It’s starting to happen now

Brandon Lester

In the previous two days at Lake Fork, there has been an early flurry of fish catches, probably linked to the shad spawn, followed by a mid-morning lull. Somewhere around the noon hour, a feeding frenzy has begun. That pattern is holding true today, and it could be even more explosive with this combination of sunshine and wind.

Here’s a sample of what happened yesterday, when fishing time was shortened by an hour and 20 minutes due to the storm forecast. Taku Ito kicked off the afternoon bite with an 8-pound, 14-ounce bass at 12:38. Clifford Pirch caught the big bass of the tournament so far – a 9-13 – at 12:44. Stetson Blaylock landed a 7-2 at 1:57. The big bass bites continued right up to the last minute for at least three anglers. They all mentioned catching the following on their last cast: Cody Hollen landed an 8-3 at 2:25; Matt Arey caught an important 5-0 at 2:34; and Shane Lineberger caught a 7-15 at 2:37 with a 2:40 check-in time. That big bass squeaked Lineberger into the top 49 by two ounces.

Today, with check-in times back to normal, beginning with the first flight at 3 p.m., it could really get crazy at Lake Fork.