By Brynna Williamson
In all this summer heat, the lake is on everyone’s minds.
The cool, refreshing waters, lapping at your toes as you sit and relax on a sandy beach. Endless picnic lunches, sandwiches and watermelon spread across a splintery wooden table. Birds calling to one another in the sky, as the sun beats down and causes the rolling waves to look like there’s glitter running across its surface.
For Wood County, Texas residents, these thoughts, of course, make way to thoughts of beautiful Lake Fork, which is not only a really nice place to take the family for a swim but is also so much more. Not much of a swimmer? No problem. Lake Fork has long been considered one of the premier trophy bass fishing lakes in the country!
Lake Fork is positioned about 60 miles east of Dallas on Lake Fork Creek, a major tributary of the Sabine River. It is one of the 10 largest reservoirs in Texas.
Bass Fishing Royalty
Yielding a huge crop of largemouth and white bass, catfish, crappie, and more every year, Lake Fork is an excellent place for both amateur and professional sportsmen alike to go and try their hand at catching gargantuan fish. In fact, Wood County’s Lake Fork, which covers an estimated 27,264 acres (42.6 square miles), holds the record for 34 of the Texas top 50 bass!
The fishing in Lake Fork fishing is so good, in fact, that the renowned Bassmaster Elite Tournament—the “highest level of professional bass fishing tournaments,” according to the Bassmaster website—is often held at Lake Fork. The tournament, which is open to professional anglers who have qualified for the series through winning other Bassmaster tournaments, annually hands out notable prizes to its professional winners. In past years of the tournament, this has included such prizes as trucks, boats, cash, and more.But the 2024 event was exceptional. According to The Bass Cast, Trey McKinney “won the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite tournament at Lake Fork with a four-day total of 130 pounds, 15 ounces. That was the fourth-highest weight ever caught!”
The Carbondale, Illinois native, exactly one week removed from his 19th birthday, “finished with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 130 pounds and 15 ounces, outlasting the field of 103 anglers in what was one of the most productive tournaments in the history of competitive bass fishing.”
“McKinney became the youngest winner in Elite Series history and earned $100,000, while missing the all-time record for total weight in a four-day B.A.S.S. event—set by Paul Elias on Falcon Lake in Texas in 2008—by just 1 pound, 9 ounces.”
Lake Fork Family Fest
For those not competing but still attending the Bassmaster tournament—whether that’s families of the competitors or locals who want to come watch—Wood County, Texas puts on a blowout Lake Fork Family Fest! It’s not an event to miss; events held at the Family Fest in the past have included live music, food trucks, vendors, live cooking demonstrations, interactive events for kids, and much more.
Prospective anglers or boaters should be aware that, as one website notes, “When Lake Fork was built, the engineers left 80% of the standing timber. Tree stumps are all over the lake underwater, leaving treacherous underwater hazards.” However, not to worry! “Boat lanes are marked in major branches of the lake with Sabine River Authority buoys.”
Even if you or your family members are not swimmers or anglers, there’s still a lot to do on Lake Fork. Restaurants galore border this huge lake, which furnishes many communities and gorgeous vacation rentals along the shoreline. There are too many restaurants to list here, but among them are an Italian Café, a bar and grill, several family-owned restaurants, and, of course, many, many amazing places to get fresh fish!
Sit a Spell and Take Your Shoes Off
“You can find many four bedroom to one bedroom vacation homes with swimming pools, grills and smokers, private docks, decks, and modern features—or older, cozy vacation homes. Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets on Lake Fork display all hues of rainbow colors. Wake up to a great sunrise with delicious coffee outside on the deck while you anticipate an exciting day of fishing or water sports. Spend your evenings watching colors evolve in the sky as the sun goes down,” says one of the Lake Fork websites.
Doesn’t that sound amazing?
Of course, even if you’re not a water person, there are still other things to do around Lake Fork. You can hunt on any of the three hunting ranches that surround Lake Fork, enjoy the Canton Grand Safari Adventure, visit some of the local museums, try your hand at golf on some of the renowned golf courses situated near the lake, or even just relax and enjoy the peaceful silence!
Lake Fork has much to offer—a number of things that, sometimes, we live life too quickly to notice and appreciate. Cool waves running over your fingers. Sunglasses. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Swimsuits. Fishing—really good fishing, in fact. Sand. Hunting. Camping. S’mores. Italian food. Amazing sunsets. Time with your family and your friends to appreciate the beauty of nature and just be… for a few moments.
Beautiful Lake Fork is worth a try. Once you go, you’ll want to keep coming back, time and again.