October 22-23, 2005 OPEC LEGACY Tournament: Sixty-five teams contested this 12th Annual OPEC Tournament to benefit the State Park at Falcon Heights, Texas. Both Saturday and Sunday were great fishing days although winds gusted to 17 mph and were variable most of the day out of the east on Sunday and ENE on Saturday. Baker and Cone set the bar high on Saturday with their 20.96 Lbs for Heavy Stringer, but it was Thomas Aguilar Jr's/Santos 12.90 Lb Big Bass that left everyone asking whether there was a bigger fish to be caught this weekend. Baker and Cone weighed a nice 9.37 LB fish for 2nd big bass Saturday and it ended up being the 3rd big bass of the Tournament. David Herzog and his wife Penny made the maiden voyage in their new Skeeter 21i this weekend and they almost had a fish that David swears would have dwarfed the 12.90 lber. Unfortunately after giving David and Penny a look, it went under the boat and pulled free. So, as it turned out, the answer was no, it would not be beaten and Tommy received big bass money and a certificate from Falcon Lake Tackle good for purchase of tackle from the Falcon Lake Tackle on-line e-store.

Baker and Cone continued their Saturday's dominance of the field Sunday, but the spread narrowed dramatically as the first five teams all weighed 30 plus lbs for their two-day, six-fish stringers. Baker/Cone's 36.73 lbs Tournament-Heavy Stringer earned them Heavy Stringer money and a certificate from Falcon Lake Tackle good for purchase of tackle from the Falcon Lake Tackle on-line e-store. This was the second heaviest stringer since OPEC changed to the 3-fish limit format ten years ago in1996. The 2001 stringer of Edwards and Raulsten weighed 40.90 lbs and remains unbeaten today. Baker and Cone also staked claim to the third heaviest stringer in 2000 with 37.50 lbs. Both teams have now recorded multiple wins and are tied at 2 each. The big bass of the day on Sunday was weighed by Gerardo Olivares (brother of Carlos Olivares Falcon Heights Motel) and it tipped the scales at 11.39 lbs. It was chased for second by an 8.55 lber caught by Don Pierce and Robert Drake (Don was the Metro Heavy Stringer winner earlier this month.

Plastics continued as the best bait and the Watermelon Red Mag Lizard was the best performer. Bigger fish were found in 15 ft to 25 ft water. Lots of big fish were lost, mostly in the trees, and 50 or more smaller fish were caught and culled by many of the fishermen and women.

This tournament may have set a new record for fishing success. For the two-day period, there was no one who failed to weigh at least one fish. There were 34, 2-day stringers weighing over 20 lbs and it took over 27 lbs to make it into the top 10 places. There were 26 fish caught that weighed over 5 lbs.

Top Five Team Finishes:
1st Heavy Stringer Baker/Cone 36.73 Lbs
2nd Heavy Stringer Alanis/Alanis 34.12 Lbs
3rd Heavy Stringer Gerardo Olivares/Romero 34.07 Lbs
4th Heavy Stringer Oliver Talamante and Luis Saladna 30.69 Lbs
5th Heavy Stringer Don Pierce/Robert Drake 30.44 Lbs

Local Team Finishes:
7th Heavy Stringer Speedy Collett/Charlie Haralson 28.48 Lbs
19th Heavy Stringer Larry Booth/John Williams 24.04 Lbs
21st Heavy Stringer Esquivel Prieto/Garza 23.59 Lbs
34th Heavy Stringer Angel Castenada/Castenda 20.59 Lbs
35th Heavy Stringer Albert Sosa/Cavaos 18.95 Lbs
43rd Heavy Stringer Robert Amaya/Garcia 15.83 Lbs
53rd Don Hooks/John McCollum 10.52 Lbs

Altogether there were 185 fish caught Saturday and 153 Sunday for a total of 338 fish weighing 1226.54 Lbs. That is a 3.62 Lbs average per fish. The average weight-per-fish of the OPEC Heavy Stringer was 6.12 Lbs. Not too shabby!

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

Tournament Report - October 15,16 2005 South Texas Bass Anglers Association and Uvalde Bass Clubs:
Lake water temperature was in the mid 80's and the lake level was 282.71 ft or 18.49 ft low on Friday. By Sunday morning the level had risen to 283.50 ft. Water clarity is good in most parts of the lake south of Marker 13 and winds were mild from 5 mph to 15 mph out of the NNE most of the day. The front that blew in last week was the second one of the winter not counting the brief wind switch we had the week before. It lasted about five minutes. Folks in Zapata welcomed the relief from 100-degree temperatures courtesy of the cold front and rain even though we only recorded .35 inch of moisture Thursday night and Friday. The rain south and West of us extended all the way to Del Rio and it averaged from 4 to 7 inches. Laredo is expected to crest above flood stage Sunday night and we should see a lake rise of somewhere around a foot of water early in the week. Trash (trees and vegetation) is already showing up in the River north of Beacon. Creeks are still clear after you move in to the backs of them, but mouths are already showing signs of a rise.

Fishing weather has been mild with high wind gusts below 20 mph, temperatures below 90 degrees and nightly lows below 70 degrees. It is not unusual when a cold front blows in to see the big fish hunker down (suspend or get lockjaw) and the bite is mainly from Jr. Class to 5 lb bass. There may be a few big fish break the Florida bass "No-Bite Cold Front Rule", but not many over six pounds.

Reports by Uvalde Bass Club of 50 to 100 fish caught continued on Saturday and multiple stringers in the 15 lb-range were weighed Saturday by the Club's 16 Anglers. Howard Ponish had the second-heavy big bass of 5.42 lbs and Heavy Stringer of 15.97 lbs. The second-heavy stringer was caught by Ricky Guerrero wiith 4 fish weighing 15.24 lbs. Jimbo Beard had a 14.31 lbs stringer for third place. Al Haughey walked away with Saturday's big bass bragging rights with a 5.97 lb Big Bass.

The South Texas Bass Anglers had similar results with a 15.92 lb heavy stringer. Ralph Celedon was in the lead and Jim Edwards was nipping at his livewell. Heavy Stringer and sub-six lb big bass were plentiful. The best colors were Watermelon Red, June Bug or Plum Apple and Watermelon Chartreuse, but it did not really make too much difference as long as it was plastic and had some color of green or purple. Plastic brush hogs, lizards, craw and flukes were all working.

There was a time I remember several years ago when I went to weigh-ins of bass clubs here at Falcon under frontal conditions. I was amazed that a single 14-inch bass was weighed for an entire club of fifteen anglers and it got big bass and heavy stringer honors. Thanks to Mother Nature, Falcon is a different lake today. We did see a few (200,000 Northern bass) stocked, but hardly significant enough to bring any impact. I am convinced it will take a ground swell of protests to TPW and Government Officials to get any significant stocking of Northern strain bass, crappie or white bass. These species were the basis of much of the millions of dollars in Winter Texan revenues that Zapata enjoyed and have now been lost. A 50% ratio of Florida vs. Northern strain bass could improve Falcon bass fishing immeasurably versus what is now an almost 100% Florida mix. Our County Officials should be pursuing lawsuits, demanding facilities and building ramps and docks to encourage stocking and bring more of the large tournaments. Tens of thousands of dollars are added to the economy by tournaments, but very little is done to promote these events at Falcon. The Chamber is working to obtain support for these activities, but better facilities must be provided before any major events will consider Falcon seriously.

Sunday was a little more difficult for most of the anglers even though the weather topped out at 85 degrees and it felt even cooler due to the day-long cloud cover. Winds never got over 15 mph and many of the anglers remarked it was the best weather for fishing they have had at Falcon. The Big Bass of the weekend weighing 7.51 lbs was caught by Uvalde's Jimbo Beard. Jim Edwards caught the STBAA Big Bass weighing 6.64 Lbs and he also had the Heavy Stringer weighing 30.38 lbs. Ralph Celedon had the 2nd heavy stringer of 23.85 Lbs and Chip Westbrook had 3rd place with a very close 23.05 Lbs.

Uvalde's George Frankllin had the heavy stringer for Sunday with 21.89 Lbs. Jimbo Beard was second with 18.74 lbs and Donnie Moore was third with 13.20 Lbs

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

Tournament Report - October 8, 2005 Ingram and McAllen Bass Clubs: Lake water temperature was in the low to mid 80's and the lake level was 282.64 ft or 18.56 ft low on Friday. Water clarity is good in most parts of the lake and winds were mild from 5 mph to 15 mph out of the North most of the day. The front that blew in on Friday was the first one of the winter unless you count the brief wind switch we had last week. It lasted about five minutes. The welcome relief from 100-degree temperatures courtesy of the cold front was 72 degrees on Friday and 83 degrees on Saturday. Drop dead fishing weather. Nighttime lows were in the 60-degree range; just great sleeping with no air conditioning required.

As usual when a cold front blows in the big fish hunker down, suspend or get lockjaw and the bite is mainly from Jr. Class to 5 lb bass. There may be a few big fish break the Florida bass "No-Bite CF Rule", but not many. We have pleaded with the TPW folks to get a balance back in Falcon of Florida and Northern Strain fish. This would help even- out the bite during cold fronts according to some authorities and our own experience fishing here from the 1970 to 1990 years. I guess we should just be thankful that there are enough of this smaller fish in the lake that they stay active during the fronts.

There was a time I remember several years ago when I went to weigh-ins of bass clubs under frontal conditions that a single 2 LB bass was weighed for an entire club of fifteen anglers and it got big bass and heavy stringer honors. Thanks to Mother Nature, Falcon is a different lake today. We did see a few (200,000 Northern bass) stocked, but hardly significant enough to bring any impact. I am convinced it will take a ground swell of protests to TPW and Government Officials to get any significant stocking of Northern strain bass, crappie or white bass. These species were the basis of much of the millions of dollars in Winter Texan revenues that Zapata enjoyed and have now been lost. A 50% ratio of Florida vs Northern strain bass could improve Falcon fishing immeasurably versus what is now an almost 100% Florida mix.

Our County Officials should be pursuing lawsuits, demanding facilities and building ramps and docks to encourage more of the large tournaments like we had last weekend. Schools, parks and municipal buildings all find their way into the budget, all revenue eaters. Why is there no money for revenue feeders? The San Antonio Metropolitan League of Bass Clubs City Tournaments brought 146 Anglers here for 3 days and the 41.50 LB - 10 fish heavy stringer and 9.65 LB big bass were good indicators to the strength of this black bass fisher and the potential of rebuilding a lake economy. Tens of thousands of dollars were added to the economy by this one tournament. Oil and gas is strong right now, but will we be able to pay for the taxes required to fund the operations expense of the revenue eating projects once the reserves are depleted?

Ingram Bass Club 14 anglers fought the post not-too-cold front conditions to end up with a very
respectable 21.45 LB Heavy Stringer caught by Keith Thompson Saturday. It was anchored by 5.87 LB and 5.40 LB bass, which were also the first and second Big Bass for Saturday. Bobby Stephenson had the second heavy stringer weighing 12.44 Lbs and a 5.33 third Big Bass. Sunday was another great day as far as weather with continued mild conditions. Temperatures remained in the 80's and winds were in the 5 mph-20 mph range. The club members mourned last night's loss of their friend and teammate Carl Pogue who passed away in his room at the motel last night. Carl is survived by his wife and son Jordan and we wish to extend our condolences to them during this difficult period.

Keith Thompson continued his dominance weighing 5 fish Sunday for a total 2-day weight of 33.18 Lbs for Heavy Stringer. Roy Graham and his partner Ronnie Gazeway had 2nd and 3rd heavy stringers of 29.56 and 29.26 lbs respectively. Roy edged out Keith Thompson's 5.87 LB Big Bass from Saturday with a 5.89 Lber. His 20.50 LB Sunday stringer was the heaviest of the day. Roy and Ronnie also had heavy-team stringer honors with 38.48 lbs. Watermelon Red Zoom Magnum Lizards were working about as well as any bait this weekend, Quantities of fish caught varied but 40 plus catches were not unusual. However, size was a problem as a goof many of the fish were under the 14 inch legal limit. A lot of action was reported on spinnerbaits, but here again, length was just short of legal.

McAllen Bass Angler's John Struthers was leading his club with a 15.6 LB Heavy Stringer after Saturday's weigh-in and Brantley Billman had Big Bass of 5.6 Lbs. Oscar Ramirez, Andy Silva, Brantley Billman and Joe Martinez were in 2nd-5th Heavy Stringer positions with double-digit stringers from 11 Lbs to 14 Lbs.

Sunday was a good day for Billman yielding a 6.0 Lb big bass and another good five-fish stringer, which gave him Heavy Stringer Honors as well with 25.8 Lbs. John Struthers ended up with second-Heavy Stringer weighing 24.07 lbs. Joe Martinez came in third with 22.07 Lbs. Altogether the 13 Anglers caught a total of 33 bass weighing 185.13 Lbs.

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

Tournament Report October 1, 2005-Metro City Championship: There were 146
fishermen and women consisting of some of Falcon's most faithful and loyal bass clubs who arrived Friday for registration and launched at 6:00 am Saturday to initiate the annual shoot out for the Metropolitan League of Bass Club bragging rights. This championship is contested at various lakes each year. This tournament marked the return to Falcon after a 10-year absence and we hope the anglers and their families felt welcome. The fish cooperated with at least some of the anglers.

The club members were treated to a BBQ dinner at the Community Center Saturday night for their awards ceremony courtesy of the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce, The ceremony will recognize last year's championship winners. The wind started out with about 2 mph gusts this morning and never got up to over a small ripple. High temperatures reached a not-too-high 98 degrees and water temperatures ranged in the mid-80 to the low 90-degree range.

The numbers below are an indication of the current strength of this great fishery.

San Antonio Bass Club's Don Pierce and his son Robert fished together and they weighed in the top-10 bass for the first day weighing 22.38 lbs and 20.49 lbs respectively
for a combined 42.87 lbs. There were actually three tournaments and while Robert was not eligible for the Championship Tournament, his 34 LB two-day stringer was the third heaviest in the City Tournament. Richard Flores with the SAPD Club had the first day big bass weighing 8.27 lbs. Karissa Bauer was leading the Ladies Division with over 13 lbs.

There were a lot of patch fish weighed and stringers over 15 lbs were as plentiful as the junior-class fish caught and culled. Five-fish sacks were not much to talk about unless they were full of patch fish, in which case you would have been in the running for third heavy stringer. The bite was mostly on plastics and only a few crankbait fish were caught. Although fish were found primarily in 10 to 20 ft depths some were also caught shallow or deeper.

The wind gusts have picked up and are 9 mph with 25 mph gusts Saturday night. Forecasts are for winds and weather to be mild and about the same tomorrow as they were today so anglers should have another good day on the water.

TIP: Bite was mostly on plastic baits including Beavers, Lizards, Brush Hogs and Craws. Best colors were plum apple, watermelon green/orange, tequila green and watermelon red

2nd Day Sunday October 1st & 2nd Metro Total Results:

Great weather greeted the anglers Sunday and the 72-degree morning temperature worked its way up to 96 degrees by the time of the weigh in. Scattered clouds made it feel cooler than it actually was, but no one was complaining.

Sunday was another productive day for yesterday's leader Donald Pierce. His best 5 fish today weighed 19.12 lbs and included two 4 LB plus and one 5.32 LB bass. That gave him a two-day total of 41.50 lbs and first place Heavy Stringer. SABC's Glenn Hahn had 2nd Heavy Stringer of 36.76 lbs. SAPD's Johnnie Barnes III had the 3rd Heavy Stringer in the Championship, but Robert Pierce took him out for City honors. Larry Martin grabbed the first place Big Bass honors with a beautiful 9.65 lb bass and Brian Hunter had a 9.33 lber for 2nd Big Bass. There were 4 fish caught weighing over 8 lbs.

Denise McGraff edged out Saturday's Ladies Division Heavy Stringer leader by less than a pound with 21.65 lbs. Karissa Bauer ended up with Ladies Division 2nd Heavy Stringer of 20.71 lbs. There were a large number of double digit stringers weighed each day. Culling was common place and we estimate total numbers of patch fish in the 20-something fish range. A total of 773 fish were caught weighing 1940.95 lbs. San Antonio Bass Club won the Club-bragging rights with 227.43 lbs for their top eight stringers. Universal City Bass Club came in 2nd with 187.35 lbs. SAPD was an extremely close third with 186.24 lbs. Popular and successful plastic bait colors were Plum Apple, Watermelon Green Orange, Tequila Green Fleck and Watermelonn Red

Falcon Lake Tackle's Barbara Bridgeman presented two Gift Certificates to Big Bass and Heavy Stringer winners each good for tackle purchases from their on line tackle store at www.falconlaketackle.com. It was great seeing all our friends and customers from San Antonio here at the same time and we sincerely appreciate your business. Hope to see all of you here at Falcon again very soon.

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

September 25, 2005 Tournament Report-Alice Bass Club brought their September tournament and seven anglers to Falcon this weekend and the results were less fish than they had hoped to catch. Whether a result of the bite going South or anglers not locating the more productive feeding areas, the overall results were less than outstanding.

However, considering the weigh in was at 2:00 pm Stringer weights were understandably lower than for a full day. Rocky Portel ended up with the heavy stringer weighing North of his fellow anglers at a not too shabby 14.14 lbs. Brandon Wheatley had big bass weighing 5.34 lbs which was smaller than he caught during prefishing.

Other stringers and weights caught were 11.16 lbs and 10.23 lbs for 2nd and third heavy stringers by John Adami and Sandy Vela respectively. Fish were typically going for plastic baits and the small fish were mostly shallow with the larger fish holding in 20 - 30 ft of water.

Next weekend we will possibly have around three hundred anglers here for the Metro City Championship Tournament. Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

September 17-18, 2005 Tournament Report- Thirty-eight anglers with the Universal City Bass Club and 25 San Antonio Police Department Bass Club participants weighed in day 1 tournament results at 4:00 pm under 101 degree temperatures and 26 mph winds Saturday. UC's Justin Bauer and his wife Karissa had 1st and 3rd heavy stringers of 19.71 lbs and 14.08 lbs respectively. Karissa had club big bass of 5.37 lbs. Justin had a 5 lb big bass and close to 4lbs for an average 5-fish weight. The combined weight for the Bauer's stringers was 33.79 lbs. Emile Larose had second heavy stringer of 16.97 lbs. Altogether the UC Bass Club caught and weighed 104 fish totaling 216.41 lbs. Many of the anglers reported catches North of 50 fish with crankbaits and plastic baits catching most of the fish. Justin used watermelon Sweet Beavers in his successful run to first place heavy stringer. Robin McFarlane caught a 12 LB bass during prefish on Friday. As of Saturday she has captured the weekend's big bass bragging rights if not the money.

The saying that "the good Lord always takes care of good people" proved to be true in Robin's case this weekend. She ended up taking big bass money because the anglers with first and second big bass (David Kalinoski Jr. 9,22 lbs and Justin Bauer 7.28 lbs) had not entered the big bass pot. Robin had the biggest fish during prefishing 12 lbs (caught on Carolina rigging watermelon red baby brush hog) and could not count it, she had the third big bass during the tournament (6.26 lbs caught on a Wave Firetiger Tiki Craw flipping hardwoods) and won the big bass money. When your living right, things just work out.

Tip: The Carolina rig was effective for a number of angler's this weekend

Justin and Karissa Bauer ended up as big winners of Heavy Team with 20 fish @ 64.60 lbs, Ladies Division (Klarissa) 10 fish @ 28.21 lbs and Open Division (Justin) 10 fish @ 36.49 lbs. Emile Larose had second heavy stringer weighing 10 fish @ 28.29 lbs. Robin McFarlane claimed third heavy stringer with 20.85 lbs. Jerry and Betty Moon won Couples Division with 38.54 lbs. Junior Divisionn winner was Jason Kalinoski with 3.97 lbs. Altogether, 200 fish weighing 428.33 lbs crossed the scales and about a third of the participants had five-fish stringers each day. The best producing baits were plastics followed by crankbaits. Justin and Krarissa were using Reaction Innovation's Watermelon Sweet Beavers. Some of the larger fish this weekend were still suspended in 20 ft of water in trees, but good fish were also found in 6 to 8 ft on rocks and brush.

SAPD's Sonny Osbourne out-ounced 25 of his friends for 1st place big bass of 5.89 lbs. Saturday, but Bill Baty edged him out Sunday with a 5.95 lber for the weekend big bass. Over all heavy-stringer honors went to John Markgraff with 18.58 lbs. Saturday and 29.49 lbs for the weekend. Aubrey Freeman Jr. weighed 16.86 lbs on Sunday for that one day's heavy-stringer honors. Second heavy stringer weighed 27.10 lbs and Carl Cattriel had 24.13 lbs for 3rd HS. Motor oil chartreuse tail lizards gave the bass Aubrey found in 8 ft of water just what they wanted today in Government and State park Coves and several larger fish pulled off before making it to the boat.

There were lots of patch fish over 4 lbs weighed by both clubs. Almost all the fishermen and women caught fish, although many of the fish were culls just short of the 14-inch length limit. One boat had over 100 fish that were undersized in addition to 4 limits of legal weighers. There were a lot of stories being told over the scales of big fish lost and of angler harassment by marauding schools of small fish. One angler who kept count Saturday reported 60 fish caught with thirty coming from one bush.

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

September 15, 2005 - There were a couple of local events held on Falcon last weekend, and the big bass was just North of 7 lbs. Fish were caught under pretty much the same patterns that have been in place for several months. The heavy stringer was just over 19 lbs. The San Antonio Police Department and Universal City Bass Clubs will be contesting their September tournaments on Falcon this weekend.

The lake has been edging higher as a result of beneficial moisture received from around 1.5 inches of rain falling in the local area during the first half of the month. Lake levels are in the mid 282 ft range and the water is mostly clear to slightly stained in some areas as a result of run-offs. Winds gusting to the upper 20 mph range have been typical this week with some periods of low winds occurring mostly before the temperatures and sun get up and temperatures rise.

Best bets for fish-catching lures are crankbaits in 12 to 20 ft water off wooded points, ledges and dropoffs. Plastics are also catching fish with brush hogs, lizards and worms working equally well. A number of different colors have produced action with watermelon red, black chartreuse tail and plum apple being some of the commonly used colors. Motor oil was the go to color for one group last week.

We are still hearing reports of schooling bass in the creeks off the river. Rat-L-Traps and small shad colored crankbaits are usually effective. However, on occasion fishermen have found it necessary to downsize baits in order to draw strikes. Expect a lot of smaller fish when fishing this pattern, but it is not uncommon to find some 3 to 5 LB fish mixed in also.

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

September 3-4, 2005 - Atascosa Bass Club Tournament: Saturday was not a bad day for fishing Falcon, except maybe for a little late afternoon moisture via a fairly quick-moving rainstorm. We sure cannot complain too much about the rain, which totaled almost an inch in three days even though we had to accept some "wet money" for payment of tackle at the store. Compared to July, it look's like we are back in the Rain God's good graces. As a result of the rain, the high temperatures actually dropped into the nineties and even though the humidity increased, it was not as bad as we could have experienced.

Atascosa's Craig White and his wife Patricia both did well with double-digit weights giving them first and third heavy stringers on day 1. Dub Billings and his grandson Shane also did well on the 1st day and Dub had the second-heavy stringer with a weight just south of Craig's 19 plus lbs. Congratulations to Shane who had the big bass weighing 7.02 lbs. The fish was caught in the trees in 15 ft of water on a Rat-L-Trap purchased at Falcon Lake Tackle. Shane, who will be celebrating his 12th birthday this week, weighed in 18.2 lbs and, in addition to capturing Big Bass honors, beat 5 veteran angler's heavy stringer weights with 5 fish. Good job Shane. While many of the fish caught came from either lower or mid lake on plastics (including craws, lizards and worms), crankbaits caught bigger fish and there were a lot of smaller fish that were caught on plastics and culled. Black Neon Chartreuse as well as about anything green or watermelon red caught fish. We had some reports of a good fish caught in the Tigers including a 10lb 4oz fish caught by a Tigre Island property owner from Laredo. If we can get an e-mail of this fish, we would love to share it. Some otherwise good fish were lost on unfortunate break-offs and other mishaps. A total of nine fish were caught by club anglers weighing over 4 lbs (with 4 of these over 5 lbs) including 2 of the five fish caught by Shane Billings

Fifty-fish days were common for many anglers this weekend and 7 limits were weighed compared to 9 short stringers. Although Sunday's results (146 lbs) were off a little from Saturday's (187 lb) numbers, it was after all only a little over a half day on the water Sunday. A six pounder failed to measure up so Shane Billing's fish from Saturday held up as Big Bass for the tournament. Craig's total for the day and a half 10-fish limit was 31.12 lbs and wife Patricia was 2nd with a very close 29.96 lbs. Dennis Bald weighed 29.04 lbs for third and 9 other fishermen weighed in stringers in excess of 20 lbs. Altogether, 16 anglers caught 135 fish weighing 332.85 lbs.

We posted an American Red Cross Banner on our website yesterday and we are pledging 5 % of all website sales through the forseeable future to help with the Hurricane victims recovery. I hope we are covered up with orders

Until next time, pray for the Katriina Hurricane victims, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

Fishing Report August 6-7, 2005 Tournament Report - McAllen Bass Anglers: Twenty of McAllen's finest fishermen brought their rigs and reels to Falcon State Park last weekend to contest their August Tournament. The big bass of 7 lbs 6 Oz was caught by Abel Garcia who had 2nd-heavy stringer of 17 lbs 12 oz for the two-day event.

The heavy stringer was caught by Eddie Kucia weighing 18.01 Oz. The conservation-minded club had reduced this to a three-fish daily limit tournament in consideration of the hot weather. Altogether, 20 fishermen caught 88 bass weighing 219 lbs 13 Oz.

There were 6 fish caught over 5 lbs and eight patch fish (over 4 lbs) weighed-in by Anglers. Most of the fish came off plastic magnum lizards or Yamosenkos in the trees in anywhere from 6 to 20 ft. A depth of 12-16 foot was the best producing depth range.

About any color or shade of green, red or purple caught fish. Similar reports from non-tournament anglers fishing Falcon indicated a lot of fish were being culled to yield average five-fish catches of 22 to 25 lbs. A few spinnerbait fish have been taken, but the crankbait action has slowed up this week. Schooling bass are still being reported up river in the Arroyos on the US side. Small crankbaits and rat-l-traps have been effective baits. Catfish up river are still hitting shrimp and worms.

The water temperature was around the mid-eighties and clarity was fair-to-good. It appears we are still receiving some water from the Salado and it is off color-to-stained. The water is a few degrees cooler on the lower end of the lake. The lake level is currently at 281.66 ft, which is 21.54 ft low.

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

Falcon Lake Tournament Report, July 9, 10, 2005: The McAllen Bass Anglers held their July event at Falcon last weekend. The weekend was a little squirrely as far as the weather. Saturday was hot and then an un-forecast late afternoon front blew in with 47 mph winds. About the only impact was a scattering of trash cans and brush cut and piled up on lots of lazy property owners waiting for the County to pick up, which rarely happens. We received no rain; the temperature fell only 5 degrees and immediately rose again to pre-front highs of 100 plus degrees (high 106 degrees).The lake water temperature was in the mid-upper eighties, clarity is good and the lake level is 279 ft or about 22 ft low.

About the only good thing about this front was that the club had already weighed in and was off the water. Sunday was more respectable as far as the weather goes with mild winds most of the day and temperatures barely breaking 100 degrees by weigh-in at 2:00 pm. John Struthers and Andy Silva had the second heavy stringer Saturday, but their two-day total weight of 44.10 lbs was good enough for 1st place. Alvardo/Longeria had second place, two-day Heavy Stringer weighing 36.14 lbs. Seven of the 9 teams had weights over 25 lbs. Altogether 18 anglers caught 79 bass in the two-day event weighing 255 lbs and 14 oz. Billman and Villescas had the heaviest five fish, one day stringer of 24.3 lbs. JD Penny caught the big bass of 7lbs 2 oz (see Pic) and three fish weighed over 6 lbs. Most of the fish were caught on plastic worms in around 12 ft of water.The bigger fish this weekend were deep on edges of 20-25 ft deep ledges dropping off into 30 to 35 ft. Magnum 8"-10" Lizards were strong and colors ran the spectrum of red, green and purples.

You may have heard that Falcon Lake Tackle is for sale, strictly for health reasons. Business in the store and on the website e-store remains good even though we are entering into the hot months of the year. The business, inventory, commercial property and website site can all be purchased or, any part thereof. Included also are good living quarters above the store, shop space and additional land adjacent to and behind the store with abundant concrete patios, parking under 6 ft security fencing.

Through our on-line E-Store, we have sold tackle to fishermen and women in 8 countries and 46 states. Most people shopping with us remark that Falcon Lake Tackle has the most extensive selection of tackle and marine supplies of any store they have visited. We have over 25 new items listed on our home page that we have added this summer including the popular Sweet Beavers. We try to anticipate demand and we do not just keep a few packages in stock. The hot baits are almost always available and we keep an adequate number of Mexico Licenses and Boat permits available by mail or in the store. We would welcome the opportunity to add you to our list of satisfied customers Check out our store at. http://tackleandrods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=FLT

Until next time, have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

June 25 & 26, 2005 Tournament Report-Atascosa Bass Club: A late afternoon front switched the winds around to the North at 30 mph drenching anglers and the parched ground as well. The rain was short lived and not nearly as much as would have been nice, dropping less than a quarter-inch in most areas. Anyone caught on the lake during the storm would have had some anxious moments, but most of the boats were in or near the ramp by the time the storm hit. Otherwise the lake was fairly well behaved. The lake level was in the 279 range and water clarity was good-to-stained depending on which portion of the lake you were fishing. The lower lake water was mostly clear.

The 19 competing club anglers began arriving towards the end of the week for prefishing. The leading Heavy-Stringer Angler heading into Sunday was Craig White with a 25 lb plus stringer. He added 13.28 lbs Sunday for a total 2-day weight of 38.48 lbs. Dub Billings had the Big Bass weighing 8.05 lbs and the second heavy stringer of 37.54 lbs. Craig's anchor bass Saturday weighed 6.61 lbs. Craig's wife Patricia
below is holding a beautiful bass she caught while fishing from her boat with her dog. It weighed 8.03 lbs. Unfortunately her fish was caught one day early during prefish. Patricia ended up with the third heavy stringer of 31.44 lbs. Most of the fish weighed Sunday were on the small side and the big bass of 4.36 # was weighed by Terry Vrana at the upper lake ramp. He had 5 fish weighing 15.64 lbs and his dad had 4.

The plastics bite on main lake points with hardwoods and/or brush was strong and it was the dominant pattern reported by tournament anglers and other fishermen as well. Craig's fish came mostly from the upper lake area and primarily on the US side. However, there were some good fish caught in many different areas of the lake including the lower lake Arroyo Salinillas, the mid-lake El Tigre and the Marker 9 upper-lake area. Zoom Red Shad Super Flukes were the "go to bait" on Saturday. However, Just about any plastic properly presented got bit including the heavy stringer producing bait of a Strike King 4.5" Tube. Most of the fish came from 12 ft or greater depths. Altogether the 19 anglers weighed in 86 fish Saturday and 68 on Sunday for a total of 156 fish weighing 413.72 lbs. There were 16 anglers with double digit stringers for the 2 days and 13 anglers had 19 lbs or better. Eleven stringers were over 20 lbs and 4 were over 30 lbs.

June 18-19, 2005 Tournament Report-Alice Bass Club's 16 anglers from Alice and the surrounding area called Falcon home for the purposes of this weekend's club tournament. The lake level has been dropping slowly from a level of 289.48 ft on June 9th to Friday's level of 280.18 ft. Temperature of the water was in the mid-to-upper eighties.

Water clarity was fair-to-good unless you were fishing up the river where an algae-stained water condition was affecting the bite and a number of dead fish were noted all the way to Marker 8 area and beyond. Most of the fish were Tilapia but a few other rough fish were mixed in as well. Some small bass and catfish were noted to be dead or dying. I doubt that this kill has been checked out by biologists and usually, when we see and/or report dying fish this time of year, it ends up having to do with O2 content of the water. This is especially true as water from Amistad reaches Falcon full of silt and low in O2. At the very least it is a stinking mess. I spoke with Marshal Davidson Game Warden on Sunday and the kill seems to extend all the way to the lower end.

At this level, launching at the Zapata County Ramp is working fine and the shoreline adjacent to the ramp and out to the end of the point has just the right slope and is very usable for beaching of boats (See pic right). There is an abundance of parking as well. There is still a lot of litter, dead fish and trash so watch where you walk because our esteemed County officials, who now have ordinance making authority, continue to ignore the litter problem around the lake and on the roadside of highways and subdivisions in Zapata County. We have ascended to the distinction of being the litter capital of Texas.

Because of the summer heat, the Bass Club decided to weigh in once at Noon and then have a second weigh-in at 6:00 pm. This gave the fish a much better chance of surviving the heat. John Adami took the first weigh-in heavy stringer honors with 13.27 lbs for 3 fish. The big bass was caught by Rodney Jackson and weighed just north of 7 lbs. Jamie Pena and his dad had a couple of fish weighing 5.95 lbs, which was pretty typical. The big concentrations of good-sized fish did not show up on Saturday and most of the real aggressive fish were small 3 lbs and under. The fish were found primarily in 12 - 14 ft of water in hardwoods and off brushy main lake points. Watermelon red magnum lizards produced the Saturday's winning stringer for Rocky Portell (pic center left)weighing 14.17 lbs and whipping a small hurt on the morning leader's 13.27 lb stringer. Sunday was another day about like Saturday as far as temperatures and results.

Pat Ball and his partner Brandon teamed up for 23.72 lbs and Brandon's second heavy stringer of 13.64 lbs was anchored by the 4.43 LB Sunday big bass (See Pic upper left).If we took the numbers down correctly, Day 1 winner Rocky Portello out-ounced the Ball boat with 23.76 lbs. Israel Garcia had Sunday's winning heavy stringer of 14.12 lbs just a few fish scales less than Rocky's winning Saturday heavy stringer.

During the last 2 days, we sold a number of the new YUM Wooly Hawg Craws and Ugly Otters by Gambler to club anglers and these baits worked great and produced a lot of fish. In fact, a number of big fish break-offs were reported. The Ugly Otters and Yum Wooly Hawg Craws are similar in design and function to the popular plastic Sweet Beavers, but better because you can actually order and receive them. We have had an order in for Sweet Beavers since April 28 and so far we have been unable to secure even a ship date. We found and purchased these two look-a-like a baits by Gambler and YUM only because of the inability to score the Sweet Beavers.

Have a great day on the water and always practice catch and release.

San Antonio Bass Club-June 4th and 5th, 2005: There were a few Club members steamed Saturday Morning, and not from the temperatures, which were in the mid-seventies as club members from San Antonio Bass Club lined up at the State Park Gate. Many had left their rooms early in anticipation of an early morning, beat-the-heat launch. This possibility was ripped from the tackle boxes (and minds) of waiting anglers. As their number increased, extending back to the 4-way stop any beyond, frustrations grew. Ironically, a TPWD Writer and his guide doing a story on the Falcon Fishery got caught up in the hour long accumulation of tempers and frustrations and it was shortly after daylight when the gate mister made his appearance. I doubt the inefficiency and lack of service of TPWD will make it into the article, but this type of service is not what we need to encourage Bass Clubs to hold their tournaments at Falcon.

In fact, during the summertime, weekends are about the only days in the week that there is any activity. We try to open early on weekends, and especially tournament weekends, by 6:00 am or before to accommodate the visitors who need some tackle or Mexico Licenses and Boat Permits before they launch. In our opinion, the State Park should open at least a half hour before daylight if they want to encourage utilization.

While we are mentioning licenses, several months ago we made a decision to stop issuing Texas State Licenses. We advised the TPWD we were doing so as a protest against their broken promises, exorbitant increase on licenses and equipment, their refusal to increase and provided adequate enforcement of illegal netting, failure to replenish species of white bass and crappie that have been wiped out as fishable species and a number of other issues that are detailed in the Local Information section of our website. Furthermore, we sent a letter to the Governor asking him to look into the flawed decision making and policies of TPWD. I hope this info is making it around to the club fishermen so you do not get in a bind expecting to get your license renewed here before you go to launch. This is not too relevant now but it will be in September. We have encouraged all the licensing stations to follow suit and refuse to issue licenses also. Some of the private tackle stores have responded. Others who do not care about anything, other than money, have not. Many of the large retailers have not and they could care less about the issues.

It would be a good idea for all fishermen and members of Bass Clubs and the organizations that hold tournaments at Falcon to write TPW letters of concern from all their members and to also write the Governor about concerns like enforcement, issue of bonds instead of using License Stamp Fees directly for what they were promised i.e. to be restricted to building hatcheries and stocking and the other myriad issues we have previously detailed and are contained in the Local Information Section of our website together with the addresses of officials to contact. Millions of new dollars were raised from license fee increases and are now being sought as sources for noncommitted purposes (e.g., bond issuance expenses) and this is the problem with bureaucracies like TPWD as well as Politicians and the promises they make. Furthermore, Falcon has apparently been excluded from the TPW Improvement Action Plan for 2005 and the Northern Bass stocking as well as Crappie and White Bass species revitalization has been abandoned. Enforcement that needs to be doubled or tripled has been cut by 33% and the list of needs and failures to respond to them is as long as the line of boats waiting Saturday trying to get into the park to launch.

True to form. for what was to become known as the day-in-the-ditch, the 19 mph winds forecast gusted instead to 32 mph throughout most of the day and up to 36 mph last night. Since wind gusts had been in the 30 mph range for the last 4 days, how 19 mph winds made it into the forecast is anybody's guess. It may just have been a day late. Sunday morning at 6:00 am the straight line winds of 6 mph were gusting to 11 mph out of the East-Northeast and bode well for the second day of the tournament. Also, the Sunday launch for the club was out of the Zapata County Ramp where launching is only restricted by how late the fishermen sleep. Lake conditions were good and water temperature ranged from the low to mid-eighties. With 100% of the fish occupying a lake of 66% its former pre-April size, it was expected that a good bite would be in place. It was, and only the gusting winds impeded the anglers.

Congratulations to John Galles who was fishing alone and ended up with the first day heavy stringer north of 23 lbs and a big bass of 9 lbs. He held on to Heavy Stringer honors by weighing in a 13.85 lb 5 fish bag on Sunday brining his 2 day total to 36.85 lbs. Dr Richard Drake came in second with 32.05 lbs and his son Marshall, caught a bass weighing 8.70 lbs. Saturday. Great start for this young man. Brining in a 5 fish limit on Sunday gave Joe Akers third place HS of 27.45 lbs and Sunday BB of 7.55 lbs. Some fish were caught off the tops of trees using fire tiger GDD22 Norman Crankbaits in 14 ft depths. However, the majority of the fish went for waterrmelon red crankbaits. Sunday was about 10 degrees cooler than Saturday and the winds as predicted only gusted to 19 mph. A cooling cloud cover gave the anglers some needed relief most of the day and conditions were great.

Plum Creek Casters Bass Club-May 21st and 22nd, 2005: Formed in 1996, The Plum Creek Casters Bass Club out of Lockhart Texas had been watching the Falcon fishing reports on www.falconlaketackle.com and the good fishing reports finally got the best of them. Their first Club Tournament at Falcon was scheduled for Falcon this weekend and most of the 8 anglers did very well posting double digits weights for each day.

There were way more 5-fish limits then short stringers and the 2-day heavy-boat weight was just a short hair south of 4 lbs average per fish at 79 lbs for 20 fish. Big bass Day 1 of 7.2 lbs fell to an 8.5 lber on Sunday, but that was no big deal because both were caught by Malcom Kincaid. Malcom and his partner Johnny Homann took heavy boat, 1st and 2nd heavy stringer honors as well as big bass for the 2-day event. Working points and humps loaded with brush in 2 ft of water early and moving deeper to 10-14 ft as the sun got up, they found a lot of fish receptive to their plastic watermelon red brush hogs they had loaded up on at Falcon Lake Tackle before hitting the water. Not every point held fish, but once located, the fish were stacked up pretty good chasing shad and just waiting for a brushhog.

The club launched out of the Zapata County Park and had their weigh in there also. As the above loading photo shows the ramp is working well at this level.

April 10, 2005 B.A.S.S.Federation: Twenty-eight boats hit the water at safelight to 63 degree temperatures and winds gusting to 30 mph. The launch was out of the Zapata County Ramp so plans that any of the anglers had to run to the other end were either squelched or carried out with great discomfort.

The afternoon was beautiful if a little on the warm side at 87 degrees. The winds came and went, but after they laid in the afternoon, the bite went South for many of the fishermen. Norman Tennessee Shad DLNs were working for several anglers and one of the anglers was using a DD14 in the same color, but a lot of the crankbaits were being thrown off by the scrappy bass.

Jo Baby 1/2 Oz spinnerbaits in chartreuse/white skirt with twin gold willowleaf blades produced four legal fish for one angler, but 10 " Berkley Power Worms in Blue Fleck were the winning bait for Rick Rickman who had two fish that weighed 15.23 lbs accounting for over 50% of the weight of his winning 30.02 lb Heavy Stringer.As you can see in the picture, one of Rick's fish was heavy with eggs, which is proof positive some of Falcon's big bass have yet to spawn. Trent Huckaby weighed the second-heavy strijger of 23.56 lbs and Jeff Richards captured 3rd with 18.69 lbs.

Fish were caught in anywhere from 6 to 18 ft of water, which warmed to the mid-seventies by late afternoon. Several anglers experienced tolling motor and/or boat motor problems limiting the time spent fishing and ruining their chances for a strong finish. Overall, a lot of fish were caught including 40 or more undersized fish with bad attitudes by one boat. Sharon Plocek won the gift certificate drawing presented by Falcon Lake Tackle's on line e-store www.tackleandrods.com. Falcon Lake Tackle is a strong supporter of all of the Tournament Organizers who bring tournaments to Falcon. We encourage other businesses in Zapata who also benefit from the tournament business to support the organizers by sponsoring the events.

March 26, 2005-Bass Champs: The 147 Bass Champs boats launched from Beacon Lodge at safe light with mild early-morning temps of 69 degrees and light winds. Although daytime high temps reached 91 degrees, a mild front blew in right as the tournament ended, cooling off what was otherwise a pretty warm group of fishermen. Choke Canyon Bass Champs Boat winners Richard Cremo and Jimmy Steed pulled out a back-to-back victory at Falcon's tournament today weighing in a heavy stringer of 28.96 lbs and a 10.60 lb big bass.Strike King Green Pumpkin tubes were the winning bait and their fish came out of 11-to-13 ft water. There were 104 limits weighed and most of the teams culled a lot of fish. As many as 76 fish were reported being caught by a single team. The average weight was 2.9 lbs. Everyone commented about the difficulty finding large fish because of the abundance of small fish. Several of the over 10 lb fish caught were still showing eggs and bloody tails. Richard Cremo had the big bass weighing 10.60lbs. Jim Edwards had a 10.32 lb fish and the Kuyrkendhal/Wilson big bass weighed 10.06 lbs.

Derick Kuyrkendall and Forrest Wilson brought in the second place heavy stringer weighing 25.44 lbs. Greg Carter and Bob Eckermann had the third place heavy stringer of 25.40 lbs. The top three winners were using a similar plastic-bait pattern in husiache and retamas trees off creek channels and drop offs. Sweet beavers, tubes and spinnerbaits caught the most fish folllowed by crankbaits. Ten stringers were weighed in at over 20 lbs and 14 th place weighed 18.48 lbs.

March 19, 2005: We were able to attend only one of the three club tournament weigh-ins for Saturday and the fourth tournament Fisher's of Men was a no-show. We did not hear from the organizers, but some of the folks from Austin said the participation was just not there at either Amistad or for Falcon. We are sorry to hear that, if in fact that is what happened to the tournament.

There were some good fish caught today including the big tournament fish of the weekend by San Antonio Bass Club's member Mike Vasquez of 9.45 lbs. The heavy stringer was somewhere in the 16 to 17 lb range on Saturday and right at 30 lbs for the two days. We are awaiting the name of the winner and exact winning weight.

Texas Classic Bass Club from Austin had a heavy stringer Saturday of 16.05 lbs caught by Don Stuessy and his partner Keith Ballard. Don had Big Bass on Sunday weighing 4.72 lbs. Tom Pursell
caught the big bass of the weekend on Friday prefishing. It weighed 10.23 lbs and was living proof that not all the Falcon Bass have already spawned.

Marlin Fredrick who has been club angler of the year for 5 of the last 6 years claimed big bass honors with a 5.53 LB bass and, with his partner Jason St Peter, had the third-place heavy stringer of 15.20 lbs on Saturday. The second-place heavy stringer of 15.50 lbs was weighed by Jody Woodruff and his partner Mike Wagner.

Marlin and Jody followed up the winning Saturday weight with enough fish on Sunday to give them top Heavy Stringer of 29.47 lbs for the 2 days. Jody Woodruff and Mike Wagner held on to second place with 27.06 lbs. Clint Bridges and Brian Cotter had third heavy stringer of 24.21 lbs. Fish were caught on a variety of baits including brush hogs, tubes and lizards in green pumpkin orange, watermelon red and watermelon. Depths were from 2 to 10 ft in hardwoods and brush. Many of the fish caught had already spwaned, but a few were still carrying eggs as the Pursell picture above clearly shows.

Crankbaits are beginning to catch more fish as are spinnerbaits. A number of schools of newly hatched fry were seen swiming around nearly all the areas being fished by the clubs. Marlin and Jody's winning stringer came out of the Tigers area in about 6 ft of water.

Altogether the Club's 21 anglers weighed 76 fish for 184.02 lbs and an average weight of 2.42 lbs.

Portland, Texas based South Texas Bass Angler Association's Dan Lehman had the heavy stringer for the first day for his club with a 17.16 lb heavy stringer and big bass of 8.02 lbs. Fredd Vannoy was in second with a heavy stringer
of 10.94 lbs. Subday was another good day for fishing and the STBAA bucked the trend for Sunday of a slower bite. Their big bass and heavy stringer exceeded Saturday even if the place holders did not change that much. Fred Vannoy Vannoy and Mike Jenkins switched places when Mike made his charge with an anchor 8.65 lb big bass, which raised his two day weigt to 27.08 lbs. That was not enough to take Dan out of the top spot and he had a 34.48 lb total for the 2-day heavy stringer total weight. Fred was third with a respectable 20.96 lbs.

One thing I must point out that relates to the weighin procedures employed by the Texas Classic Bass Club; I was impressed. Every weighin bag that came to the scales and every bag with fish being returned to the lake had adequate water, fish were handled with the minimum amount of stress and the entire process was organized and timed so fish were in bags awaiting weighing for the minimum amount of time necessary. Compared to some club weighins that nearly make your cry with the number of fish killed and/or mishandled, this weighin was a masterpiece of orchestration. I later learned that this is part of their by-laws. Good job guys.

March 12,13, 2005 - Try 97 degree temperatures for warming of the lake water temperatures and selling some sunscreen. That is where we ended up on Sunday and the misty sometimes rainy conditions from early March seemed almost forgotten. The winds were gusty part of the day into the 20 mph range out of the North, which seemed unusual since no frontal activity had been either predicted or noted. The fish in the 2-5 LB class were pretty active, albeit not a universal "all-over-the-lake" bite that Falcon has produced in previous weeks. You had to find a location where the fish were feeding and when you did, 30-to-40 fish were possible.

There were a few boats that never broke the code, but for the most part, fish up to 4 or 5 lbs were cooperating. A couple of fishermen from Atascosa Bass Club are here pre-fishing for Bass Champs and some from several other organizations like River City, Uvalde and San Antonio clubs. Ted Wayland and Keith Sutherland fished a lot of water on the lower end in Mexico, but they failed to find the tournament-size fish they were seeking.

The Rebel Bass Club's Saturday weighin was dominated by sub-five lb fish and one-day heavy stringer was just North of 11 lbs with a big bass of 3.81 lbs caught by Troy Zipperer. The larger bass have not made their presence known this week except for an occasional 8 lber brought in by locals. Here is the final totals for the two days thanks to Scott Hutzler. As things turned out Scott caught a 4.94 lb bass Sunday and he had a total weight of 12.63 lbs giving him top heavy stringer of 23.34 lbs for the two days. Scott Vaughn came in second with 18.79 lbs and Steve Bell was a very close third with 18.44 lbs. Altogether, 13 fishermen caught 74 fish weighing 158.83 lbs for an average tournament weight of 2.15 lbs

A few shallow crankbait fish have been caught and a few went for spinnerbaits as well, but the best action has been on Brush Hogs and Baby Brushhogs in watermelon red. A six pound bass hit a pop-r worked by local fisherman Leo Ormescher, but this is a break of day proposition and by the time the sun comes up, this action is over.

Catfishing is still good and a picture of the 52.97 lb new lake record Blue Cat (if it is submitted) caught March 12 by George Benitez is posted on the Flash Fishing Report.

This weekend one of our annual Spring Break fishermen and his son (good Ft Worth friends of the late Jimmy Murray) were fishing when they ran into some folks with boat trouble. Being the good sportsman they are, they offered to help and they pulled the boat back to the State Park where it had launched. Unfortunately in doing so they depleted their gas supply and on the way back to Zapata, they ran out of gas. They were able to reach marker 4 and they tied up. After a few calls they were able to locate one of the TPWD enforcement officers who delivered some gas to Marker 4. Let me add that this is far from being an isolated situation. Sometimes we are critical of the number of illegal nets on Falcon and the difficulty in controlling this fish-killing, motor-biting demon, but let me go on record in saying we are very lucky to have some very committed and helpful wardens on Falcon. Next time you see any of them on the lake say Hi and thank them for all they do.

Fishers of Men is holding their first ever Falcon Lake Tournament on the 19th next weekend. We have the registration forms here at Falcon Lake Tackle. The registration fee is $135 plus a late fee of $25 and a $35 individual membership fee. I hope the turnout is good for this inagural tournament, which also coincides with the last chance for Bass Champs prefishing. The lake is off limits until Friday's practice day and fishing is allowed until 5:30 pm. Registration and payment is required before tournament day.

Until next time, hope you can catch that fish of a lifetime, release her and have a good replica made to hang on your wall to remind you that she is still out there putting 100.000 fry a year in the lake for all our enjoyment.

March 7, 2005 - Humpie Howie and McAllen Bass Anglers: March 5 & 6th were a test of fishermen's metal what with the misty (sometimes rainy) and breezy (sometimes windy) conditions. Notwithstanding the weather the fishermen stayed the course and Eddie Kucia came out on top with a 22 lb 9 oz Heavy Stringer. JD Penny had big bass for the club of 7 lbs and third place heavy stringer of 20 lbs. Al Malone had second heavy stringer of 21 lbs 11 oz and first place booby prize for a striper of 8 lbs 1 oz. It hit a watermelon-red brush hog in a clump of willows in the Tigers near the main lake. Stripers in the 10 LB range have been reported for several weeks by tournament anglers fishing the lower and mid-lake points and drop-offs.

Al reported that "Saturday the best pattern was watermelon-red brushhogs on drop-offs in 6 to 10 ft of water. Sunday morning it was mirror calm and the bite was nonexistent. Then the North wind came up while we were in State Park Cove. The fish started biting and we caught one on nearly every cast. The fish were hitting watermelon-red lizards and watermelon-chartreuse senkos and we had seven weighers out of 40 fish caught in minutes. The fish were suspended around submerged huisaches. Pretty Amazing day".

The Humpy Howie Anglers had the big bass of the weekend weigh 9.3 lbs. It was caught as anchor fish by Mike Grossman and altogether his heavy stringer weighed
25 lbs.

February 26, 2005: Tournament Reports-Day 1-Capitol and River City Bass Clubs Austin Tx, Ingram Bass Club, SWRI Bass Busters, Atascosa Bass Club, Atascosa TX While this was far from being a day from the Chamber of Commerce "Nice Day Let's Go Fishin Calendar",there were over a hundred or so anglers that toughed it out and caught as mmany as 70 plus fish per boat for their wet & cold efforts. Two of the Clubs weighed in Saturday either at Oso Blanco Lodge or the State Park. One of the Clubs weighed in at three places. Therefore our efforts to cover all the action was fragmented. It was like old times except I was worn out from trying to get these old bones moved around to cover the diverse action. As a result, my customary practice of reporting the results Saturday evening were delayed until Sunday.

Sunday was a picture perfect South Texas day for fishing or any other outdoor activity, It was sunny with light winds and 70 degree temperatures. Lake water was in the mid-sixities and bait fish were plentiful. Everything was in place for a bass busting day, but it never materialized. Fishing Sunday was not as good as Saturday and overall, fish were smaller and not as plentiful with some notable exceptions as outlined below.

Capitol Bass Club weighed in at Oso Blanco starting at 4:00 pm Saturday and I got there a little late. I normally get to the weighins a half hour early unless something occurs at the store to delay me. Unfortunately recent medical problems do not bode well for the ability to move very fast or spend lengthy times standing (or more appropriately leaning against something) waiting for fish to come to the scales. I watched the later part of the process for Capitol for which David Park and Ricky Hicks took Heavy Stringer with 22.11 pounds. Kenneth Sairly and John Murray (Pic left)had the day's Big Bass weighing 5.08 lbs and their Heavy Stringer was 18.64 lbs, which was second place for that day. Sunday: Day One 2nd place heavy stringer leaders Park and Hicks continued boating good fish Sunday holding on with the Big Bass shown in LH picture and Heavy Stringer of 41.56 lbs. Second and third place stringers weighed 25.94 and 24.45 respectively. Anglers Robert Duren and Kurt Lough found one area in some trees where fish were bunched up and they caught over 200 bass. Even though many of the fish were under the 14" limit, their was a lot of action and anticipation of a mother bass lying somewhere in the trees with the younger sibilings.

Atascosa kicked off one part of their 3-part weighin about one-half hour later at the County ramp. Terry Vrana and his dad had 4 and 5 fish respectively and as the day progressed the stringers of 10 lb-plus fish would be about the average for most of the anglers who worked hard to catch fish big enough to yield a double-digit heavy stringer. While there were some big fish busted off, and catches of fifty or more 14-inch plus fish caughtwere plentiful, as a whole the fish were small by comparison to other recent tournaments. The bass, which were found in 2 to 10 ft of water. hit mostly plastics with some spinnerbaits and crankbaits also catching fish, Watermelon red and or watermelon were the best colors.Sunday: No Report

River City's 19 boat, thirty-angler plus tournament started weighing fish at 5:00 PM and their were a number of five-fish limits. Derrick Cone and his partner Mark had the heavy team stringer weighing 31.11 lbs. Quantites of fish in the two to three pound range were caught by the majority of all the 5 Bass Club Anglers. Fish in the three-to-five lb range were not unusual (two clubs had 5 LB Big Bass) and 6 lb fish were caught although not universally (two clubs had six Lb Big Bass). Sunday: Luke Larsen ended up with the club Big Bass (right hand pic) weighing 6.35 lbs and he and brother Larry took third place, two-day heavy stringer honors with 49.34 lbs. Derrick Cone and his partner Mark had the 2nd Heavy Stringer with 51.37 lbs and Danny Clawson/Bill Harman teamed up with some good stringers in from Mexico to take 1st place Heavy Stringer honors with 53.06 lbs.

Ingram Bass Club's Chad Parke ended up with the Big Bass for the Club as well as for the five clubs with a 7.84 lb that was suspended in 25 ft of water at a depth of 12 ft. She hit a spinnerbait worked slowly in the trees.

SWRI Bass Busters: Kevin Spahn held on to his day-one lead for Heavy stringer adding another good catch to bring his total to 31.04 lbs for two-day, heavy stringer honors. He also had the Big Bass of 6.62 lbs. Gary Hengst was second with 27.84 lbs edging out 3rd Heavy Stringer winner Al Herrera who weighed-in 27.32 lbs. The fourth place stringer weighing 27.30 lbs was caught by Jim Bray.

We enjoyed seeing all the club anglers returning to Falcon and we appreciate your business. Don't forget that even though we have had to reduce our hours for medial reasons, we always try to respond (whether open or closed) if you need anything and our home phone number is on our business card and also posted on the front door of the store. We appreciate your business and understanding and our house is only about two blocks from the store. We are always ready to help in anyway we can. If you need tackle and you are not in Zapata, check out our on-line e-store at www.falconlaketackle.com. We have over 5000 items listed and we have satisified customers in 6 countries and 46 States. Mexican Licenses and Boat Permits are also available online.

February 19-20, 2005: Tournament Reports-Seguin, Helotes, Universal City and San Antonio Anglers Bass Clubs were here at Falcon this weekend for their February Tournaments. Dolline Holmes bested the best fishermen and women from the Universal City Bass Club catching the big bass of the weekend for UCBC weighing 8.18 lbs. The Universal City heavy stringer weighed 29.11 lbs and was caught by Larry Martin. Greg Hignite's 25.26 third place heavy stringer was edged out for second place by Keith Hanover's 26.81 lbs. The ladies heavy stringer of 17.43 lbs was caught by Louise LaFleur. Heavy Couple honors were taken by Larry Martin and his wife and heavy boat honors went to Greg Hignite and his partner with 48.48 lbs.

Altogether 44 UCBC anglers caught 236 fish weighing 569.68 lbs. A number of good stringers were weighed and fish were taking plastic lures, crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Larry Martin caught his heavy stringer Sunday on mostly spinnerbaits.

Danny Meyer had the 2-day Men's Heavy Stringer of 16.17 lbs for Angler's Bass Club and the big bass caught by Les Dotson weighed 4.56 lbs. This was the first time back to Falcon for a year by Angler's and we enjoyed welcoming them back. Linda Wisham had Ladies Heavy Stringer with a weight north of 14 lbs.

Ngarm Ball had the Helotes Bass Club heavy stringer just north of 15 lbs on Saturday and two-day of 22.04 lbs. Sue Straight had big bass of 7.19 lbs. It was definitely Helotes Ladies Day at Falcon. For the two days, John Burke took second-heavy stringer honors with 21 lbs and Chad Bachhofer was a very close 3rd with 20 plus pounds. Thanks to Scott Caro for the pics and report.

Seguin Bass Club's Skeeter Horwarth had a whopping 23.50 lbs Saturday and his big bass weighed a respectable 9.49 lbs. Most of the fishermen and women were culling by mid morning and 50 to 100 fish, while not typical, was not unusual. How about a 4.7lb average for a one-day, 5-fish heavy stringer? If we got the numbers right, that has got to be some kind of a multi-year record weight for a one day 5-fish stringer in a club tournament.

We will post Sunday's numbers as soon as they are received for the Helotes and Seguin clubs that weighed in at State Park. We understand Skeeter held on for both first place heavy stringer and big bass with a weight of 30 plus pounds.

February 12, 2005: Tournament Reports: Uvalde and Quality Bass Clubs held their February events this weekend and the events are now history. Lake level was nearly stable at around 288.90 ft elevation and waters were clear. Water temperatures were in the mid fifty-degree range on Saturday, but they warmed to 60 to 64 degrees Sunday.

The first morning was a little on the wet side, but by afternoon it was about as nice as you could have imagined. Sunday was more of the same with mild winds and temps peaking in the eighties. Bass, for the most part this weekend, were small and spread out in all parts of the lake at depths from one to 12 ft. The few females caught were in the 4 to 5 lb class showing various stages of egg development. These fish were mostly suspended in 10 to 12 ft of water and they were frequently batched up on trees off points and creeks. Plastic baits in watermelon red anything was the best producer of fish. Plum Apple was another good color.

Uvalde Bass Club's Jimbo Beard weighed 14.88 lbs for a five-fish total on Saturday and he added 17.79 lbs on Sunday giving him the 2-day heavy stringer bragging rights of 32.01 lbs. Josh Hiler had 16.48 lbs for 2nd place and he also had big bass of 6.06 lbs. Chris Kinsey had 13.01 lbs for third. By Sunday many fish had moved in shallow and were being caught on assorted shallow crankbaits as well as plastics.

Quality Bass Club San Antonio brought a number of good fishermen and women to Falcon and they posted some good weights including the heavy stringer of Steve Ricker that weighed 26.69 lbs. The second place stringer of 17.91 lbs was weighed by Steve Chafin and on his heels was the stringer of 17.80 lbs caught by Mike Robbins. Only a few of the fish showed significant egg formulation and a lot of 2-3 1/2 lb males were caught. Some schools of bass were chasing shad and were caught on small crankbaits.

A number of Bagley shallow runner balsa baits in Chartreuse/Blue Back color were recently purchased by Falcon Lake Tackle in anticipation of the shallow, shad-chasing activity and some of those baits produced good fish for those fishermen who added them to their arsenals before the weekend. We also have the shallow baits in other makes and depths from 1 ft to 3 ft and 3 ft to 7 ft. We have a good assortment of Manns, Norman, Bagley, Bandit and Bomber shallow runners as well as lipless crankbaits/Rat-L-Traps in Bill Lewis, Rapala, Yo-Zuri, Nichols, Excalibur and SOB Lure varieties. Falcon Lake Tackle has met the tackle requirements of fishermen in 46 states and 6 countries with over 5000 lures in stock and available for immediate delivery. Check us out at www.falconlaketackle.com.

Look for more shallow water action to follow the next few days if temperatures remain warm. If you can only make it to Falcon once this year, try to make it this February.

Until next time, have a fish day on the water and always practice catch and release.

February 6 , 2005: Tournament Reports: I understand that congratulations are in order for local Beacon Lodge owner Speedy Collett and his partner Tommy Durham. They weighed in 27.70 lbs to beat 144 teams who posted weights and182 Teams Registered to win Bass Champs 1st place at Amistad and the Skeeter boat. Altogether, 620 fish were caught weighing 1596.56 lbs with 79 limits and 40 zero's.Big Bass honors went to David Glenny with a 11.62 lb fish. Eleven bass over 5 lbs were caught and the average weight of all fish caught was 2.58 lbs.The 1st ten places were:
1 Speedy Collett Tommy Durham 5 27.70 $31,500 - Skeeter SX 190 + C.A.S.T. Bonus
2 Jorge De La Cabada Rogiero Gonzalez 5 8.9 25.32 $2,500.00
3 Tim Reneau Ralph Ramos 5 24.46 $1,600.00
4 Skeeter Bill Blake Paul Arnett 5 22.42 $2,600 ($1,300 Skeeter Bonus)
5 Dale Whitt Malcolm Kitchen 5 21.30 $1,200.00
6 Jim Benhnken Ricky Rasbery 5 20.88 $1,150.00|
7 David Glenney Mark Davidson 5 11.62 20.32 $2,100.00
8 Jose Riojas Rafael Garcia 5 20.24 $1,050.00
9 Matt Weaver Josh Arp 5 5.68 19.32 $1,025.00
10 Slade Dearman Divoro Villarreal

Some of the area fisherman and their positions were, Richard Cremo and Jimmy Steed 14th, AR and Jimmy Johnson 20th, Trent Huckaby and Bubba Haralson 22nd, Henry Wayland and Shane Pfullman 33rd.

Full results are available on Bass Champs web site

Meanwhile back at Falcon, the McAllen Bass Anglers Club is contesting their February Tournament' The rain/mist and cooler temps have dropped lake temps about 5 degrees and as of yesterday they were registering about 56 degrees. This has slowerd (new FLT word meaning drop in temp and fish moving out to deeper water) the bite on big fish, but the smaller (3 lb and down) fish were still biting.

Altogether,18 anglers caught 87 fish weighing 216 lbs. Joe Martinez had the heavy stringer of 25.01 lbs and big bass of 6.06 lbs. The 2nd and 3rd heavy stringers weighed 24.13 lbs and 20.09 lbs respectively and were caught by Brantly Billman and David Trevino. The fish were in anywhere fom 15-22ft of water on willows or retamas close to spawning areas. As always and typical, fish were bunched up on some trees and totally missing from others.

Last Wednesday a customer from Rio Grande City, Pablo Gomez caught a 10 lb and several other 7 and 8 lb fishing with his uncle below the dam in 10 ft of water on crankbaits. They have caught a 11 lb fish prior to this, but this is their big bass of 2005. Members of the Bryan Bass club were here last week fishing and we will post this Club's final results as soon as they are available.

January 30, 2005: Tournament Reports - San Antonio based SWRI Bass Busters and Hawg Hunter Bass Clubs held their January events at Falcon this weekend. In spite of misty, sometimes rainy, conditions and temperatures that never mad it out of the sixties, both clubs weighed some good stringers and a big bass of 9.72 lbs was caught by SWRI's Gary Hengst. Gary also had the two-day, heavy stringer of 37.72 lbs and his Sunday stringer was 22.22 lbs. for five fish. SWRI,s 22 participants had 6 stringers over 20 lbs, 2 over 30 lbs and a bunch in double digits. Second-place, heavy stringer of 32.28 lbs was weighed by SWRI's Kevin Spahn. San Antonio's Hawg Hunters Bill Band took the club's two-day, heavy stringer honors with 31.77 lbs and Kevin Drummond claimed second place with 29.68 lbs fishing out of the same boat. They caught over fifty fish on Saturday and Bill/Kevin had 25 lbs weight after day one including a big bass of over 6 lbs. Gary was fishing the upper lake using plastic lizards, rat-l-traps and spinnerbait. The fish were in 8 to 10 ft of water, which was in the 57-60 degree range in temperature. Similar results, were reported by fishermen using mostly plastic baits and spinnerbaits and catches came from water where Retama trees were prevalent. As one fishermen remarked, if there were no Retamas in the area, forget it.

Here is an interesting side note: Gary about passed on his trip to Falcon this weekend. He knew the conditions were going to be nasty. He had as many as 4 different fishermen back out on the trip, cost of gas etc. He confided in me that had it not been for the reports he kept seeing about good fishing on our website, he might have cancelled instead of coming and fishing alone. Anyway, the fishermen in him prevailed, he caught what is I understand is the 2005 club big bass so far and his personal best fish as well. I just bet his wife is going to feel better about the trip and also that there are going to be some sick puppies who passed up a great Falcon experience fishing with Gary.

Jerry Campos, also of SWRI, who caught the 14.28 lb fish in December and submitted it to Share Lunker reports the fish is doing well in the TPW hatchery.

You may have heard we are regretfully selling Falcon Lake Tackle strictly for health reasons. Business in the store and on the website e-store has never been better. The business, inventory, commercial property and website site are included or, any part thereof. Included also are good living quarters above the store, shop space and additional land adjacent/behind the store with abundant concrete patios, parking under 6 ft security fencing. Through our on-line E-Store, we have sold tackle to fishermen and women in 6 countries and 46 states. Most people shopping with us remark that Falcon Lake Tackle has the most extensive selection of tackle and marine supplies of any store they have visited and bette than the "big guys". There is one good reason why- we listen to the fishermen. We try to anticipate demand and we do not just keep a few packages in stock. The hot baits are almost always available in and we keep an adequate number of Mexico Licenses and Boat permits available by mail and also in the store. This is a unique opportunity to own a successful and enjoyable business at about 50% of what you would normaally have to pay. Here is a really fun way to spend the rest of your working life and I hope you are lucky enough to take advantage of this special opportunity. By the way, we promised not to publish the exact color of the Magnum Zoom Lizard that Gary caught this big bass on, but he bought it from us and we have a good supply. You might be able to pry the info out of Gary.

January 24, 2005: The weekend tournaments held by Austin Bass Club and Atascosa Bass Club were very successful. In spite of a threatening coldfront that was predicted to arrive Saturday afternoon, it held off until after the weigh-ins and gave everybody a chance to get hunkered down after fishing Saturday. Almost everyone caught fish and most of the boats were culling by mid-morning. Keith Sutherland had a 6.80 lb big bass for Atascosa Bass Club Saturday and Dub Billings had a 20 lbs heavy stringer and a 4.8 lb bass fishing the North end (Upper Lake). However Sunday was another story. Junior Dove came roaring out of the pack and claimed heavy stringer with 28.51 lbs. Ten of the 27 participants weighed in over 20 lbs for the 2-day event. Dub ended up with 25.65 lbs and third heavy stringer having been taken out to the wood shed by Michael Johnson's 26.94 lb 2nd heavy stringer. Tinker Pfullman claimed big bass honors with a 5.78 lber. Altogether,166 fish weighing 425.91 lbs were caught by 27 fishermen and 11 fish over 4 lbs crossed the scales. Every fishermen weighed in some fish for the tournament and there were 23 5-fish limits. Not too shabby. Thanks to Craig White for the final report. Austin Bass Club 's Bobby Landes and his guest's heavy stringer of 32 lbs Saturday was relegated to second place after Sunday's weighin. Jim Robinson and his guest came stormimg into 1st place with a 7.80 lb big bass and 46.73 lbs.Can you believe the first four places all weighed over 44 and a half pounds. It took 40 lbs to get the 6th place honors. Altogether, 127 fish were weighed by 20 fishermen totalling 322.34 lbs. Thanks to Kay Joiner for the report on the Travis Bass Club tournament.results. The best producing bait for the weekend was plastic worms and the fish were in the trees mostly above 15 ft having been moved out of shallower by the cold front, which brought winds of 31 mph and dropped temperatures to just below 40 degrees. Daytime temps on Sunday were in the mid-fifties. Atascosa's Sunday final results will be added when received.

January 17, 2005:Just to bring you up to date, I am recovering from the medical problem that sent me to the hospital last week and left me "vertically challenged". I ended up with a loss of equilibrium and severe nausea so was unable to attend the weigh in of the four clubs and the inaugural South Texas 5 event that brought well over 100 fishermen and women to Falcon last weekend. Today is my first venture out of the house and I am experiencing all the pains of a four day binge with none of the pleasure. The prognosis is not great for the short run, but hopefully the long range outlook will be better. I have not had a chance to mention we lost John Burnham from 4 Seasons last week after some heart problems/surgery that ended up taking his life with pneumonia. John has been cremated and his ashes will be spread over Falcon Lake later. Rest in peace, John.

Conditions: Two of the last three nights have seen temperatures fall into the thirties and as a result, lake water temperature has dropped to 63 degrees. The level has continued to fall as Mexico continues to withdraw water without replacing it from another source. As of the 14th we were at 288.65 ft elevation, down 1.23 ft from December 23's level of 289.88 ft. The water clarity varies from one part of the lake to another, but a mossy-green, algae is affecting clarity in a number of the lake areas. Fish have remained fairly shallow even with the colder temperatures, giving some indication that at least some of the fish are trying to spawn in spite of the weather.

South Texas 5's Inaugural Tournament kicked off the 2005 season at Falcon yesterday and the big bass of 8.08 lbs was caught by Charles Haralson. Haralson's third-place, heavy stringer weighed 23.38 lbs. First and second place heavy stringers were 26.43 lbs (Young and Kortz) and 24.98 lbs (Wilborn and Wilborn) respectively. Altogether, 33 fishermen and women competed for the prize money of this inagural tournament.

Club Tournaments: Our thanks go out to local sportsman Lou Franich who covered the club-results, reporting duties Sunday in my absence. Also to Dennis Dunn for results from Saturday's fishing. There were a number of big fish caught and weighed by the fishermen and women in the four clubs this weekend including multiple 4, 5, 6, 7 lbers and one 8 lber. The San Antonio Bass Club's 45 Anglers caught 130 fish and the heavy stringer day and a half total of 29.85 lbs. was caught by Don Pierce with a 5.8 lb big bass. Dwight McClelland had 28.55 lbs and Gary Martin weighed over 26 .6 lbs. for third. The Ladies Division winner was Adrienne Martin with 16.35 lbs. Austin, Texas-based Travis Bass Club visited Falcon and they recorded first, second and third-place team (day and a half) totals of 50.26 lbs, 48.73 lbs and 45.68 lbs respectively. Winners Lee Ray and Rayburn Waits are long time Falcon Anglers that have not lost their touch. Gerry Flint had the big bass of 6.55 lbs. The SAPD Club brought 25 fishermen and ladies to Falcon for their weekend tournament. The first five places all weighed over 20 lbs of fish including 21.20 lbs, 21.48 lbs, 21.80 lbs, 24.90 lbs and including Wade Eichman's 1st place stringer of 26.35 lbs. Susan Osbourne's 7.81 lb bass was out-ounced by Jose Luis Juarez's bug bass weighing 7.82 lbs. Alamo Bass Club weighed in at the State Park so we were not able to get their results. If someone will email us the results we will post. The plastic baits seemed to produce the most and biggest fish, but spinnerbaits, crankbaits and jigs also caught their share. The three clubs we were able to cover caught over 250 legal fish this weekend and a number of smaller fish as well.