Spring Trip to Texas...Forked!!!

Okay.  So, there is something really exciting when you are fishing on a lake that has had so many huge largemouth caught.  (The Texas state record, over 18 lbs!)  Every Spring the spawn is on, and it appeared that my brother in law and I were hitting the lake at the perfect time.  We checked the forums, (I seriously doubt some of the reports that were made)  the water temperature was rising into the 60's during the day,  (Wrong!!!)  If you fish in the midwest, you need to know, we are spoiled.  Because I fish in mostly WI and MN my expectations for catching bass, have risen to an unrealistic level.  So, when I go to Lake Fork and fish for Florida strain largemouth bass, and the weather turns them sour,  (I guess they are a fickle fish in comparison to their smaller northern cousins.)  I just about want to cry.  We fished for three days, and I think that I learned some things, but I left Fork dejected, again.  I will post some pics, but in the end the water temp dropped, it rained most of the day, the forecast was not accurate,  (it was colder) and the wind, limited the fishing opportunities at times, and the water is very low, and prevented us from fishing some areas.  Don't get me wrong, there were fish caught everyday. In the end, seven fish over 19 1/2 inches and up to 21 3/4 inches long.  It was fun to toss at timber, there was excitement heading into everyday.  There is something exciting about wondering if the next cast would be the one that gave up a ten pounder but, the big one eluded us again...

MEA Smallies

Takes a lickin and Keeps on tickin

Nice Colors

Every year, I head to the river over MEA.  The smallies cooperate most of the time, and sometimes you get a big one too.  The biggest I caught was 20", but literally every fish is exciting.  I caught a 28 " cat fish that had me thinking it was a Giant smallie.  It ripped out drag, up and down stream.  I know I caught a few over 19" too.  Occasionally, I will think I have a giant on, and it turns out to be an 18 1/2 that just happens to fight like a six pounder!  This time of year is great, and if you like catching smallies, the river is a nice place to get some 4 plus pounders, and their fight is unmatched!  I don't even take picture of most of the fish.  If it is over 19"  I try to take a picture, but sometimes I just want to get my line back in the water, because when they are biting they are ferocious!

Nice Belly

Big Cat 

October Surprise - River Smallies

 It was a beautiful day to catch smallies on the river.  What a blast! Caught my biggests smallie ever at 21".  I had my cell phone with, so I didn't get the best pictures, but you can see with an 18", two mid 19"'s, and a 21", it was worth it to miss watching a little football this afternoon.  You can see the size of the 21" in the bulging eye photo, and the height of this fish, as I layed it over my waders.  It was a tank.  I thought it was a big catfish at first, until it bolted, and pulled drag.  I probably ended up catching between 15 and 20 smallies.  I know I caught three in three casts at one point.  The water is starting to cool, but I wore the summer waders without any problem.

Fat, Tall, Beast, 21"

Mid 19"

mid 19" again

21" of smallie power!

Nice Cabin Bass

16 3/4,  over 3 lbs

 I enjoyed getting back on the water after having my first child.    I tossed around for musky, and finally couldn't stand not catching them.  So, I grabbed the G'Loomis with the Texas Rig, and started catching bass!    The GL2 pulled these chunker's in nicely.  I did a fair amount of crankbait fishing too with some nice action, and managed to put a topwater frog bass in the boat too.  It was fun to use multiple methods, successfully after being away from the water for so long. Probably not much more than 2 months...   I am very optimistic that these two fish are an indication that the size on the lake could be increasing.  I also saw a dead fish floating this weekend that was probably around 20 inches.   My theory has always been the Musky keep the size down, even though the fish on this lake have always been chunky.  But, lakes go in cycles, and I think the size is on its was up!    Can't wait to start river fishing smallies.    

16 1/2 approaching 3 lbs

Walleye Launch - Mil Lacs

Dad with a wally under 25"

Nice 27" incher biggest of the night!

My dad ended up catching the most walleye, and biggest of the trip.  I caught a 25 1/4, for my big fish, which I was happy with too.  Dad brought home some eaters, that others didn't want to take home.  It was my first experience on a launch, and I must say it was nice.  Eddy's did a nice job.

Almost went home, and then...

19"

Okay, so I only managed 4 small fish fishing a carolina rig in the float tube.  I was ready to go home, and I told myself that I should leave before trying the spot that I caught the 19" last time.  So, I switch it up for some shallow casting.  I caught four fish in the same spot.  Boom 19", he swam out toward me, so I was thinking there must be more fish in there.  Another one, smacked it, 20 1/4. I think this was the biggest fish, and it had a strange warty tongue...  Next cast, big fish again, 20 1/2.   I finally had one miss, so I cast just to the left, and again 19 1/4.  These fish were stacked in one spot.  Man, am I glad I tried that spot before I left!  Catching those four great fish in about 15 minutes time made for a nice outing that would have otherwise went into the books as a slow afternoon.

Belly of 20 1/4"

Side view 20 1/4"

20 1/4 " Warty Tongue?

20 1/2 "

20 1/2 Bellyview

20 1/2 "

20 1/4 "

Wisconsin Bass (Nasty bass wound...)

Shaky Head Fish

Drop-shot Fish

 I had a nice time fishing some mid-lake structure with some spinning tackle, and I did throw a shaky head on a bait-caster too.  I was having a hard time adjusting to controlling the fish with lighter line, and lost a few giants to be honest.  Probably two that would have gone over five...  I really hammered them the first day on this spot.  The water temp. got to 80 degrees and things started to really slow.  I got really worried about the sore on the biggest fish I caught too.  If anyone knows, or has seen this, I don't think it is a good sign for this lake.  This lake has an abundance of bass in the 16" to 16 3/4 inch range, and they are usually really fat too!  I caught one that was 16 (no pic) that was bursting.  I looked into its mouth to see if I might find out why, and sure enough there was a big old crappie tail sticking out.  And, there are also some nice crappie in this lake, some of them seemed a little sickly though.  Not sure if it was the thick water, high temp. or something worse.  I really hope that the fish are okay, it is a great early summer lake!

Nice Crappie on a five-inch dinger!

Biggest fish of the weekend with a nasty sore.

Never seen anything this bad on a fish...

Drop-shot