There are some really big largemouths in the lake as well, according to Howard. On the wall at his store, he has a 7-pound, 2-ounce lunker from the fall of 2005 and a huge 9.8-pound bigmouth caught in 2004. Other anglers donated both mounts. Howard knows of another bass in the 9-pound range that was caught just last fall at the lake on a crankbait.

The Martins Fork Bass Anglers holds several bass tournaments in the area, some of which are on Martins Fork Lake. Last year, the first tournament was won with a five-fish limit weighing 15 pounds. The next tournament produced a winning weight of 16 pounds. Later, a night tournament yielded a five-fish winning total of 18 pounds. These tournament results are a good testimony to the quality of the bass fishery at Martins Fork.

Kevin Frey, the Eastern District fisheries biologist for the KDFWR, said, "Bass fishing is good at Martins Fork Lake. However, the lake is clear and oligotrophic (low fertility), so you don't have the numbers of bass as in a western Kentucky lake. The lower numbers of bass allows them to grow at equivalent rates as west Kentucky fish though."

The distribution of the bass species is scattered throughout the lake. Frey said both largemouth and spotted bass are found throughout the lake. "Generally, the Coosa bass will reside downstream of where state Route (SR) 987 crosses the lake. Above SR 987 is just largemouth and spotted bass."

One of the better areas for Coosa and smallmouth bass is near the confluence of Martins Fork Creek into the lake and near the dam. The Coosa bass will often hold near shallow rocky banks, sandy areas or old submerged roadbeds. The smallmouths can also be found near the rocky areas, as well as sometimes in the standing timber.

There are a good number of spotted bass in the lake, too, as is shown in the distribution percentage mentioned earlier. Howard has seen a number of good-sized spots come from the lake. The largest he's seen is a 4-pounder caught in 2004, but he said a fish in the 3-pound range was caught last year. Spotted bass normally don't get really large in Kentucky, so don't expect the average to run close to 3 or 4 pounds. Most fish caught will be in the 10- to 13-inch range.

Frey and his staff sample the lake regularly and find good size distribution among the bass. He said the largemouth fishery is in good shape with fish up to 22 inches. The spotted bass are common up to 14 to 15 inches. Smallmouth bass are rare during sampling efforts, but fish are present up to 18 inches.

Sampling results for the Coosa bass is quite interesting, especially regarding the size of the state-record fish. Frey has sampled Coosa bass up to 11.8 inches, which is actually an inch longer than the state-record fish. He said fish in the 10- to 10.5-inch range are always present.

Howard likes to fish for the Coosa and spotted bass along the lake's deeper walls, little cliffs and dropoffs. He said the smallmouths are generally found on the other side where it is rockier or near the creek.