Shortly after arriving at Turkey Fork Lake, University of Southern Mississippi bass team member Daniel Roberts stepped on deck, put the trolling motor down and began casting near a patch of grass.
Roberts worked his SPRO frog in a slow, rhythmic, walk-the-dog pattern back to the boat. Suddenly a hungry bass exploded on the lure only inches from the bank.
The young angler set the hook like a seasoned pro, and drove the hook deep into the jaw of his first bass of the day. The resultant battle was a sight to see as Roberts wore the tenacious bass down.
Though we were fishing in extremely hot conditions, Roberts had established a solid topwater pattern that didn’t wane even through the midday hours.
“I like to give the bass something different to look at,” he said.
Now fishing a frog is nothing new and something many of the bass in Turkey Fork have surely seen, with acres of lily pads to fish, that’s for sure. Roberts, however, takes a good topwater lure, fine-tunes it, and uses a different approach about when, where and how he fishes it.
Though the lake had more than its share of anglers on this hot summer day, not many were fishing in 3 to 4 feet of water with topwater baits.
Moving toward the upper end of the lake, Roberts continued fishing his frog around and along the outer edges of weeds and pads while targeting any openings in the vegetation. We hadn’t gone too far before another hungry bass smashed the lure, sending it airborne from beneath the pads. The pads were so thick that the bass couldn’t get a clear shot at the tempting frog.
Never missing a beat, the exuberant angler continued working the vegetation while walking his prize frog around, over and through the pads. In short order, another bass smashed the lure in a small opening between the pads.
Roberts popped his whip and set the hook deep, an instant before the lunker bass buried down into the salad patch. This bass was no match for Roberts’ muscle and braided line as he pulled bass, grass and pads all the way to the boat.
The fish was promptly netted, photographed and released.
“I like to use the Stren 50-pound braid because I can cast the frog back into the toughest cover possible with no fear of losing a nice bass,” Roberts said. “If I can’t get him out, or if he’s a monster, I’ll just keep a tight line and bring the boat to him.”
While we also fished a few different types of cover during our trip, our main focus was on fishing frogs in the salad patch. Roberts quickly showed me that bass will bite topwater even during brutally hot conditions, even during midday hours. Though the bite might not be as good at times, it may even get better right around noon time as it did during our trip.
Though the upper end of the lake is very shallow, it does have excellent cover that provides great bass habitat and action.
Turkey Fork also has an abundance of points and ledges that hold good concentrations of bass if you prefer fishing near banks, points or even in open water.
“I like to fish a variety of lures when I fish the points and drop-off areas,” said Roberts. “I’ll fish crankbaits, worms and even jigs when fishing those areas.”
Although Turkey Fork has a wealth of fishing opportunities, Roberts prefers staying in the salad patch and working a variety of frogs and plastics in and around all manner of vegetation. By staying in 3 to 4 feet of water and working areas that are overlooked by most folks with a different technique, he is consistently successful at catching Turkey Fork bass.
If you want to try out a different lake this fall, give Turkey Fork a shot and try a few of Roberts’ favorite spots, and then find similar areas of your own. Chances are, you’ll be glad you did.
• No. 1: N31 20.360 x W88 41.891 — Leave the landing, turn right and go north a short distance until you get to the first point on the right.
“Stop about a cast off the point, and work the point and ledge until it drops-off into deeper water,” said Roberts. “I like to work this area with crankbaits and worms first and then move up and fish the edge of the grass.”
After crankbaiting the submerged point Roberts pulled out a SPRO frog and started combing the shoreline with pinpoint accuracy. Before we went very far, Roberts bowed up on a bass right off the edge of the grass line on a frog. I followed up with my first bass of the day on a Zoom tube after missing a strike also.
A few minutes later, Roberts put his second bass into the boat, and things were heating up. Anglers should work the small cove thoroughly before leaving as bass will feed in the shallows during the early morning hours. We caught or missed fish all around the small cove before moving on.
To read about all 10 of the Turkey Lake hot spots, be sure to pick up a copy of the September issue of Mississippi Sportsman today.
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