The 11th annual CrappieFest will be held at Lake Fork March 29, featuring a tournament and festival at the Sabine River Authority’s Lake Fork Recreation Facility State Highway 154 in Wood County. (CrappieFest/Courtesy)

Since its opening Lake Fork has certainly gotten its due as one of the premier bass fisheries not only in Texas, but throughout the United States.

The trophy bass fishery has been so dominate that the lake’s other good fisheries, like catfish and crappie, are often an after-thought. They should not be, especially in the case of crappie.

“I have fished all over the country, and as far as I am concerned it is the second best (lake) in the country behind Lake Granada (Mississippi). At Granada it consistently takes 16 pounds a day to win, but the last two times Crappie Masters was on Fork it took over (5-fish) 17 pounds a day to win,” said Lindale’s Clay Gann, a crappie guide and tournament fisherman.

“I still think it is the best crappie lake in the state,” added Jake Norman, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Inland Fisheries district biologist. “There is a reason it has consistently ranked in top five lakes in the nation. The whole lake is a factory for every species in it.”

Norman said the white crappie population is consistently the best with 2-pound-plus fish commonplace. There is also black crappie, but they are more cyclical based on vegetation and clear water. Right now, they are trending upwards.

Statewide crappie are considered the third most popular fishery behind bass and catfish, but at Fork they may be No. 2, with recent surveys showing as much as 20 percent of the fishing effort targeting crappie.

To celebrate the fishery an expected 400-plus pro and amateur fishermen will be at Fork March 29 for the 11th annual CrappieFest, an event that this year is being expanded from just a tournament to a full-blown festival at the Sabine River Authority’s Lake Fork Recreation Facility State Highway 154 in Wood County.

The tournament is expected to attract pro crappie fishermen from around the country, but with a single-fish, big-crappie format Gann believes anyone who wets a hook whether from a big boat with all the modern electronics, a jon boat, kayak, tube or fishing from the shore, has a chance to walk away the top prize that could be worth up to $25,000.

“In this I really think they do. Anyone can get lucky and catch one fish,” he said.

Entry fee for the tournament’s adult division is $100. It will pay the top 20 places with $5,000 going for first. However, the winner can earn a $10,000 bonus for the largest bass over 3 pounds and an additional $10,000 for a new state record. Current state records are 4 pounds for black crappie and 4.56 for black crappie, both of which can be found in Fork.

There will also be two youth divisions for anglers 17 and under, including one for those 12-17 and one for 11 and under. The youth entry is free, and participants in both categories will be fishing for savings bonds of $300, $500 and $1,000 to the top three finishers in both.

All youth entries will also receive a Bobby Garland Bait package, WindRider shirt and a Wally Marshall Mr. Crappie rod and reel.

Gann said he thinks fishermen will be able to catch crappie from the shoreline out to deep water on tournament day.

“The way the weather is setting up. It is going to be right. They are already catching fish on the banks, so they should be in 10 inches to 25 feet deep, post spawn and pre-spawn. The males are already staging up and the females are pushing up to spawn with them,” he explained.

To help those who do not have a boat, Gann has worked with TPWD Game Warden Kurt Kelley to identify spots around Lake Fork where it is legal to fish from the bank. Those sites are shown on the CrappieFest Facebook page.

Along with the big fish prizes there will also be payouts for exact-weight fish up to $500 for fish weighing 1, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2 pounds.

There will also be a host of bonus payouts and prizes for veterans, all of which will receive a free ticket for a special veteran’s raffle, and others including for the oldest participant, and even the tournament’s last place finisher.

The free festival part of the event will include fishing related vendors, along with others, food trucks, activities for kids and musical entertainment. There will also be raffles the public can participate in.

The tournament fishing time is from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Weigh-in will begin at 1 p.m. and all participants must be in line no later than 2:30 p.m.

The festival will be open from noon to 7 p.m.

For more information on Lake Fork’s CrappieFest, go online to Crappiefest.com.