When the Hobie Bass Open Series (BOS) schedule came out for 2020, Lake Fork in February was one that many anglers circled on the calendar as a big fish showdown throwdown. The Hobie BOS returned to Texas with 155 top kayak anglers fired up to catch a PB or at least to try and string together a couple of limits to finish in the money.
This was my fifth kayak tournament on Lake Fork, one of my favorite places to go for a big event like this and a place I’d had some past success. Although the weekend didn’t go well for me overall, I still had a great time and it was once again good to be back that the Lake Fork Marina & Motel and swapping stories while eating at Tiffany’s.
The nice warming trend leading up to practice week was moving the lake in the right direction and by all accounts big fish were being caught everywhere the weekend before the tournament. A cold front and cold rain descended on the area on Wednesday changing things up and making it brutally difficult to find active fish. Things began to improve slightly for Saturday and Sunday, just enough for a few anglers to find the bite.
Tournament Results
At the Captain’s meeting on Friday night there was much speculation as to what would win and what would place someone in the money. Most I spoke to felt like two limits would get you a check based on how difficult things had been in previous days. The conditions absolutely made anglers earn it as a paltry 17 of 155 (11%) caught a limit on day one and only 13 (8%) boated a limit on day two. Those are some stone-cold tough numbers. Conversely, a whopping 32% (49) zeroed on day one and 47% (72) didn’t turn in a bass on day two, although many had given up by then on the tough conditions. These are some of the worst catch rate numbers I’ve seen in any of my tournament recaps.
Matthew Scotch pulled in the largest bass of the event and in the history of Hobie BOS events with a 24.75″ monster pulled out of a grass mat. He also led day one with 106.75″ – another record for Hobie BOS. Day two was a slugfest for the heavyweights at the top, with Rus Snyders taking the top spot posting a 192.25″ total (98/94.25). Rus has been on fire to start the year and this continued on Lake Fork with two days that made him the champ. Talking with Rus he was very gracious and open in discussing his win and shares some of how he did it in the Angler Roundtable below. Full results can be seen on Tourney X and some great photos and videos on the Hobie BOS Facebook page.
Arkansas Anglers Showed Out + Angler Roundtable
One of the great things about these events is that they attract top anglers from all around the country. Arkansas had a solid contingent of sticks who hit the water and placed more in the money than any other state: Arkansas 5, Texas 4, Tennessee 2, New Mexico 2, and Georgia, Missouri and Nebraska each with one.
Hobie BOS Lake Fork champion Rus Snyders and four of our top Arkansas anglers agreed to share how they did it in our roundtable recap: Rus Snyders (1st), Jason Adams (7th), Garrett Morgan (9th), Eric Morris (10th) and Cody Milton (16th).
With the tough weather conditions how did you attack the lake and handle pre-fishing?
Rus – Due to the weather that week on a couple of days I slept in a bit and had breakfast, not wanting to get out in the wind and the cold too early. Got on the water around 8 or so on these days and was wanting to fish shallow. Knowing that the north end of the lake had a lot more grass and shallow cover, that’s where I wanted to fish. However, with all of the rain, that end got really muddy and there was more rain on the way. At that point I decided to try and find some clearer water. My buddy Matt Scotch helped me jump around checking out a few different areas as I tried to put together a pattern. I found some fish on Thursday, and on Friday I expanded on that by finding a good area which was a little more isolated from the crowd and decided that’s where I was going to start.
Jason – The lake has always been tough for me. I thought about the wind direction mostly thinking the south wind on Sunday would be best. I like to fish wind blown banks and that is what I did. I didn’t have much time for pre-fishing. Got in late Thursday and got out Friday early to drive around looking at ramps. I put in at the first spot and fished for an hour. Ran into a guy who I’d helped rig his boat but had never met. His name is Bill Nelson from Fort Smith who bought his second Hobie from OMTC. I really enjoy the social aspect of these events especially talking with other anglers from Arkansas.
Garrett – Pre-fishing I checked the entire lake for water clarity, temps and signs of possible spawning activity. The first spot I went I caught a 20incher and knew I’d likely be there. I spent the majority of pre-fishing time eliminating other options and scouting for my next event there March 14th. The weather leading up had been warm and stable, we got hit we some cold winds and low night temps the three days leading up. I knew the bite would be tough but I embrace these events and feel they play to my strengths of being driven enough to always feel I have a chance until the clock hits 3 pm to find my five fish.
Eric – For me on the lake I decided to pre-fish four different areas of the lake and catch two in each spot looking for bigger fish and also looking for a good amount of bites. But then the temps dropped and changed the whole pattern and the fish locked up.
Cody – With the tougher and changing water conditions I chose to fish more mid lake. Which i don’t Generally do at lake fork but the mid lake area was fishing so much better. You had a lot cleaner and warmer water.
In general, what were some of your techniques that you used to catch fish?
Rus – Most of my fish for the tournament were caught punching grass mats with a 1 oz weight and a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver on a flipping hook. I switched colors for the Beaver depending on the water clarity, with black and blue in dirtier water and something like a watermelon red in clearer water. In many cases the mats would be spread a little ways apart from each other, sometimes I would have to go up to a 1/4 mile away to find the next good mats. My setup consisted of an iRod Air 775 7’7″ rod with a high speed Quantum reel with 65# braid to a 25# floro leader. Sometimes I will use 50# to 20#, but just because of bigger fish and the thickness of the mats I bumped it up for Lake Fork. One other tip I’ll share is that when I tie my leader, I’ll make it only about 4′ long because I never want the knot inside of my guides.
Jason – I planned to fish a couple of different techniques but started cranking and didn’t stop.
Garrett – On day one I caught a 20incher on a SheAngler Customs rattle trap. In pre-fishing I had caught some in shallow green grass with a chatterbait and remembered Friday I had talked with a local at the boat ramp that said he had been catching fish on white flukes Carolina rigged in shallow grass. I rigged up a Texas rig with a small 3/16 once Wicked Weights Quality Tungsten mortar bomb. It was a white neko stick with silver glitter and I cast out over a ditch onto the grass flat in the middle of this pocket and got hit right away, catching a 21incher. The next day I committed to the grass flat for the day. I had a good early bite. Setting up the same way, using the wind to my advantage as it would push my fluke on the fall toward the ditch off the flat. I caught four before 10 am, all were over 17 inches giving me 74 inches. I worked extremely hard never taking a break the rest of the day to get that 5th fish but just couldn’t find it.
Eric – On tourney day I decided to go after numbers because of the huge weather change but that didn’t work, so I threw everything out the window and went with a different strategy and it paid off on Saturday. Sunday was totally different. I went back to my Monday and Tuesday strategy throwing a black & blue football jig for the first half and the Saturday strategy the second half throwing a red crankbait.
Cody – I caught every fish on a double Colorado bladed spinnerbait and a 1 oz black and red jig. In the mornings I was slow rolling a spinnerbait in alligator grass and after about 9 a.m., I punched the same areas the rest of the day.
What makes Lake Fork special and what are some things you like or don’t like about that fishery?
Rus – Man, I was a little surprised how small the lake was for how famous it is. It definitely has some giant fish in there…I lost a 10 pounder on the first day, and caught an 8 1/2 pounder in pre-fishing. It fishes pretty big because there are a lot of ways to fish whether it is power fishing in grass/shallow or you can fish offshore, with jerkbaits, or many other ways. There is a ton of wood in the water and standing timber. This reminded me of a lake in California, Lake Sonoma, where there is a ton of wood like this. For lakes with a lot of standing timber, I try to pretend almost that it isn’t there. Some people target the trees but there are so many it can be hard to find the fish. Really, it can sometimes be better to just pay attention to depths, underwater structure, rock or other features and ignore the timber.
Jason – Lake Fork is special to me because I took 3rd place my first time here in the 2015 TOC. I came back the following year for the TOC and didn’t catch a measurable fish. That discouraged me from coming back until now. The Hobie BOS event had a 12″ limit instead of the 14″ limit at the original TOC and I thought I could get a limit easier. After this weekend I feel much more confident at this lake and look forward to coming back in the future.
Eric – The lake has amazing features with all the flats and secondary points and I’m sure with all the dead mats in the spring and summer it’s a great frog bite. Such a great experience for my first Hobie BOS tourney and national event ever. A top 10 is still unbelievable for me.
Cody – Lake Fork has always meant so much to me. I started going down there most every March since I was 9 and cashed my 2nd check ever on Fork. Every time I get around the lake it brings back so many good memories. I’ve always loved towns that live and breath bass fishing and the little towns around Lake Fork do just that. There’s several top-notch bait companies just a few miles from each other. All of the gas stations do a great job catering to fishermen. It’s a must visit lake for sure!
A Well Run Event – See you next time!
A.J. McWhorter and crew do a great job with the Hobie events. For having more than 150 anglers to deal with and a multi-day tournament it was run very smoothly. The venue of the Captain’s meetings and weigh-in was good and the identifiers top-notch. The Hobie BOS tournaments are the best run events I’ve personally been to. Will be interesting to see how B.A.S.S. conducts their events this year, I hope they have been paying attention to Hobie!
See you all back at Fork in March for B.A.S.S.!