Saturday, November 23, 2013

Nov. 15 - Water temps are starting to inch down and the big bass are beginning to move deep and congregate. We have been catching them, of lately, on the 17 - 22 ft break lines which are attached to deep secondary points in the large creek arms. The key to finding these fish rests solely on the shoulders, or wings, of the birds. Gulls, loons and cormorants will show you where the the bass are feeding as they drive the shad to the surface. My best presentation for these fish has been a weightless fluke. The fish are suspended over these break lines and in the mouths of the creeks feeding up for the encroaching winter. Find a ball of shad with hooks surrounding them and it's game on. The drop shot also continues to work well and I have also landed some fish on the 10XD. Find the shad, you'll find the fish.

The shallow grass bite has not truly materialized to date. Kind of strange. They should be jumping all over the chatterbait and spinnerbaits but it's just no happening, for me at least. Most of the shallow fish have been coming off no nothing banks that have mixed scattered grass or no grass at all. Hmmm! Maybe these fish are smarter than we think. As the water temps slip to the mid fifties, I will continue to check the grass on the warm sunny days. Traps should start to factor in to the equation and I expect this to be a solid pattern through January. Time will tell.

I plan to spent a lot of time in December -January on Lakes Monticello and Welsh. These are power plant lakes with warm waters year round. The spawn will take place on these ponds much earlier than traditional lakes and the shallow bite will be awesome. If anyone would be interested in fishing these lakes or Fork for that matter, call me at 409 782-4269 or e-mail me at skeet21c@aol.com.



Thursday, October 31, 2013

Oct. 31 - Fall fishing on Lake Fork is just about ready to explode. Water temps are dropping to the the mid to low 60's over the past week. A little bit of everything is working right now, shallow, deep and structure. Everyone's favorite, the spinnerbait, is starting to show some numbers along with the swimbait and chatterbait. Location is everything. Straight line runs of grass haven't been producing as well as bare shorelines with scattered grass. Fish will always be in the backs of small pockets and drains, especially when it is cloudy. Look for them on the corners when the sun is out. As the water temps drop into the 50's, lean on the rattletrap. those straight runs of grass should start working

The larger fish are starting to gang up deep. Main lake points are the best target at the moment and as water cools, look at the first secondary point in the major coves. I am a drop shot fanatic so we have been using the larger profile worms to garner the bigger bites. Any 7" or 8" straight tail worm will work, dark colors for overcast and translucent colors for bright sunny days. Find the points that have some architecture to it. By that I mean a small indention on the points as well as a point on a point. There are plenty of those on this lake. Look for the fish to be shallower early and off the sides of the points later in the day. The 10XD should work well as well as the c-rig for these fish. The Lake Fork Tackle Hyper Stick is a great bait this time of year and don't be afraid to use a 3 to 5" swimbait on the c-rig also.

I have attached some photo's of recent trips where all these anglers were able to achieve their personal best. All of these fish were caught on the drop shop in various depths of water.