The bass fishing here on Lake Fork has been very slow for numbers. February is not a big number month,you can fish all day with very few bites. If your looking for both numbers and size, mid March, April, May and June are prime time! But if you are looking only to catch a trophy bass and beat the crowd, that will be here in March and April. Now is the time to start fishing Lake Fork as much as you can, with these big prespawn bass that will be starting to move up.... your next cast could be a bass of a lifetime. Right now, most of our bass have come on lip-less Crank baits, Suspending Rogues, Jigs, and Chatter Baits

The weather has been a lot colder this year than last year at this time and has made the fishing very tough! Creeks that turn on early are Long Branch, Glade, Running Creek, Wolfe, Little Caney and North West Bay. I have been keeping my boat in five to ten feet of water and fishing the outside edge of the grass. A medium to fast retrieve on the lip-less Crank baits have worked best. Right now the bass are very scattered, so fish these areas 2 or 3 times before you leave and come back later in the day and hit them again. The best bite has been 10am until dark.

There are several different ways to fish lip-less Crank baits this time of year. The most common way is reeling it straight back to the boat. Another is the yo-yo retrieve in which you are pulling the bait straight up with your rod and pulling in the slack and repeating this over and over above the grass. There is also ripping the bait. When the bait hit’s the grass and you use a sideways motion to rip the bait out of the grass. My favorite is reeling it in straight with slight twitches of the rod every 4 to 6 cranks. Try all of these retrieves and let the fish tell you how they want it. On the suspending Rogue, the colors I like are black/gold/orange or blue/chrome/orange. Fish these baits on main lake and secondary points and the edge of the timber and grass lines in 8 to 15 feet deep. The retrieve I use is very basic jerking the bait down with a pause twitch-twitch- pause.

I always look forward to this time of year because it is the start of our Big Bass Season, and on Lake Fork you are just one cast away from catching a real trophy bass. When planning a trip in the Spring, try to come on weekdays. The two worst days to fish this lake in March, April and May are Saturday and Sunday. With all the tournaments and boat traffic, it makes the weekends the two toughest days to fish this lake in the spring. If you would like to book a spring guide trip now is the time to call. March, April and May book up fast!! Book now for best available dates. 903-629-5085 www.lakeforktexasbigbass.com

Good Fishing,
David Vance