Lake Fork Report – 4/09/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
The early morning bite is very good with topwaters producing both size and numbers. It is important to bounce around until you find an area that is holding fish. If they are there, they will let you know in a hurry. Some areas will only produce a fish or two while others will have a big school of hungry largemouths.
The afternoon bite has been very slow the last few days. On days where we have heavy clouds, the topwater bite will last throughout the day. When it is sunny, it has been tough, but we have been able to boat some nice fish on a LFT Magic Shad worked quickly in the flooded cover.
Here are some fish from the last few days:
Open April dates!
Hey guys I have 3 days open this April and I am going to book the first two that I get calls on. I have April 15-17...prime dates!!! Contact me at 903-574-5796 www.LakeForkProFishingGuide.com
Lake Fork Report – 4/05/2012 – by Ronnie Kelley
First off I want to apologize that I have not posted a report in a while, LONG days and t-ball have kept me running! Fork is fishing funny right now.The shad spawn is happening, but it's hard to capitalize on it. Square bills and Zara Spooks on main lake points at the mouth of spawning cove have been best, but you have to fish a LOT of points to find one with an ample amount of fish. I think a lot of shad are spawning in the flooded grass this year and a swimbait or chatterbait with a live magic shad are killers. I have been catching quite a few fish in the flooded grass on Santone Swim jigs in shad colors with a hyper worm trailer...THROW IT ON BRAID! You'll really increase your hook up ratio. To get these bites you need to be around spawning fish and fish guarding fry in flooded grass. Hope this helps and I'll keep you posted on what's going on!
Here are a few from this past week (I actually caught the picture in the first pic, we rushed to get the pic before another boat saw us)
Lake Fork Report – 4/04/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
Overall, today was a pretty tough day for me. We started out catching some good fish on a crankbait, but once the sun came out around 9 a.m., that bite ended.
We caught a couple on a Santone Piglet shaky head with LFT Zig Zag, but we couldn't get much going until later in the afternoon when Ronnie turned me on to a pattern that was working for him. That's the great thing about having guides that work together and share information with each other. It benefits our clients, and that's what it's all about.
We tied on a Santone swim jig and went to work. We covered a ton of water and caught a few more, but i think we will be able to expand on this pattern tomorrow. I have the same clients tomorrow, and I'm looking for them to have a big day.
Lake Fork Report – 4/03/2012 – by Marc Mitchell
Lake Fork is a little less than 2 ft low, but looking very good. There are some fish that are moving up, and some that have moved out. This last Saturday they made a major move up in some areas of the lake, and I saw lots of the big females that I have been waiting on. I was getting worried there for a while but they have arrived. Since they pulled up, we have been catching them pretty well by sight fishing.
I have been starting my mornings throwing buzz baits and senko type baits in the new cover and lily pad stems, and that bite has just gotten better in the last couple of days. I stick with this until midday, and then I start looking for spawning fish. While looking we have been throwing some watermelon red trick worms rigged wacky style and a few drop shots also. These fish have been best in 6-8 ft on big wood.
Now that we have some good cover along the shorelines, the fry have a place to hide, so keep this on your mind now and in the future because lots of bass will be hanging out here before and after the spawn. The smaller pockets just off the main lake seem to be better for me, but many of coves that run way off the main lake have lots of fish in them. Remember the creek channels going into the coves if you do not like sight fishing and want to catch a big bass. They will hang out and follow the creek channels in and out, and best baits will be Carolina rigs, TX rigs, and jigs. You might want to throw a DD -22 in a perch pattern over the creek channel from time to time. This will catch the big girls that have already spawned out and also those that are just making their way up the creek to spawn.
I hope this helps you on your next trip to Lake Fork. I have a few days open in April but just one here and there late in the month and a few open in May as well. Give me a call or drop me an email and we'll get you set up!
(903) 348-3533 (mobile) or email at mgs@suddenlink.com
Lake Fork Report – 4/02/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
The last two days have been mirror images of each other - good early bite and then it slows down to a crawl.
I fished two half day trips yesterday, so I got a chance to fish the late evening bite, and it definitely picked back up after 5:00. In fact, my client lost one (broke his line) at the boat yesterday that was an easy 9+. I felt terrible for him, but hopefully, we'll get him a big one next time. That fish bit the same Santone Piglet shaky head that I pictured in my last report. It will put some really big fish in the boat if you will slow down enough.
My client yesterday morning was able to break his personal best with an 8-00. She was a really beautiful fish and I was really happy for him. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, and the fact that he got to share the moment with his dad made it that much better.
The last pic is from today. We caught a good number of fish today on a crankbait and this one choked it!!!
Jackall Aska 60 SR in SS Shad
Lake Fork Report 3/29/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
The fishing on Fork is still pretty good if you're in the right place and doing the right thing. There were a lot of fish that made their move to the banks over the weekend to spawn, so I have a feeling that we are dealing with a lot of post-spawn females right now. Don't get me wrong, there are still tons of fish that have yet to "do the deal", and those are the fish that we are trying to catch.
The drop shot continues to be a mainstay in my boat, but the shaky head bite has come on strong the last couple of days. I'm using a 3/16 oz Santone piglet jig head and an LFT Zig Zag in any shade of green. We are working our baits through the stump-filled spawning flats in the 2-6 ft range.
Yesterday, we finished with an even 20, and today, we had 11 in a half day. I have a half day (5 hrs) or an extended half day (7 hrs) open for this Wednesday afternoon (April 4) if anyone is interested in coming out and getting in on some of this action. This is just a couple of days prior to the full moon and it should be a very good time to catch a giant!!!
Lake Fork Report-3/28/12-by Ronnie Kelley
Well I was off yesterday but fished 1/2 a day on Tuesday and we had 22, our biggest was just under 6lbs. All our fish were caught on a small Tx redbug Lake Fork worm around timber on mainlake points in 8-10th of water. I fished stuff I haven't fished yet this year and had a great day.
Today, we started out throwing small cranks and topwater pop-r's on points and whacked em!!! We caught a lot of 4-6lbers and lost even more. As the day went on we caught some on a c-rig on roadbeds and pond dams. I threw a small Lake Form worm on my c-rig. Then we bed fished and caught some tanks. We saw a lot of fish and caught some toads. I used a LFT craw tube in black neon with 65lb braid, a 1/2oz LFT tungsten weight and a 4/0 flipping hook. Thinks are rocking and don't look to slow down!!!
Lake Fork Report – 3/26/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
Back on the water today, and I had a little different type of trip today. My clients today only wanted to sight fish, and they wanted to look for a double digit. While we didn't find the monster that they were looking for, we did see a lot of fish on beds today.
We looked in 4 major creeks today, but we only saw big numbers of fish in two of them (the first two creeks we checked). I was shocked that we didn't see many fish in the other two creeks since we had seen so many in the first two. Water clarity varied some, and it could be that they were bedding a little deeper than we cold see.
Overall, we had a blast sharing stories and looking at a lot of nice fish while looking for their trophy.
Here's a pic of Ross with a nice one from today:
Lake Fork Report – 3/23/2012 – by Jason Hoffman
Finished the day with 24 in the boat, with some good quality fish, but no top end fish. That was disappointing, but from talking to others, it was a pretty tough day overall. I feel pretty good about what we were able to catch. We did lose a couple of fish that might have made a difference, but that is Lake Fork - lots of timber for them to wrap you up in.
We caught fish from 3-11 ft of water, but 4 ft seemed to be where our better fish came from. Drop shots worked best, and we caught a couple of crankbait fish as well. Here are Joe and Patrick with a couple of chunks:
I'm off for the next couple of days to attend my daughter's softball tournament. I'll be back on the water Monday and I'll have another report Monday night. Best of luck this weekend!!!