KMOO News
Three men were injured in a boat accident on Lake Fork Friday morning. One of the men later died from his injuries at a Tyler hospital. Gerald McSchooler and his nephew were fishing on Lake Fork yesterday when their boat was struck by another bass boat near Little Mustang Cove. Authorities say one boat struck the other, running up and over it, eventually capsizing in the water. McSchooler and the driver of the other boat were taken from the lake to Tyler hospitals by helicopter. McSchooler’s nephew suffered only minor injuries.

McSchooler’s boat was able to make it to the shore while the other boat remained in the water for more than an hour. Game Wardens were eventually able to recover the boat and have impounded both vessels pending the investigation into the crash.

McSchooler worked at Cade’s Building Supplies in Mineola. The hardware store remained closed Saturday morning. He had been involved in community theater at the Lake Country Playhouse.

I was in a play at the Lake Country Playhouse with Gerald last year and have since become friends with him. I have heard lots of versions of this accident, but the only version that I know for real is that we lost one hell of a nice guy last Friday. Gerald was truly one of the nicest people I have met since moving to the area.

He loved fishing topwater and would throw a Yellow Magic under the strangest conditions, but he loved the topwater bite and was a passionate fisherman.

Most every time that I have been in to Cade’s since meeting Gerald, he was there with a smile and a helping hand with whatever I needed that eclipses the standard ‘call of duty’.

This is a solemn reminder to me and hopefully everyone else just how tragic a moment of distraction or lack of focus can be when operating a boat…or any other vessel.

God Speed Gerald. You will be missed by many buddy.

In July and August it’s just too hot to fish during the day, so most fishermen turn to night fishing. Lake Fork is a great lake to fish any time, especially at night.
The moon was bright and the sky was clear. It was a beautiful night on Lake Fork and…oh yeah…they caught some fish too.
Here’s a short video clip.

Alright, I’m seeking information here. My 89 Skeeter is in good condition, runs smooth, but I found a 20′ that I’m interested in. Here’s the dilemma; I’m about $2500 short. Are there any banks that offer low interest short term loan? Is there any suggestions other than “Get a loan” that ya’ll can think of?

 Perhaps I could jut pass around a plate asking for a penny from everybody. ;)

The dates for the event this year are April 18-20. Trace Adkins will be performing, fresh off of his runner-up effort on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice.
Last year the Toyota Texas Big Bass Classic was nice. There was lots of food and things to buy and plenty of booths to visit. This year they are charging $20 a head to walk in the gate so you can pay $4 for a hotdog, $2 for a coke or drink a $3 beer inside the roped off area.
I think this event will be a flop compared to last year due to the cover charge. The promoter has apparently lost touch with how to make an event a hit so that the sponsors and vendors do well and come back years later. This event was very well done last year, look back in the archives and you will see where I said that, but to charge people $20 to walk in the door means that a typical family will be out $200 by the time they pay for parking, some refreshments and a few trinkets from the vendors.
I’m glad I am not one of the vendors who agreed to pay a premium price for a booth only to find out later that the promoter has gotten greedy and is charging fans $20 to walk in the door. Between the sponsors’ contributions to the event and the amount they sell the TV rights for, there is plenty of money to be made without charging $20 at the door. The promoters are trying to get rich here and I suspect they will be dealt a dose of reality by East Texas fishing fans.

Here’s a little change of pace. I am visiting friends in Florida and we went out and got on some nice Spanish Mackerel. We had a great time, caught some fish and made it through some pretty rough water. These Mackerel are real fighters.
Thanks to my good friend Alan Hamilton for having me over to do some fishing. He promises to make a trip to Lake Fork to catch some bass soon.
We’re heading back out tomorrow for more. We are headed southwest to Bull Bay, near Boca Grande in search of more and bigger fish. Details to come.

Caution: This video contains “R-rated” words.

It was too nice to stay home today, so I grabbed Judi and we headed for the lake. Inspired by the comments to this post, I had to go fishing.
We got out around 3 and headed to Birch Creek. There were a good many boats out today. We got one fish in a cove just north of the 515 bridge on the west fork. Not a serious fishing trip, but a nice time on the water and one decent fish as you see in the video below.
Surface temps are rising on Lake Fork. The Spring bite will soon be ON!

To bigbasscountry.com

In your youtube videos i see you throwing hard lures a lot. I am coming down to lake fork for the second year in a row now. Last time we were there we didn’t have much luck throwing soft plastic and spinner baits. We are coming again this year the 19th though the 22nd . If you could give us any advice we could use it we want to catch a good lake fork bass!

Well the last tourny of the year has passed for me. This one was quite the ride, literally. The first day we headed out to our first spot bouncing from wave to wave. That was a treat. I never heard my motor come out of the water before.

Once we got there, we took about 15 minutes to tie up to a tree to fish. Another wet ride as we were facing the wind head on. Then after the waves stopped coming over the bow we got to fishing. A couple of small ones and we headed to a protected part of the lake. Day one passed without catching much of anything.

Day two; my partner decided he would sleep in a bit since the sun didn’t come up for another hour. I’m more the type to get out there, and it paid off. At 6:30 I started fishing, and at 6:45 had a nice fish in the well. By nice I mean a money fish, but not big money. I caught the thing on a Jig. This was on the first cast with a lure I never fish, and by never I mean I only use them when sight fishing in the spring. But anyways, he comes out around 7:oo and I had already caught 2 more. He didn’t believe me until I told him we needed to get to the weigh in to be in the first hour. Then he said “Not again”. {I’ve done this to him before.}

We spent the day chasing schooling fish in different areas, but nothing else eventful happened. All in all we had a good time.

 Little Berkley Jig = $3.99

Trailer = $3.99

Cup of coffee to wake up = $1.07

Telling your buddy you caught a money fish while he was sleeping = Priceless