So I have been going to Fork for seven years now and have always caught good (4-6lb) fish. This year I show up to find out that the lake is 4 1/2 ft. low and the grass in non-exsistant. I normally can catch a ton of solid fish right around our place in Dale Creek, but this year the places I normally fish were high and dry so I had to adjust. Here's how the trip went.

Wednesday-Arrived at the lake a 6 p.m. and threw a Bandit 100 series in a sun perch pattern and caught 5 quick ones, the they turned off. Nothing real big, but some good 4's. All caught off stumps in 5 fow in the back of Dale Creek.

Thursday-Ran to White Oak East Branch and fished it thoroughly with a wtml/red senko rigged wacky style only to pick up one fish. I kept seeing good fish bust shad around the bigger trees and I could see the shad balled up just under the surface by them, but they wouldnt touch my wacky rig, so I threw a chug bug, crankbait, and Yum Money Minnow with no takers. Finally, I put on a white senko on the wacky rig and quickly started catching fish. I ended up catch 19 in there with a 6.5lb kicker. Average fish was 4lbs. Started slow, but ended up being a pretty good day.

Friday-Started out throwing a squarebill on a main lake road bed and picked up 6, biggest going around 6lbs, but had to leave due to 40 mph winds. I then fished in Glade Creek and found a ton of beds and started dragging Grande Bass Rattlesnakes across them with a 3/16oz weight T-Rigged and started picking up a few. Fished in there till 6 p.m. and caught 26. They started off small (3lbs) but as the day went on, the size went up. At 5 I stuck a 7lber and threw her in the boat. She was sitting in 4 fow on the outside of a stump field. I then fished an old fence row running out to deeper water and caught a good fish and then stuck a 8.5lber in 11 fow and put her in the boat. I measured her at 24 1/4 inches...my first over at Fork! I took a picture on my phone and released her. I ended the day fishing an old roadbed in Glade a picked up 3 quick 5-6lbers then called it a day (my dad was tired of watching me catch fish lol). I then fished that eveining in Dale Creek and caught 4 more 2-3lb fish on the Rattlesnake.

Saturday-Went back to the main lake road bed and made about 20 cast and caught a 6lb 4oz fish and my buddy hung one that we never got to see, but pretty sure she was a hoss. I then ran back into Glade and cuaght 8 fish on the Rattlesnake again, the biggest being around 5lbs. My dad caught 1 small fish on the road bed after I left it and we decided to start the 5 hour trip home at noon.

All in all I had a blast. I caught 62 fish including one over and most were on flippin, which is my favorite way to catch em. I love the hookset. My dad caught 5 fish, one buddy caught 3, and another buddy caught 1 (his first cast of the trip). They were all aggrevated and ready to get home, but I could have stayed another week. My two buddies dont fish, so I didnt expect them to tear em up, but my dad's normally not a bad fisherman, but the wind kicked his butt I think. The bites were hard to detect in 30-40 mph winds, but the fish held on for a long time, so a little patience and you could feel the bite. I do want to say that my 20lb Invisx held up extremely well and I never broke off. I even had a couple wrap me, but I took my time and pulled em out of some thick stuff and never had to worry about my line. Just retie every couple of fish. Also, the Grande Bass Rattlesnakes are AWESOME!! When T-Rigged, the tail end floats up and it is deadly when dragged across a bed. Plus, there are no appendages for the fish to grab and move the bait with, so when they bite it, they have the hook in their mouth which leads to better hookups. Color didnt seem to matter mcuh as I caught em on Wtml/chart. laminate, green pumpkin, and Junebug/wtml red laminate.

Awesome trip. I need to get down and catch some Texas sized bass!

Jeff

Sounds Great,Congrat's

Great trip & write up. Sometimes mother nature throws you a curve but the fishing turns out to be better than you ever imagined.