As tournament anglers we all take fishing seriously; and sometimes we are so intense that it feels more like work…especially during a rough run. Brian Booker and Robby Crabb were in that rut of tough Central Texas fishing and needed a little therapy; insert Falcon Lake.
Brian and Robby arrived Thursday and stopped by the coolest tackle store in existence, Falcon Lake Tackle. FLT is a sanctuary that could only exist in South Texas and the pictures of giants conquered on Falcon, tacked to the cork board, are porn for the bass addict. Their “worm bar” is complete with tons of 14 inch worms, giant stick baits and full size creature baits in every color imaginable.
Owner James Bendele is very knowledgeable about the current lake conditions and is a real defender of the precious resource Lake Falcon is for us. Even better is his sense of humor and style of writing; often so inspiring we’ve nicknamed him the “Hemingway” of South Texas. If you want to see for yourself, read his entries in the “Flash Fishing Report” on their site here. Falcon Lake Tackle even let TTZ tag the famous front door, and we were more than happy with the placement!
After the tackle shop fix, some conversation and purchase of Mexico licenses the two hit the lake with the intention of fishing deep all day; they felt that was the best opportunity to catch a giant. Fishing primary staging and secondary rock points near the Tigers and some old house foundations near the main channel that had spawning pockets to the north of it, good numbers of fish were caught, but no giants.
Most of the productive deep water was in the 25 to 40 foot range and bait was pretty stacked up in those areas. Brian and Robby caught several 3 to 4 pounders throwing C-rigged Pro’s Choice E’gr Craws and a T-rigged Yamamoto 12 inch Curly Tail Worm. As you can see, even the little guys will hit a big offering on Falcon. This fish was an inch longer than his anticipated meal!
Fun as it was the deep bite didn’t produce the quality they were hoping for so on Friday they decided to get shallow. They went to the Salinillas on the Mexican side and immediately saw promise. The water temps were 65 to 68 degrees in some places, and there was fry in the trees in the back of a huge creek. The better fish were on channel bends around the trees, but not really in them; the winds may have had something to do with this. Charlie Haralson, a superb guide on Falcon, believes they really tend to “move out of the trees a little when they get to swayin’ too much”.
While size was better in the shallow water (the prefered depths were 4 to 8 feet), the biggest they could muster was pushing 6 pounds. But the bite was aggressive and the fight was legendary, if you have never been to Falcon it’s difficult to describe how hard these fish pull! This was the first time using Power Tackle rods on Falcon and this is where the 7’6″ rod in the 104, 104.5 and 105 series really shines.
Saturday would be the final day, so they decided to continue the shallow pattern and see if there were some bigger girls willing to cooperate. As they went further up the creek there was some near certain bedding activity. Though beds weren’t visible due to the water color, there was one convincing scenario in particular. Brian pitched to the base of a sunny stump and lay down in about 4′ of water with a 10.5 inch Zoom Ol’ Monster in a custom pour that Jacky at Fish Finder’s Marine carries, the green pumpkin purple gold. After three swimming bites, in which the fish took the entire worm, he could not get the fish to bite a fourth time.
They went down a stretch and came back about 30 minutes later when he pitched in again. This time the line ticked and Brian set the hook on a healthy near 3 pound buck. He had been the culprit alright, as he had one of the old worms in his throat…just shows what they will really do to protect a bed when they’re in daddy mode!
Fishing real thick in the trees you can see it took a toll on the Legend’s 250 Pro XS, but she looks better this way. After all, no self-respecting bass boat doesn’t have a few Falcon scars on it!
After all was said and done Brian and Robby put together a best five stringer of just under 20 pounds the first day, 21 pounds on day two and a bag pushing 23 pounds the last day. They caught on average 30 plus fish per day with very few weighing less than 2.5 pounds. These weights probably wouldn’t sniff a check in most tournaments down there but who cares. Who would complain about this trip? It would be downright greedy.
Several bass clubs were also in town and they caught up with our friends from River City Bass Club at the weigh-in of their two day tournament. From their reports many of the bigger sacks where caught out deep; but the vast majority of the fish came from 10-12′ of water in staging areas in the mouths to half way back in the creeks.
There were several reports of double digits caught during their trip and they also spoke to some that struggled. This time of year the fish are usually spread out and in a major transition. Successful anglers reported covering a lot of water before pinning down the concentrations of better fish. Remember, while Falcon is a great lake, the rule of 90% of the fish in 10% of the water still applies. But if you are heading down soon, you’re in for a treat. The water temps are where they need to be, and the next 30 to 60 days will see some huge weights caught as the shallow bite should be pretty stable.
Catch ‘em or not, if you’re like us it’s more about the South Texas charm and experience. The people in Zapata are accommodating, the food is incredible and there are very few things in this world better than catching up with old fishing buddies in this place. After a full day of fishing, telling lies on the banks of the best lake in the world under a palm tree with a dozen cold Sols is tough to beat! In fact, without getting sappy, this trip is what this sport we love is really all about.
Do yourself a favor – go south and figure out why you started fishing in the first place. God is great, beer is good and Falcon is amazing!
