Week of May 14, 2012

One of my guides, Rhandy Simmons, called me up and invited me out for 2 and a half days of "fun fishing" this week.  That means no guide charge so how could I say no to that?  Not only that, but he had a nice cabin with a spare bedroom so I had a free room, too.  He said the only things I needed to bring was a lot of beer and BBQ and that was no problem for me to do.   Since our "fun fishing" was to start on Tuesday morning, I called Dale Stokes for a regular guide day on Monday so I could get in that extra day. He was happy to oblige.

Monday started out a bit weird with Dale.  There were very few boats on the water.  We hit it early, 6 AM, and headed straight to Dale's favorite main lake point.  We boated 9 fish before 8:30 am, nothing big, so we went on to the next main point, which still had seen no boats.  Now that is unusual.  After fishing there awhile with no luck, we went along to a third main point, again with zero previous boat traffic on the side we fished.  I can't remember ever seeing those 3 points unoccupied the first 3 hours after daylight.  Ever.  There was very little boat traffic all day long.  That is about as deserted as I have seen Lake Fork. 

After we finished up on the main lake, still with 9 fish, we hit a bunch of great spots with little action until about 1 pm.  The wind slicked off about 11 am and it got pretty toasty in the sunshine, even though it was only in the middle 80's.  Dale finally found us another sweet spot around 1 pm on a deeper hump and we boated 5 more fish, nothing of size.  We ended up with 17 for the day and a fun day out on the water in nice weather.

I met up with Rhandy early Tuesday morning and we were off to check out some spots he hadn't fished in awhile.  He considered this "vacation" so we hit a few "good spots" and spent time running and checking other holes for future reference.  We pretty much one and two'd them all over the lake with the most fish, 4, coming off one small secondary point.  It is a place near a main ramp we have driven past a hundred times but I had never fished it.  Nice to know it holds a few.   We were not keeping good count (beer may have contributed to that) but I think we ended up with 12 or 15 fish for the day.  Big fish were around 4 or 5 pounds.  There was just enough action to make it a fun day, even though it got a bit warm when the wind died off at mid-day again.

We stayed at Leafy Branch cabin and put in and out of Wes's private ramp.  He has a very nice comfy 2 bedroom cabin with full kitchen, all utensils, 2 TVs, and all the amenities.  One of the best parts is the front porch with rockers which looks out over Leafy Branch and out towards Dale Hump where you can watch the lake.  They were having some dead trees cut out the yard but it was still full of song birds chasing around.  We even had a hummingbird stop by.  Wes said it was the first of the season.  Much beer was swilled, much BBQ was consumed, and at least a few lies were heard.  Plans to re-emerge for evening fishing were overruled by too much beer and BBQ.

Wednesday we trucked around and put in at the Minnow Bucket to check out some spots up in the northeast branch near Running Creek.  Rhandy caught one about 6 lbs and one smaller one.  I did not have a single bite til 10:30 am but that bite was worth the wait.  I was sitting still with a carolina rig with a fluke on it.  All of a sudden, WHAM, a fish grabbed that fluke and drag started peeling off line.  I set the hook and had a nice fight with an almost 8 pound fish.  It weighed out at 7 pounds 15 ounces.  Awhile later I caught another that went around 6 pounds.

 

 

We had a few more at that same spot before the wind slicked off yet again and it started to get hot.  This time, Rhandy had a plan to try some crappie fishing under the 154 bridge to cool off.  We tried it, I caught ONE small 9 inch crappie, and that was it.  Plans to head up to the 515 bridge got nixed when a buddy of Rhandy's came by and said that was dead, too.  Oh well, time to get a siesta and this time really go out in the evening!

We emerged from air conditioned hibernation about 7 pm and Rhandy's girlfriend Brenda joined us on the expedition.  We found a nice deep water hole unattended so we set up shop and went to fishing.  We caught 3 small bass, one each, so everyone was happy.  Rhandy had hopes maybe the sandbass would go to schooling but they never did.  I guess it may be just a bit early for that wild action.  Brenda did catch another green fish, about 4 pounds, right at sunset.  We dropped her off at the bank and fished the underwater lights in Leafy Branch for awhile til the bugs got too annoying.  Rhandy caught a couple more small bass and I caught one sandbass.  That was enough to send us in for more BBQ and beer and a a night ending meat coma.

Thursday we headed out from Leafy Branch with plans to hit several old holes Rhandy had not fished in years.  It was not to be.  The lake was VERY busy with boats everywhere, probably folks pre-fishing for the Legends tourny at Fork this coming weekend.  Everywhere we planned to fish we found 3 or 4 boats.  We even went looking for deep schools of sandbass, figuring nobody would be bothering them.  We struck out on those, too.  They are always there when you do NOT want them, but can't be found when you DO want them.  That's fishing.  We ended up the half day with 2 small bass, even after fishing some great water.  However, it was definitely FUN FISHING!

Week of April 30, 2012

Got in a couple of days with Rhandy Simmons and 1 and a half days with Dale Stokes this past week.  The only time we really got on the fish was Monday morning about 7 am on a main lake point. The sandbass were schooling earlier and after they moved off we caught 10 bass, all around 3 pounds, in about an hour.  That was some fun fishing!  We also hooked a few big sandbass on flukes.  After that we hunt and pecked and one and two'd them the rest of the day for a total of 22 with nothing bigger than about 4 pounds.

Things were similar with Rhandy on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We hit a lot of great spots without so much as one bite and others with just a fish or two.  We even tried some deep water spots.  Everyone seems to be having a tough time figuring the fish out as they are not on their usual post spawn spring pattern.  It may be something to do with the lake rising over 5 feet earlier this year.  Who knows.  We caught 14 on Tuesday and another 16 on Wednesday, again nothing over about 4 pounds.  Rhandy did get broke off by what he thought was a nice fish but we never got to see it.

Thursday morning I put in a half day of crappie fishing with Dale and they were back in their usual spot under the 154 bridge.  We caught fish on every single piling we stopped at but the ratio of small fish to keepers was about 5:1.  We ended up with 24 nice crappie which Dale fileted for me while I hit the shower and checked out of my room.

week of April 9th, 2012

Got in another 3 days this week and it was pretty spotty.  I fished Monday with Dale and did not have a single bite before 11:30 am.  We tried hard, went through the tackle box and techniques before we finally started catching some fish after noon.  Most of the fish we caught were dinks up shallow in 1-5 feet of water and most came on Texas rigged flukes.  We tried fishing a little deeper, in some GOOD spots, but no luck.  The biggest was only about 4 pounds so nothing worth a picture.  I think we ended up with a total of 11 and I probably had 4 of those.  We spent the day far north, even going into Running Creek for a bit. Did catch a sun dog (picture).

Tuesday Dale was booked so I went out bass fishing with Rhandy Simmons.  We started out in Alligator fishing shakey head worms and I caught 3 small bass and broke off another.  We switched over to Carolina rigs and moved around a lot and boated another 12 through the day.  We found a few fish in 18 feet of water and even hooked a couple of good ones.  Unfortunately, both my fish and Rhandy's shook their heads at the boat and spit the hook at us.  Mine was probably around 6 pounds, Rhandy's was at least 8, maybe 9 pounds.  I think our biggest fish of the day was around 4 pounds.  We did find a huge bed up in Alligator, but we never found the fish that went with it.  I'm sure the mattress was a Simmons Beautyrest.

Wednesday my buddy Randy Simms came out and we spent the day crappie fishing with Rhandy Simmons.  Crappie were as slow as I have ever seen them.  The 154 bridge was no sale, the 515 bridge was the same.  We found a few nice fish on timber between the two bridges but we only ended up with 16 keepers with 3 of us fishing.

Week of March 26, 2012 personal best

I booked 2 and a half days with Dale Stokes this week and the weather was as good as it ever gets.  Lows in the 60's and highs in the low to mid 80's.  Winds were light except for Tuesday afternoon, when they were a bit blustery.  Nothing like what we have been through before, though.  The lake is now just 2 feet low.  It has come up over 5 and a half feet in the last month and is looking like the Lake Fork of old again.  It sure is nice to be able to run the boat lanes.

The main comment for this week was the fishing was SLOW!!  I caught 3 fish each day with only 5 to 7 bites a day.  Even the bites were a bit tentative, like they didn't really want to take the bait.  Tiny little taps with only a couple of bites where they really wanted it.  We saw a LOT of carp, crappie, and gar up shallow and I even hooked a 2 pound drum on a shakey head jig.  That was a first.  Might have been some crappie and carp pecking at my bait at times.

On Monday we had a few bites early and I caught one small bass dead sticking a fluke.  Then I had 4 straight hours with zero bites at all.  We fished wacky worms, shakey heads, flukes, all the usual suspects with no joy.  Finally I just decided to stick with a shakey head for the rest of the day and was quickly rewarded with a small tap about 1 pm.  I whanged on it and no fish.  Drat. 

We moved around a bit and I had another little tap at 2 pm.  This time I tightened up and lifted the rod tip to see if the fish was there.  Nope.  Felt the shakey head but no fish.  So it twitched it once and let it sit.  Another tap and a slight pull and I set the hook.  When I pulled back, the rod stopped dead at 10 o'clock and bent over double.  I saw this big mouth wallowing at the end of my line and knew I had a good fish.  She came to the boat no problem and when I saw it I thought it would go 8 or 9 pounds.  As Dale went to net it, the fish dove trying to go under the boat stripping off drag as it went.  I got my thumb on the spool and horsed it up and it made another dive for the prop and a stump near the back of the boat.  Again, I stopped the run and horsed her back towards Dale's net and she was in.  As I reached in the net to get the fish I saw the gut and knew I had a new personal best.  Dale's scale said 10.2 pounds and I don't doubt it.  My new personal best and my first double digit bass.  After a couple of quick pictures we sent her on her way and off she went to make more baby bass.  Woo hoo!  Now that's a nice reward for 4 hours with NO bites!

 

The next two days were anti-climactic after that fun.  We caught a few more small bass the next day and a half but they just were not biting very good at all.  Most of the other fish came dead sticking flukes with a few on shakey heads.

March 12-15, 2012

After getting blown off the lake by high winds last week, I was happy to see this week's forecast was much improved.  Temperatures were forecast for the high 70's and winds in the 10-15 mph range.  Just about perfect weather.  I booked 3 and a half days with Dale Stokes and was convinced we would hang a gorilla or two.  Unfortunately, the weekend dumped almost 6 inches of cold 50 degree rain around Lake Fork and I think that had an effect.

The lake is up a bit more and is now just 4.5 feet low.  Just!  However that's a big improvement to the 7 feet plus it has been down lately.

We started out Monday fishing the main lake banks and I was convinced slow fishing a big jig was the way to go.  I didn't want to be bothered by little males and had dreams of hooking another 8 lb plus like I did a few weeks ago.  Nope.  After four straight hours of fishing that jig slow and steady, without even a single nibble, I just had to put it down.  Dale had switched to a shakey head and landed 3 fish and missed a couple of more before I made the change.  I still didn't get a bite til after noon and I think I ended up with a total of 3 small fish for the day.  Dale had 8.

Tuesday started out the same way, but I just stuck with the jig for an hour before giving up on it for the rest of the trip.  Things were even tougher on Tuesday as we tried different areas and different water depths looking for some active fish.  I totaled ONE, all day long, but it was about a 5 pound fish.  Dale had another 7 fish, none of them of size.

Wednesday we had a few more bites on a combination of shakey heads and wacky worms.  We stuck 4 fish that got off, don't know why, but it happened twice to me and twice to Dale.  Bites were so light that several fish were hooked swimming off with our worm.  Nothing of any size, again, but we had more bites and boated 11 fish.  We worked hard for those  fish!

Thursday morning was more of the same.  We pulled up on a new spot in Little Caney and I caught a little one on the second cast.  I had another bite on about the fourth cast, then nada. We hunted and pecked them for 4 hours with a grand total of 5.  Dale caught one decent female about 6 pounds, but that was it.  The rest were dinks.  Wackey worms, shakey heads, and dead sticking flukes was not the ticket.

35 fish over 3 and a half days is a tough slog for Fork.  However no one fell out of the boat, no one got a hook in the face, no props were bent (even when running into Little Caney!), the weather was very nice, and we each caught fish every day.  No skunks. 

Check out this interesting stump below.  Sticking up on two legs like it is walking.  When the water level comes back up you would never guess there is a fish umbrella there.  I can't wait to pitch a worm into that and try to get a fish out.

March 5 and 6, 2012

I had planned a 3 day trip with Dale this week but 40 mph winds howling out of the south put a stop to that.  Monday was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70's and light winds.  We boated 12 bass on jigs and shakey heads, but nothing over 5 pounds.  We deliberately stayed out in deeper water, 10-15 feet, and pitched up toward shore and around timber.  There are a lot of small males moving up shallow getting ready for the spawn and we had hopes of snagging a better staging fish like I did a couple of weeks ago.  No luck.  Tuesday the forecast was for extreme winds, but the morning was fishable.  We poked around til the winds got nasty around 10:30 am, then fled to the shore.  I fished a jig all morning and only had about 4 bites and landed 1 small bass. Dale did about the same.  Fork is just short of the spawn and things should get hopping pretty soon.  I plan to go back soon!

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!