Forget stereotypes. Lake Fork or no Lake Fork, the bass were busting little bitty baitfish so it seemed like a little bitty bait might be the ticket. I had Bobby Garland 1 1/2-inch Stroll'Rs and Swimmin Minnows in my bag, so I put one of each on a tandem set of small jigheads and laid the rig where it would be handy when the next schooling fish that popped up within range.It didn't take long for schoolers to show themselves, so I grabbed that outfit and fired my little rig toward the breakers. Wham. A hit and miss. Three cranks later another hit, and this time it was hooked.
"Bring it in slowly and you might get another one," bass pro Stephen Browning said, knowing I had another loose jig on my rig. I did as he said, and the bass seemingly had read the script. That largemouth double turned out to be one of four Browning and I landed in an afternoon of throwing "crappie baits" for schooling fish and the first two of 20 or so largemouth bass.
The bad news is that we also lost our share. The 10-pound line on my Lew's Laser SL Speed Stick spinning outfit just didn't let me muscle 5-pound fish, so some found the trees. Browning and I both lost a couple of what we think were really nice bass.
Today was a far cry from what I think of when I think about Lake Fork, but it was a really fun day of fishing with a catch that ranged from catching dozens of barfish (yellow bass) on spoons to watching Browning catch a flathead that ate a football jig to doubling up largemouths with crappie jigs.
We'll see what tomorrow brings!
