Dock Talk - Lake Fork Crappie Catchin'




"Had Kent and Chas out yesterday on Fork. Started off in an area with very few fish. Made a jump and landed on some but they did not want to bite. That was how the day went. Lots of fish but they were not aggressive. We had many come off and thats a sign of them just not inhaling the bait. Only thing we could do was keep dropping and one would bite here and there. In the end they ended up with a cooler full and got off the lake before it got too hot.

"Our best depth was 20-25’ water with most fish suspended 12-16’ deep. My shallow bite has gone cold. Need some cooler weather to push more fish up.
Hancock’s Guide Service

"Had an old schoolmate Rowdy out with me on Fork yesterday. We took it easy and had a fun day.

I knew catching his 25 was going to be easy so we checked out a few different areas. Couple paid off and a couple didn’t but we had some nice fish before it was over.

The past few days have not been without some struggles with the moon. More fish refuse to bite then do bite. How do you combat that? Well you cover water and just drop on more fish. I can tell if the fish will bite after his first reaction. If he chases it and doesn’t bite or turns away I just move on. Most that do bite will do it immediately. Make that first presentation count and cover water and you can put together a good box of fish.

Mack Curry 903-474-5339

"Had Bob out again this morning on Lake Fork and today he brought his duck hunting buddy Mike with him. Mike had never caught a 2 lbs crappie and we were on a mission to get him one.

The first few hours were terrible. Same pattern and area as yesterday but just a different tree line and tree after tree we either didn’t see fish or saw a few fish that wouldn’t bite. Don’t know that we had more than 2 fish the first 2 hours.

Finally started to pick up a fish here and there but they had to work for them a lot. Decided to abandon the 18-25ft trees and made a big move. It paid off with some giants up shallow and Mike didn’t end up with a 2 lbs crappie but he caught 2 over 2 lbs and 2 just under as well. Not bad for his first trip with me.

Those big fish were up as shallow as 10ft in some trees. Some as close as 4-6 ft to the surface. A few were mixed in with channel cats as well on the same shallow tree. So different than yesterday’s pattern. They still caught everything on minnows today and ended up with 42 fish on the table when the dust settled.

Jacky Wiggins Guide Service

Photos courtesy of Guides




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Lake Fork Current Weather Alerts

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Lake Fork Weather Forecast

Tuesday

Rain Showers

Hi: 46

Tuesday Night

Chance Rain Showers

Lo: 23

Wednesday

Mostly Cloudy

Hi: 32

Wednesday Night

Partly Cloudy

Lo: 17

Thursday

Mostly Sunny

Hi: 35

Thursday Night

Mostly Cloudy

Lo: 23

Friday

Mostly Cloudy

Hi: 37

Friday Night

Cloudy

Lo: 32


Lake Fork Water Level (last 30 days)


Water Level on 2/18: 403.12 (+0.12)



Lake Fork

Fishing Report from TPWD (Feb. 12)

GOOD. Water Stained; 57 degrees; 0.28 feet below pool. Bass are good in 3-5 feet of water with squarebill crankbaits, and chatterbaits. Texas rigs and Viper XP Jigs are good around big timber in 3-8 feet. Carolina rigs are fair on the main lake and secondary points in 8-15 feet with ring frys. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Warm sunny days are dictating black bass movements. Try and target fish where the water is 55 degrees or warmer water. To fly fish for bass try game changers and craw patterns in shallow water. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The Lake Fork crappie bite is really good this week if you can stand the cold weather and beat the winds. Patterns are changing day to day with fish on the move and the weather so up and down. Some days they will stack up on bridges and the next they will disappear. Timber in 14-34 feet seems to be the most consistent pattern. If you find a crappie and hold an artificial bait above it still enough most fish are crushing that bait. Try using hand tied jigs in two different profiles. Smaller profile jigs in deeper water mid lake or on bridges. When you head north to shallower and muddier water switch to longer and bigger profile jigs. Try to fish lighter, more neutral colors in deeper water and darker colors in shallower water. Soft plastics and minnows will still get you bit as well. We should see the fish push shallower and shallower over the next few weeks with warmer temps in the forecast after the next week. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

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