loaded, rigged with a 250 HP Mercury Pro XS motor with a 5 year warranty (good until 2014). It’s value priced and will save you about $10,000 off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Lake Conditions: Finally, Fork has returned to normal water levels and clarity. The lake level is currently at 403.31’ (4” above full pool). The water clarity is clear on the south end, getting more stained as you head up the lake. Water temps are reading from 65 to 70 in most areas. I normally have my best fall fishing with the water temps from 55 to 65 degrees, so we’re getting close to the magic range. Location Pattern: Shallow has been more consistent than deep most days lately, with a lot of the deep fish remaining suspended and hard to catch. Fishing shallow grassbeds on the main lake all the way to the backs of major creeks has produced best. Early and late and all day on cloudy and windy days, I’m focusing on shoreline grass, openings in clumps of grass, and the inside weedline. When the sun gets up, concentrate on the deep weed edge in 8’ to 12’. Key on points, inside turns, and along ledges and you’re likely to find more fish. Most of the shallow fish have been in groups, so you’ll fish for a while without getting a bite, and then catch several in a small area. I’m also catching bass back in the coves along creek channel bends, and this bite will only improve as the water temps drop. For the deep anglers, concentrate on main lake structure in 18’ to 33’. The best areas and depths change daily, so you’ll need to do some scouting to find the schools each day. Watch your graph closely and key on schools located tight to the bottom if you can find them, because they are normally easier to catch than the suspended schools. Presentation Pattern: In the fall, bass key on shad and most of my lure choices and colors will reflect that preference. Shades of white or chrome are always good choices in the fall on Fork. In the shallows, topwaters are catching fish early and late. Smaller topwaters closely imitate the size of the shad and catch lots of keeper fish, so go with smaller sizes of poppers like Lucky Craft G-Splashes or Gun Fish when it is calm, or switch to the walking baits like Sammys if there is more chop on the water. I throw these topwaters on floating mono line like PowerSilk for the best action with my lures. After the sun gets up a bit, the bass often stop coming to the top, so I switch to shallow running crankbaits like Lucky Craft RC 0.5, RC 1.5, or BDS 0 square bills, ¼ oz spinnerbaits, and 3/8 oz chatterbaits with 3.5” Live Magic shads. To keep those money fish hooked up on crankbaits with treble hooks, I like fiberglass rods like the Dobyns 705CB Glass. The slower action of fiberglass allows bass to deeply take the lures and also keeps them hooked up well when fighting them in. Match it with sensitive line like FluoroHybrid Pro and you’ll still have great feel, even with a fiberglass rod. If the bass aren’t in a chasing mood, switch to a Texas rigged watermelon/red or watermelon candy 8” Fork Worm or wacky rig a Hyper Finesse Worm, Zig Zag, or Hyper Whack’n worm and work it over the tops of grass and along the edges. For these soft plastics, green pumpkin and junebug colors are working best on cloudy days, while watermelon/red and watermelon are better on sunny days. These techniques will also catch additional fish in areas where I’ve already caught some fish on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and topwaters. For bigger fish, a 3/8 oz green pumpkin Mega Weight Jig with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer or a 10” Fork Worm Texas rigged will produce big bass when pitched on 15 to 25 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line to the deep weed edge, especially on points and around creek channels. If you’re fishing deep, these basic patterns generally work best in the fall. For the suspended bass, Fork Flutter Spoons and Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 crankbaits in shad or yellow bass patterns work best and will catch some lunkers too. The key is getting your bait down to the level of the bass and keeping it in front of them for as much of the retrieve as possible. For deep bass on the bottom, Carolina rigged Baby Ring Frys and Twitch Worms and drop shotting Hyper Finesse worms are my favorites. I use watermelon shades on sunny days, while green pumpkin hues & Junebug works better on cloudy days. I’ve been using the 7’8” Dobyns Champion Extreme model DX784ML lately and the extra length allows me take up extra line and get control of big fish at the end of long casts. If you haven’t tried worm and jig fishing with a longer rod, give it a try and you’ll land more fish. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Today’s morning of cold rain, north winds, and dropping temperatures reinforced that fall fishing is on its way. Even though we’re approaching mid-October, water temps are still sitting in the mid-70s and our best fall bite is yet to come. As cold fronts roll through regularly and the water temps move into the 60s, big bass will come more consistently from the shallows and lunker fish will also group up out deep. Due to the later than normal cool down, we’re catching mostly smaller fish in the shallows and most days the deep fish remain pretty scattered. The good news is that the fall bite should be good through November this year. Boat for Sale: My 2009 Ranger Z520 boat is for sale. It is fully loaded, rigged with a 250 HP Mercury Pro XS motor with a 5 year warranty (good until 2014). It’s value priced and will save you about $10,000 off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Lake Conditions: Our rainy pattern continues, with a couple more inches falling this morning. The lake level is currently at 403.51’ (6” above full pool) and rising. The water clarity is still good in most areas, although the backs of bigger creeks are pretty muddy. Water temps today were reading from 70 to 75, both in the main lake and in the creeks. I normally have my best fall fishing with the water temps from 55 to 65 degrees, so we’re getting close to the magic range. Location Pattern: The clouds, rain, and wind have kept the deep bass scattered most days. Look for that to improve as the sun comes back out, especially on the post frontal days. In the meantime, the shallow bass around the grass are more active, especially early and late in the day. My October article (see below) covers the shallow patterns in depth. For deep fish, most of the best spots are shallower now, around 18 to 25’ deep. As the deep bite turns on, you’ll start seeing more fish in the 28’ to 33’ range too. Presentation Pattern: For the shallow patterns, see my article below. If you’re fishing deep, these basic patterns generally work best in the fall. For the suspended bass, Fork Flutter Spoons and Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 crankbaits in shad or yellow bass patterns work best and will catch some lunkers too. The key is getting your bait down to the level of the bass and keeping it in front of them for as much of the retrieve as possible. For deep bass on the bottom, Carolina rigged Baby Ring Frys and Twitch Worms and drop shotting Hyper Finesse worms are my favorites. I use watermelon shades on sunny days, while green pumpkin hues & Junebug works better on cloudy days. I’ve been using the 7’8” Dobyns Champion Extreme model DX784ML lately and the extra length allows me take up extra line and get control of big fish at the end of long casts. If you haven’t tried worm and jig fishing with a longer rod, give it a try and you’ll land more fish. October Article: One-Two Combo for Catching Fall Bass By Tom Redington One of the first moves that boxers learn is the “one-two combo”. The sequence of a left jab followed by a right cross is a basic fundamental for any prize fighter. Similarly, bass fisherman can quickly find and catch bass on Lake Fork in the fall by using a simple horizontal and vertical presentation combo. Simply put, cover a lot of water with fast moving, horizontally swimming baits like topwaters, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Once you get a few bites in an area, slow down and thoroughly fish the area with vertically falling lures like jigs and worms and you’ll often strike the mother lode. In the fall, bass are on the chase following shad and they can be located from the main lake to the very backs of creeks. Often, this location changes daily. Some days they’ll be on deeper cover, while other days they’ll be right up on the bank. Points, creek channels, and ledges can all be big producers in the fall, but often the bass will be roaming over expansive flats. Fishing methodically with a worm would take hours to locate the fish, so I work fast from the mouth of creeks to the very back until I find them, then I slow down and try to catch every one of them in the area. Start by covering water fast with moving baits, like spinnerbaits, topwaters, and crankbaits. In the fall, use shad color schemes, primarily whites and chromes, and work these baits fast with erratic stop and go retrieves to trigger strikes from active fish. Since bass tend to key on the smaller young-of-the year shad, I typically downsize my baits to replicate the forage. Spinnerbaits are a natural anytime bass key on shad, so ¼ and 3/8 oz Redemption spinnerbaits with white or chartreuse and white skirts and tandem silver willow leaf blades work well for me. Some days, 3/8 oz white chatterbaits with a 3.5” Live Magic Shad trailer will produce better than a spinnerbait, especially for bigger fish. Early and late, topwaters are hard to beat and a lot of fun to fish. I prefer small poppers on calm days, while the walking action of Sammy type baits works better when there is more chop. My favorite bait is the Lucky Craft Gunfish 95. This bait doubles as a popper with a stop and go retrieve, or you can walk the dog with it. Try a variety of retrieves with the Gunfish and let the fish tell you how they want it. Long casts spook less fish and also allow you to cover more water, but that can sometimes be hard with lighter topwater baits. I rig these on the Dobyns 685C rod with 17 or 21 lb PowerSilk mono line and I can whip even the smallest poppers a mile. Finally, my favorite search baits are shallow to medium running crankbaits, especially if there is wood, rock, or weed cover. I’ll rig up a variety of cranks on fiberglass Dobyns 704 and 705 CB Glass rods, with 12 lb to 20 FluoroHybrid Pro line. With a variety of cranks and line sizes, I can cover water from 1’ to the deep weed edge in 12’. Little square billed cranks, like Lucky Craft’s RC 1.5 or the BDS 0 & 1 are my favorites and work great in about 4’ or less. I’ll also try medium runners like the Skeet Mini MR and the Flat CB MR to probe the deep weed edge. Of course, don’t forget the LV 100 and other lipless crankbaits if the fish are chasing over the tops of grassbeds. Remember with all of the cranks that erratic action triggers strikes, so snap these baits free of grass, run them into rocks and wood, and momentarily pause during the retrieve or you’ll pass up a lot of fish. Finding fish is the hard part. Once a school is located with moving baits and the action slows, switch to soft plastics and you’ll likely catch more fish from the same area, possibly a lot more. My favorite soft plastic rigs for the fall are wacky rigs and weightless soft plastic jerkbaits. For the wacky rig, I use Hyper Finesse Worms and Whack’n Worms in shades of watermelon on sunny days and June bug or green pumpkin colored ones on cloudy days, rigged on 12 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line. The segmented tails on these new baits really make them quiver with every twitch of the rod. For bigger fish, I rig up a Zig Zag on my wacky rig and this larger bait will entice some big bass in the fall. Another technique that excels is soft plastic jerkbaits like Magic Shads and Live Magic Shads, rigged weightless Texas style. Some days the bass will chase these as they are steadily twitched over the grass, while other times you’ll do best by twitching your bait a couple times and then letting it fall to the bottom. Long casts are important with these baits as well, so I use a 7’3” Dobyns 734C to launch them way out there & still have enough backbone to set the hook. Finally, for lunker bass during the fall, pitch the brand new MPack jig from Lake Fork Trophy Lures, with its beefy hook and sleek head, to the heaviest cover you can find in the areas you’ve already caught fish. I like black/blue colored jigs on cloudy days and watermelon jigs on sunny days, trimmed with a matching Lake Fork Craw trailer, rigged on tough 25 lb FluoroHybrid Pro line. To land a haymaker on the bass this fall, try the horizontal-vertical combo and you might become the bass heavyweight champ. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 (days) or 972-635-6027 (evenings) or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom

Thanks for your note. Fork got hit by the LM Bass Virus in '99 and had a really big fish kill, as did a lot of really good bass lakes in '98, 99 and 00. Fork, as with other LMBV lakes such as Guntersville, Rayburn, and Sante Cooper, recovered and the fish are fat and healthy once again. Fork is an older lake now than its peak when you fished it in the early 90s, so numbers and size are down from its peak in the late 80s/early 90s. Still, you'll be hard pressed to find many public lakes that crank out more 10s per year than Fork and there are huge numbers of 5 to 8 pound fish swimming here, along with the occasional 15+.

Thanks!

Just joined your forum. I was doing a google search for info about a particular bait and came across OzarkAnglers.com and it appears that there is a lot of good info here. I'm a fishing guide on Lake Fork in TX and I fish the pro side of the FLW Tour as well. I'll be posting my Lake Fork reports in the USA-South board. Here's my first post: http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=18837 Although my reports are specific to Lake Fork, it usually has pattern info that can be used on lots of lowland lakes at similar times of the year, so hopefully you find them informative. I've fished Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock and Beaver a few times and although I really like the lakes, I have yet to really do really well up there. Beautiful lakes though and I love the big spots and smallies. We're headed back on the Tour to Table Rock in March, so hopefully I'll finally put it together this trip. Thanks for having me and I look forward to talking fishing with everyone. Good Fishing, Tom

Zach caught this big one on a Lake Fork Twitch Worm, 7 lb 12 oz. Dana caught her biggest bass ever on a teaching trip with her husband. The bass fishing over the past couple of weeks on Lake Fork has been slower than normal. Summertime structure fishing is normally the most consistent bite of the year; however, dramatically fluctuating water levels and temps seem to have slowed the bite and we’re catching lower numbers and not many big fish as of late. It’s still Lake Fork and we’ve had a number of days with 20 or more fish and the average size fish is around 3 lbs most days, but this is well below average in both categories. With the weather turning hotter once again, I expect the bite to get back to normal. In the meantime, I’m running a lot of water looking for a few good schools of fish, then working them over for a long time to get the fish to bite. The key is covering water with the graph until you find a good school, and then having the confidence to stay there and the patience to get those fish to bite. Looking forward, September & October are always popular months on Fork as the fall tournament season really cranks up. It’s perfect timing for the tournaments too, because the cooling water turns on the fishing in both the shallows and out deep. September-November normally produces our fastest action on Fork for numbers, with lots of keeper sized fish chasing bait in the shallows, while big groups of bass school up out deep. Whether you like topwaters, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits up shallow or fishing with soft plastics and spoons out deeper, fall is a fun time to fish Lake Fork. For those of you looking for more frequent updates on Lake Fork fishing and my adventures as a Pro on the FLW Tour, check out my Facebook and Twitter sites: http://www.facebook.com/tom.redington http://twitter.com/Tom_Redington Boat for Sale: My 2009 Ranger Z520 boat is for sale. It is fully loaded, rigged with a 250 HP Mercury Pro XS motor with a 5 year warranty (good until 2014). It’s value priced and will save you about $10,000 off the cost of a new boat. For more details and pics of the boat, please check my website (www.lakeforkguidetrips.com) or drop me a note. Lake Conditions: After 10” of rain in a week and quick rise, the lake is back down around full pool again now. The lake level is currently at 402.89’ (about 1” below full pool) and slowly dropping. The water clarity is running about normal, with stained water up north and clear greenish water on the south end. Water temps are on the rise again, reading 86 to 90 degrees in most areas of the main lake. I’m showing the thermocline around 28’, which is about where it normally develops on Fork. Location Pattern: Although some fish are still shallow relating to the grass, I’m concentrating on schools of fish on offshore structure. Structure like points, humps, channel bends, and roadbeds in 20’ to 33’ continue as my main pattern. Some days these bass are suspended and other days they’re on the bottom. Many of these schools are relating to a few pieces of isolated cover, so watch your depth finder closely for them and make precise casts or you’ll miss these fish. Presentation Pattern: I’m still using pretty much the same baits I’ve used all summer, but the best technique and lure color changes from day to day, so keep experimenting until you find what they want.. Carolina rigs, drop shots, and Texas rigs are catching bass from schools located near the bottom on deep structure. I’m using Bama bug or red bug 10” Fork Worms or the new 6” Hyper Worm for Texas rigs. Meanwhile, junebug , watermelon candy, or green pumpkin Fork Creatures, Baby Ring Frys, and the new 6” Hyper Lizard with its thumping tail are on the business end of my Carolina rigs. Try these with the new Dobyns Champion Extreme DX744 rod and you’ll feel every little bump, while having plenty of fish fighting power. The DX744 is a lightweight 7’4” rod that is so well balanced it feels like nothing in your hand, yet somehow it delivers enough power to tear big bass away from standing timber down 25’. When the bass are more finicky, drop shots will catch good numbers of slot fish and the occasional big bass, rigged with a junebug, watermelon/red, or red bug Hyper Finesse Worm or Twitch Worm. I’m trying to keep my baits near the bottom, sometimes a trick on windy days in rough open water. Therefore, I use a big ½ oz sinker on both my Texas rigs and drop shots, while 1 oz is what I use to Carolina rig with. For line, I’ve been using the brand new FluoroHybrid Pro (FHP) line, now available at the Lake Fork Trophy Lures pro shop in Emory. I’m using 12 lb test on a spinning reel for my drop shots and the 20 lb test on bait casters for my TX and Carolina rigs. While their PowerSilk and regular Fluorohybrid lines are perfect for moving baits like cranks and spinnerbaits, the FHP is truly revolutionary. Stronger and lower in stretch than regular FluoroHybrid line, FHP is the first and only line that combines the sensitivity, abrasion resistance, and invisibility of fluorocarbon line with the strength and ease of handling of mono. This innovative line is made with an exclusive co-extruded process instead of a fluorocarbon coating over mono like all of the other hybrids on the market, resulting in its unique characteristics. When the bass are suspended, Fork Flutter spoons, swimbaits or deep diving crankbaits in shad or yellow bass patterns are working better than the bottom presentations, and catching some lunkers too. The trick with crankbaits is to get them deep, and light line and long casts help you do this. Therefore, I use the 805CB cranking rod from Dobyns, paired with low stretch 12 lb PowerSilk line. With this 8’ rod and the zero memory line, you can whip crankbaits a country mile. For the Flutter Spoons and swimbaits, count them down to the depth of the fish and try to swim your bait slightly above the bass. Here’s hoping you catch the lunker of your dreams. If I can be of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 (days) or 972-635-6027 (evenings) or e-mail me through http://www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com , where your satisfaction is guaranteed. Good Fishing, Tom