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Fly Fishing On Fork

Battling the big bass of Lake Fork on a fly rod might not strike many anglers as the best way to go, but guide Brian Gambill says there is not much to it. It probably does come easy to this life-long fly fisherman, but he makes it sound simple enough.

“Under most circumstances, particularly in Texas and the warmer states, except for a few months of the year, the majority of your activity is in the top 10 feet,” Gambill explained. “There is a lot of interaction within the food chain in that area. Of course it happens deeper, but there is a lot more happening in the shallower water.”

With just a half dozen flies, all of which are creations of his own, he feels better equipped to handle many of the situations he finds himself in than if he were using baitcasting gear.

“You can be a lot more efficient in the water that you can cover. With a fly rod you can pick the bait up, hit your little pockets in the vegetation or lay the bait down gently next to a stickup, keeping it in prime ambush points. You’re not fishing water that isn’t as productive.”

It is usually February when Gambill begins to probe Lake Fork with his fly tackle.

“When the temperature starts hitting 50 degrees on a consistent basis you can find active fish. When you get to March and April, you start getting the big migrations of fish into shallower water. In May, most fish are on a feeding binge after the spawn.”

Gambill continues to fish shallow water during the summer, but never ventures far from deeper water.

“The fish are not the deep-water fish, but they are over deep water. I’ll fish over the humps and the points, wherever there is good vegetation growing.”

In the fall, he again looks for that 50-degree mark. When the water temperature falls to a consistent 50 degrees he moves to power-plant-warmed lakes such as Monticello.

Gambill prefers a nine-foot No. 8 fly rod with leader and tippets of about 14-pound test, though for some situations he will use up to 40-pound line. He ties most of his patterns on a 1/0 hook, but has sizes in his arsenal that range up to 5/0.

The embroidery on Gambill’s hat makes it clear which fly is his favorite. The EHR, which stands for the materials the fly is tied with, consists of an egg yarn head, backed by a thin hackle and a strip of rabbit hair. The synthetic egg yarn absorbs little water, keeping the fly light for easy casting. The rabbit hair gives the lure its action. It takes very little rod movement to bring the bait to life. Gambill ties the EHR in white, purple and ginger-brown.

“It is almost neutral buoyant in the water; it doesn’t have a lot of weight to it so the fly doesn’t sink real fast. You get a good suspended-type action with the fly. The individual hairs on that rabbit strip are just alive in the water.”

The EHR is usually tied onto the first fly rod Gambill picks up, especially if he is trying to locate fish. The fly’s versatility makes it an excellent search bait.

“You can fish it almost anywhere; from the surface to the bottom. Sometimes the best action is to lay it next to a stump, or just past it, and just let it fall until you can’t stand it any longer.”

Even to those who may be a bit squeamish about handling big bass around cover with a fly rod, the idea of catching fish on topwater poppers has to hold some appeal.

“In the weed mats, I like to fish the edge or the holes in the cover. If I am fishing parallel to the edge of the weeds I will work the bait all along that edge. If I am fishing perpendicular, I look for little cuts or projections: something different than the surrounding area.”

Gambill carves his poppers out of open-cell foam. He uses a piece of plastic pipe as a dye to cut out a cylinder to start with.

“The poppers I use are made out of PVC foam that I get through a commercial buoy supply company. It is a lightweight foam and highly durable. It lands on the water lightly, but you can make a lot of disturbance with it if you want to.

“It is real easy to shape and cut. You can coat it with a hard lacquer or just use it by itself. I run a pair of rubber legs through with a needle. I usually use maribou for a tail.”

His favorite colors are chartreuse with a green top, and purple with a black top.

Other flies found in Gambill’s possession are an egg yarn shad for fishing subsurface and a foam frog for on top.

In October of 2001, Gambill took an 11-pound, 3-once bass from Lake Fork. He feels that there are advantages to the fly fishing tackle when it comes to landing big bass.

“The extra length of the rod allows you to maneuver and turn the fish. You can control the fish just a little bit better. The length of the rod also helps absorb the sudden shocks and pulls. With that long rod, if he is running, you can actually do a little barrel-roll over the top of the stump if it’s not too tall, so that the stump doesn’t come into play.

“Fly fishing is a big challenge; it is exciting. Anybody can do it. It takes a little bit of practice like anything else. There is a learning curve, but when you get through that the fun begins.”