It’s also a venerable bass factory that’s been churning out trophy largemouths for decades. Spanning 114,500 acres, Sam Rayburn Reservoir is the largest lake that lies entirely within the state of Texas. Photo courtesy of Bent Rods Guide Service More: Complete Guide to Lake Fork Fishing Sam Rayburn Reservoir Bass under 16 inches and over 24 inches must be released. Swearington Recreation Area, Highway 154 public boat ramp, and the 515 East boat ramp, among many others.Ī restrictive slot limit is in place to maintain the fishery. Lake Fork has dozens of boat ramps and shore fishing sites, including the W.C. Lake Fork often provides an evening topwater bite, and the night fishing can be excellent here in summer. Worms and topwaters have their place in your arsenal as well.

Shad spawn in April and May, becoming the main forage species around this time. The Lake Fork Craw Tube is a locally-made lure that bass go nuts for. Big bass feed heavily on the crawfish as they emerge from their winter dens in early spring. Look for areas where structure and cover converge, like a rocky point that intersects the edge of a weed bed.Ĭrawfish and shad patterns do well in Lake Fork, so have jigs, creature baits and crankbaits at the ready.

Hydrilla and Eurasian milfoil form thick mats that bass love to hide under, and there’s a decent amount of timber up in the creek arms.īoat houses, docks and bridge crossings are always worth a few casts too. The water in Lake Fork is typically rather clear, and an abundance of aquatic vegetation grows here. It’s about 2 hours east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and remains an impressive numbers lake as well as a trophy bass fishery. Lake Fork is a reservoir on a tributary of the Sabine River, spanning a little over 27,000 acres. Most were caught during the lake’s glory years from around 1986 to 1993, but a 16-pound largemouth was caught here as recently as 2013, so Lake Fork is most definitely still in the game. Of the 50 biggest bass ever caught in Texas, 30 of them came from Lake Fork, including the over 18-pound largemouth currently sitting atop the state record listing.

If you watched fishing TV shows or read fishing magazines in the ‘90s, you couldn’t go a week without hearing about another big bass caught in Lake Fork. The name ‘Lake Fork’ is burned into the collective memory of many anglers. Photo courtesy of Marc Mitchell’s Lake Fork Guide Service

Fishing planet catching bass in texas