Tips & Techniques
Fall
Tournament Strategies for Fork
from...
Pro Tom Redington |
 |
September, 2008
By
Tom Redington
Fall is tournament season on Lake Fork, with thousands of anglers in
search of prize winning fish in several huge big bass tournaments, as well
as a number of regional trail events. Due to the restrictive 16” to 24”
slot limit on Fork that remains in effect for all tournaments (except
paper tourneys), anglers’ strategies are a little different on Fork than
on most lakes. Since the vast majority of prizes for Fork tournaments are
won by anglers with fish under 16”, I’ll concentrate on those patterns,
while touching on a few ways to catch a lunker.
During the fall tournament season (Sep-early Nov), numbers of bass are
available in both the shallow and deep sections of Fork. As the water
cools, many bass move back into creeks and onto the flats near creek
channels chasing shad. At the same time, shallow main lake grassbeds and
timber also hold lots of bass, while many bass group up in large schools
in water as deep as 40’+ chasing shad and yellow bass. With so many
possible options, some bass will be active every day. In general, I
concentrate on the shallows more on windy and overcast days because skinny
water bass are typically more aggressive in these conditions. If
conditions are sunnier and calm, the shallow bite typically slows, so I’ll
spend more time on the deep bite then. These are not hard and fast rules
though, and since the fish are so scattered, I’d suggest concentrating on
the techniques that you’re most comfortable fishing. Fall on Fork is
certainly a time when you can benefit from fishing your strengths.
For those of you checking the shallows, search for productive areas with
moving baits, then switch to soft plastics to catch numbers from those
areas. Keeping in mind that you’re searching for smaller bass that are 16”
and under, use 1/8 to ¼ oz spinnerbaits, small crankbaits, and ¼ oz
lipless crankbaits along creek channels in the backs of creeks or over
weed flats on the main lake. Small topwaters also work well, like poppers
or downsized walking baits. Once you’ve found a few fish in an area, soft
plastics will normally produce more bass from the spot. The #1 option is
normally a wacky worm. Rig a Twitch Worm on a 1/0 hook with a small weight
in the head of the worm and cast it to the edge of grass, concentrating on
points or along creek channels. If conditions are a little windier, the
new Lake Fork Trophy Lures Hyper Finesse Worm works great on a 1/8 to ¼ oz
Screwball jighead, fished shaky style. When the bite is off and bass bury
up in the grass a little more, or when they’re holding in deeper water
just off the edge of the grass, a finesse Carolina rig with 10 to 15 lb
fluorocarbon, a ¼ oz sinker and a 12” leader can be dynamite. Rig a Fork
Baby Creature, Baby Ring Fry, or the Hyper Finesse Worm on the hook and
you’ll be in business. Finally, a 3.5” Live Magic Shad rigged on a
weighted 3/0 Ultimate Swimbait Hook will catch neutral bass that are
suspended around the grass. I primarily like shades of green for these
lures in clearer sections of the lake, with green pumpkin and watermelon
shades being consistent producers. In murkier water, June bug and black
neon both do well on Fork.
If offshore structure fishing is more your style, good numbers of keepers
can be caught from deep water. Bass will mix in with large schools of
yellow bass and shad in anywhere from 12’ to over 40’ of water in the
fall, so search with your graph until you find a large school. Carolina
rigs and drop shots both are excellent for fish that are located on the
bottom. For both rigs, green pumpkin or watermelon shades of Baby Ring
Frys, Twitch Worms and Hyper Finesse Worms are excellent choices. If the
bass are suspended, 3” Fork Flutter Spoons and ½ oz jigging spoons work
well when yo-yoed through the schools. Count these down to the depth of
the bass, varying your retrieve until you find the way they want them.
For a shot at a 24”+ over the slot bass, here are a few tricks to try. In
most of the big tournaments, the largest bass are caught very first thing
in the morning before the fish become pressured. Try a 10” Fork Worm on a
TX or Carolina rig, or a ½ Mega Weight Jig with a matching Fork Craw or
Pig Claw trailer early in the morning along the deep grass edge on main
lake points. After the sun gets up and the angling pressure mounts, many
big fish suspended offshore for the remainder of the day. To catch these
suspended bass, fish deep diving crankbaits through timber on deep flats
or on points with a stop and go presentation. Additional fish can be
caught in the same areas with Magic Shads and 4.5” Live Magic Shads fished
on weighted 5/0 Ultimate Swimbait Hooks. Cast these baits near trees and
let them free fall on a slack line. Suspended lunkers will hit these fish
on the fall, with the bite feeling like a faint tick, or you’ll just see
your line swim off or suddenly stop falling.
Due to all of the fishing pressure during the large tournaments (the
McDonald’s tourney had over 3000 anglers last year), fish become wary and
the easy bass are quickly picked off. In these instances, I’d look for
less pressured largemouth by fishing hard to reach areas and the heaviest
cover available. Fight through super shallow water or ultra thick grass
and wood to fish areas that others can’t or won’t go to. In addition,
areas without boat lanes that require a long idle to reach will be less
fished. Finally, make repeated casts to the hardest to reach areas of
cover, like the thickest part of a laydown or the backside of a dock. Most
anglers avoid snags by fishing the fringes of cover, so making repeated
casts to thickest cover can often deliver bites after a number of anglers
have already fished the area.
Lunker luck to those of you fishing tournaments on Fork this fall!
Hopefully my tips will get you pointed in the right direction. If I can be
of assistance, please contact me at 214-683-9572 (days) or 972-635-6027
(evenings) or e-mail me through my website,
www.LakeForkGuideTrips.com.
Tom Redington is a full time bass guide on Lake Fork and is sponsored by
Ranger Boats, Mercury Outboards, Diamond Sports Marine, Lake Fork Trophy
Lures, and Minn Kota.
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