Lake Fork here we come! 11/23-27

Over the week of Thanksgiving my co-angler and I are headed to Lake Fork to chase some slabs and maybe some Largemouth as well.

I'm looking for tips or suggestions that might help us have a good time. Of course fishing is fun, even if you aren't catching. Catching makes it that much better. Any tips or suggestions for that lake? We will be staying at the Minnow Bucket Marina. I'm not asking for your honey holes, maybe ideas near the area we are staying for dipping trees and spider rigging. We are bringing our own boat down. I know a fair about about chasing crappie, but I'm sure some parts of the lake are more productive that others. ;) I'm already looking at Navionics WebApp for creeks and structure, but local help would be greatly appreciated.

Follow some of the guides advice and tips on the social media platforms
Jerry and a few others will give you some good ideas on possibly where to look and at what depths of water .
I will ask around some but , that is a pretty far out date for good solid information .
remind me closer to your date of arrival and hopefully a call or 2 and you will get what ya need :highfive

You are the man! I know it's out there, I'm a planner and it's never too early to start collecting data. ;) Thank you Ketchn for responding.

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Originally Posted by TheRo0sTer

You are the man! I know it's out there, I'm a planner and it's never too early to start collecting data. ;) Thank you Ketchn for responding.

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they will probably be on top of 3 ish fish around that time of year over there btw ....

Don't load up on fish above the 2 day possession limit.

Now that would piss me off! Once they are frozen, I don't like thawing them out until I'm ready to cook them. Good advice for sure!

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Originally Posted by Illinois_angler

Don't load up on fish above the 2 day possession limit.

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I am so glad you mentioned this. I would have gone through the days fishing my butt off and if I caught me limits, gotten fined. Granted 50 fish per person over a few days, that's a lot of fish. I've never caught that many in a short period of time. I can see how people would get greedy.

shortly after you leave is when they start the YOU HAVE to keep the first 25 no matter what size they are ....dec 1 i think traditionally

I know 2 guys that were just there and got popped for having 10 over their 2 day possession limit. Others weren't so lucky as they had much more over. None caught over their 25 limit each day, but they were there for 7 days. One guy can only have 50 in possession.

Spent over 5 hours defrosting bags of fish and counting them.

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

shortly after you leave is when they start the YOU HAVE to keep the first 25 no matter what size they are ....dec 1 i think traditionally

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I saw that, it could be a blessing disguise if the big ones stop biting after Dec 1st. I'm no Pro, but I love catching fish! Plus there is always chasing my personal best in Largemouth. :)

Hope you have a great trip.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Hope you have a great trip.

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Thank you! This is the first trip outside of Missouri with a boat. Next up Grenada in MS. :)

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Originally Posted by TheRo0sTer

Thank you! This is the first trip outside of Missouri with a boat. Next up Grenada in MS. :)

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Both of those known for fishing. You should have a ball

remind me next week to hollar at some buds over there and get a solid report .
seems the fish are running good size ,but hear they are doing lots of resting in the timber areas .
last report was they are so full of shad they ain't really feeding with much aggression.
by thanksgiving week that will probably change though ....

I've been getting worried seeing all the fish and thinking, it has to show down. Hopefully it doesn't die off while I'm there.

I'd like to take some hand tied jigs with me. What are some of the color combos? I saw this cinnamon and blue one and an orange and blue one. I already tie some grey ghost with silver flake bodies. I'm open to suggestions, but need to know ASAP. I don't have blue marabou.

Fork is a fantastic lake! You have a great chance at a PB bass no matter what it is now.

I’ve only been a few times as I have Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, and some great small lakes within an hour or much less drive or I’d be glad to give info.

I know the possession limit is only till fish or game reaches home or processing facility. I’m not sure if a motel room or camper is a legal residence in that case. A quick call to a warden or field office would clear it up for you. Numbers for both are on their website.

Fork has a huge number of white bass also. I think the limit on those is still 25 a day also. Not as good eating as crappie but still pretty good especially if you remove the red line in the center of the fillet. If you want to take more fish home.
They have so many the locals, guides, and marina owners would love to see a law passed that everyone must catch a limit of whites before they can fish for anything else because they eat so many shad that the money making fish like too. Of course the big bass eat whites too.

Good of luck and hope you have a great trip!

Don't run Fork wide open unless you know what your doing. It is stump filled lake and it has claimed many lower units. I personally don't think jig color really means much on Fork. I just use my personal favorite colors and do well. Enjoy your trip. Grenada is on my bucket list.

I noticed that from my recon. Does it have a main channel? I don't mind taking it easy. Truman is stumpy too!

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Main boat lanes are marked with bouys but can break free or be moved by winds possibly. There is website, boatlanes.com, where you can download tracks for lowrance or Humminbird. Once you download on Sd card and load on fishfinder they are there like waypoints and you can remove the card. They have instructions on the site and are about $25 if I remember right. A guide laid the tracks when the water was low and sells them. Some of the marinas sell preloaded cards but they may be out so I’d suggest the online route.
It is very easy to ruin a prop or lose a lower unit there. The have a few other lake cards also if you or anyone else are interested.

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Originally Posted by ChoogieChunker

Main boat lanes are marked with bouys but can break free or be moved by winds possibly. There is website, boatlanes.com, where you can download tracks for lowrance or Humminbird. Once you download on Sd card and load on fishfinder they are there like waypoints and you can remove the card. They have instructions on the site and are about $25 if I remember right.

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I like this piece of mind when navigating a new lake. I'm going to look into this. Just out of curiosity, doesn't the Humminbird show the channel?

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Originally Posted by ChoogieChunker

Main boat lanes are marked with bouys but can break free or be moved by winds possibly. There is website, boatlanes.com, where you can download tracks for lowrance or Humminbird.

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Never mind, I'm SOLD! That is pretty awesome for someone who has never been. I need to start recording while I'm navigating during low water for saving my lanes.

I use the lakemaster cards mostly and it shows rivers and creeks, at least on the HD lakes. However don’t forget creeks and rivers often have trees leaning over them from the banks. You could be in the channel and still hit a leaner.
Also I think in their instructions it tells how to make the tracks more visible on your screen in the menu and not confuse them with other lines like channels. If not feel free to pm me and I’ll be glad to walk you thru it.
Ive seen places that look open but idle thru and it looks like a minefield. We have a tree called an ironwood that is aptly named. It makes oak and hickory look like balsa wood. Be cautious.
Im not sure about all bridges but I know some have speed limits either side and under them. They were marked but I haven’t been there in a few years.
Its near Dallas and some of the bass boats are driven like its rush hour on the freeway Friday afternoon. If you’re in a boat lane and ones behind you don’t shut down quickly. Boats don’t have stop lights and they have no where to go but into the stumps. Some of the lanes look wide but hug the markers pretty close. There are often stumps between the edge of the lane and timber you can see.
If you need more help or info ask here or pm me. Oh if you happen to be at or go by lake fork marina the owner is good about giving info on getting around the area or what biting where. Tiffany’s restaurant there has great food and homemade pie! At least when I was there.

lake fork boat lanes are marked , but danged if I can remember what side of the boat to keep them buoys on .... think its the left side going north and right side going south ?
scares me every visit , cut a big oak off at high speed one night when it first opened and it has made me nervous ever since
that thing was full of ants and wasps and bought finished us off that night .
was 40 plus years ago and I aint forgot it ....
bud yelled there's the lane and took a hard left with me up front with a q beam ....
AND it for sure wasn't the boating lane .....:Rofl

Ketchn - it only takes once to make you learn. Well, unless you are a real knucklehead, then you'll never learn. LoL "That'll learn ya!"

Did I make a mistake with staying at the Minnow Bucket vs Lake Fork Marina? A lot of the pictures I see coming out on FB are images taken at the ramp at the LF Marina.

Well the weather isn't bad, but wind was ridiculous! It's going to be worse today too. We started jigging the pillars under bridge 154. I saw a lot of moving fish, so we broke out the spider rigging gear. By then the wind was up to 15 mph. We nudged the baits up under the horizontal beam. BAM we landed a decent crappie. Backed off and bumped up again and bam! 2 fish in 10 mins. The wind changed directions and blew us off the water.

Wish us luck, not sure I want to fight the wind on this Thanksgiving Day. The only issue, I didn't drag my boat here to sit in my room!

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look in the timber , pretty sure they are in deep timber and a bit skittish , north of the big bridge in the big open timber section .
they will be in there right now for sure along with several guide boats I bet , one thing for certain the boat shows out there will give you a great idea where to be looking .
luck to ya brother

There weren't many boats out. When the wind whipped up, there were even less. The late start didn't help either.

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good luck and may the winds die down quickly! definitely would have hired a guide when taking a boat that far but to each their own.

Good luck out there

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Originally Posted by hdhntr

good luck and may the winds die down quickly! definitely would have hired a guide when taking a boat that far but to each their own.

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I thought about it, but there were so many to offer info.

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stick with it Anthony hopefully wind will die down and you will get on them

Tomorrow 2 mph WAHOOOO!

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hopefully you zeroed in on them , they are ketchn some nice fish over there

Nope. I got skunked there and at Grand. I marked lots of fish on brush piles. No matter what we sent them. No love!

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one guide said they were really tough the last week or so , lock jawed to beat the band and stuffed plum full of shad

It's fishing some days. We get spoiled and then are reminded and humbled when it's just fishing. I broke my own rule, I forgot to bust out a bobber and worms. You can usually catch a bluegill to break the skunk. [emoji16]

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Originally Posted by TheRo0sTer

Nope. I got skunked there and at Grand. I marked lots of fish on brush piles. No matter what we sent them. No love!

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They get slammed full of shad. You can't feed them anything else

it amazes me how like days and conditions and one day is KABOOM and the next a near bust
crappie are just that way though , kuz ya killed em right here today at whatever time ....
means nada within a few hours in most cases :banghead