East Texas lake named in top 10 best bass lakes in the country

Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Fork (2021)
Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Fork (2021)(KLTV)
Published: Jul. 2, 2024 at 10:50 AM CDT

QUITMAN, Texas (KLTV) - Bassmaster released their list of the top 10 best bass lakes of 2024, and an East Texas lake is sitting in the top five.

Lake Fork was named the fifth best bass lake in the United States. Sitting on more than 27,000 acres, Lake Fork is a reservoir located in Wood, Rains, and Hopkins counties. Towns that surround the lake are Emory, Yantis, Quitman and Alba.

According to Bassmaster, Lake Fork produced 64 Sharelunker bass (weighing at least 8 pounds) in one Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. A total of 94 Sharelunker bass have been caught on Fork in 2024 alone, with the heaviest weighing 11.7 pounds. Each of the 10 anglers that made the Sunday cut back in March, totaled more than 100 pounds in the derby, only the second time that’s happened in B.A.S.S. history.

Lake Fork is a slot lake, meaning anglers are prohibited from keeping fish that are between 16 and 24 inches. Lake Fork also owns seven of the 10 heaviest large mouth bass records in the state of Texas. The record holder, Barry St. Clair, caught a fish on Fork weighing 18.18 pounds in 1992.

In early June, Bass Champs hosted the 30th annual Skeeter Boat Owners tournament on Lake Fork. That tournament saw Bernard Gunn of Farmersville win the top prize with a fish weighing 8.81 pounds.

East Texas Now's Kyle Owens provides a look at the 30th annual Skeeter Owners Tournament on Lake Fork