I say no!!! I have been fishing the lake hard and have only found two major spawning coves thus far. Some of my colleagues are saying they think the spawn is half way over but I think the main part is yet to come. Our water temps have been on a roller coaster ride for the last 6 weeks and the fish are really wanting it to happen but reports I am hearing are that some of us are on some schools of potential spawners and others are still looking. I have found one cove that is loaded with males and females and had I not shared this place with some of my other folks I think I could have made the whole spring in the one cove. The fish are moving up with the bucks in 3 to 4 foot along with some females but most of the bigger fish are coming from the deeper part of the cove. Flipping is working in the trees for the bigger females and Spinnerbaits and plastic Texas rigged worms are taking the majority of the others. I was catching up to 50 fish a day in this cove and still can manage a good day when the weather allows. Look for the fishing on Falcon to bust wide open in the weeks to come.

I have been searching for some shallow areas with big fish close. Yesterdays trip proved that the fish are really making their way back to the backs of creeks and drains. With North winds to 20 miles an hour and cool temperatures I tried to prepare my clients for a long day of casting and maybe not much catching. I was wrong. First stopped had a big fish on and jumping like she was an Olympic swimmer throwing the spinnerbait back at us. By 8:14 we had a 9:75 lb female in the boat and at 9:00 another Falcon lake monster jumps at the boat on slings the baits back at us. This fish was even bigger that the other monster. The rest of the day was good with fish in the 4 to 5 pound class. We caught a fair amount of bucks when we moved to the shallows but the good fish seemed to be on the points, creek edges in the trees, and on rocks. Spinnerbaits in the 3/4 to 1 oz range were the ticket in the wind. We used the big size to help us keep it slow. The magnum blade Chartreuse and white magnum spinnerbait definitely out produced the standard blades. Had several fish on worms but the blade was the bait of the day.

The cold has come and gone. I had been catching fish deep and that bite has gone south. I can still get some fish in 20 to 30 foot on Football jigs and plastics but the big schools I had located before the freeze have moved. I think the transition from deep to shallow has begun. Went out today to check some spots and found fish to 5 1/2 up shallow. Smaller buck bass and some big fish have moved to 6 foot or less. Still not a spawn going on but the fish are up looking and cruising. It won’t be long now. We just need mother nature to let us have a few more days of warm but the weather man calls for more cold to come. You can catch numbers in the backs of pockets on Worm (lizards and creature baits) I have also been successful throwing moving baits ( Spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits). The fish are not everywhere yet but give them time and this spawn will happen. Look up the river on bad weather days and then almost any pocket or creek on nice days. More to come…..

The water temp has dropped on Falcon and although you hear reports of some Shallow fish. I am finding some pretty good schools of fish out in the deeper waters. I caught my deepest fish to date on a 1 oz. Copper Football Jig in 50 foot of water last trip out. Most of my fish are coming from 20 to 50 foot of water. Look for deep points and humps. The fish have been deep for several months but with the last cold snap I found fish out even deeper. Next weeks temps are forecasted to be in the low 70’s and if we can get several warm days the shallow bite will take off. The fish are staging in the mouths of the coves and channels

Since my last report the fishing on Falcon is getting tougher in the shallows. Some reports of a Shallow bite are being heard but the most productive and consistent bite is happening DEEP. Football jigs are my choice but Carolina rigs, and Texas rigged worms are working as well. The bass are staging in 19 to 40+ feet waiting for the water temps and moon phase to trigger the spawn. As usual on Falcon a lot of folks are thinking they will move up way before it is time. Look for long points that fall into deep water as well as main lake humps and drop offs. The second half of this month the fish will work their way back to creek channel bends and drops. Secondary points will be good staging areas as well as drains leading back to the spawning areas. Currently I am fishing as deep as 45 foot with 1 oz. Football jigs. June bug, Copper ,  Watermelon Red and, Tilapia jigs. Darker color Works better on overcast Cloudy days as opposed to sunny days when the copper and watermelon colors work best.  One thing is for certain, The famous Falcon spawn is coming closer and this year promises to be a good one. The coming cold front promises to push the temperatures down below freezing so I suspect the spawn will be pushed out further until we can get some warm sunny days to bring the water temp up. We have the water in the areas that are traditionally great spawning areas so we should be able to get to the fish and catch some big fish in Shallow water once they start their move. More to come…….

   

   Well it’s been too long since I got around to updating this column. Where did this year go? I will turn 60 in March and it seems like the older I get the easier it is to put things off. Since my last fishing report in July (sorry for such a long time between reports) on the two lakes, fishing has gotten pretty good. The big bass are starting to bunch up in a few places for me and my consistency is getting back to how it was before the waters rose in “the great flood of Falcon”. Fish are being caught shallow and deep on Sugar as well as Falcon. My main stays for Sugar are still Crankbaits and Football Jigs. I have come out with some new colors of jigs (Junebug, Copper, and Peanut Butter)and they sure seem to be working. Charlie Lindsay and Bill Reaves had a big day on Sugar last trip out with best 5 going over 40 lbs. Bill Reaves caught the big fish of the trip which went over 11 pounds. It was caught on the new “Junebug” colored football jig. Junebug is working on Falcon as well. On Sugar you can catch some fish up the river on worms in the flooded wood and the crankbait and football jig pattern is more on the main lake. Look for underwater points and humps in 10 to 35 foot of water. They really seem to want the baits slow. Top pictures are recent Sugar trips and bottom pic’s are from Falcon. The bite on Falcon is also in line with Sugar. Look for fish shallow on spinnerbaits early and then worming the brush in 4 to 14 foot. You can move out deeper fishing points and humps in 15 to 35 feet on Football jigs and worms. The first photo bellow shows Chan Setliff with a nice 10.24 lb. from Falcon caught on a 10″ bluefleck worm from Berkeley Powerbait company.

   

 

Speedy Collett and I went to Sugar to check out some spots for upcoming guide trips and we hit the “Mother Load”.  A day that will rank as one of my top 10 Fishing days.  We start the day loosing a big fish we didn’t see and then caught a 9-3 lb. At days end our best 5 were as follows: 14-8, 11-8, 9-3, 8-13, and 8-09. We could have beaten that weight had we landed some of the others we had on. All toll we broke off or hung up 8 more big fish that day. What a day.

Crankbaits were the key and the fish wanted them. DD22’s seemed to be the best and the color didn’t seem to be an issue. Points, Humps, and Drops were the pattern. More to come…….

It’s been a while since I updated the fishing on Falcon. I have been guiding several teams from Monterey Mexico in who are preparing for a tournament on Falcon this weekend. I enjoy fishing the guys from Monterey because I can practice my Spanish and they get to practice some of there English. Believe me the trade off is appreciated on both sides.

Well back to the report. I have really put in a lot of hours on Falcon so as to have enough fish to go around for all the Mexico boys and not put anyone on the same fish. The major pattern right now is fishing points. Lots and lots of points. There are fish in 4 to 14 feet on points up and down the lake. It seems like the Zapata end is holding the biggest fish on this pattern right now. Fish are hitting Dingers and Crankbaits. You need to slow down with the presentation Water temps are in the mid eighties and the fish do not seem to want to chase the bait if it is moving too fast. The fish bellow were caught early on a point we has 26+ pounds right off the bat. Big fish were up feeding and we broke off three others. Fishing on Falcon has definitely gotten better.

I have been so busy fishing that I just got tired and lazy when it came to any updates.  My schedule has slowed to a point that I have some time to update what is happening on Falcon. As I write this report we are somewhere around ten foot low and the water clarity has started to get back to what it used to be. That being just a touch off color where braid can be used again without so much fear of the it bothering the bites (whether that made a difference or not). The normal summer pattern of deep fish and flipping bite is not completely happening now for me. I go out deep and some days I get bit and some days I don’t. But when I go shallow. I get bit. The last two weeks have had good reports of numbers of small to medium (5-7lb) With an occasional big one (pictured above Harrison Schuhmacher caught the 10.57 on Memorial Day Weekend). I have had days of over 40 fish and yesterday we had 60+. All on points and throwing Sinko baits and Medium running crankbaits. The lake seems to be holding fairly steady and I heard Amistad is releasing water so that is probably why. More to come.  

Well  it has been quite some time since my last report so I will try and give a summary of what has happened on Falcon in Jan and Feb. First of all let me say that the word is out on Falcon and people are really starting to show up. My guide business is booming and I am busier now than before I retired. I am just coming off of 15 days straight and am really looking forward to some down time.

Fishing in Jan was difficult to say the least. Fish were moving up and back on a here today gone tomorrow pattern. From day to day we would have to search for the fish. That is not normal for Falcon (prior to the water rise) once you found them they were there most of the time. The river did not start the spawn as in most every other year. We found cold water in the river up until the end of January. I know a lot of folks spent a lot of money on fuel searching in the old places for January spawners and it was hard to find them. I lost my fish to the flooded cover as the water rose and did not see the point in looking for them until I heard from some reliable source that it was happening up river. I did not hear that until It was happening all over the lake. We had spawning fish in the Salanias the same time they spawned up river. So most of January was deep fishing for me.

February found us fighting North winds and cold water. The fish were trying to move shallow and the cold winds would drop the water temps over night and the fish would pull back out to the deep water. So I stayed deep most of the time aiming for the pre-spawn and post spawn fish. The full moon on the 9th seemed to make a big difference in the fishing and the fronts would come in but the fish could still be caught in the very little protected waters. There are so many people trying to fish that the limited protected fishable waters were getting pounded by fisherman. Something that never happened on Falcon before this year. At any rate I am content to just fish deep and let the chips fall where they may. I usually catch about 3 or 4 big fish a month and most of them are deep (18 to 25 feet). I think the weather will calm down and we are starting to see water temps stay in the 70’s. March will be the big month on Falcon. more to come…..