Looking to catch a trophy bass? Then head over to Lake Fork

If you're a serious bass angler who lives to catch the big ones, then you better head on over to Lake Fork northwest of Quitman.

For the last eight years, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) has been collecting information on catches of trophy bass seven pounds or greater or 24 inches or longer at Lake Fork. Through February 2011, the survey recorded 11,368 such fish.

Anglers weighed 83 percent and measured lengths of 59 percent of these trophies. With an average of 1,421 fish over seven pounds every year, these numbers suggest the lake is still doing well. By comparing eligible fish encountered in creel surveys with survey results for the same days, biologists estimate fewer than 10 percent of actual catches are reported, making these results appear even more astounding.

The proportions of various fish length groups have been surprisingly consistent from year to year, suggesting the size structure of the largest fish in the population has remained stable over the past eight years.