04/12/2001

A sort of bass fisherman's harmonic convergence occurred at Lake Fork last week. The moon and stars lined up, and the fishing went from slow to good as if someone turned big bass on by flipping a switch.

Just when people were wondering if the fishing at America's most highly publicized bass lake would ever get good again, it did. The stars really didn't have much to do with it, unless you consider a lot of 5- to 12-pound bass as the stars.

What lined up to create the good fishing was warm, rainless weather and a full moon. March is typically the best month for spawning bass at Fork, but the March full moon was early (March 9).

Mix wet and cool weather with an early full moon, and you have the recipe for creating a half-baked March. The only March Madness at Lake Fork this year was from fishermen trying to figure out a winning pattern.

The winning pattern was 80-degree days, night temperatures in the 60s, no rain to create cold, murky runoff and an early April full moon (April 7). Those factors came together last week and the fishing finally got good.

"We're right in the middle of the spawn," said Keith Blair of Lake Fork Marina. "Between April 2 and April 9, we weighed eight 10-pounders, three 11-pounders and two 12-pounders. The good fishermen are catching 15 to 20 bass a day, and the average guy can catch five or six good fish just by fishing the banks."

Blair expects the fishing to stay good for a while. The only downside has been ferocious winds. Bass fishing's March Madness came late this year, and so did March winds.

Blair said Lake Fork anglers are reporting success on all the classic springtime lures – plastic lizards, spinnerbaits, Rogues, flukes and others.

The spawning fish are from the bank out to water that's about four feet deep. Pre-spawn bass are staging in slightly deeper water, say five to nine feet.

"This is the major deal," said Lake Fork fishing guide Richard McCarty. "This is the best fishing we've seen all year. Most of the fish weigh 2.5 to five pounds, but we had five six-pounders in my boat one day."

McCarty said he's catching fish on a variety of lures. Larry Barnes, another Lake Fork guide, is relying mostly on plastic lizards and weightless ringfries.

"You work the weightless plastic lures as slow as you can stand it, then slower than that," said Barnes. "For the best action, you can't fish them slow enough. The biggest fish we've landed in my boat was an 8-pounder, but I had two customers who lost double-digit bass the same day."

One of the 12-pounders reported at Lake Fork Marina was caught on a buzzbait and a couple of other big ones also fell for buzzbaits, an unlikely choice for big springtime bass.

The fishermen say Lake Fork action has been just like the old days with one exception. The monster bass weighing 13 pounds or more have been conspicuous by their absence.

Only one such fish has been reported from Fork this year. On Jan. 14, John Deckard of Coppell caught a 14.29-pounder and put the fish in Texas Parks and Wildlife's Bud ShareLunker program.

Last week, Mike Gibbs of San Augustine caught the fifth lunker of the season, a 13.20-pounder from Red Hills Lake, a 30-acre Forest Service Lake in San Augustine County.

Gibbs spotted the big bass cruising a spawning area and cast six or eight different lures at her. She finally fell for a Bass Assassin. Only 18 days are left in the ShareLunker program, which could set a record for fewest entries since its inception in 1986-87.

That first year, there were eight ShareLunkers. The next lowest total was 1987-88 with 12. Last year, there were 23 lunkers. The record season was 1991-92 with 33 big fish. There's still a chance for a last-minute rush, not just from Fork but also lakes like Cooper and Ray Roberts.