Lake Fork Reservoir

Lake Fork Reservoir is on Lake Fork Creek in the Sabine River basin five miles northwest of Quitman in Wood County (at 32°48' N, 95°32' W). Though most of the reservoir is in northwestern Wood County, it also inundates land in Rains and Hopkins counties. The reservoir, owned by the Sabine River Authority of Texas, was constructed to conserve water for municipal and industrial use. The contractor was Holloway Construction Company of Wixom, Michigan. Construction was funded through an agreement with Texas Utilities Generating Company, Incorporated, and it and the cities of Longview and Dallas contracted to buy water from the reservoir. The rolled earthfill dam is about 12,410 feet long. The reservoir's storage capacity at the conservation pool level of 403 feet above mean sea level is 675,819 acre-feet, and at that level the conservation surface area is 27,690 acres. The drainage area for the dam is about 493 square miles. Initial engineering studies for the dam began in the fall of 1972, and actual construction began in the fall of 1975. Final closure of the dam occurred in February 1980, and the conservation pool was reached in December 1985. The reservoir is a popular center for recreation, particularly fishing. In 1978 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department began stocking the reservoir with Florida largemouth bass, and in 1992 a largemouth bass caught at the reservoir set a new state record at 18.18 pounds. In 2017 thirty-three of the fifty largest largemouth bass ever caught in Texas were caught in Lake Fork.