bassman31783

Awesome fish Paul. You are one HAWG catching sucker.

Haha. Yeah I'm gonna wait for that DD before i get a mount. I was so close yet so far away. If I keep fishing Lake Fork it's just a matter of time before I land that 10+.

Awesome job. Those are some chunky, healthy fish.

My buds 6lb 4oz

Another shot.

Last year i set a goal to catch an 8 pounder and failed. I've caught loads of 5, 6, & 7 pounders but that 8 has always alluded me. Lord knows I've had my chances but when fishing Lake Fork, with all that timber, it sure is hard to get some of those better fish in. So I had a day off on friday and decided to call up my fishing buddy and give it a try. WOW what a morning. Right off the bat, I mean 8 - 10 min into the day, I caught my new PB. 9lbs. Before that my PB officially was a 7lb 4oz. I'll tell you what when this fish hit I knew it was different. Just fought different and I could feel the head shake underwater. I've never been in a boat when a person caught a fish bigger then 7 1/2lbs. This thing looked goofy to me. Well to continue the day the next fish was about 3 1/2, followed by a dink. 5 min later my fishing bud landed a 6lb 4oz bass. 2 min later I landed a 5 1/2 pounder followed by a 4lbs bass. All of this happened with in the first hour. Amazing morning. Later that day I lost a nice bass that was probably 7 or 8. Funny thing was I really wasn't that upset. Catching a 9 pound bass sure takes the sting away of loosing a lesser bass. Anyways just an absolutly wonderful blessing to have such a great day. One I'll never forget. Nor will the boaters around us that morning. HUGE boat traffic and we were ripping in the girls and I don't think they could get a bite.

Yellow Magic Magnum. Bone Color. 7lbs 4oz. Nothing like seeing a big bass exploding a top water.

Dang it BigRick, you beat me too it ;D. I always get a kick out of how it seems that California is the only state that knows it causes cancer. As far as the original question goes. The only reason they put that on the package is because they have found out that if a Lab Rat eats a steady diet of lead they eventually show signs of cancer. So unless your eating lead bullet weights to see if they come out looking the same , I'd say that you'll be just fine.

Great post RW. I've also done really well with jerkbaits right after a big cold front when it's dead calm with blue bird skies. On those days the fish don't tend to chase lures to far. A suspending jerkbait is always a go to for me on those days. Thanks for some more food for thought.

Welcome. Lake Fork is my home lake, and honestly i wouldn't bother with fishing any of the smaller lakes around. That is if you are coming to possibly catch a monster. If you are looking for numbers Fork can be hit of miss. So if that's the case you may want check out Lake Quitman. It's maybe 10min up the road from Fork. I just can't bring myself to fish Quitman with all of the monster bass right up the road at fork. Just my 2 cents. My fishing bud & I are actually going to be up @ Fork March 9th - 12th. Maybe our lines will cross. Best of luck my friend.

Congrats man. Awesome fish.

2001 i went 40 miles out in the Gulf with a bunch of friends. Very long story short. Hooked into something big ... fought it for about 5 hours ... never got to see it. All i had to show for it was multiple bruises on my stomach, from the rod, for a week and a half. Needless to say next time i go out deep sea fishing i'm going to invest in a rod belt ;D

Great job bud .

Oh the wonderful new PB threads. Great job. I've been trying for my PB for almost 3yrs now. Hopefully i can get mine soon. Awesome job and can't wait to see the pics.

Congrats. Rainbows are such a beautiful fish. It's been years since i got to go trout fishing. Kind of miss it :-[. Oh well, great job.

Well this may or may not answer your question. I grew up on a fairly decent sized pond that i fished quite often after school. Bass mainly but some catfish and sunfish also. My dad at the time had stocked it with some fairly nice bass from other lakes. Well i caught a 6lb bass and i wanted to get a pic with him cuz at the time that was my PB. So i put him on a stringer so i could run up to the house to get a camera. When i got back down to the pond he had pulled the stake out of the ground and was gone. A week and a half later i caught him with the stringer still through his mouth. Me being able to catch him let me know that he was still able to feed with a 4ft stringer dangling from his mouth. So if i had to guess i would think that your fish will be fine.

Great trip man. I grew up 20min from lake fork and i just loved it. You get excited with every bite thinking that it may just be the fish of you life. I haven't been there since Feb, seeing that i now live in north texas, hows the vegetation looking? There was absolutely no green in the lake when i was there last.

Great job. And some really nice pics.

I love those swim senkos. When the weeds get thick after the spawn i love to cast a swim senko way back in the weeds and reel it over the top. They just crush it. Fun stuff and way to go.

Just got back from Fork. Not that you need a tip but hear is one anyway. The big mamas are still staging in about 10-12 ft of water around large structure and weed beds. We were finding the smaller males with red rat l traps in 4-8 ft and then pulling out to 10-12 ft and catching females with jigs. Not any huge ones but i did get a 5lb15oz and a 4lb15oz in the same day. Hope this helps you a bit and best of luck.

By Easter they will be for sure. The first one was in about 15ft right off a lone tree. The second one was in about 2ft of water. Today was kind of hard because of all the hard rain and cold but come easter you should deff. be hitting it during prime time.

Very nice fish.

This is then second one and it weighed 4lb15oz.

Went to lake fork today to see what we could do. Right after a little cold front so i wasn't sure how it would go. Of course you don't know till you get out there and try so my dad and i went. I only caught two fish for the day but all in all a great day. Hear is the first one and it was caught on a red and black 3/4oz jig. It weighed 5lb15oz.

So i lived about 20 min from lake fork and spent my fair share of hours on the lake. My bud and I, in the summer, would get out there at 5-am and head up little caney creek and just kill the bass with yellow magic's till about 9-am. Well this particular day was no different. We got out there and started to work the bass over real well, and before 7-am i landed into a 9lb. Sadly it wrapped itself around a oh so conveniently placed log and snapped my line. Yeah i was ticked but my blood was pumping and i had another yellow magic to tie on and get back in the game. On the very next cast, no longer had the lure hit the water about 15ft away, i got a hit. Need less to say i was so amped up from losing the last bass that i set the hook 5 times harder then i needed to. Well setting a hook that hard on a bass that probably weighed less then 5 oz created a projectile that i had to dodge. Yes it did fly out of the water and over the boat. As a joke my bud grabbed the net and proceeded to net this giant. So all in all a great day with an even better memory. Isn't that why we truly go fishing, for the memories. Any ways if you got a small bass or funny story please share. I would love to hear it.