Lake Fork Reservoir
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Lake Fork Reservoir is a
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
located in
Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...
, Rains, and Hopkins counties in the state of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, between the towns of Quitman,
Alba ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed into the Kingdom ...
, Emory, and Yantis, Texas. It was impounded by the Lake Fork Dam in 1980, and reached its normal pool surface elevation of above mean sea level in 1985. It consists of , offers of shoreline, and has a drainage area of . The dam is in length and impounds Lake Fork Creek, a tributary of the Sabine River, and other major creeks are Big Caney and Little Caney. The dam and reservoir with a maximum capacity of are owned and operated by the Sabine River Authority, a state agency. It officially serves as a
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
for Dallas and its suburbs. However, it is best known for its fishing, as it holds 15 of the top 20 Texas State Record
largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...
ever caught, making it one of the premier trophy bass fishing lakes in the
world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
.


Fishing

Lake Fork Reservoir was created as a textbook fishery, including initial stockings before the lake filled. Lake Fork Reservoir was established, by the Texas Parks and Wildlife, as a premier bass fishing lake, with 732,514 Florida-strain
largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, bu ...
being stocked from 1979 through 1987. Lake Fork Reservoir offers excellent fish habitat with 80% standing timber left intact, and hydrilla, milfoil, and duckweed being the predominant vegetation. Other species of fish include
catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive ...
, sand bass, yellow bass,
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
and white crappie, sunfish, bowfin,
gar Gars are members of the family Lepisosteidae, which are the only surviving members of the Ginglymodi, an ancient holosteian group of ray-finned fish, which first appeared during the Triassic, over 240 million years ago. Gars comprise seven livin ...
, and bluegill. The predominant food source for the larger fish is shad,
minnows Minnow is the common name for a number of species of small freshwater fish, belonging to several genera of the families Cyprinidae and Leuciscidae. They are also known in Ireland as pinkeens. Smaller fish in the subfamily Leusciscidae are ...
, and crawfish. To preserve the great Lake Fork Reservoir bass fisheries, the Texas Parks and Wildlife implemented a protected slot limit of no bass between will be kept, and will be returned into the waters of Lake Fork immediately. A five bass per day limit can be kept, consisting of five-under , or one-over , and four-under .


References


Resources

:''source: Army Corps of Engineers, and
USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
''


External links

* {{authority control Protected areas of Hopkins County, Texas Protected areas of Rains County, Texas
Fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...
Protected areas of Wood County, Texas United States state-owned dams Dams in Texas Dams completed in 1980 Bodies of water of Hopkins County, Texas Bodies of water of Rains County, Texas Bodies of water of Wood County, Texas