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Fishing Lake Fork, Texas
Tom Redington
May 8, 2005
Lake Fork - Freshwater Fishing Report
Lake Fork Weely Report
Early May is a transition period on Lake Fork. As is typical of this time of year, we caught fish up to 9 lbs this week on everything from sight fishing to deep diving crankbaits. We’ve been finding some big bass schooling in the mornings, resulting in some great topwater days, while other days the topwater bite is almost nonexistent. Meanwhile, good populations of bass are inhabiting grass and timber flats, points, and creek channel bends on their migration to deep summertime holes.
Fork’s water level has been slowly dropping this week and it currently sits at 402.68’, about 4” below full pool. The water remains very clear down south and only mildly stained in windblown areas of the lake. Water temps continue to climb, with the main lake holding in the upper 60s, while some coves are warming into the 70s. Best of all, hydrilla, milfoil, coontail, and lily pads are starting to grow rapidly—providing great cover for bass fingerlings and feeding lunkers.
I’ll repeat my location and lure patterns from last week, as the overall patterns remain the same. However, the best location and the best lure has been changing on a daily basis, so check a few different patterns each day and find the one that is working best for the current conditions.
Regarding the location pattern, the farther south you head and the closer towards the mouths of creeks you fish, the more prespawn and spawning fish you’ll find, in general. Main lake flats are also holding a lot of spawning fish right now. To find the post spawn fish, it is just the reverse of the locations that held prespawn bass in February and March. Concentrate on cover along drops and creek channels adjacent to spawning flats. Working your way out of the coves, work secondary points and main lake points. Soon, humps and ledges near coves with big populations of spawning bass will be loading up. And since the North end of the lake spawns first, more fish will be on summertime patterns up there than will the bass on the southern end of the lake.
Concerning your lure choice, let the bass tell you what they want. Early and late and on cloudy days, topwater baits like a Pop-R or buzzbait will produce some really big fish. Shallow, lipless, and medium running crankbaits and spinnerbaits work well over grass and around wood cover on points and creeks. Shad and bluegill color patterns usually work best. For numbers, it is hard to beat wacky rigged Lake Fork Twitch worms and Zig Zags in shades of watermelon fished in grass beds and pad fields. Concentrate on holes in the grass and especially on wood cover and you’ll be in business. And speaking of cover, a Lake Fork Tube or jig pitched around stumps and outside grass lines on points is a great way to catch a trophy bass. For fish on main lake humps and points, a 1-2 combo of a deep diving crankbait like a Norman’s DD22 in shad colors and a Carolina rigged Lake Fork Ring Fry in watermelon will produce fish fast, once you locate a school of bass. Finally, for the bedding fish, Texas rigged Lake Fork Tackle Baby Fork Craws and Tom Dog lizards in white or watermelon are working well.
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 www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com where your satisfaction is guaranteed.
Good Fishing,
Tom
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