Arrived at Lake Fork Marina on 8/15/11 only to find that Lake Fork had evaporated to this:
Just kidding!!!!
The lake was 5.5 ft low, which is much better than some Texas lakes which are in really bad shape. Here are some pics I took around the motel's ramp area.
On 8/16, my wife and I were greeted right outside our room by our guide for the day, Ronnie Kelley www.lakeforkprofishingguide.com He is one of the younger guides, at age 28, but he already has a great reputation for putting his clients on some big fish. Here is a picture of my wife and the first fish of the day which was caught on a BPS Extreme rod, Daiwa Sol 2500 reel, and a shaky head worm rig:
She is such an advanced angler that she can catch fish while music is blasting in her ears and she can't even hear the guide's instructions! Unfortunately, that was the only fish of the day amongst the three of us! Things just didn't work out for us that day, despite Ronnie trying his best to get us bit. It was so hot, he wasn't feeling well, and despite being able to locate fish on his graph, they were just not in the mood to bite. I could tell he felt sick and he was also stressed out that we weren't catching anything. It was supposed to be a full day trip, but we decided to call it a day shortly after lunch. He even refused most of his payment because he felt bad about the fishing. Another reason is that he is strictly a big fish hunter. He didn't go to plan B and bust out the light line and small lures just to get some fish in the boat. He said that there's no point in that because people come to Lake Fork for the big bass, not to catch the same size fish they can catch at any ol' pond. I agreed with that, so we stuck with the big jigs. Even though we didn't catch a lot of fish, I was really impressed with Ronnie and wouldn't hesitate to hire him again or recommend him to others. Even with a pro who does this for a living, there's just some days when it just doesn't go well. I remembered Stan's saying..."that's why they call it fishing, not catching. He also showed me some pics of some huge fish he had just caught at Falcon Lake on the Texas/Mexico border. Wow!! I got some decisions to make about next year!
After parting with Ronnie, I wasn't sure what to do, since we had the room booked for two more nights. Well, I talked to my buddy at the Lake Fork Marina front desk/tackle shop and he said he had the perfect guide to salvage the trip because he is known for catching a lot of bass, with the occasional big fish too! I was hesitant because I didn't do any research on this guy and I wasn't planning on spending more money, but I decided to give it another try anyway.
We arranged to go out on a half day trip from 3pm to sundown the next day. I thought maybe the fishing would be better in the late part of the day when it was just a little cooler. Our guide was Eric Wright www.bestlakeforkguide.com Wow, this guy must be good or at least very confident with a website name like that! I very quickly found out that this guy is an awesome fisherman!! Even though he is only half my age, at age 20, he knows the lake like the back of his hand and can flat out whack 'em! He only recently started guiding after tearing up the local tournament scene and even foraying into the FLW tournaments. He knew that we (mostly my wife) just wanted to catch some fish so that we could go home happy, so we fished with dropshot rigs in spots where he knew would be holding fish, even if not 10 pounders.
Caught this one and several more like it on a Zoom Finesse Worm on a dropshot rig. It was fun catching fish with a technique I had never seriously fished before. I learned something new that day.
This lake is awesome!
Asian guy in a bass boat in Texas. Looks out of place!
Well, we caught several fish under a bridge, but when the action slowed, Eric took us to another spot, examined his graph, and idled up to a tree line. After several casts, I felt a tap on my finesse worm and set the hook. As soon as I did that, I felt the pull of a much bigger fish than what we had been catching under the bridge! Honestly, it didn't feel that strong, I guess because it wasn't making the blistering runs I am accustomed to from our tucs here. When it came up to the surface, I was pretty excited and so was Eric. I knew it wasn't close to a 10 pounder, but I suspected it had a chance of being a new personal best for me, and indeed it was! Eric measured it at 23". He didn't have a scale, but we estimated it at 7.5 lbs, which agreed with most online weight calculators that I have looked at.
Rod: Duckett Micro Magic 6'9" Med. Hvy. I bought this 2 days prior at a shop down the street from Lake Fork. This is the good white rod! I was totally unimpressed with the Abu Veritas when I saw them at Bass Pro Shops.
Reel: Shimano Curado 51E
Line: Seaguar Invis-X 15 lb. fluorocarbon
Lure: Zoom Finesse worm, texas rigged on a dropshot.
There's my wife with her headphones again!
A few more bass.
These white bass (sand bass) are threatening to ruin Lake Fork by competing against(and beating) the largemouths for food. The TPW has to do something before it's too late. The economies of the small towns around the lake depend heavily on the business that the bass fishing brings to the area, me being a prime example of this.
Eric Wright (Eazy-E) and I.
Turned out to be a good day. I think the conditions were better and the fish were just more active. We saw a lot of busting/schooling activity versus none the previous day. Eric easily caught at least twice as many as my wife and I did combined, but I had big fish of the day bragging rights! Eric is one heck of an angler. I wish I had that kind of skill.
Here are some other photos from our trip:
Some of the goodies I bought! Only 4 reels this time!
Academy stores had Curado E7's on clearance for $119, but they gave me an additional 10% off this one because it didn't have a box. Couldn't pass up a deal like that!
Stopped by Gary Yamamoto's shop in Mineola. Couldn't believe it when I saw they had the 2" white senkos on clearance still! I bought a few bags.
Stayed a night at the TEE PEE Motel in Wharton, TX. What a cool place!
My wife and her folks after we ate some of the best BBQ I've ever had at Hinze's BBQ in Wharton. I am having withdrawals right now!
My wife went crazy with buying 16 pairs of shoes! My Father-in-law asked if we don't sell shoes in Hawaii!! LoL!
When are they gonna open one of these in Hawaii? We've waited long enough!
I have to shop here at least 2 or 3 times during every Texas trip!
The Astros finally won a game we attended after losing the previous two.
Fireworks after every Friday night home game.
I liked the rod so much I had it shipped back home. I had originally planned to leave it at my in-laws' house until next year's fishing trip. I still hate the name though.
Despite the heat, we had a nice vacation. Always great to spend time with my in-laws and get away from work. Let's not forget the food! Love it! I have to lose the 10 pounds I gained now, plus the 10 pounds I never lost from last year! I will continue trying for that elusive double digit bass, or die trying! Thanks for reading.
Illegitimus Non Carborundum
did however catch 5 that were 5lbs and a whole bunch of 4's.