29 Sep 2013 - Chaney Point

The last weekend in September brought some windy conditions on the main lake humps and points... which for some is an eye-rolling frustration...however, for those who know bass... this weather can produce some nice fishing, without the crowds!

We launched from Chaney point and spent the morning between Chaney and Dale Creeks. We noticed quite a bit of top-water activity around the banks and timber on either side of the creek, leading out to the main lake. A Gold 3" spoon and a 1/2 oz White/Chartruese, Booyah Tux & Tails Spinner bait seemed to work best for us in these conditions.

As the morning wore on, we moved out to the main lake and hit a few points. We ran into a bevy of boats on these points, all struggling (to some extent) to maintain their positions in the face of the northern winds (Chaney Point is on the south-side, therefore, lots of open water for the wind to traverse). A few of these boats seemed to be locked onto a school of bass.. I watched two boats pull in 5-8 fish in 30 minutes... however, every fish I saw seemed to be small... probably even under the 14" minimum.. so, we moved on...which, we probably shouldn't have...in hindsight...small fish are better than donating lures to the timber army.

So, although we had yet another blast and witnessed troves of fish be landed, we didn't have as productive of a weekend as we would have liked..but, that's why we obsess and spend tons of $ on this hobby...I just can't get it off my mind...

This weekend, back to the lake... not quite sure where I will fish (depends upon the amount of participants in this weeks' tournament, The Lake Fork Rat-L-Trap Shootout.. need to fix our live well, so I can start joining these tourneys! (it will not fill up! - ARGH)

15 September 2013 - Birch Creek

Well, well, well... after this past weekend, it seems my plan I laid out at the conclusion of my last post, was indeed clairvoyant!

"Next weekend, we hit the northern part of the lake and the hydrilla beds! Weightless Watermelon/Pearl Lake Fork Frog Hydrilla, Birch Creek, 0700" - Ricky Rick's Lake Fork Fishing Report

8 lbs, 1030, mid-lake hump at Birch Creek opening
< 5 ft, silver/black 3/4 oz Rattle-Trap

 So, Chris Thomas and I hit the lake with that plan in mind.. we pulled up to the hydrilla beds around 0630-0645 and started throwing Lake Fork Frogs & one of their new, soon to be released, Lake Fork Magic Poppers (thanks Anne & Ronnie Parker!), which was outstanding! Unfortunately, I tied the popper onto bad line and lost it when a bass exploded on it... now I have to wait for the public release to try it again! I encourage you to give one of the beautifully hand-painted, perfectly balanced, superb action, top water popper's a shot!

5 lb, 0700, Birch Creek hydrilla, 3 ft,
Watermelon/Pearl Lake Fork Frog


0700 - While throwing my LFT Frog onto the hydrilla, in 3 ft of water, in the northeastern side of Birch Creek, a 5 lb bass came out from beneath the hydrilla and attacked my sinking frog...












3-4 lbs, 0715, Birch Creek
 hydrilla, 3 ft, Watermelon/Pearl 
Lake Fork Frog

We continued to assault the hydrilla beds and landed another couple slot-fishing the 2-4 lb range using the same tactics.

By 0830, the top-water action was dead and we decided to pull out the crank baits...to no real avail. Then around 1000, we made the move on out to a hump on the main-lake. We chose the hump just outside the boat lane, at the mouth of Birch Creek. The depth ranged from 30' to < 3' on the hump. As we approached, I threw my Rattle-Trap across the hump 1 or 2 times before I got hung up on the small tree remnants on the hump... or so I thought. When he hit my lure, it felt like a hard stop, with no give..then, I saw a fish break the water a bit deeper than I thought I was...that's when it donned on me that I was not hung, I had a big, healthy fish (swore it was double digit the whole retrieve back). After nearly destroying my boat and tackle to get to the fish net, we pulled in what turned out to be a 8 lb fish (I really need to start measuring the length too!).

8 lbs, 1030, mid-lake hump at Birch Creek opening
< 5 ft, silver/black 3/4 oz Rattle-Trap

As it turned out, this would be the last fish of our day and trip, and it was a good day for me! Happy to be back in the action, catching 5 lb and 8 lb bass after just a couple of trips back to refresh Lake Fork fishing skills!

The McDonald's Big Bass Splash was held on the 20th, 21st and the 22nd. More than 2500 constants fished for more than $500,000 in cash and prizes. Don Atchley from Grandfield, OK, won the grand prize with a 10.61 pound Bass and took home a new Legend boat and a new Dodge Ram truck.

I ventured out Saturday in the middle of this huge tournament and 15 minutes after I launched, I discovered my trolling motor batteries were dead. Needlessly to say, it was not a productive day on the water.

This up coming weekend (28 September 2013), my Dad will be joining me, as we welcome in Fall fishing! My Plan: Top-waters early in shallow creeks, followed by shallow running square bill crank baits (sexy shad) and Texas-rigged, 10-12 inch worms in the blue fleck color.

07 September 2013

This past weekend my best friend, Chris Thomas and I decided to check out the Mad Dog Moore Memorial Bass Tournament (130+ teams), so we grabbed a room at Oak Ridge Marina, which hosted the tournament.

We decided to  fish Little Mustang during the morning and the south eastern main lake points in the evening.

The morning bite was produced with a blue-fleck Hyper Freak from Lake Fork Trophy Lures and what I heard later, the XPS XXX Shad Crank bait, fished just on the outside edge of the Hydrilla, on the northern part of the lake, produced many slot-fish.

My buddy, Chris, had some luck with a medium running bass colored crank-bait.

We took a break during the afternoon and watched some of the weigh-in at Oak Ridge, where there were just 3 fish over the slot...the top two were 8.38 lbs and 8.5 lbs. This made me feel a bit better, as it appears the big 10+ lber's were no where to be found. But, October's coming, that means big bass....and the tournaments. I can't wait!

We then re-launched around 6 pm and hit the points between highway 34 bridge and the damn, with no luck, but we did get some awesome pictures. We finished out the night with Chris catching a catfish and a snapping turtle... (BTW, they are not so slow!)

Bottom line, it was hot and the fishing was slow, however, the lake was beautiful and seeing the weigh-in was fun.

Next weekend, we hit the northern part of the lake and the hydrilla beds!

Ricky Rick Returns To Lake Fork

After a 10 year hiatus, I have returned to the Top Bass Lake in the world, Lake Fork

The lake now looks DRASTICALLY different. Most of the trees I remember are no longer visible! Of course, what that means is that they have succumbed to weathering and decomposition and are now somewhere, at the bottom of the lake...making Lake Fork's fishing that much better by affording underwater structure for the enormous bass to ambush shad and other creatures. However, this same under water timber also provides the bass' prey cover and protection from wandering predators.

Although most of the timber I remember from a decade ago appears to gone, this does not mean that Lake Fork is cleared out enough to welcome jet or water skiers. This is still a significantly dangerous lake when not traveling in the designated boat lanes.

I spent Labor Day Weekend (8/31/2013-9/2/2013) at the lake. I arrived Saturday, checked into http://hooklineandsinkerlf.com off State Highway 154 in Quitman, Texas. The room was extremely large, had a small refrigerator and DirectTV (no movie channels), although the tv itself could hardly be seen due to its diminutive size and the height of the shelf it sat on. The room did NOT have a phone, which would not have been an issue if A. I received cell service (att and t-mobile) or B. the wi-fi password I was given would have worked... oh well.

Now, let's get to the fishing.

My father and I decided to fish little Caney Creek Sunday and had very little luck, although the catfish angling seemed to be in the 'good' range. Sunday was extremely hot (105+), which made the fishing slow for us. However, the following day, Monday saw significant amounts of over-night and mid-morning storms which drastically cut the temperature and extended the morning bite.

We experienced some luck crank-baits, and not much else. Silver/Blue 3/4 oz rattle trap and 1/2 oz KVD shad produced for us, although the fish were in or just below the slot. A lot of fun, but no Fork Monsters...yet...

I will be back out this weekend (9/7/13), armed with additional lure knowledge and lures (Lake Fork Soft Plastics) http://www.lftlures.com/ - I URGE you to check them out.. expecially the little baby creature and hyper freaks... I will fill you in on my experience next week.