Knowing the significance of the thermocline and being able to locate it are two different things. All depthfinders are different, so you'll need to tinker with the settings on yours to tune it to locate the middle layer. But once you do, you can run slowly through an area and the thermocline will show like a soft bottom, with interference displayed from this area all the way to the real bottom of the lake.

After you get your depthfinder tuned, begin your search on main-lake points and humps. Start with the shallow area and motor out toward deeper water. Once you've established the depth of the thermocline in that particular area, it should be relatively close to that same depth throughout the lake.

"The part of the lake that has the most distinct thermocline is the SRA (Sabine River Authority) point," Clint advised. Those who've never tried to locate a thermocline on a graph will find this to be the best place in which to practice.

There's no denying that big baits equal big fish, and fall at Fork might be the best time to throw those magnum-sized lures you've had in the bottom of the tackle box for the past few years. One of Clint's favorite oversized fall baits is a bit unusual -- but who am I to argue with the man? He knows what he's talking about, so when he tells me that some of his biggest fish of the year are caught on oversized baits typically used by saltwater anglers, I tend to listen.

I've seen these in various outdoor stores, and never gave them a second look, but Clint swears by flutter spoons. Flutter spoons, large models with two hooks dangling below them on wires between 3 and 8 inches long, stay tied on a few of his rods in the fall.

Clint prefers chrome spoons, but knows that sometimes, bass just want a different color; instead of buying dozens of different-colored spoons he has a simpler solution. "I go to arts-and-crafts stores and buy the different-colored metallic tape and keep a few rolls in the boat all the time," he said. "It's easier to carry different-colored tapes than different-colored spoons. Plus, if you lose the only spoon color the bass are biting and don't have any more, you might be done for the day. If you carry the tape, you can rig another spoon, and put the same color tape on it, and keep fishing."

You just have to be able to stand up to the ridicule of your fishing buddies when they find out you went to an arts-and-crafts store!

To fish a flutter spoon, Clint prefers a vertical presentation for fish suspending in 10 to 15 feet of water near Bird Island, Dales Hump, and any point south of the 515 bridge. Occasionally he'll cast the spoons, but most of his time is spent jigging, owing to the massive amount of timber under the water's surface.

If the fish aren't in the mood to be spoon-fed, Clint falls back on the old reliable technique of Texas-rigging a worm in planted brushpiles. Most of his brushpiles are sited so that they're on the downward slope of a dropoff. After Clint marks fish on brushpiles in or above the thermocline, he'll throw out a marker buoy and then move back to shallower water. Sitting in 10 feet or less water, he'll cast the Texas-rigged worm past the brushpile and work it back through.