It’s money on the bank.
Yeah, we typically say “money in the bank,” but today we’re modifying the metaphor to note a secondary benefit of Lake Fork’s low water scenario.
The intentional drawdown, which started in the fall of 2021, brought Lake Fork about 6 feet below the normal pool of 403. The water level has risen nearly a foot, but the sandy beach surrounding this East Texas powerhouse clearly tells the story.
The decline was necessary for dam repairs, but as Jake Norman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Inland Fisheries Division notes, this operation plus seasonal weather patterns have created another developing scenario with long-term Lake Fork benefits.
“We’re getting into that dry time of year where the lake usually drops 2-3 feet on its own every summer,” Norman said. “We’ll be low for a while, which from my perspective, is a good thing. I’m hoping it stays down for another year-plus to get more terrestrial growth coming up around the lake.
“There’s not much true aquatic vegetation yet, just the terrestrials — the species that normally grow out of the water or right at the water’s edge. Quite a bit of the lake has a lush green growth around it, especially in the protected coves and pockets that still held a little water.”
Several times throughout the Day 1 coverage on Bassmaster LIVE, we’ve seen images of shorelines laid bare by the drawdown, now carpeted with new plant life. John Cox, for example, spent some of his morning snooping around shallow pockets where a patchwork of sand and low bank grass bespoke this developing habitat element.
Shallow vegetation is largemouth bass 101, but Norman said Lake Fork’s current water level, plus the fact that most of the fish are moving away from the bank will prevent the new growth from playing much of a role in this week’s tournament.
Of course, once the lake level returns to normal, that green stuff will become submerged habitat that’ll serve the fish’s feeding and spawning needs. So, not a player this time around, but future Elite events on Lake Fork will definitely reap the benefits of the increasing shallow vegetation.
