Lately, there has been some criticism about the Major League Fishing trail fishing for small fish. And since we fish that format at us as well.

At the Lake Fork Anglers MLF format, we also fish for small bass and big ones as well. When you are fishing down a bank or on a main-lake point until you catch a fish there is generally no way of knowing how big it may be.

Perhaps you catch a 12” bass and then another. While they both count will the next one be 12” or 5 pounds? Probably 12” but really unknown. Leave or stay? 

A guy, from Iowa, who fished with us once commented that we only catch small fish and therefore are un-worthly as a bass club. I took offense to that and sent him the following :

Jeff you are right I did take offense from your little fish comments.

So I looked back to the standings sheets to see if we did pull in any lunkers this year (2019). I know there were 2-10's caught last year for sure.

And to compare let's look at both the 5 fish limit LFA's as opposed to Hard Core (MFL format).

You may question why there are so any fish with the same weight (ie 6.89) . Because we paper the fish. We measure, record the length and release on the spot using 1/8" increment check it sticks.
Length verified by co angler and boater. 6.89 is a 22 3/8” bass, an 8.52 is 23 7/8”.

LFA- Jan 6.64,Mar 8.52, 7.68, 6.40, 7.02, 7.28, 6.28. Apr 6.89, 7.41, 6.89, 6.89, 6.89, 6.64, 7.41, 6.89, 6.89, 9.12 May 6.64, 7.95, 6.40, 6.28, 6.17, 8.67, 7.41, 6.87, 8.23, 6.03,7.29,7.70, 6.64,
Jun-6.17, Jul 6.64. Aug 6.68, 6.17. Sep- 6.17, 6.52. Oct 8.52

HC-Jan. 6.85, 7.95,6.89,7.41. Feb. 6.89. Mar 6.17 Apr 8.76 May 6.98, 8.52, 10.4, 9.12. Jun 6.64, 7.68. Jul 7.15. Aug 9.91, 8.52 Oct 8.38, 8.52 Nov 8.52

LFA on average has three more boats fishing than HC. Without a doubt Mar, April and May were the lunker months for us. I didn't count the large number of 5+'s caught either. And despite what some will say co-anglers caught their fair share.

This is with an average of eleven boats, 22 anglers, fishing in each tournament.

The Lake Fork Anglers fishes every Thursday except T-Day and Christmas. Most of our members are seniors. WE always have two in a boat for safety, measuring of the fish and learning from each other. We only fish at Lake Fork.

Dues is $5 a year. Tournaments are $15. Plus the co-anglers have to contribute $20 to the boater for gas. Right now we have openings for co-anglers.

For info e-mail me at sjbasser@gmail.com.