Hawaiibassfishing Forum

Howdy,
My wife and I took our 2nd annual Lake Fork trip. We fished on March 26, 2008 with pro guide Larry Barnes. The days leading up to this day were very windy with some rain, so we woke up not knowing if we would be able to fish or not. To drive 260 miles from Houston and not be able to fish would have really been bad. Luckily, the conditions were just barely good enough to fish.
So we pull up to the first spot and my wife throws her split shot rigged Zoom Lizard out and on her very first cast...WHAM! A 7-8 pound bass hits and starts fighting and jumping like crazy! Unfortunately, because she was so startled to hook up on her first cast, she forgot to set the hook and the fish gets off! We were bummed but encouraged by the good start. If I had known how the rest of the day was gonna go, I wouldn't have been so upbeat. That fish was by far the biggest one we saw that day.
The wind kept picking up and by late morning, it was really howling. It's hard to feel the bites when the wind is blowing the line around. When we were running to other spots, it was like riding a bull. We were getting thrown around like rag dolls and my wife's bad back was hurting.
Anyway, we continued to fish and I ended up with 7, my wife boated 1 and lost the big one, and Larry caught about 4. On most trips and on most lakes in this country, that would've been a good day, but the standard is set so high on Lake Fork that it was a little bit of a disappointment. It would've been great if at least one of our fish was a HAWG, but not this time. My biggest one was about 4 1/2 lbs. The cold front, wind, and the fact that the spawn was about a week behind schedule made for a "better luck next time" day. I heard a few big ones were caught, but the numbers were down. About 3 days later, the action really picked up.
Hopefully, we will be back next year and try for a 10 pounder!

Lake Fork Marina is so much better than the place we stayed at last year. Nice rooms and super nice staff.

I rarely get to ride and fish from a boat

These are Larry's battle-worn tools of the trade. Shimano curado classics and newer citicas and Falcon Cara rods. Nice rods!

Lake Fork Tackle Live Magic Shad. This thing swims so realistically. Might be something to try at Lake Wilson.

My fishing partner. Lake Fork is being attacked by these water hyacinth plants that are choking out the little bays and creeks. They have to do something about it soon. Sections that we fished last year are now covered with this plant. Not as bad as S.molesta, but still bad. My wife fished with her custom Texas Sidewinder spinning rod and new Shimano Saros 3000F reel. Smooth as butter. 12 lb. Trilene XL line.

Action photo!

This was my best fish this time. About 4.5 lbs. Pictured are my Antares AR reel and the brand new Shimano Cumara that I bought the night before at the store at the motel. I couldn't resist the deal he gave me although I swore to never spend that much on a rod again after buying my Kistler. It worked great. So light and sensitive. Used fluorocarbon for the first time too. BPS XPS fluoro 17 lb. I like it a lot. It doesn't get torn up from logs like mono does, and it is very sensitive. I will be buying more fluorocarbon from now on, except for my wife's spinning reels. It sucks for that. Caught all my fish on a ZOOM lizard in green pumpkin. Split shot rigged (1/8 oz. bullet weight pegged 14" above the hook).

I took this photo because it looked like Taro!

Larry and I

Larry and one of his fish. He caught a 17 lb. bass on 2/14/88. It was the 2nd largest bass in Texas at the time and he nicknamed it Valentine. It lived in a tank at Lake Fork Marina for 3 years.

Here is a replica mount of Valentine in Moser's restaurant. Pictures don't do her justice. A 17 lb. bass looks GINOURMOUS in person.

Larry with Valentine. He emailed me yesterday and told me a client of his just caught a 10 pounder! Damn, why not me! I'll keep trying.

New BPS in Pearland, TX. My wife wants them to ban me from this place. My nephew and I had a lot of fun.

We had to get this shirt for our nephew Landen!

My wife was responsible for buying this, not me!

I ordered a Cabela's Mag Touch casting rod to be delivered to my in-law's house in Houston and this is how it arrived from UPS. Thankfully, the rod was intact.

Pflueger President reel. I couldn't pass up a good deal even though I prefer left-handed reels. BPS had it on a one-day special for $50 off. The free line they spooled it up with resembled wire, however.

I couldn't leave out a picture of SHAMU! We had "dinner with Shamu" at San Antonio Sea World.

Sounds like a great trip... Hope you got some of those shad lures for us to "test" at the lake. I'm ready when you are.

Oh, about Texas weather... just wait around a little bit, it will change. LOL

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Looks Like fun either way!!! I lived in Texas for 4 years and drove past lake fork but never stopped to fish it. I wish I would have.

If you wanna catch a 10+ these days you have to go to Mexico to El Sato. They catch more there then anywhere I think. I plan to hit it up in the next 2 years.

Man Skunked you didn't let the wife out fish you?? Looking at your pics and the lake in the back ground makes me really miss Texas bass fishing. Good catches though plus you had fun. That's all that matters. I see you spent some time at my favorite store. Everytime I go there I get lost in my own little world for hours upon hours! It's crazy what a store can do to a fisherman eh?

I think the new king of bass lakes in Texas is Falcon Reservoir. Did any of you see the Bassmaster Elite coverage on ESPN? Incredible! The downside was that hundreds of bass died due to the small livewells and hot weather. Poor planning on BASS' part. I hope the lake doesn't sustain permanent damage from that tournament. They should start doing the catch,weigh, and release like at the Toyota Classic at Lake Fork. Maybe save just one for the photo opp. at the weigh-in.

I forgot to mention my surprise when I walked into Lake Fork Marina's Office/tackle shop and saw a tank with two live peacock bass in it! It was the same butterfly type that we have here. I told the shopkeeper about it and he was surprised. The bigger one was about 6 pounds and they were driven across the country from Florida. Stupid me forgot to take a picture.

I saw the Falcon tournament. You better get there quick and beat the crowd. It will be overfished soon! Amazing bag limits! Something like 5-6lb average fish and the top 12 all weighed in over 100lbs with 132lbs winning.

Skunked,

Hey, look on the bright side, you still got to fish with the wife and had the chance to shop at Bass Pro shop.

Too bad the numbers were down, like you mentioned, there is always next year.

By the way, I like your choice of fishing tackle. I alway said, " you don't have to be good all the time, just look good trying with the bling, bling tackle"

Matter of fact, I'll be in Honolulu in a couple of days. Hope the Tuc's start to bite....Maybe we can hookup and wet the line....

Bass regards, Mel "kahuna bass"
Dark side live baiter and swim baiter......oh yah, "tackle ho" too

So Skunked...you gonna go back to Fork or try your luck at Falcon? Falcon does look pretty good. You might want to keep Alan Henry (near Lubbock) on your list as well. I read in this article someone put up a $100,000 prize if someone catches the new Texas state record from the waters during a tournament. That would be so unbelievably cool!

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/04 ... 1582.shtml

That sure would a good reason for our wives to NOT gripe about how much we fish, eh?

Frenzy,
I think I will just keep trying my luck at Fork because Falcon is too far and there's not as many places to stay or as many reputable guides there. I hear there's a lot of crime in the area too. Also, I want to visit the Freshwater Fishing Center in Athens which is not too far from Lake Fork. That is where they do the spawning of the Share Lunker bass and there's a lot of interesting things and exhibits for visitors.
From what I've read on the Texas Fishing Forum, Alan Henry has passed its prime already, even though it's not an old lake. No Share Lunkers this past season and poor catches during recent tournaments. I don't think there is a new state record currently swimming in any lake in Texas right now, but that's just my opinion. There hasn't been any fish even close to the record caught in years. I think there's just so much pressure on these waters and the amount of pollution in the air and in the water is making it hard for the fish to reach record size. I think the window of opportunity is closed. Pau.

Yeah, I see the Share A Lunker numbers are really down this year all over. I guess we'll just have to see what the future holds.

I'm leaving tonight for Texas again. I am gonna give Lake Fork another shot, this time with guide Tom Redington. He is also an FLW tour pro. The lake produced 2 14 pounders recently, so I hope the weather is good and the bite is on! Wish me luck, because I'll need it. (As I've mentioned before, I suck)

Good luck skunked! Catch one for me.