The bass have been biting very seady for the last 2 weeks, also the crappie and yellow bass. I fished yesterday after the flood and we had a pretty good day. Now the gates are open so it will be very slow for the next 3 to 4 days. The good news is that the water temperature is falling and that will bunch the better fish up on the deep water spots.
Right now we are catching the shallow fish on spinnerbaits, 3/8 oz Johnson Spinners Chartreuse/White with double willow leaf gold blades and 1/2 oz Rattle Traps Chartreuse or Chartreuse/Red around the grass beds and shallow wooded points.
The deep fish are coming on a number of baits but, are all holding in the 26' to 32' depths. The jigging spoon will get bites from bass, crappie and yellow bass off of the same spot. I'm catching more bass, bigger ones on a Carolina rig with a Kudzu 7" Zoom Trick worm and a Pumpkin Neon 1/2 oz Johnson's Lake Fork Jig.
In the last 7 days we've had 2 bass to the top of the water that would go 9 1/2 to 10 lbs, but the clients had the misfortune of losing both fish. Sometimes it's just really hard getting a good hook-up at that depth. The key to catching these deep fish is to fish very, very slowly. Most of the time the line will just get tight. Where you catch one bass, if you just keep fishing that area, you will get a number of bites. Just be patient.
FORECAST: This looks to be the best springs in 5 to 6 years. The surveys taken at each marina and results compiled by the Parks & Wildlife show that there were more 9 to 12 lb. bass caught this year than any of the last 5 years. So, it looks like there will be a bumper crop of 10 lb + bass for this spring.
JANUARY: This is a feast or famine month. Some really big fish will be caught out of the deep water, fishing very slowly with big bass baits. I've got 2 trips booked where this is all we are going to be doing for 4 days.
FEBRUARY: Great month for pre-spawn fishing. We will be using spinnerbaits, rattletraps and jigs a lot. Really expect this month to produce some of those Share-a-Lunker fish ( over 13 lbs ).
MARCH: Big bass on the beds plus a lot of cruising pre-spawn fish. One of the best months to catch a number of 5 to 7 lb bass in a day.
Give us a call and let's go fishing.
Mark, Barbara & A R
A R Sachtleben sachtl@peoplescom.net 903/765-3619
Mark Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Barbara Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
The fall fishing has finally started. The yellow bass and crappie are stacking on creeks, humps, and points - that means only one thing --- The big bass won't be far behind.
We are still catching some good bass on spinnerbaits on the grass beds early in the morning, then we are backing off of the grass and working a brushhog or a 5" tube off the edges. Catching some 4-6 lb. fish this way.
Most of the deep spots have a lot of fish on them but timing is very important right now. About 2 more cold fronts and the big fish time should hit a peak in November and last until Christmas time.
November will be one of the best months for jig fishing. Lots of big fish will be caught on jig & pork or jig & plastics. The best colors will be Black/Blue, PumpkinNeon and Watermelon.
This year we are offering crappie trips for November and December. We'll take 1 to 3 people for $ 225.00 and furnish the tackle. At the end of the day we will clean your fish and bag them. Call for more details and book your date.
If you want to try and catch a big fish on a jig or learn to fish a jig in different types of water, give us a call and let's go fishing.
Great fishing, Mark
A R Sachtleben sachtl@peoplescom.net 903/765-3619
Mark Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Barbara Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
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August 20, 2001
It’s the middle of August and we’ve just had a great rain. It cooled the water temperature a little.
Two tournaments took place during the rainy weekend and the low light had the fishermen either under cover from the lightening or catching lots of slot fish on spinnerbaits and topwaters.
July and the first of August have been the best I’ve seen in 6 years. On a daily basis we’ve been catching 15-25 bass a day. Most of these fish are coming deep and they are really great average size. Most of the fish are 4 to 7 ½ lbs, but we’ve had 8 fish over 9 lbs. We’ve been using 15 to 17 lb. line a lot. It really helps with feel in the deep water, but we’ve also broken off a lot of fish.
Four out of five days the bite is good, on that 5th trip they just don’t bite. No real reason that we can see, they just don’t bite well. This seems to be a trademark of Fork but when they bite it sure has been fun.
We have been using a ½ oz. Johnson Jig in White/Black/Brown, a Black/Blue and a ¾ oz Johnson Spinnerbait in a Shiner or Barfish color. Most of the bass are coming in 20’ to 28’ and they seem to be holding about 2’ off the bottom.
It looks like the bass are ready to spawn, they are that fat and healthy looking. I really think that the months of September, October, November, and December will produce like the old days. We are already seeing some of the bigger fish schooling and eating the shad & barfish on the top.
Our night fishing trips were either feast of famine. When they did bite, we hooked a lot of really big fish in 10’ to 15’ in heavy brush. We just got 25 lb. line broke a lot. We could go very shallow and get bit but most of those fish were small.
Give us a call for your next trip to Fork. I think you are really going to like the way this lake has come back.
Great fishing, Mark
Yes, fishermen, Lake Fork is back. There were not many of 13 pound plus fish caught this spring, but the number of 8 - 12 pound fish recorded at the marinas showed more than any year since 1996.
June is over now and impressive catches of 3 - 8 lb bass out of deep water came in. These fish came on a variety of baits and tecniques. The Carolina Rig will catch a lot of fish. The guys fishing a big crank bait, a 3/4 or 1 oz. Johnson spinnerbait or a Johnson 1/2 oz. or 3/4 oz. jig in this deep water are catching some big fish.
Most of the humps and points have good bunches of fish on them, the key is fishing each one at the key time. The fish can be there but simply not biting. You have to revisit some spots thru the day to catch the school biting. This is always very important this time of the year.
It's also time to start night fishing. Barbara has already had 4 trips at night. She had 2 good nights and 2 slow nights. It's been very windy on these nights and fishing where you need to be has been tough.
I've fished 2 nights. The first night the wind blew and we caught scattered fish. The second night we had less wind and we would get 4-6 bites off of each spot, all in all a pretty good night.
All of these trips were in the dark of the moon and it sure seems to help on the dark of the moon nights not to have wind.
July and August should shape up to be good for day or night fishing as we have plenty of water in the lake.
The fall fishing is going to be very good this year. The bass are in better shape than they have been in years, so get ready.
We have nights or days open for July and August, so give us a call or e-mail and let's go catch some good ones.
Great fishing, Mark
A R Sachtleben sachtl@peoplescom.net 903/765-3619
Mark Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Barbara Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net903/765-3120
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Barbara's South Dakota guys -- can't be wearing
short sleeves & catching these great bass up there in SNOW country.
A R Sachtleben sachtl@peoplescom.net 903/765-3619
Mark Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Barbara Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
It depends on the day of course, but buzzbaits
are doing great, with a couple of bass over 12 pounds being caught on them
recently. We are fishing them in the shallows around flooded grass
and cattails. Throughout the day, several baits are working real well.
A zoom trick worm rigged either wacky worm style or weightless in Methiolate,
Sour Grape, Bubblegum, and Watermelon with the tail dyed Chartreuse,
a Brush hog or Hodaddy in Pumpkin Red flake, Lizards in Black with Blue
flake,
watermelon, and tomato red. Some of my
favorites lately have been a Baby Ring Fry rigged either Texas rigged or
on a small carolina rig in Methiolate, Texas Smoke, and Watermelon Red
flake. The larger Ring fry is working also.
Thursday, my guys from South Dakota and I had 23 bass up to 9 pounds, with a 8.5, 7.5, and four bass weighing 7+ pounds, and a lot of 4 -5 pound bass with only about 3 being under the slot. We stayed out in the wind and did the best, as the bass in the calmer water seemed to be a little spookier. There have been lots of bass in the 9 -11 pound range caught lately all over Lake Fork.
The crappie have been biting under the bridges in 15 - 25 foot of water on jigs and minnows, and also in the creeks. In the last couple of days, we have seen a lot of crappie in the shallow water around the stumps.
May should prove to be a great month with spawning still going on in some areas of the lake. But the best thing is that with the great vegetation that we have due to the lake being low last year, buzzbaits, small crankbaits and top waters will produce some great bass around the cattails and water hyacinth.
Make sure that you have new line, and just a little
tip, do not use florescent line, you will get more hits using green or
clear line. Have lots of fun but be safe, a lot of trees have fallen.
Hope you catch your trophy bass on your next fishing trip to Lake Fork.
We would love to guide you and show you what we know about fishing Lake
Fork and make your trip a successful one.
Give us a call.
Bass Wishes <*)))><,
Barbara
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Steve Whitmore from Nebraska with a 6 lb. bass
that was released.--- Barbara
Jerry Thorton of Missouri with a 9.2 lb. bass
that he happily released to spawn. 3/15/01. He caught his bass on
a Chartruese spinnerbait on the 2nd or 3rd cast of the morning. Even
with high winds, Jerry, his brother Dan and I had a great time.--- Barbara
Randy and
Charlotte from Austin had a nice day to fish. That's A R on the right
-- Charlotte would have made a prettier picture. ( HeeHee)
Yes, bass fans the rumors are true. There have been 2 giants taken out of Lake Fork put in the lone Star Lunker Program in the last 2 weeks. Both fish weighed over 14 pounds. That's not bad for a lake that has 44-46 degree water. Lots of water coming in and being let out of the dam.
I've been guiding 1 to 2 days a week for January. Finding more grass in small patches than I've seen in the last few years at this time in January. If the gates are not open we can catch a fair number of fish deep on spoons and small worms using light line.
Our better fish have come on traps and a Storm Suspending Thunderstick fished real slow. Most of these shallow fish are very healthy and are running from 3 1/2 to 5 pounds, with one 7 pound and one 8 pound fish. Both of these bass came on a trap.
After this colder winter, I really expect the seasonal patterns to be more in the normal range. February will probably produce it's normal number of big fish.
I really expect March to be more like it was 4 or 5 years ago, before all these warm winters and drought conditions. Lots of new ground re-flooded which always helps fishing conditions.
March should also get the other lake we guide on, Cooper north or Fork, going full throttle. For the guys or gals that like to fish heavy cover with lizards, tubes and jigs or some great days on spinnerbaits this could be a good choice. We've caught lots of 4 to 6 pound fish out of this young lake.
Give us a call and let's go fishing.
Mark, Barbara & A R
A R Sachtleben sachtl@peoplescom.net 903/765-3619
Mark Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Barbara Stevenson stevensn@peoplescom.net 903/765-3120
Have a look at our:
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Lake Fork Fishing Report
'99
Lake Fork Fishing Report
'98
Lake Fork Fishing Report
'97
Lake Fork Fishing Report
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