My brother in law, Joey and me took his new Ranger out today. Lake Rodemacher, aka CLECO Lake is about 15 miles north of Alexandria. It has a 14-17″ slot.
One slot bass and that was all, but it was nice to get out on the lake.

Even though temps are still in the 50s, the Spring bite is starting. Find the grass lines near the deep water and fish them with a Carolina rigged lizard or worm and you should find some fish on Lake Fork right about now.
We are seeing Lake Fork map sales starting to move, so interest in fishing Fork for Spring is here.

KMOO News
Three men were injured in a boat accident on Lake Fork Friday morning. One of the men later died from his injuries at a Tyler hospital. Gerald McSchooler and his nephew were fishing on Lake Fork yesterday when their boat was struck by another bass boat near Little Mustang Cove. Authorities say one boat struck the other, running up and over it, eventually capsizing in the water. McSchooler and the driver of the other boat were taken from the lake to Tyler hospitals by helicopter. McSchooler’s nephew suffered only minor injuries.

McSchooler’s boat was able to make it to the shore while the other boat remained in the water for more than an hour. Game Wardens were eventually able to recover the boat and have impounded both vessels pending the investigation into the crash.

McSchooler worked at Cade’s Building Supplies in Mineola. The hardware store remained closed Saturday morning. He had been involved in community theater at the Lake Country Playhouse.

I was in a play at the Lake Country Playhouse with Gerald last year and have since become friends with him. I have heard lots of versions of this accident, but the only version that I know for real is that we lost one hell of a nice guy last Friday. Gerald was truly one of the nicest people I have met since moving to the area.

He loved fishing topwater and would throw a Yellow Magic under the strangest conditions, but he loved the topwater bite and was a passionate fisherman.

Most every time that I have been in to Cade’s since meeting Gerald, he was there with a smile and a helping hand with whatever I needed that eclipses the standard ‘call of duty’.

This is a solemn reminder to me and hopefully everyone else just how tragic a moment of distraction or lack of focus can be when operating a boat…or any other vessel.

God Speed Gerald. You will be missed by many buddy.

In July and August it’s just too hot to fish during the day, so most fishermen turn to night fishing. Lake Fork is a great lake to fish any time, especially at night.
The moon was bright and the sky was clear. It was a beautiful night on Lake Fork and…oh yeah…they caught some fish too.
Here’s a short video clip.

The dates for the event this year are April 18-20. Trace Adkins will be performing, fresh off of his runner-up effort on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice.
Last year the Toyota Texas Big Bass Classic was nice. There was lots of food and things to buy and plenty of booths to visit. This year they are charging $20 a head to walk in the gate so you can pay $4 for a hotdog, $2 for a coke or drink a $3 beer inside the roped off area.
I think this event will be a flop compared to last year due to the cover charge. The promoter has apparently lost touch with how to make an event a hit so that the sponsors and vendors do well and come back years later. This event was very well done last year, look back in the archives and you will see where I said that, but to charge people $20 to walk in the door means that a typical family will be out $200 by the time they pay for parking, some refreshments and a few trinkets from the vendors.
I’m glad I am not one of the vendors who agreed to pay a premium price for a booth only to find out later that the promoter has gotten greedy and is charging fans $20 to walk in the door. Between the sponsors’ contributions to the event and the amount they sell the TV rights for, there is plenty of money to be made without charging $20 at the door. The promoters are trying to get rich here and I suspect they will be dealt a dose of reality by East Texas fishing fans.

Here’s a little change of pace. I am visiting friends in Florida and we went out and got on some nice Spanish Mackerel. We had a great time, caught some fish and made it through some pretty rough water. These Mackerel are real fighters.
Thanks to my good friend Alan Hamilton for having me over to do some fishing. He promises to make a trip to Lake Fork to catch some bass soon.
We’re heading back out tomorrow for more. We are headed southwest to Bull Bay, near Boca Grande in search of more and bigger fish. Details to come.

Caution: This video contains “R-rated” words.

It was too nice to stay home today, so I grabbed Judi and we headed for the lake. Inspired by the comments to this post, I had to go fishing.
We got out around 3 and headed to Birch Creek. There were a good many boats out today. We got one fish in a cove just north of the 515 bridge on the west fork. Not a serious fishing trip, but a nice time on the water and one decent fish as you see in the video below.
Surface temps are rising on Lake Fork. The Spring bite will soon be ON!

I went to visit my friend Jim Dax and we fished his private pond.
Jim has 90 acres just outside of Winnsboro, Texas with a 5 acre pond on it. He has it stocked with Florida Bass. They aren’t huge, but they are plentiful. We caught dozens of fish in a 2 1/2 hour period of time on this Thursday morning.
There are bigger bass in this pond in the 5 to 7 pound range. We didn’t find them on this trip, but we had a blast catching the feisty bass we caught. At one time towards the end, I was catching a fish on almost every cast with a 1/4 oz. chrome and blue Rattle Trap.
Thanks Jim! This was a lot of fun.