I decided to start a new thread in order to begin the fishing story from Lake Fork, Texas I promised earlier last week. First things first, thanks to FatLuke, Bowzog & Slushie, Fishing Buddy Slop, Bucket, dskrizzy, Iceman, Daver, Joco, BBR, Clap_for_the_Wolfman, and Bender for the interest in my promised report and the well wishes. It was an adventure with a few twists thrown in for good measure...as you'll see
!My plan was to fly with my wife and two young kids to Chicago and then on to Memphis to meet my father-in-law and then drive to Emory, Texas. Well...rewinding last Wednesday's weather you'll remember Ottawa was locked in fog for most of the morning. It turns out the Ottawa airport does not have a Class 1 guidance system for planes to land in fog so flight #1 is cancelled. No problem, a new flight is scheduled to leave at 4:00 PM. So we all wait with anxious kids for five hours and begin to see the next flight delayed two more times until 6:00 PM. At this point I didn't want to risk getting stuck in Chicago late at night...with two anxious kids. So we stored our luggage and rod tube at the airport and decided to take a taxi home and catch the first flight to Chicago the next morning. Scratch 1/2 day of fishing
!The next day is clear and besides a lot of travelers rescheduling cancelled flights we are able to get to Chicago on time and connect to Memphis a bit ahead of schedule. Two new twists....over night my daughter picks up the stomach flu and she travels next to me with the airsick bag for both legs of the trip. She looked miserable and the ride was pretty rough at times adding to her dilemma. She was a trooper though! Twist number 2... my rod tube does not arrive from the connecting flight in Chicago. What next! The United Airlines agent assures me they will ship the rod tube to me, but the tube will have to be sent back to Chicago, then to Denver, then to Dallas, and then be driven 80 miles East to Emory, Texas. I figure today is Thursday and there is no way I'll see my rod tube until the day I leave (Sunday).
So off we drive to the State where everything is bigger...and they will tell you. The drive is scenic as we pass Hot Springs and Bill Clinton's hometown (Hope) in Arkansas, begin to see the tell-tale sign you are in the South...armadillo road kill, lots and lots of soybean and rice fields, and begin to soak in some of the warm Summer-like temps the further South we go. We arrive at my Brother-in Laws new home tucked on a cove of Lake Fork @ 9:00 PM, have a nightcap and a snack and plan for an early rise in the morning.
After purchasing a three-day license and one pound (yes, they sell minnows by weight) of minnows we head out to one of many bridges that cross Lake Fork for some Crappie fishing that usually doesn't disappoint. I was worried we'd be a little early to catch the Fall pattern where the Crappie move off the wood structures in deep water to the bridge pilings as the weather had been very hot and in severe drought conditions. Here's a shot from my in-laws back yard looking out at the cove.
And here's our Crappie buggy for the weekend in the boatlift before taking off.
I mentioned there was a severe drought...well here is a picture showing how low the water is. The lake is down five feet (which is a record) and my in-laws boat is the only one that could be lowered into the water (what luck)!
If you've ever fished Lake Fork the first thing you'll notice is it's chock full of flooded timber and quite dangerous to navigate when it's low. Several Bass boats at full throttle have hit stumps recently. Many of them were experienced guides with years of experience on this type of water. Here's a pic to illustrate the type of challenges to navigation.
The trick to fishing the bridge pilings is to know how the fish relate to the pilings and the cross-members that give the pilings added strength. The cross-members are about 10-12 feet down now with the low water. Once you locate the correct depth the fishing gets pretty easy. Here's my father-in-law (Jim) with the first of many of 10"-14" fish we caught for the weekend.
Here's my first 16" Crappie caught the first day...we landed about a dozen Crappie 16" or larger for the weekend.
Our first day was unique in that the Large Bass were also cruising amongst the Crappie as well. Here is Jim with one of the few we landed on our ultra light equipment (we lost three other huge fish that day as they would burn between the pilings or snap us off on the cross-member.
I'd enter the fish in the 5 + category, but fear the wrath of the doubting Thomas'. We measured the length and it was 23 1/4"...maybe a 6 lb. fish!
Wow, I'm feeling pretty chatty tonight so I'll make the rest a bit abbreviated. Here are two of the other large Crappie I caught. The first one is 16 1/2" and the second is my largest at 17" and 2.35 lbs. LIFE IS GOOD!
So the trip was a success....and oh I forgot to mention my rods showed up the next day before noon and I was very surprised and happy to be using my own equipment. We used the standard minnow and aberdeen hook setup with the right amount of split shot to load the rod tip up properly. Not really sexy or a challenge, but I did catch a few vertically jigging a hair jig along the cross-members.
I mentioned this trip had some twists and they weren't over yet. As my daughter had already recovered from the stomach flu, my son laying next to me the night before we leave says, "aw man...I think I'm going to be sick"...we race to the bathroom and round two begins.
! The flight home the next day has my son with the airsickness bag in hand and makes a few deposits North of Memphis and South of Chicago. Oh joy!At any rate the trip was a success, the kids are on the mend, and my wife and I have gotten by with just queazy stomachs so far.
If you are ever interested in taking a trip to this lake I'd recommend the Spring, Fall, or Winter periods as I've fished this lake in Summer and it is just too darn hot to fish after 10:00 AM. The Bass are Florida strain and I've had them snap 20lb. test with ease to my surprise in the past. The timber is really tough for me to fish and the thermocline that sets up in early Summer adds another challenge as fish suspend on the timber and open water. Fall is the best time for the Crappie fishing with October and November as prime time, but weather fronts can and will blow you off this huge lake at times. Timing is critical and involves some luck and I believe we hit the weather portion almost perfectly as temps were mid 80's during the day and high 50's at night.
Tight Lines everyone,
ratsotail
..to make me dream about those biggy crappy,,,, 
