Lake Fork , Texas Fishing Report

The fishing is getting hot at Lake Fork right now with warmer temperatures finally arriving and water temperatures increasing to a range adequate for the annual spawn to take off. This is a relief after all the dismal cold days that we have had this winter. I can’t remember a year that I wore thermal underwear for as many consecutive fishing days as I have this year. I am not going to put them up just yet though as it is spring and you just never know when the next cold blast will strike.

Water conditions right now are real good still and getting better as the days go by. We have plenty of water with levels above full pool at 403.40 which is about 5 inches high. The water temperatures have been starting off in the high 40’s and moving as high as 57 degrees at the peak of the day the past couple days. I expect with these next few days of almost 70 for highs and 40-50 for lows to see water temps hold consistently in the 50’s with some areas reaching 60. This will kick things off big time!

Best baits right now have been a 1/2–5/8 oz red/orange lipless crank bait. Shad patterns have done well lately also. Ripping these baits off the shallow grass beds in 2-8 ft of water is the key to attracting a reaction strike from these big females that are staging in preparation to spawn. The chatter bait has been my second best producer right now with the water temperatures in transition. I like the 3/8-1/2 oz white, white/chartreuse, and even red has been really good. Fishing these over the grass in the same manner as the lipless crank bait is the ticket, especially in the thicker grass or areas that the coots have routed through. Talon 3/8-1/2 oz spinner baits in the same colors as the chatter bait have been catching a few fish also. www.talonlures.com I have yet to get a jig bite going but am still keeping it close by as we see these water terms rising. The big bass should really start eating it good any day and man is that some fun fishing! Talon also a great flipping jig and are awesome for flipping stumps and lay downs adjacent to spawning areas for a real trophy bass. I will opt for the 1/2 oz size the majority of the time in black/blue, black/blue/purple, bama bug, or Texas craw with a black/blue or green pumpkin Berkley Chigger Craw as a trailer.

As these fish start to get active on beds plastics fished in these same areas will dominate all other baits on most days. I rig up all my Abu Garcia Vendetta worm rods and Revos reels up with 15-17 lb. Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon for two reasons. 1) This line is very strong and sensitive. When fishing for big bass where the bites are very subtle most of the time, you need it to detect even the slightest “tick” and it’s also strong enough to get a big fish out of heavy cover. 2) Its invisible in the water. To properly fish these baits you MUST fish them slow and that means the bass get a chance to look at your bait for a while before they decide to eat it. You will get a lot more bites with fluoro than mono especially with the spring fishing pressure.

I am using several different types of plastic baits and presentations when fishing the spawning areas. A wacky rigged Berkley Powerbait Heavyweight Sink Worm and Fat Sink Worm are very good. www.berkley-fishing.com

Best colors are green pumpkin, black/blue, breen, and watermelon. On the weightless or slightly weighted t-rig I am using senkos, Berkley Sinking Minnows, flukes, and Berkley Jerk Shads in a variety of colors like watermelon red, green pumpkin, watermelon candy, June bug, pearl, and others. Texas rigging some of these same baits as well as a Berkley Chigger Craw is best when the wind gets up enough where fishing weightless is not an option. Don’t forget about a swim bait either in the wind. A 5” or 6” Berkley Hollow Body is excellent for catching a monster bass in the spring!

If you are headed out to Lake Fork this year and would like to book a guided trip, feel free to email me at lakeforktrophybass@yahoo.com or you can reach me by phone at (903)736-9888. You can also get more information about Lake Fork by visiting my website www.officiallakeforktrophybass.com or join my Facebook page to see up to date information about what is going on at Lake Fork. Big thanks to all my sponsors: Ranger Boats, Mercury Outboards, “I Am Second”, Berkley, Abu Garcia, All Star, Oakley, Talon Lures, Interstate Batteries, Line & Lure, BTS Protectant, Navionics, Sure Life, and newest addition DFW MRI.

Read 1 John 3:1
Tight Lines and God Bless,
James Caldemeyer

The water temps have varied this week on Lake Fork ranging from 46 to settling at 49 to50 late in the afternoon. The water temps should warm up and begin to stay warm with the warmer nights we are suppose to be getting. Look for the bass to turn on and begin to move more towards the back of the creeks during the next week or so. All of our fish have come out of 3 to 8 feet of water. Most of the time in the grass or very close to the grass. A Chatter bait and a 3/8oz Spinner bait with nickel and gold willow leaf blades has worked best for me. Also lipless crank baits in red/orange, and craw patterns have been good, these baits have been the most consistent of all the baits I have thrown.

In the creeks I mean from the mouth all the way to the back. Find thick grass located in 3 to 8 feet for the best results. Some days it seems like they are out in the open grass flats and then the next day they are close to the trees located within the grass beds. This has been easy to figure out and seems to hold to every place I fish. The key to catching fish right now is to cover a lot of water, the bass are slowly moving in and they are scattered over the grass so keep on the move. Creeks that have produced some good fish for us this week are the East and West field of Glad Creek. Glad Creek always turns on early and has some of the best grass on the lake, and is one of the best early spawning creeks on Lake Fork, The bass in Glad Creek are fixing to explode with a few more days of warm weather. Today we were fishing the east field of Glad, and a boat not far from us I seen the guy in the back of the boat get the net for his partner, after a lot of high fives And pictures I ask him how much she weighed he said 10lbs 6oz this bass was so full of eggs it looked like she was going to pop, he said he caught her on a Chatter Bait.

Also we have had some good success this week on a suspending jerk bait these baits will produce Big Bass this time of year. I have been throwing a 6 to 7 inch model my best colors have been a Black back/Silver side orange Belly and a chrome/blue back. I have been fishing these baits in the same places as the lipless crank baits with good results, it has been very good as a back up bait to pick up a few fish behind the lipless cranks. Work these baits with light twitches and long pause, when you do go to twitch the bait use a light twitch or two then let it sit again most bites have occurred while the bait is sitting still. Today late in the day we left Glad Creek and went to bird island and with in 45 minutes we put 5 bass in the boat and one that weighed 8lbs 12oz all on a Suspending Jerk bait.

The pre spawn bass are on the move, and March is one of the best months to catch a bass over 10 pounds. If you would like to book a trip and get in on this pre spawn action you can reach me on my Cell 903-629-5085 or 903-629-7699.

Despite a bitterly cold winter, the bass are hanging out in their typical prespawn locations. Many are even in the very backs of creeks in 2' of 42 to 48 degree muddy water. As soon as we get a significant warming trend the bite will become consistent and bass will start bedding. In the meantime, the bite has been very slow to fair at best most days.

The cold temps have been especially hard on the relatively fragile threadfin shad and there have been a number of significant shad kills. That's a windfall for the bass, and they're getting a lot of easy meals as a result. The good news is that the bass we're catching are downright obese and full of shad. The bad news is that food is so readily available that they aren't having to work very hard to eat and that makes it tough to catch them on lures. As opposed to normal when I favor areas where I'm seeing shad in the water, lately we haven't been able to get bit in areas where there's a lot of bait. Basically, if you're seeing a number of shad struggling in the area, we're normally not getting bit in those spots.

As the lake warms, we're going to have a very good spring this year. The extra flooded shallow cover and the very well fed bass will make for a very productive spawn and a lot of heavy fish. In the meantime, plug away in key areas and you'll eventually connect with some big ones. My report is large unchanged from my last one and will remain that way until the spawns gets going in March.

Lake Conditions: The lake is full and more stained than normal, plus cooler than normal. The lake level is currently 403.01', right at full pool. The water clarity is clearer on the south end, getting more stained as you head up the lake, and quite muddy in some creeks up north. Water temps are reading 45 to 47 in the main lake, while 51 was the warmest we found in the creeks yesterday.

Location Pattern: From late-December through much of March, I concentrate on the early prespawn and staging fish on points and along edges of flats or creek channels. Areas with submerged vegetation (primarily hydrilla, milfoil, or coontail) for cover will typically have the most active fish. While about any grassy area will hold a few fish, start your search in areas that have lots of spawning fish in late February through March. It stands to reason that the coves that hold the most spawning fish in early spring will have the most prespawn fish in the winter. I've found fish in grass anywhere from the very backs of creeks to main lake flats, with about 2/3 the way back in creeks being most productive lately.

As I say each spring, bear in mind that the absolute water temperature is not nearly as important now as the recent water temperature trend. For instance, water temps that are showing 52 degrees can result in slow fishing if the temps were 58 a couple days ago. In contrast, fishing can be great if the temps warm up to 50 while they were 44 a few days before. In general, look for bass on the flats and farther back in creeks during warming trends; conversely, drop back to points and main lake grassbeds after cold fronts. Finally, the day of and the day after cold fronts can be absolutely miserable to fish, but these frontal days after a long warming trend are usually the most productive times to fish.

Presentation Pattern: A few simple lures produce big bass each winter from grasslines and creek channels. First and foremost are lipless crankbaits in ½ or ¾ oz, like the Lucky Craft LV500 and LVR D-7. Red and crawfish colors are most popular and they often work well, although oddball colors often produce better on any given day. Buzzing these over the top of the grass on a quick retrieve is normally best, but after cold fronts, letting the bait fall and ripping these out of the grass will trigger most of the bites. Lipless cranks are notorious for losing fish, so I've gone to the 8' Dobyns 804CB cranking rod. You can whip baits a country mile and it is so well balanced that it feels like having a little 6'6" rod in your hands. The 804CB has plenty of backbone to rip baits free from grass, yet a soft tip to let the bass eat the bait deeply and to keep them on. And a long rod moves a lot of line and keeps steady pressure on fish, resulting in more landed lunkers. If you're out at the lake, run by Lake Fork Tackle's pro shop in Emory and check it out for yourself. ½ oz Redemption spinnerbaits with tandem or double willow blades with white or chartreuse and white skirts will produce some really large bass in the same areas that the lipless cranks work, especially on windy and cloudy days. For a true giant, try swimming a 4.5" Live Magic Shad on the back of a ½ oz Phenix Vibrator Jig and fish it in the same areas you'd throw a spinnerbait. With the spinnerbait, mono like 28 lb PowerSilk line works best, while 30 to 50 lb braided line works better with the lipless cranks and vibrating jigs to help rip them through the grass.

When the bite slows or the conditions are sunny and calm, I'll switch to a suspending jerkbait or pitch a jig and a Texas rig. Lucky Craft's model 100SP Pointers in gold or chrome patterns are my traditional choices, although the new Gunmetal Shad & Phantom Chartreuse Shad are my new favorites. Work these with long pauses over the grass and along the edges. A long rod with a forgiving tip helps land big fish that just slap at these baits, so I throw them on a Dobyns 705CB cranking rod. Match it with 12 to 17 lb Fluorohybrid Pro, a new line that is as clear and sensitive as fluorocarbon, yet as smooth and easy handling as mono. For jigs, I go with the new ½ oz black and blue MPack jig from Lake Fork Trophy Lures and pair it with a matching Fork Craw or Hyper Freak trailer in the blue bruiser color. For the Texas rig, I'll pitch a Lake Fork Flipper or Hyper Freak in black neon or blue bruiser with a 3/8 oz Mega Weight. Work your jig or Texas rig very slowly along creek channels or through deep grass for a great shot at a lunker.

Cover lots of water until you get bit. Once you catch one, work the area over thoroughly with multiple passes, employing several different baits. Fish tend to stack up in key staging areas during the winter and these spots will replenish themselves with more fish during the prespawn as more and more big bass move shallow. Find some good staging spots and you'll have a milk run of honey holes now through March.

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 my web site, where your satisfaction is guaranteed.

Hello from Lake Fork. I am still looking to book February 20, 21 and March 7, 13, 14 and April 25. Give Kerstin a call at 903-918-0755 for booking information.

I don’t think I have ever been more excited to see February as I am this year. December and January were very cold and kept me on the hot water lakes longer than usual. We are ready for a warming trend and get that water temperature to the magic 60 degree mark.

Historically, February on Lake Fork is known for some giant bass. This month the males will be headed to the shallows looking for a sandy bottom to make a bed. The big females will be close by, waiting for 60 to 62 degree water temperature to lay their eggs. Many times this temperature can be found in isolated spots on the north end of the lake. I have found 60 degree water every February since 2005. The best spots will be in the very backs of the creeks on the north bank. These areas are protected by the cold fronts wind and get the most sunlight throughout the day.

When fishing early February, I will stick to only a few baits. First, a lipless crankbait in red, chartreuse, or gold in half to three quarter ounce with quality strong sharp hooks. I will throw this bait on a 7 foot Heavy Custom Angle rod and a 7:1 high speed reel spooled with 50 pound power pro braided line. The purpose of the heavy action and braided line is the advantage it gives fishing in the grass. Second, I will have a Santone Jig with a Gene larew Biffle Bug or Salt Craw as a trailer. I will use the same Custom Angle rod and same reel / line as the rattle trap for the jig. Third, is a Grande Bass Rattlesnake on a shakey head. The Rattlesnake will be rigged up on a Custom Angle Medium Heavy 6’6 with 12 lb fluorocarbon. These three set ups will catch fish on just about any day on Lake Fork in February.

When scouting for an area to target, look for grass. In early February, look for the deep grass with ledges close to the spawning flats. I like to try Birch Creek, White Oak, Wolf, Little Caney, Bell, Long Branch and Glade. Any of these creeks will have an abundance of spawning activity this month. Start at the mouth of the creeks with the Jig and work your way shallower. Switch back and forth between the jig and shakey head. Try different colors because this can and will change daily. I usually pull out 4 or 5 different colors that morning and have them on the deck and readily available to make a quick change. This will help you develop a pattern quickly.

Make sure you have had all of your preventive maintenance done on your boat for 2010. Billy and Wayne at Sartin Marine are filling up quickly with work, so give them a call soon so you are not in a waiting line to have this work done. Check your trolling motor power, depth finders, battery connections, hoses (as they will dry rot) and wheel bearings. Check your lug nuts and tire pressure. Lastly, a good wash and wax will not hurt your boat either.

Take a look at your fire extinguisher to make sure it is still good, life jacket buckles and zippers, make sure your throw cushion didn’t walk off. All of this will help make your first trip back on the lake much more enjoyable.

Please remember that the sun will still cause damage to your eyes while fishing in January. So wear your Costa Del Mar polarized sunglasses anytime the sun is shining. I will also testify that no other sunglasses will provide the sight fishing ability that Costa Del Mars do. I know this because many of my clients come out with me using other brands. Every single time they have to borrow my Costas to see what I am seeing.

I hope these tips help you catch the bass of your dreams. Please know that I am always here to try and answer any questions you might have. Myself and several other Guides that I work with are available for public speaking, such as bass club meetings, boy scout meetings etc. at no cost to you. We can go over any topics related to Lake Fork or Bass Fishing, Boating etc.

Please practice C.P.R. (Catch, Photo, and Release). It takes many years for these fish to grow to their trophy size. By practicing a quick release, it allows other anglers to enjoy the same experience as you. Replica mounts can be made for your wall that look better and last longer than a real mount. Remember life jackets and kill switches any time the outboard motor is running or anytime you feel it would just be safer to wear it. Your safety is #1!

Lake Fork Day and Night Guide Service uses only professional Lake Fork Guides to ensure your date is available for booking. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Corporate and Group trips – no problem. Please feel free to contact me anytime with questions about Lake Fork, Monticello, Welsh or booking information at 903-342-3497. Or visit http://www.lakeforkdayandnight.us/ for more information. References are available upon request.

Lake Fork Day and Night endorses the following sponsors: Custom Angle Rods, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Santone Jigs, Gene Larew Baits, Grande Bass Baits and Sartin Marine.

This has been my toughest winter on Lake Fork since it went through the virus. The conditions are so good that it's hard to locate those hotspots that hold more than one fish. There's more grass and more water than I can ever recall in the winter, so it takes a lot more effort to cover an area than it would if the water was down. I haven't had a lot of trips this winter, but my best trip on Lake Fork this winter was less than average. So, I've been spending more time at the power plant lakes.
I do believe we can look forward to an awesome spawn. There is tons of good water and the lake is so full now I don't think it can possibly muddy up as bad as it did in previous years. It does look like we will have the floating grass to deal with, so the fish won't be able to spawn in many of the locations they normally would. But I'm looking forward to it nonetheless.

I've been fishing both Monticello and Welsh and have done well on both lakes. I had some good days fishing for spawning bass last month on Monticello. Recently, I had a couple of trips on Welsch and had some of the best topwater fishing I've had in years.

It's a toss up which lake to go to. Welsh is a better tournament lake because it has the 18" limit whereas Monticello has a slot. Both lakes are about the same size and only have one ramp. Monticello charges $2/person whereas Welsch doesn't. Welsh has more hydrilla, but Monticello has more lily pads and cattails. Monticello has a bridge that divides the lake, making it have a current, which Welsh doesn't have. The bridge also divides the water temp, so one side is 10 degrees warmer than the other. Welsh is typically a little warmer than Monticello. Both lakes have been around for a long time and produced huge bass a long time ago. I believe Monticello fish are heavier, but Welsch fish fight harder. Welsh is a bit farther from the Metroplex. Both lakes have great water temperatures and you can catch fish on just about any lure you want.

Your best shot for a giant will always be Fork, but this winter the power plant lakes have been much more productive for me. If you're interested, you can see my available dates and book online at http://fishingguidenow.com/bookonline.cfm?guideID=2

I recently fished Lake Welsh and Monticello. As usual, we caught our biggest fish on Fork. But, we got more action on the power plant lakes. Both of those lakes are in good shape. Monticello is so full, the cattails are 3-4 foot deep. Welsh is also full and the hydrilla is practically matted on a good portion of it. We caught the best numbers of fish on Monticello with a wide variety of baits including Texas rigged worms & crawworms, Carolina rigs, drop shots, crankbaits, and tailspinners. We were only there a short time. I'm certain we could have caught fish on any bait. But most of the fish were tiny.
We caught fish a little bigger on Welsh. We even found them schooling throughout the day. We did best on flukes, rattle traps, and topwaters. We also found a few on the beds, but the ones I saw were tiny.

If you would like, you can receive my fishing reports by email.All you need is your name and email address. If you are receiving reports by email and wish to discontinue receiving them, simply go to www.bassfishing.org/reports/unsubscribe.cfm

Home	Links	Chat	Guides	Tackle Shops	Boats4sale
Fish'n Kids	Pro Tips	Tackle Mfrs	Boat Dealers