Lake Fork advice/ Help picking a shad and gill glider

[Shiryu]

Planning on taking my first trip to Fork next month and I was hoping some of y'all might be kind enough to give me some tips. And don't worry, I promise I'm not gonna start coming down regular like and catching all the fish. Live too far away for that. Just started fishing swimbaits this year and thats what I wanna concentrate one while I'm there. I was wondering if there's any hot baits or colors, hardbaits or soft, down there this year? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Also, I wanna add a shad and a gill glide to my fledgeling collection. Not really interested in getting into trying to find a Hinkle or any of the other big money/hard to source baits right now. Just want something reasonable that I can learn and catch some fish on. For the gill I've been kinda thinking Bullshooter in some flavor or another, but no idea on the shad. Again, any advice is appreciated. Oh, and I've been wanting to try a 3:16 FS Shad since I like my FS Gill so much. Any reason to start somewhere else? Thanks!

[Triv]

Not that I have any input at all, but if I were going, I'd have a few Rising Sons with me.

[swimbaitrookie]

The lake is full and there's tons of flooded shoreline cover so you could find fish from 6" to 30' deep.

 

A bullshad in gizzard or bone is always a good plan. Throw it on big line You'll want some baits you can fish deep and rigged weedless for fishing on humps and ridges. Stroker shads on a santone head is the hot deal in early summer. A hudd 68 is good in the less timbered areas.

 

If you were going much earlier in the year the line thru's would play a bigger role but they normally aren't that effective this time of year.

 

Use heavy mono or fluoro, not braid.

[C_R_TX]

May seem basic but do not get distracted by the timber.  It is easy to lose focus on structure and get fixated on cover.

 

If you are looking for a guide, I would suggest Andrew Grills. Andrew is very knowledgable and great guy all around.

 

I would not suggest James Caldemeyer. He is recommended on 3:16's website but in my experience, he is not enjoyable to be around.

[LUV-2-CATCH'EM]

+1 to everything said here... Swimbaitrookie and C_R_TX are right! Grills is money well spent!

I would suggest the Shadley and Riseing Son and 3:16 Gill...

The Deps 250 is allways a solid choice and don't rule out the Hinkle (It's worth getting-It produces)

Rig the Gill weedless for the timber is very flooded(SpeedBead did a great instructional video)

Also a Hudd Gill is a great choice...

Let me know if you want to meet I may be able too if it works out

 

Peace-Justin

[Shiryu]

Thanks for the input guys. 10-4 on the Rising Son, been wanting to check em out anyway. We're gonna skip the guide this time. My buddy I'm going with booked one last year 3 or 4 months out and it was a wasted trip cos of that lousy weather that hit around spring break. Not the guides fault, but he was locked in to that date. We can go any weekend in June and we're gonna play it by ear. Plus he's got some kinfolk by marriage down Fork way who's a good enough stick to consistently win money and he knows the lake. He offered to take us out one of our days. Oh, and I meant to list the few baits I already have and get y'all opinion on them for Fork too.

 

3:16 FS Gill SS and Float - both male

3:16 Baby Wake - bass

Jointed Claw 178 SS - Se Ayu

7" Slammer - Trout

6" Punker g2 - gill

Kawashi Mikey - Skeleton Iris

Shellcracker g2 - see thru gill

 

And by then I'll also have my custom 6" Triple Trout and Beast Jr from Pizz

[lunkerglx10]

+1 to everything said here... Swimbaitrookie and C_R_TX are right! Grills is money well spent!

I would suggest the Shadley and Riseing Son and 3:16 Gill...

The Deps 250 is allways a solid choice and don't rule out the Hinkle (It's worth getting-It produces)

Rig the Gill weedless for the timber is very flooded(SpeedBead did a great instructional video)

Also a Hudd Gill is a great choice...

Let me know if you want to meet I may be able too if it works out

 

Peace-Justin

Hey Justin, any chance you have a link that video you're referring to? Looked around a bit and couldn't find it. 

[Shiryu]

The lake is full and there's tons of flooded shoreline cover so you could find fish from 6" to 30' deep.

A bullshad in gizzard or bone is always a good plan. Throw it on big line You'll want some baits you can fish deep and rigged weedless for fishing on humps and ridges. Stroker shads on a santone head is the hot deal in early summer. A hudd 68 is good in the less timbered areas.

If you were going much earlier in the year the line thru's would play a bigger role but they normally aren't that effective this time of year.

Use heavy mono or fluoro, not braid.

Yeah, I definitely need a bullshad. Plus it'll work here at home. I'll grab some of santone/stroker combos and a Hudd too. As far as baits for fish the deep stuff are we talking bottom bouncing or slow rolling along the bottom? Reading about the stroker I see you can jig it or swim it and I know people bottom bounce Hudds. Isn't the 3:16 Mission Fish designed to be jigged too? I've basically got zero soft bait experience and fishing deep structure/geographical features isn't something we're able to do here at home.

[Shiryu]

+1 to everything said here... Swimbaitrookie and C_R_TX are right! Grills is money well spent!I would suggest the Shadley and Riseing Son and 3:16 Gill...The Deps 250 is allways a solid choice and don't rule out the Hinkle (It's worth getting-It produces)Rig the Gill weedless for the timber is very flooded(SpeedBead did a great instructional video)Also a Hudd Gill is a great choice...Let me know if you want to meet I may be able too if it works outPeace-Justin

Yeah, X2 on help finding the video. Probably staring me in the face but I looked for 20 mins or so and no luck. And are you talking about the FS Gill or the their soft gill bait? A weedless FS Gill would be spectacular. We have a ton of timber where I fish too. I gotta get a heavier rod before I throw the 250. Same reason I don't already have a Bullshooter. Planning on taking care of that before the trip tho. As for the Hudd gill I wouldn't mind, but everybody seems so proud of em price-wise still. I've already got an Ultimate Bluegill straight tail I bought for bed fishing. Maybe I'll just buy a boot tail too. I'll give you a heads up when we figure out which weekend we'll be down. If it worked out and you wanted to come out that'd be great. It'd be nice to actually fish with somebody else that throws big baits for once. My buddy doesn't fool with em and I don't know if his family connection guy does or not.

[swimbaitrookie]

I would use the Stroker shad over the mission fish due to the tail kick.  

[swimbaitrookie]

if you can't find the video the process is pretty simple, just a little risky on the bait and your hand:

 

carefully remove the plastic weight / line thru insert from the nose of the bait.  you'll have to work the plastic loose a little at a time.

once removed, take a razor blade and carefully cut a slit in the belly so that a 6/0 weighted owner beast hook will fit.  be careful here since you can easily slice the snot out of your hand or slice right through the bait.  with the hook screwed into the nose of the bait you'll be able to figure out where to cut to let the hook slide up into the bait enough.

 

I made a few weedless gills and shads but they were pretty fish-less for me.  Either didn't get the bites like the normal bait did or lost fish from not getting a good hookup.

['Derrick Wallace']

The Santone Stroker or the Optimum Optishad would be good choices. I'm personally curious to see what the guys catch them on at the Texas Toyota Bass Classic this weekend.

[NorthTexasSwimbaiter]

May seem basic but do not get distracted by the timber.  It is easy to lose focus on structure and get fixated on cover.

 

If you are looking for a guide, I would suggest Andrew Grills. Andrew is very knowledgable and great guy all around.

 

I would not suggest James Caldemeyer. He is recommended on 3:16's website but in my experience, he is not enjoyable to be around.

??? I can't speak for Andrew, as I have not fished with him, but in my experience, James is nothing short of wonderful. I know him to be a great guy who knows the lake like the back of his hand. Plus, I caught my first DD with him.

 

As to the rest of C_R_TX's post, he's on the money. Cover is important, but structure is by far the most important factor. I'll bet most of the big fish will be offshore by the time you get there, so look for points with sharp breaks, road beds, submerged pond dams, and the like. It's worth graphing over a spot a few times before fishing it because there's no guarantee that fish will be on your chosen spot at any given time. Have a list of spots for that situation, and don't give a spot much more than 20 minutes. If the school's active, they'll feed. 

 

Know this: you WILL get hung. There's no avoiding it. Make sure to have a good plug knocker with you to get back your expensive baits. Even then, you'll only get your bait back so many times. Don't throw something you aren't willing to lose or go diving for. 

 

My two favorite big baits out there are huddlestons, both the 8" and 68, and flutter spoons. They sell the new GIANT flutter spoons at various places around the lake, and I mean to get one this weekend. My biggest limit on Fork came on a flutter spoon, so I'm excited to see what I can haul up with an 8" size. If you don't get the huge Nichols one, the Talon version is the best in my experience. 

 

I'm no guide or anything, but I hope that's a good starting point. If there's anything I can help with, I'll try to do my best.

[Top Ramen]

There's a reason 3:16 Rising Sons sell out within hours of being re-stocked at Lake Fork marinas. That bait kills there. 

[Shiryu]

I would use the Stroker shad over the mission fish due to the tail kick.

 

I'll definitely score some of the Strokers. Y'all have a weight preference or maybe a guideline you use for the depth you wanna fish? I'm assuming it's one you wanna fish deep and 15-17' is the deepest we really fish. I've got no experience fishing 30' of water.