Big bass bonanza in Texas

After a nice little stint at home I am back down south for the next stop on the Bassmaster Elite Series taking place this week at Lake Fork in Texas.
If you are a fan of bass fishing you have likely heard of Lake Fork before. It is the shining star in Texas bass fishing, kicking out more trophy fish than any lake in the state, including the state record, an 18.18 pound specimen.
A reservoir that was created in the 70’s, Fork was stocked with Florida strain largemouth bass which have the genetics to grow larger than any other strain. It only took a few years before the fishing took off and it became a popular destination for anglers.
Early on, regulations were put into place to protect fish in the lake, including a protected slot limit for fish between 16 and 24 inches. All fish in this range must be released.
Anglers can keep a few fish under 16 inches and one over 24, which is a large seven or eight pound plus bass.
It is a lake specifically managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for trophy bass.
For our tournament this week, because of the slot size, we are not able to put bass in the livewell so we will have a marshal in our boat who will weigh the fish and then release them. If we catch a bass over 24 inches we may bring it in to the weigh-in, after which it will be released back into the lake.
Like all of our tournaments, our largest five fish each day will be recorded. Because of the great fishing, I’m okay with this format to get the opportunity to fish this unique lake.
While Lake Fork does not have a lot of regular tournaments, it does host several “big bass” events throughout the year and the lake attracts anglers from all over the World during March and April, the two most popular months to fish the lake.
There was a three-day event with the same format held at Lake Fork about five years ago put on by the now defunct Professional Anglers Association and Keith Combs, an Elite Series angler from Texas who will be fishing this week, won the tournament with a three day total over 110 pounds! That is over a seven pound average per fish!
If all the talk of big fish isn’t exciting enough, Toyota, the main sponsor for this event–which is called Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest–is giving out a brand new Tundra truck to the winner of big bass of the event, a fish that will most certainly be over 10 pounds.
This is the one tournament to get lucky at and catch the biggest fish!
I have fished Lake Fork a couple of times in the past, both in the fall so I have a little bit of familiarity with the lake.
My focus over the three days we get to prefish before the tournament starts on Thursday is going to be to fish offshore on main lake structure and use my electronics to find schools of bass.
Most of the bass on Lake Fork would have spawned back in March and while anglers will still catch some big fish up in shallow water, the best chance to find large groups of big fish is to fish offshore, which is my favourite thing to do.
Since Lake Fork is a relatively new lake there is still a lot of standing timber in it.
Some areas are literally like forests under water so that creates some issues with getting around and landing these big fish.
Most of the tackle that I will be using will be heavier than I would use at most lakes. Stronger hooks, thicker line and bigger baits will all be important.
It’s going to be an exciting week of fishing. My personal big bass is a 10 pound, 12 ounce fish I caught at Pickwick Lake in Alabama back in 2014, hopefully I can find a bigger one during the tournament this week!
The event starts on Thursday and runs through Monday next week so follow along on Bassmaster.com.