Lake Fork Bass Fishing Techniques: Pro Angler John Cruz's Insider Guide
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John Cruz, a professional bass angler, has fished Lake Fork for over 20 years and has fished in a number of Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments there. He has also fished with a number of guides in the area and considers them friends. He notes that Lake Fork has a huge reputation and that you have to work to catch fish, but that there are still plenty of 5 to 8 pounders available. He suggests that pre-spawn is a good time to catch trophy fish, which at Lake Fork are 10 to 12 pounds, but that 15 and 16 pounders have also been caught. He also notes that Lake Fork has a size limit of 16 to 24 inches, and that it's a good idea to take a picture of trophy fish and release them back into the water instead of keeping them. He also mentions that Lake Fork is full of forage such as shad, and that big gizzard shad can be found spawning on points and catching big fish on top water bait.
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Video Transcription
This is Omnia Fishing's lake breakdown, John Cruz, professional bass angler has been fishing professionally for over 20 years. I have fished lake for a number of times. I've fished a handful of bassmaster elite series tournaments there when I was younger. I've also been down there, I went down there when I was 18 years old and uh fished with world famous guy down there, David Vance and then I went back and fished again down there by myself for three or four days when I was in my early twenties really, as I was just getting started and then I fished all those, all those tournaments and over the years being on the Bassmaster elite series and just going down there, I have gotten to know a number of the guides down there, Not just David Vance, but uh, guides like Jason Conley lives say, uh, Lance Vick brooks, Rogers. I mean there's, there's a number of really good responsible guides that are veterans down in that area.
A number of them I call friends, which is really cool. It helps me kind of understand the lake and hopefully I can break it down for you. As a result, Lake Fork is one of those lakes, It has got a huge reputation. I mean like astronomical reputation and most of those lakes that you, you go to, you expect the fish to just jump into the boat. You definitely have to work for him at Lake Fork. It's a place that gets a lot of pressure, but don't let that deter you. There are plenty of 5 to 8 pounders out there and I'm talking, I know a number of guides down there do, they'll have strings of 789 guide trips in a row where they catch fish over 6 pounds with clients and they definitely can stay on top of those bigger ones if you want a big fish, don't let the reputation of all that pressure on lake ford deter you.
So Lake Fork is a great lake to fish almost year round. You can almost always go and have a good shot at catching trophy fish on the lake. I think every bass fisherman knows pre spawn is like a predictable time to have a shot at one of those true trophies and at Lake Fork, true trophies are 10, two 12 pounders. Yes, they have caught 15, 16 pounders out of Lake Fork. I would not be surprised if Fork produces a 15 plus at some point in time of 16 or 17. Um, even even with all the pressure and things that are going on with it right now.
But Lake Fork pre spawn, great time period spawning time period place gets a lot of pressure, but they still pump out six and eight pounders almost on a daily basis. For those guides that are out there putting fish, uh, putting their clients on fish. The unique thing about Fork is, it does have a slot limit. So anything from 16 to 24 inches has to be immediately released back into the water. Um or it could be 14, but the majority of the fish that you're gonna catch are gonna go right back in the water because they're in that slot. If you catch 1/24 inches, a true trophy, that's gonna be an eight plus, more than likely that 24 plus inch er you can keep one for trophies, but please don't do that. Please don't do that. Take a picture of it, measure it, measure the girth, measure the length, get a fiberglass replica. It will last much longer, It will look much better, but that is the limit and that's why they don't have a lot of tournaments there, they have a lot of big fish tournaments there.
Um you know, they have the big bass splash there and they have a number of other mosquitoes, owners tournament works the same way, it's kind of a neat fun fishery fork is full of forage, it is full of shad. It's got shad and it's got more shad. It's got shad over here and it's got shad over there, it's got shad everywhere, thread fins, tons of thread fins. But it also has a lot of the big gizzard shad. And when those big Gizzard shad are spawning up on those points, hold your horses, That's what happened when lee live caught that 42 pound stringer in a Bassmaster event. He caught those Gizzard shad up their spawn and he caught those big eight pounders up there and bigger eight plus is up there on that point, throwing top water bait. Uh always keep that in your mind
But the lake has a ton of crappie in it, Those big bass, eat a lot of those crappie. Um and that's, those are really the main forage. I mean, just a lot a lot of Lot of shad in that place. It's a very fertile river system and that's that's really what, you know, the result is a while, it still has so many shad in it. And even though even without all that grass that it used to have back in the 80s and 90s, even without that grass still producing a lot of fish, you know, like pork without that grass in it. We're gonna be looking at more hard bottom stuff. We're gonna be looking at things to fish around timber. Big swim baits are gonna be a good way to go after those bigger bass, big soft plastics, uh, missile baits, destroyer, a big creature bait, you can texas rig, Carolina rig it either way, getting out there on those points, even flipping it around docks, even flipping it around any type of uh timber that you can see on the bank. And then if you get really in trouble and you're like, you know what, I just want to get bit, I just want to catch two pounders, man, I'm tired of not catching nothing. Uh pick up a drop shot, man, Put yourself about a uh 10 or 12 pound Sunline leader on your drop shot beef it up just a little bit. But your magic worm on their pitch it around those shallower trees. And you definitely could uh, could catch a number of fish. You can go out there and catch 20 and 30 fish doing that. You catch a number of two pounders, you can slide some fours and fives in there and you may may, you may just hook to Shamu.
Don't know, but that'd be a good way to just kind of get bit. Those are just kind of some general ideas. But when those fish get offshore, big soft plastics, big crank baits, big spoons, big hair jigs, all those kind of things come into play. That's a little more advanced sticking to the soft plastics is definitely a way to just get bit and put fish in the boat. If you're looking for better tackle recommendations that fit your fishing style, sign up today for a free Omnia fishing account and fill out your profile where you can favorite species, lakes brands and more to experience the most personalized tackle shopping online
