LAKE FORK GUIDE ANDREW GRILLS

The past week has been nothing short of amazing! We boated big fish (over 8lbs) every day, and most days we have had some pretty impressive numbers to go with it. Don’t expect this on your average trip to Lake Fork, but when everything lines up right there is nothing better. The professional tournament anglers proved that this week as well. The best anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Seriies, FLW Tour, and the PAA joined to compete in the Toyota Texas Bass Classic here on our lake this weekend. Today at the final weigh-in, Keith Combs brought in 34lbs to top off his 3 day total of 110lbs, and win the event! That is a combined weight of 15 bass at 110lbs. All of the pros interviewed praised Lake Fork as the greatest trophy lake in the United States.

There are a few ways to catch them right now, from topwater baits on the surface, to deep water techniques as deep as 35′. Here are some of the big fish caught by my customers and I over the past week. Things will slow down at some point, but the exciting thing about fishing here is that the next cast can produce the fish of a lifetime.

The fishing is fantastic right now for big fish on Lake Fork. Over half of these pictures are from the last two days, and the rest are from the past couple weeks. Right now I am targeting areas where we can catch fish coming and going from spawning areas. We are catching mostly post-spawn fish with an occasional pre-spawner. I have a lot of rods on the deck because there are a lot of ways we can catch ’em. We have leaned toward the “go big or go home” mentality and it has paid off with some very nice fish. This is the time of year when big baits equal big bass!

It has been a pretty good week here on Lake Fork. We are in a time of transition and keeping up with the fish can be difficult. However, it was such a pleasure to have the customers I did the past few days. The fishing wasn’t lights out, but every day my customers understood that constant cold fronts and heavy fishing pressure can slow the bite down. Keeping a good attitude paid off, and almost every customer caught the biggest bass of their lives!

Fish are spawning on the northern ends of the lake, and small groups are heading to pre-spawn staging ares mid-lake to the dam. We will start to see more and more show up over the next few days. This is an exciting time because big fish move to the shore that have been in deep water most of the year. What an opportunity to catch a trophy…

These fish were caught over the past week.

Fishing has been great for big fish the last week. Overall, the bite has been tough, but we kept at it, using what has been working for bigger bites and it turned out ok. All of these fish were caught on moving baits in 2-10′ of water. I am focusing on areas where I believe we have a good chance to catch the bigger female bass that are staging up before spawning. The following pictures are from the past few days.

As usual, February was a great month for big fish. We caught fish as deep as 40′ suspended, and as shallow as 3′. Numbers have been low, but heck, my numbers are always low this time of year because I target trophy sized fish. Fortunately, we often get a big one that makes the day!

It looks like another severe cold front is coming in, and that’s right down my alley. It will position the fish in the deepest water nearby. They wont bite as good, but at least I’ll know where they’re at. It seems like the biggest fish come on the worst days weather-wise this time of year, so I never let the weather bother me as long as its safe.
Here are some recent big ones.

Here are some big bass pictures from this week! The first image was taken right before my customer caught a giant. The streaks at approx. 20′ on the left screen and the short lines on the right are big bass suspended. The cloud on the bottom is a school of threadfin shad.

The first two pictures below are of the same fish. What a tank! My customer, Jake caught it shortly after the image on the screen came across the Lowrance HDS unit.

Here are a few more fish we caught in the same scenario.

Fishing is good right now on Lake Fork, considering it is January. Numbers of fish caught are lower than what you would expect the rest of the year, but the average size is very good. Although the numbers aren’t that high, it isn’t unusual if we don’t catch a single fish under 4lbs in a given day. I love this time of year because the lake isn’t crowded and the bass you do catch are gonna be good ones.

Today my customer Bud Biram, who has been fishing with me on a regular basis since last June, broke his personal best again. This time it was a 9lb 10oz beauty! She is the first fish in the pictures. He had the patience to keep at it and it paid off. The main mistake I see people make this time of year is that they lose patience and confidence because they don’t get many bites. I work specific stretches over thoroughly, with lures that have been proven to work on Lake Fork through the years, because I’m sure big fish are close by.

Right now I am keying in on a variety of areas. The best pattern for me has been fishing break lines adjacent to spawning flats, but the jig bite is still producing the better quality fish on most days. I’m basically fishing in places where fish stage up to prepare for spawning. This is a great time to catch a double digit sized fish because the larger, female fish are feeding to put on weight before they spawn and they’re full of eggs. If you look at the list of the largest bass ever caught in Texas, you’ll find many were caught in January and February.

If you’re looking to catch a trophy sized bass I encourage you to give Lake Fork a try during the next month. Its a great time to catch a big one!

We had a great afternoon today on Fork! My customer and I were both excited and figured the fish would be chomping with the warmer weather, strong south wind, and the approaching cold front. These are the type of days you can whack ’em, and whack ’em we did, with our best 5 weighing just over 34lbs!

Water temperature ranged from 46-48 degrees where we were fishing. We fished with with Mark Pack’s M-Pack Lures jig, and a crankbait most of the trip. We found fish in 6-10′ of water, keying in on ditches and drains.

The fish we caught today were starting to show up in a typical prespawn pattern, and this should become more consistent as the days continue to get longer. It was great to catch them with Justin because he’s toughed it out through a few tough days with me in the past.