Matt Fly

NAVAL STATION NEWPORT PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE 690 PEARY STREET NEWPORT, RI 02841 TELEPHONE: (401) 841-3538 EMAIL: pao@nsnpt.navy.mil http://www.nsnpt.navy.mil/departments/chapel.htm Russ, The last link is to the chaplains office, they will have the numbers to put you intouch with the right people. Matt.

Where abouts on T Bend was that taken? T Bend is long but not that wide. Matt.

That one fish has been caught more than once, and the life of that fish can't be much longer. No body else is coming close to hitting 20 lbs. The current record has been with standing for ages. I'd say that because of last year, that Dixon may have added pressure that could keep her hidden this year. I bet the gates are full every day from mid Feb till the end of spawn. People see easy $$$$$$$ with breaking the WR, makes people do weird things. She may never be seen or caught again. Who knows? Mexico's resoviors have caught some water the past few years and the teens that are being reported just shows that when the deeper lakes maintains levels, they start showing up again. Mexico has an 19 pound record, and those lakes don't even see half the pressure that the US trophy waters recieve. Matt.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/about/divisions/inland_fisheries/offices/index.phtml#biologist Pick a region and their email addresses and phone numbers are shown. As Lane pointed out, David Campbell has been helping Tx for lots of years, and he is a strong reason Tx has such an active program in Texas. Matt.

My dad taught me to use jigs under boat docks, boat docks with depth and some brush. His goal was for me to swim the jig back to the boat letting the gravity of the fall pendulum back towards the boat. This kept a fairly tight line with proper holding of the rod...ie when I left my rod tip in say the 10:00 clock position, you will get some slack as opposed to the 11:00 postition or slightly higher. It allowed me to see the line twitch as well as feel the intial bite or the line swimming off in one direction. Dad always said he thought most bites occured on the fall and back in the early 70's, I didn't have lots of reading material or TV shows to say different. He was right, most bites are on the fall. I will still fish slack line as much as possible and the line twitch even in heavy winds is detectable, it becomes instinct just as raising your bait over a branch and feeling the resistance, you will learn which is which by only doing it 1000 times over and over. I would also think the winter time is the hardest time to learn jigs, bites aren't as many, and can be the lightest bite all year, very hard to detect some days. Time on the water, and don't get frustrated of not catching. The advice on taking nothing but jigs is a sure way of learning them when you can't lay it down and pick up your confidence bait to catch the fish you normally do. matt.

Texas Parks and Wildlife web site has a ask the biologist section. You can ask any questions you would like and they will answer them. Matt.

In Cali, you had to learn to fish some depths of 60 ft in winter to get bit. I rarely ever go past 35 ft of lake Fork in the winter, but find the crappie and bar fish on Fork and drop a spoon down and you will also find bass, usually good bass. Swims, jigs, c-rigs all work deep. Summer, deep structure and humps are very common to 18-28 ft depending on the thermocline. I prefer the deeper, the shallows are always beat by bank pounders. until spring when all life seems to be shallower. Matt.

If a lake is drawn down 25 ft, and its done fairly fast, the fish will know and stay out of areas that might leave them stranded. I also concur that many lakes have resident shallow fish year around, when we say shallow, that can be 7 feet or less, and it depends on how much your lakes drops. And lakes that have there deeper fish. I think both statements are correct. matt.

Just not as many lakes in my region with good small mouth fishing. matt.

Only if Amistad can keep lake levels up for 7-10 years straight. I cut my teeth on Amistad in the sixties. All the fish that came from there the last two seasons were there, But you didn't see the result pour in until she finally filled up in late 2004. Same can be said about Falcon and Choke Canyon filling in 2004, those fish weren't just stocked, nor did they grow that big in two seasons, yet the results of tourneys in the past showed some good fish, but the stringers weren't even half as close to what they have been the last 2 years. Lakes that get 40-60 ft low are supposed to be easier as some say skinny water makes it easier to locate. I think stressed conditions put those fish into survival mode deep. The influx of having banks that have had growth for 5-10 years has put new cover and provided a face lift to an old lake or lakes was the ticket. I believe Amistad will break its own record within the next couple of years again, how close to the Texas record? Don't know, but alot will have to happen to approach 20 lbs. Matt.

Johnson makes a spinner bait called the Limit Git R, nice and tight bait, one of the best bites going in the grass on Fork right now. Matt.

I have always thinned and cut my weed guards back. There are too many varibles when jig fishing and all require minor adjustments. The one cure all is experience. A bass can inhale a jig with out you ever feeling her, and exhaling it is often the first thump, or bump you feel and you set the hook and whifffffffff'ed it. Nobody at home!! Jigs require more concentration in cold water and line watching is very key to detecting subtle bites. I always hope for aggressive bites, but that isn't the key. I believe most novice jig fishermen are hesitant on when to set the hook, and jig fishing 101, first rule is when in doubt, set the hook. Finesse jigs maybe okay for light line, but most jigs I use are with a minimum of 20lb test, and as Rolo pointed out, a double hook set motion to ensure good penatration is okay and used widely by alot of fishermen. Matt

Just a different version of the Big Dead Ringers with out the ribs by Zoom. Looks like a nice bait. Matt.

I also can't see one sponsor leaving, even though Citgo was the main one put a damper on the tour. What other sponsors left? No press that I have found to confirm that. As far as pros goes. You could fill BASS' one hundred member field out and still leave some names off the list. Plenty of Marquee names to fill up both tours. Disney owns them both, and theres plenty of money left in that bank account to foot the bill for a few years. Not to mention, that a new sponsor is not out of the question to fullfill Citgo's void. Time will tell. Matt.

Lake Fork tackle is not just Fork specific. Lots of pros use those baits on tour. K Jordan uses alot of those baits for grass and you can see his results most weekends. On a fun note for the weekend, guess who was on Fork this weekend after his Shootout? I ran across Ike doing some filming on Fork. No big deal, no big boat following, we had our own agenda. I bet there are a bunch of shoot out pros their this week after a bunch of them helped with the college world series on Lewisville this weekend. Imagine stepping on the stage and having jeff Kriet, Kelly Jordan, Luke Clausen and others to weigh your fish. Cudos to the pros volunteering and giving back to possible future pros. Just an average weekend on Texas Bass Waters. Hookem Matt.

To answer in short what causes wind: Wind results from the horizontal motions of air from areas of high surface pressure to areas from low surface pressure. Wind is created by the earth heating up, thus at night is the coolest and wind decreases until the sun starts peaking out again. Like you mentioned, it can be glass at night and soon as twilight appears, some breeze can be noticed on the water. Short answer, but to the point. Matt.

Where are you located? maybe we can change that outlook and home sicknesses. Matt.

Avid, Fork will rehab you into shape, wether its fighting the weather or a trophy LM. Take care, follow doctors orders and see you in the spring on Fork. Hookem, Matt.

The energizer Bunny ain't got nothing on LBH. It wasn't for lack of effort on his part. For those of you that are gonna try to keep up with Russ, bring your expresso maching, your gonna need it. Matt.

I wanted to do what my dad was doing. When your small, your told to leave that rod alone and be patient. Wait till the bobber goes "all the way down". How come my bait doesn't look like yours dad? Can I put one of those baits on, I won't move it? My perch never jumped out of the water like his did. Back in the days, there used to be something about "fooling a fish". I was never musically inclined, couldn't draw or paint, my dad always said that Bass fishermen were artistist in there own way. After watching others on tour, KVD for example, its pure poetry in motion watching the cast, the placement, and the face of "anticipation", and that still keeps me going. Why Bass? I have never gave that much of a thought, I just thank my parents for giving me an outlet that didn't lead me astray. I always make friends with a kid that doesn't have the opportunites I had and share that experience. That I owe to my dad, he took many of boys to the river for the first time, including his family. Funny how I never really care for the Fishin Hole and ole Jerry, he always talks about his Dad. I can see why, I do the same thing myself. My Dad is why. As Jerry always said, "HE ALWAYS HAD TIME TO TAKE ME FISHING!!!!!" HOOKEM Matt.

I fish Fork every once in awhile, and have used guides once in awhile. Gas was killing me, the 30 minute drive cut me back to twice a week this summer. To aide my fellow bretheren, LBH, and his posse last year, Willie and myself spent about a week straight last year prior to Russ coming down. We recieved massive rains weeks prior to all the warming trends that sent the bass shallow. Willie and I covered all the west arm and was just searching the east arm for warmer water and staging fish. Ideally, out of staters coming to Fork for the spawn should look at late March and early April to ensure bedding fish can be found. As it turned out last year, 97% of the lake got run off that cooled the temps down and put a halt on the beds, it was about a week later that the temps started to warm again. In April, you can bet that 85% of the lake has beds going and giving guys lots of areas to hit. Russ and company was sharing the 3% of water with hundreds of boats packed into an sardine can. You could go ashore by asking other boat captains, Permission to cross over? by walking from boat to boat. LOL. Matt.

Shane, Don't let that 50 horse worry you. There are public ramps at every bridge except in Birch Creek. It only takes a second to load the boat and drive 5 minutes and be on the other arm of the lake. Most Marina ramp fees are currently 3.00 also, so moving around the lake is no big deal because their are so many ramps and possiblities. Feel free to ask any questions, there are a ton of resources to point you in the right direction. Hookem Matt.

Some things that do work, sometimes. I have run a spinner bait with 12-18 inch leader and small in-line spinner such as a shyster or rooster tail with no problems. Instead of the stinger hook, run a teaser. Some people tie a teaser fly on top waters, and they do work. Some people also remove the front treble on certain cranks and also put an in-liner spinner of another small leader, quick, thn billed baits works better than say a dd-22. Every one of these I tried, I did so in a swimming pool first to see how it ran and what action I need to give it to swim right. The wire ideal works in theory, but doesn't work so well in producing with coat hangers. I tried similar wires to get "thinner", but found they collaspe down due to the drag they create. Their are pre-rigged baits on the market for ever that simulate what you are trying to do. The salt water speck rig is just two bucktail jigs on different length leaders. Salt water umbrellas are common, but remember the ocean is usually clear of snags and running these set-ups are easy in open waters. I don't know the true definition of schooling fish, but do know that at certain times of the year, such as fall, the fish gather in packs or schools and chase shad together. The fry of this year stay schooled together most of the year, you know the old saying, "strength in numbers", its nothing to see the small bass throughout the summer schooling on minnows all summer. There are times that the bass are as wide and long as a football field busting shad on the surface, some say how do you know they are just blacks and not stripers and whites. I reply, Fork has no stripers or whites. Hookem Matt.

Looks like T Bend is getting more earlier this morning, its missing most of the DFW area today. Some is better than none. Matt.

I love White Oak Creek also, I love where the three creeks meet at for staging. Huge trees line the creek where the three meet. Great info Keith, dead on. Standard Black/Blue jigs with purple pork trailer has been super combination over the years. Yozuri vibes when the days warm up over the grass in Mad Craw, or Rattle traps in Red Milo are all good producing baits. Finding pockets where the water is a few degrees more in one cove or creek is normally the ticket. The public ramp by the 515 bridge on the west arm puts you a mile and half from White oak. Also further up in the west arm is White oak Bay, so don't get confussed. Jan and Feb are owned by 16 lb or better bass. Records show 16 of Texas top bass over 16 pounds comes in these two months. Last year a 15+ was caught on dead sticking a black and blue fleck senko, so lots of baits work. If you Google sharelunker, and top Tx 50 bass, most will give you bait and month so you can see a wide variety baits work. Big baits catch big bass during this time of the year, one easy meal is what guides will bestow on most. I'm a fan of slow rolling a big bladed Hart spinner bait in white/chart or firetiger. I have tons of productive areas, but once you see Fork, it baffles most because everything looks fishy. Kieth has given you a very good spot to catch a share lunker in. A few have come from that area many times. Plus that area will knock some wind down out of the north. Hookem Matt. Thanks for the reminder LBH, Last year in November, my partner Willie hooked a monsster, Wille weighs over 200, this fish dove deep under the boat and bent his rod into the water, Took Big Willie out of the boat. After I got him into the boat and stripped down with My extra clothes, I asked him why his drag didn't work? His reply was, I showed him the Cali Swimbait fishing videos posted last year around that time and they said to always lock your drag down. Thus Willie got handcuffed at the boat and the fish had his way. Remember the dangers of Navigating this lake. We were at the dam and no trees in the area, but stuff happens. Never fish cold waters alone, and keep extra clothes and maybe a sleeping bag for the emergency. Willie managed to get warm, but that morning, I never fired the big motor off again as to not get him chilled down again. Keep cell phone dry, you never know when a stump can take the boat down, I've seen it happen to the best of the best on Fork. Be safe on Fork, she can be very rewarding, but can humble the best real fast.