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

There are no active watches, warnings or advisories.

 

Lake Fork Weather Forecast

Friday

Rain Showers

Hi: 69

Friday Night

Chance Thunderstorms

Lo: 62

Saturday

Mostly Cloudy

Hi: 80

Saturday Night

Slight Chance Thunderstorms

Lo: 66

Sunday

Chance Thunderstorms

Hi: 80

Sunday Night

Slight Chance Thunderstorms

Lo: 55

Monday

Partly Sunny

Hi: 68

Monday Night

Mostly Clear

Lo: 53


Lake Fork Water Level (last 30 days)


Water Level on 3/28: 402.78 (-0.22)



Lake Fork

Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 26)

GOOD. Water Stained; 62 degrees; 0.32 feet below pool. Water temperature is 58-66 degrees. Bass are pulling up shallow. There is a good late evening bite with Texas rigs, chatterbaits, flukes, wacky rig senkos in 1-3 feet. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Smaller male black bass are moving to the shallows on warm windy banks. Fish the banks with the most sunlight. Bait fish and worm patterns are a good choice. Look for females close-by ready to move to nests. Slow presentations work best. The crappie should be moving shallowly in 60-65-degree water. Wooly buggers can be a good choice. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Lake Fork crappie fishing has been steady with numbers of big fish possible when the winds allow. Good numbers of crappie on timber in 6-20 feet close to spawning areas. Cold fronts lately have been pushing the fish back out deeper and we may only see one or two days of shallow fish in between fronts. If you find a spawning area with 62-64 degree surface temperatures you may be able to find fish in 2-4 feet. Some fish are holding on bridges, but the bite can change not only by the day but by the hour this time of year. Wind directions and wind speeds are dictating a lot of the crappie’s location and demeanor. The bite is good most days if you can get a bait right on a fish. Minnows, hand tied jigs and soft plastics will all produce this time of year. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

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