First trip of 2012

Tuesday, February 21 and Wednesday, February 22

A spell of VERY nice weather at the end of February called for an early trip to Lake Fork with Dale Stokes. I know fishing is always slow this time of year with water temperatures in the low 50's.  Usually, if you get 5 or 10 bites a day you are about average.  However daytime temperatures in the 70s and 80s with low winds made it just irresistible.  Plus you have a chance of catching fish at their heaviest, before the spawn.

I drove out Monday night and drove through some very heavy rain.  The drought is not yet broken but things are definitely improving.  The lake is up about 2 feet since my last visit  and is now down about 5.5 feet from normal pool.

Tuesday started out about as expected.  I think we had 6 or 7 bites all day and boated 5 fish, all little ones.  We caught two on stick baits, two on rattle traps, and one on a jig.  It started out a bit cool but warmed up to a beautiful day, even if the fish never turned on!

Tuesday we started a bit earlier and decided to concentrate on jig fishing, hoping to get something of size.  About an hour in, I got a slight little tap on my jig, set the hook, and had a nice fight with a fish that weighed 8 pounds and 9 ounces.  Now THAT is why I like to fish in February when lesser fishermen don't want to bother with 5 bite days.

 

Check out the gut on that fish while Dale is weighing it.  It was not a very long fish, but it looked like it had swallowed a softball!  If that is any sign, the spring spawn may just come a bit early this year.

I had 3 more bites, all day long, and boated another fish that weighed around 5 lbs.  Not much on quantity, but I liked the quality!

I had planned to fish another half day on Thursday but winds kicked up to 20-30 mph and we decided to wait for another day.  I am sure looking forward to spring fishing on Lake Fork!