Wow, time has gotten away from me once again. It has been a busy spring with lots of great clients and some great fishing. In early April we finally got a great rain in our watershed that brought Lake Fork up three foot in about 24 hours and is now less than two foot low. Have had some weather interruptions but overall temperatures have been wonderful, even summer like until a few days ago! Brrr, the last few mornings have been really cool.

There are so many ways to catch bass right now that is is hard to begin. I am trying to get out right at daylight and get on the Topwater bite in the shallows. We have some great flooded weeds, aquatic grass, and beany bushes now that all hold fish. The cover is holding lots of spawning bass and you can cast back behind the weeds like the Pond weed and get a bite before it gets hung in the weeds. If you don’t get a bite, just hop it over and possibly get a bite on the outside edge of the weeds. Just don’t be afraid of casting behind the great cover or you will be losing out. Other baits that are productive are the Buzzbaits, Frogs, and weightless Flukes. If there is cloud cover the topwater bite can be awesome, but it is not necessary. With having new beds being made, bass dropping eggs, and wads of fry all in the same area, there are days when you can catch bass on the Topwater all day long. It can be slow, but it can pay off really well.

Some days, by mid morning or so, I will go to a shallow diving crankbait in a shad color and focus on secondary points. A weightless fluke or one with a small split shot a few inches from the fluke in the White Ice or a Shad color is working well also. I am fishing the Flukes fairly fast on the points. A lot of people are also using Drop Shots and Jigging Spoons in the deeper water to catch large amounts of small bass. Some of the bigger bass are being caught on DD-22’s or Carolina rigs in about 15 ft. of water. Plastics like lizards and creature baits rigged Texas style are working well in the heavy timber along with a Shaky head with a Zoom trick worm in Spicy Craw. One of our favorite baits right now if we don’t have a lot of wind is the Wacky Rig with a straight worm in Watermelon/Red, Watermelon/Candy, Green Pumpkin/Green flake, and Spicy Craw. It looks like we will have a spawn for a few more weeks although a lot of them will be caught in about 5 – 10 ft. of water.

May and June can be some really fun fishing on Lake Fork, I just love this time of the year. We will continue to use the Topwater Baits and Buzzbaits on a daily basis as there will lots of bass guarding the fry. We will also start using a lot more of the White or Shad colored Flukes or Magic Shads, sometimes fished on a double rig. Nothing like getting two bass on at the same time! This is the time of the year when we will also start moving out more towards the points and some of the creek channels using Texas Rigs, Jigs, and Carolina Rigs. The Crankbait bite will just keep getting better also.

Around the first full moon in June, I will start my night fishing on Lake Fork. Day fishing will be good also, but I love night fishing around the full moon when the bass will move up in the shallows to feed at night. We prefer to fish areas of the lake that are shallow water with deep water access. For the night fishing, Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits can be really good, but my overall favorite is Jigs and big Worms in Blue Fleck, Black/Blue, and Black/Neon.

We hope that you will be able to use some of the information that we have provided for you and have a great fishing trip or trips. If you would like to learn more about the techniques that we use, or more about Lake Fork and the patterns of the bass, we hope that you will give us a call or email us and book your trip. Our goal is to help you catch more bass or bigger bass, but we also book Crappie and Sandbass trips upon request. Come June, we will be booking 1/2 night trips for Crappie fishing from 7:00 p.m. – 12:00 and we will fillet and bag your catch. We will book for Sandbass anytime and we fillet and bag those for you also. If you are wanting to have a fish fry, give us a call and we will do our best to help you get enough Sandbass or Crappie to fill your limit. Individuals or group trips welcome at all times.

Please don’t forget about water safety! Also, use your sunscreen, drink lots of water and wear a cap or hat and sunglasses!

Tight Lines and Big Bass,

Barbara and Mark Stevenson
Lake Fork Guide Service