The Devil I know may have a pitchfork, but I know (s)he has at least one fork – Lake Fork.

I was beguiled by the famous name “Lake Fork” from the beginning. Lake Fork, is hands down, the number one provider of lunker bass (65-percent come from Fork) in the Texas Parks and WIldlife Department’s “Toyota Sharelunker” program, a program that procures thirteen-plus pound bass for scientific research here in Texas. Currently, there are

When I checked in at the office at Lake Fork Marina, there were a few well organized sheets on the glass counter that reported daily weight / length and who caught largemouth bass for a particular day. The numbers for any one day are pretty amazing. Five, six, eight one after another, 20-inches, 22-inches, 26-inches on the same date, names, guide’s names, all organized in perfect columns of propaganda … as if it were necessary proof.

The Marina was host to the Bass on the Fly Fishing World Championships, and with a grand title like that, you may have raised expectations. No, this is the world of fly fishing tournaments, so the idea of bright sponsor tour jerseys over pudgy protrusions, promotional trailers, swarming media interviewing albino raccoon-eyed booyas was nowhere to be found. What was to be found at Lake Fork Marina was a roomy expansive grounds where bass boats of all flavors and costs parked in neat rows, putting in and taking out of a lake that is suffering just like so many in Texas – at four feet low. Some floating slips were aground, and warnings abound for raising motors, stumps and going slow. Bass boats everywhere, trailered and backed right up to the door of the long row of motel rooms (reminding me of Abe’s in New Mexico), fishermen and women hanging out on their lawn chairs, telling lies that happen to be true here.

I registered at the small white tent that was getting buffeted by wind, number six entrant in the kayak division of the “World Championships,” so I felt like the early bird getting the worm. You never know, a low number might come in handy in a crowded field. A flash of recognition on signing in, followed by the question of where my cohort, Austin Anderson, a fourteen-year-old fly phenom was … he was adrift in a torrential, biblical downpour headed east out of the DFW Metroplex toward our location, and his Grandfather might have to unhook the boat and pull his big honkin’ truck with the boat before it was over with.

There was no doubt Lake Fork was headed for a rain event Friday, you could feel it in your armpits. The humidity and heat was off the charts for this time of year, and it was only a matter of time before the heat triggered an event. The western heat island that is DFW was already making the news, and I had to guess that pre-fishing Friday was pointless on two counts – 1) the rain that was a few hours (at most) away, and 2) the fact that this kind of weather can be a game changer. The fact I drove through 90-percent of the 100-mile journey in rain, also went a long way toward simplifying the forecast as well.

To be continued …

John Gierach must know something we don’t.

If he has no shortage of good days, then he stands out among the majority of Americans today. I can’t wait to hear what he has to say in his continuing monologue of observations about fly fishing. Gierach simply isn’t for everybody, and I have found him a bit difficult at times, but all-in-all he’s a fly fishing writer who shouldn’t be passed up, especially in the desert that is new literature on fly fishing.

I can’t wait to find out what days he’s talking about, but if I took every day of fly fishing in a typical year, say 150, I would have to agree that in those 150 days, there was “No Shortage of Good Days.”

Feel free to order your copy of his new book here -

If you happen to be in the area of Rocky Mountain Anglers, the “nice fly shop” in Boulder Colorado, be sure to attend his book signing this Saturday, May 28th.

The folks at SmartShield asked sent me a tube of their SmartShield SPF 30 to try and write a review for the product. Going in, I was already a pretty faithful Smart Shield user, after being introduced to it by this area’s rep. for SmartShield on a photography job to Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula a few years ago. That was a lot closer to the sun than we are here, by the way.

SmartShield has several formulations, but this oil free waterproof sunscreen really is the best of the lot. It’s the white creamy stuff, so you can easily see where you’ve applied it, and make sure you have complete coverage. What I am starting to find is sunspots along my neck, below my ears. That must be a place that doesn’t get the constant coverage of my wide-brimmed hat or my Buff, and it could have something to do with the leash to my sunglasses making me work the Buff in a less effective shape.

Once you have applied this SmartShield, you hands will feel that typical greasy feeling for about a minute, but then as it completes the drying process, you are left with no residual feeling whatsoever. It’s easy enough to rinse your hands after that, and not worry about grips, fly line or anything else you used to have to consider with other brand’s formulations. Even if you don’t rinse your hands, this stuff becomes completely unnoticeable quite quickly. And what you will find is, their products really do absorb into your top layers of skin which means your pores don’t get clogged with oil, and your skin continues to breathe naturally (perspire and cool).

Locally, you can find SmartShield at Tailwater’s Dallas, and around Austin and San Antonio you can find it at Whole Earth Provision. In Houston, try Fishing Tackle Unlimited. SmartShield is also a member of AFFTA, the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. Obviously their biggest bonus is their products don’t deteriorate fly lines or monofilament and don’t kill bait (for the smelly guys out there).

I highly recommend this product as well as their line of bug repellants for those of us closer to the sun, and mosquitoes. This is a great backup to carry along in case you forget an article of sun protecting clothing, and when the heat bares down, and it will, when a Buff is too stifling. One other tip; If you’re like me, when casting from a boat deck, you like to go barefoot, or as close as possible to it. Use SmartShield on your feet! Otherwise you may just end up like Bob Marley.

I know a lot of fly fishing retailers stop here, so if YOU carry SmartShield, don’t hesitate to tell us where we can find it locally.

SmartShield is a Dallas, Texas based company.