My mate Shane and I did another overnight Fork session this weekend, and Sunday morning we had a pretty notable turn of events. We had been blanking at another lake and moved to fork in the late afternoon on Saturday. We baited up and got set up quickly. The night was pretty quiet other than a few catfish until about midnight. Shane had a banging headache that resulted from moving swims(We had to carry our gear up a massive hill and reload it into the car and drive nearly two hours to get to Fork), so he went to sleep really early. I had noticed a ton of fish crashing so I sat up on my bedchair and sat there watching the fish crash for a while before returning back to sleep. I was awakened again around five in the morning by an absolute screamer on my left rod, causing me to stumble off my bedchair and scramble to find my headlamp. I lifted into the fish and after a nice fight that included several decent runs I eventually landed a hard fighting 25lb 7oz common. It was definitely a nice blank saver.
I was able to weigh the fish, snap a few self takes, and slip her back without Shane even budging. Soon after I landed a catfish and a smaller carp. I could see that the fish were coming in, so I recasted my rods and paddled out to the marker to bait up again. I dropped about a two gallon bucket of particle and range cube/calf manna mix and paddled back to shore. About twenty minutes passed and I had a very slow take on my left rod again. I lifted into it and immediately felt a ton of weight. The fish began to plane toward a treeline, so I waded out a few feet to turn it back toward me. The fish was extremely hard to turn, and I probably fought it for nearly ten minutes before I was able to get the fish within fifty yards of the bank. I just felt slow plodding, planing from left to right and moving very slowly. Right about when I said to myself "this is a really big fish", Shane's left rod slacked off and he sprang out of his bedchair. We were doubled up. My fish was still pretty far out when it occurred to me that there was only one net in the swim and i'd have to sack my fish before I netted his. Shane said to me "I think this is a buff, and a big one". I agreed with him that I probably had a buffalo as well due to the slow plodding. Shane was able to get his fish to the surface about twenty yards from the bank and I caught a glimpse of it. It was near fifty for sure, putting even more pressure on me to land the fish I was connected to, which could potentially be larger than his. Shane had his close to the bank so I walked the net out to the dropoff, maintaining tension on the fish, which was still hugging the bottom. I was extremely nervous, mostly because I could feel the line pinging off of every bit of weed, rock, and branch on the bottom. Finally I was able to lift the fish enough to see a swirl. After that it all happened quickly. I slid the net down, pulled the fish into it with the rod, and lifted the net. I quickly peered down at my prize and my mind blanked for a second. I couldn't believe the size of the fish in the net before me, and the fact that the fish I had originally mistaken for a buff was actually a huge common. I set the net down and tethered it on top of a bankstick and ran over to Shane with the weigh sling and scooped up his buffalo, which put up some resistance but for the most part allowed me to slide the sling right under it. We were both wide eyed and silent for a minute. We had two huge fish captured. When we regained concentration again we decided to weigh Shane's buff first, transporting the fish to the cradle and carefully zeroed out the sling. It took both of us to hang up the sling on the scale, and the dial swung round past forty. Shane said "watch it not go fifty, this lake hates me". The dial kept moving. 47. 48. 49. It finally rested on 49lb 7oz, beating Shane's previous best by several pounds. We sacked up Shane's buff and got it situated then tended to my carp. I popped the net apart and peered down at my fish again. I had just broken my PB and had my first thirty on my last Fork session two weeks before, and I felt relatively sure that this fish was quite a bit larger. Shane and I lifted it carefully onto the cradle and once again zeroed out the sling perfectly. We slipped the fish into the sling and hung it on the scale. I couldn't look at the scale. I stood around the back side of the scale while Shane read it. He inquired "What's your PB again mate?" I responded with "33lb 12oz. Shane looked at me with a wide grin and said "You've got that beat by quite a bit, congrats! We've got TWO PERSONAL BESTS on the bank at the SAME TIME!". I couldn't believe it. I walked over to Shane's side and he read the scale aloud. 36lb 10oz. A new PB for me and another milestone with the 35lb mark crossed. We were both elated and I started laughing as I got the fish into the other keepsack. We tethered both fish safely to a storm pole and sorted all of our lines out as well as the fish care stuff and the camera gear.
I landed two more twenties and another high teener. The shoal of fish moved on and we got ready to take the pictures of our fish. Shane's fish was first, then we'd take a double shot and get Shane's fish released before moving on to mine. So...here they are.
49lb 7oz Smallmouth Buffalo, also the new largest out of this swim
Two PB's at once. Wow.
36lb 10oz of perfection
I released my fish slowly, taking it all in watching my captured prize swim back into the depths of Lake Fork.
I ended up having quite a few more fish, I think the final count was around fifteen fish with several twenties and high teenners. None, however, were anywhere near as special as what we had just accomplished.
Here are some more pictures from the trip. Another fantastic time on the bank as usual.
And Finally I'll end with the sights and sounds of East Texas at night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bA8YwJdqCU
Until next time
AA
I was able to weigh the fish, snap a few self takes, and slip her back without Shane even budging. Soon after I landed a catfish and a smaller carp. I could see that the fish were coming in, so I recasted my rods and paddled out to the marker to bait up again. I dropped about a two gallon bucket of particle and range cube/calf manna mix and paddled back to shore. About twenty minutes passed and I had a very slow take on my left rod again. I lifted into it and immediately felt a ton of weight. The fish began to plane toward a treeline, so I waded out a few feet to turn it back toward me. The fish was extremely hard to turn, and I probably fought it for nearly ten minutes before I was able to get the fish within fifty yards of the bank. I just felt slow plodding, planing from left to right and moving very slowly. Right about when I said to myself "this is a really big fish", Shane's left rod slacked off and he sprang out of his bedchair. We were doubled up. My fish was still pretty far out when it occurred to me that there was only one net in the swim and i'd have to sack my fish before I netted his. Shane said to me "I think this is a buff, and a big one". I agreed with him that I probably had a buffalo as well due to the slow plodding. Shane was able to get his fish to the surface about twenty yards from the bank and I caught a glimpse of it. It was near fifty for sure, putting even more pressure on me to land the fish I was connected to, which could potentially be larger than his. Shane had his close to the bank so I walked the net out to the dropoff, maintaining tension on the fish, which was still hugging the bottom. I was extremely nervous, mostly because I could feel the line pinging off of every bit of weed, rock, and branch on the bottom. Finally I was able to lift the fish enough to see a swirl. After that it all happened quickly. I slid the net down, pulled the fish into it with the rod, and lifted the net. I quickly peered down at my prize and my mind blanked for a second. I couldn't believe the size of the fish in the net before me, and the fact that the fish I had originally mistaken for a buff was actually a huge common. I set the net down and tethered it on top of a bankstick and ran over to Shane with the weigh sling and scooped up his buffalo, which put up some resistance but for the most part allowed me to slide the sling right under it. We were both wide eyed and silent for a minute. We had two huge fish captured. When we regained concentration again we decided to weigh Shane's buff first, transporting the fish to the cradle and carefully zeroed out the sling. It took both of us to hang up the sling on the scale, and the dial swung round past forty. Shane said "watch it not go fifty, this lake hates me". The dial kept moving. 47. 48. 49. It finally rested on 49lb 7oz, beating Shane's previous best by several pounds. We sacked up Shane's buff and got it situated then tended to my carp. I popped the net apart and peered down at my fish again. I had just broken my PB and had my first thirty on my last Fork session two weeks before, and I felt relatively sure that this fish was quite a bit larger. Shane and I lifted it carefully onto the cradle and once again zeroed out the sling perfectly. We slipped the fish into the sling and hung it on the scale. I couldn't look at the scale. I stood around the back side of the scale while Shane read it. He inquired "What's your PB again mate?" I responded with "33lb 12oz. Shane looked at me with a wide grin and said "You've got that beat by quite a bit, congrats! We've got TWO PERSONAL BESTS on the bank at the SAME TIME!". I couldn't believe it. I walked over to Shane's side and he read the scale aloud. 36lb 10oz. A new PB for me and another milestone with the 35lb mark crossed. We were both elated and I started laughing as I got the fish into the other keepsack. We tethered both fish safely to a storm pole and sorted all of our lines out as well as the fish care stuff and the camera gear.
I landed two more twenties and another high teener. The shoal of fish moved on and we got ready to take the pictures of our fish. Shane's fish was first, then we'd take a double shot and get Shane's fish released before moving on to mine. So...here they are.
49lb 7oz Smallmouth Buffalo, also the new largest out of this swim
Two PB's at once. Wow.
36lb 10oz of perfection
I released my fish slowly, taking it all in watching my captured prize swim back into the depths of Lake Fork.
I ended up having quite a few more fish, I think the final count was around fifteen fish with several twenties and high teenners. None, however, were anywhere near as special as what we had just accomplished.
Here are some more pictures from the trip. Another fantastic time on the bank as usual.
And Finally I'll end with the sights and sounds of East Texas at night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bA8YwJdqCU
Until next time
AA