bassman31783

I have no idea how this post got double posted. I also don't know how to get rid of the other one.

Got a chance to get out on the water this past Sat & have some fun fishing with my father-in-law. Decided to switch it up this time & not go to Fork due to the weekend traffic that lake gets. I'll tell you what, it's hard fishing other lakes knowing that Fork is just right down the road but we went for it. We decided to fish a lake called Lake Hawkins. It's a beautiful lake. Spring fed, very clear (for a texas lake), and loads of vegetation. Never had much luck on this lake for numbers but have always left with having boated at least one toad. Sat was no diff. Caught this beauty flipping a beaver with a 1oz tungsten weight pegged anywhere there were pads meeting up to matts of grass. If you look at the pic I caught her right above where the tip of her tail is. Not 10 casts earlier I lost one equally as big if not bigger. Sadly that was the only fish of the day but she made the trip worth while.

GEEZ!!! Awesome fish. Wow.....just.....WOW!

My buddy Hans started off the day with this beauty.

Got a chance to go out to Lake Fork this past Monday and do some fishing. Honestly I don't get to fish that often anymore due to....well....just life in general. So any day on the water is a good one, and the fact that this girl chose to try and make a meal out of my bait made it even better. Hot & humid but I sure didn't mind. Went against the current trend on the lake (deep structure fishing) and caught her in 8' of water on a bubblegum jerkbait. Didn't fight at all until she got right up to the boat and then woke up. Big dive straight down then wrapped around the trolling motor. Eventually Hans netted her for me. Tipped the scales at 8 1/2. Would have loved to caught her with a full belly.

Congrats on the new PB. Go out and get another.

Awesome fish you got there. Beautiful. Congrats.

HA. Thats great!

Man....what an awesome Smallmouth. Huge congrats to you.

Awesome fish there. Big congrats!!!

Fictional - probably so. Funny - absolutely. I'm glad "youtube" wasn't big when I was in college, otherwise there would be at least 2 videos of me getting tazed. Ha. Oh what we used to do just to get a laugh.

Everyone is pretty much right on point. Either use a noisy bait (anything with rattles) or something that displaces a good amount of water (big jig & trailer, colorado spinnerbait, even a swimbait). One thing that usually holds true in muddy water is that it positions the fish close to cover (timber & rocks). So be sure your lure is banging into whatever cover is available.

Thanks. I also want to apologize for the way I handled you calling me out. I certainly didn't need to get so defensive knowing that what I did wasn't illegal despite the fact that it could look that way to a person who is familiar with Forks fishing regulations. I will take your posting considerations to heart if this ever happens again on Fork.

I didn't include that in the first post due to the fact that I wasn't expecting anybody to be policing the forums with the intent of handing out verbal spankings. Ha. I DO, honestly, appreciate your concern for our fishing laws. But without a doubt there is more mature way of dealing with an issue rather then trying to publically scold or belittle someone. Once again I DO appreciate your love for fishing and your desire to see it's laws upheld as I desire that as well.

Kept isn't exactly the right word. When I caught the male my dad was unhooking the fish to weigh it and measure it. While he was doing that I picked up his rod and casted back to the female while she was still there. Before he threw the male back I boated the female. Since we had both bass on the boat at the same time I decided to get a pic of both of them at once and then promptly let them go. But i appreciate you acting like a child, calling me out on a public forum as opposed to just sending me a PM that went a little more like this. "Hey bud, nice fish. I noticed you were on lake fork which has a slot limit and it's actually illegal to keep a fish in the live well that is not within the legal length limit". "I'm telling you this because being a fellow fisherman I just want you to be informed" At which point I could have informed you that the male was never placed in the live well and what took place was actually completely legal. It's no different then a guide unhooking a fish for you so you can continue to fish. Thank you for your concern but as for you acting like a child trying to publicly tattle on someone else. "No praises from here for that"

Some great looking fish. Sounds like a really fun day. Congrats!

It was a beautiful day. Upper 70's with a slight breeze. The only downside is that since it felt so wonderful I totally forgot about sunscreen. OOPS. I've got quite the fashionable farmers tan/burn going on right now.

On 4/1 my dad & I decided to take a trip out to fork & see what we could catch. My best bud caught decided to meet us out there & make things a little interesting by making it a little bragging tourney between he & I. Biggest 5 from 8am - 2pm. As to be expected at this time of the year on Lake Fork it was quite crowded but I was pleasantly surprised that my normal spots weren't bumper to bumper. All in all the day went good. I was able to pull out a win & caught a few decent fish in the process. I focused on some deeper beds and caught all my nicer fish on a 6" watermelon red flake brush hog. I also caught a few on a drop shot rigged with a 6" Roboworm straight tail Aarons Magic, and an Academy jointed sunfish swimbait. Saw a few giants late in the day but wasn't able to convince them that they should eat my offering. They weren't locked onto any particular bed, just cruising & very easily spooked by anything not natural. Here is a pic of the two nicer bass that I caught. Caught the male first then on the very next cast caught the female. They weighed 4 & 7 respectively. Pics taken & then quickly released back to their bed.

Too cool. Must be nice to have one the worlds best fishermen as your dad who happens to be your personal guide for a day on one of the worlds best LM bass fisheries. Not fair. I wish I could catch a fish like that!!! Ha.

My two largest bass have come right at sunrise and right at sunset. Although I will say that the largest bass I have ever hooked into was right around 12 noon on a calm, insanely hot June day. That one still hurts. Ha.

Fishing from a boat or shore? Also what lures / presentations have you tried?

I've never had a problem letting someone know what lure I was using. Telling them the exact details of how I was catching them might be a different story depending on who is asking. Obviously if it's someone really struggling, new to the lake or new to fishing all together I'll give them as much info that I can to make their fishing experience as enjoyable as possible. As a whole I don't mind at all giving as much advise as I can to a fellow fishermen that asks nicely. Now if someone sees me haul in a nice fish and then pulls up on my spot & starts casting & asking what I'm fishing and how I caught the fish I'll probably give them a cold shoulder. Politeness goes a long way.

What an awesome trip guys. That's a place that's been on my list for quite some time now.

You've got a PM.

Haha. Now that's what I'm talking about. Sick fish Dwight. I never get tired of seeing those. The likelihood that I'll ever even hook into a smallie of that size are next to zero.