A spring homecoming to Lake Fork delivered Lake Fork Guy a seven-pound bass that ate his glide bait at the boat and refused to stay hooked, an empty hand at the LFD big-bass tournament, and a 19-crappie box that filled in a single afternoon. It was, by his account, the healthiest he has seen the legendary Texas reservoir in years.
The trip, run with fellow Googan business executive Trey Epic, was hosted out of the 515 Cabins on a $10-buy-in big-bass derby. The duo had to beat a five pounder; an eight pounder ultimately took the win. They came up short, but with reasons to come back. "I noticed the lake was a little low, but it looked healthy," Lake Fork Guy said. "It seemed like there was a lot of male bass up in the shallows for the spawn and even some post-spawn fish that were pretty hungry."
The bait of the trip was a yet-to-release Gizzy Glide from Googan Baits — a 1.99 oz, 6-inch glide bait in a bone Andromeda colour with a black tail. Lake Fork Guy framed it as the bait that finally got him over the line on glide-bait fishing. "This is the bait that gave me confidence to throw other glides because I can work it with the rod kind of like a jerk bait, almost," he said.
The big moment came late. A fish he and Epic agreed was around seven pounds came up to inhale the bait at the surface and missed the hook. "I actually saw the fish's mouth open and my bait disappear for a second, at least a part of it. I had to lean back. He had it in its mouth, dude — how did I miss him?" he said. Multiple bass followed the glide bait in the closing 30 minutes, but the kicker never converted.
With the tournament out of reach, the pair pivoted to crappie. The bite was scattered across pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn fish in 10 to 20 ft of water, with the best concentrations on laid-over timber. Lake Fork Guy threw a Dangle Dart and Epic worked a Bumping Bug, both on 1/8 oz jig heads. "Every good-looking stump, especially ones that are laid over like this, have got a crappie or two on them," he said. The cooler closed out at 19 crappie plus a barfish; the best two on the day were 17 and 19 inches.
The takeaway: visiting anglers should not assume Lake Fork is finished as a fishery in 2026. "You just never get bored on this lake if you're fishing for both those species," Lake Fork Guy said. "Coming out here, catch bass and crappie in the same time — it's a premier place to go crappie fishing."
