3 BIG THINGS: Day 2 on Lake Fork Presents a Trio of Questions for Group B

Group B will have different challenges than Andy Morgan and Group A did Friday on Lake Fork. Photo by Garrick Dixon

March 14, 2020 • Tyler Brinks • Bass Pro Tour

LAKE FORK, Texas – What a day it was Friday on Lake Fork as the General Tire Stage Three Presented by TrueTimber kicked off. Big bass (and plenty of them) were the stories of the day, a hint that bass fans are in for a treat the rest of the week until a winner is crowned.

Here are some things to watch for today as Group B starts their Qualifying Round: How Lake Fork will handle the fishing pressure? Will spawning bass bite again? And will we see another double-digit bass placed on SCORETRACKER®?

1. Fishing Pressure

There’s fishing pressure, and then there’s Lake Fork fishing pressure. This is a lake that holds tournaments with over 1,000 boats every year, and it handles the attention very well, still kicking out big bass.

Stage Three is being contested during a prime time of the year when bass anglers make treks from all over the country for their shot at a trophy Texas largemouth bass.

Translation: It’s going to be crowded Saturday. Although the Bass Pro Tour field is only 40 boats, everyday anglers fishing this weekend will be out in full force.

With bass primarily shallow, both tournament and recreational anglers on Fork might have caught many of the “easy ones” already.

Even as good as the fishing seems now, it might become more difficult as the week progresses.

Add in a major national kayak tournament set for tomorrow and it will be a busy day on the water. But if any lake can handle it, it’s Lake Fork.

2. Will the Spawning Bass Bite Again?

One of the primary patterns during Group A’s qualifying competition was sight fishing. Bedding bass were a factor, and it appears that more spawning bass are moving to the bank.

Many of these sight bass were located and marked with a waypoint during practice. Surely some of them were found by multiple anglers in different groups, fishing different days, so will they bite again after being caught?

With MLF’s catch, weigh, and immediate-release format, it’s possible that different anglers will catch the same bass on different days of the tournament. They might not be as easy to catch and take a little longer to coax a bite the second time around, but it will likely happen this week.

With more bass rushing shallow, it may not matter on a body of water as healthy and full of fish as Lake Fork.

3. Will Another Double-Digit Be Caught?

There were several trophy quality bass caught during Group A’s Elimination Round. Many of the 7-, 8-, and 9-pound bass would be considered a fish of a lifetime by many anglers, but they were almost pedestrian on Day 1.

Standing above the crowd was Jason Christie and his 10-pound, 4-ounce behemoth. Not only was it the biggest bass of the day, but it was also the biggest bass ever weighed in an MLF event.

Now the question is, how long will it stay the record? Odds and the current conditions say that someone will catch a bigger one this week. The question is, who is going to catch the new record?