October 31, 2015 - Fall  is upon us and the big green fish are starting to feed up for the winter. All types of patterns are working but the shallow water bite is dealing us a gob of small fish. The spawn this year was excellent and there is a billion six inch bass on Fork right now. You can throw a crankbait in a creek, have one hit it, and ten more will be following it to the boat. Kinda cool actually! After catching about fifty of those, I will head clients back out to the main lake and work the deep fish for a giant, especially during the afternoon. Same locations apply, humps, ridges, structure but now add road beds into the mix. October is a month where bass will congregate on these locations feeding on barfish. The Alabama Rig, 10XD and flutter spoon are the go to baits when you are after the green monster. Shallow brush becomes a target at this time of the year also as crappie and bream gather up to feed on passing shad that are on the move in the fall.

The other lakes are still in play in the fall and one of them dealt two of my clients the dream fishing day of life. They landed 80 bass in one day using the drop shot and seven of them were over seven pounds. The largest tipped the scales at 9.08. I stayed busy all day netting bass and giggled away the entire day. On one trip to Athens, my client caught 55 bass on that Friday and thirty on Saturday. No giants, most all fish between two and four pounds, but a ton of fun. October is a great month for numbers as bass want to get fat for the winter.

September 30, 2015 - As with seasonal patterns, Fork transitioned into it's annual turnover during mid month. This is when the cooler upper layer of water sinks through the water column toward the bottom of the lake. This anomaly stirs up the bottom layer forcing the bass to scatter making bass fishing a little tougher. This also screws up the oxygen content throughout the water column forcing bass to seek refuge in I don't know where! We did fight our way through it and deliver some great days. A lot of bass were shallow during this change over time giving us the opportunity to throw flukes, senkos, swimjigs and chatterbaits. The big ticket was covering water using these patterns and it was hit and miss till you stumbled upon a large school of bass. The mid depth bite was still there but not as good as the prior months.

When all this happens, the super giants go into hiding leaving the best of the best scratching their heads. They can still be caught but it requires a ton more patience. Once the red flags pop up, I take clients over to Lake Monticello and Lake of the Pines and we continue blasting the big girls. It's all about being prepared and I think Monticello is the next Fork. Incredible fisheries with tons of quality bass.

August 31, 2015 - The lake has started it's seasonal changes this month and veered away from the 90+ degree water temps as fall is on the horizon. Normally, oxygen levels deteriorate during August forcing bass to suspend above the thermocline making them more difficult to catch. That was not exactly the case this month as fish still hung out on points, humps and ridges. The only difference was the depth they chose to populate. Most of our biggest bass came from 15-18ft of water and a sizable amount were caught suspended in much deeper water. Lake level is falling forcing fish to back out and take up their residence in the mid depths.

The overgrown shakey head delivered some great bass using the Zoom Magnum Trick worm (redbug) to lure them in. The drop shot still had a presence as well as the C-rig. The major change to catch the suspended fish came from the addition of the magnum fluke. Once the fish are located, you would hurl this bait as far as you could, once it hit the water, the countdown started. At the twenty foot level, you would start twitching the bait slowly, pause for eight seconds, then repeat the twitch. Extremely slow fishing b

ut highly profitable.

We also took some trips over to Lake Tawakoni and smashed the stripers. These fish are super powerful and will smoke the drag on your reel. This is one type of fishing that is a "must do" during August. Better bring your Advil, you'll need it.

July 31, 2015 - The bite hasn't changed one bit over the past thirty days. The bass are still deep and locked into their summer pattern. We are crushing them on deep structure as well as tapering points, pond dams and humps. The drop shot still holds the crown as being the best way to land a giant bass but the Carolina Rig has done it's share of damage to the bass over the past month. We are starting to see water temps move into the 90's which is a good thing. Bass tend to bunch up as water temps rise making them easier to find. This is backed up by a temp sensor that I have which tells me that the water temp at 25ft is about 88 degrees. This is also why we have been catching bass as deep as 42ft. Pockets of cooler water is where these bass are hiding. Technology is great!

We have also spent some time on other local lakes searching for some different patterns. Found great fish at Lake Athens, Lake of the Pines and Lake Monticello. It's gotten to the point that we can fish your strengths whatever that may be. Many anglers have bested their personal best throughout this year and that's what's it's all about. Incredible fun and lasting memories.

June 30, 2015 - The month of June was insane. We smoked the big fish every day on different patterns and was also able to mount numbers each day. The drop shot issued most of the damage as we found wads of huge bass on points and drains. I have normally been a Roboworm guy when using the drop shot but I was stunned to find out through an experiment one day on a guide trip that the Talon Carolina Worm out fished the Roboworm 5 to 1. This same anomaly happened two other times on trips which has caused me to switch permanently. The Talon Worm is coated with Bassappeal (scent attractant) which obviously makes a huge difference. I now use their 10 inch worms with the same coating on Carolina rigs and Texas rigs. Huge difference!

Water temps are warming and bass are done with the spawn and starting to gang up on the deep spots. I expect this to rock on through July. Pond dams have also played a huge roll in bagging these giant bass. This is a great month for numbers and it also delivers it's share of 10 pound hawgs.