Pinch me, I am Dreaming... South Texas was Tropical compared to the weather around here. Saturday morning we woke up to 59 degree air temps and expected to be around 80 degrees and no wind for the 2nd Basschamps in the south division. All this turned out to be true but I still thought I was having one of those dreams of a perfect day of fishing.
Ronnie Wallace and I waited with anxious tension for our boat number to be called at take off that morning and were excited to be on one of the hottest Bass lakes in the country . Not knowing how the day would unfold is a big part of why I fish Bass tournaments and with a game plan in mind you cant wait to put it to the test.
Lake Falcon did not dissapoint as Ronnie and I pulled up to our 1st spot in the mouth of Solado Creek, a big creek arm on the Mexico side of the lake. A fat 5 lber crunched a DD-22 crankbait I worked near a dropoff then soon after that we headed to the shallow water for some spinnerbait and flipping action. Working my spiner through some small green willow bushes I saw a 7.5 lber inhale my bait near the boat and lit the water up with a thrashing you could hear all over the lake. After Ronnie netted the fish we noticed a very bloody tail and that told us we had made the right decision to move up and stay shallow.
We moved a few miles up the Rio Grande and started working some small pockets off the main river channel that were loaded with log jams that were remnance of the flood that had filled the lake a few years ago. Ronnie picked up a spinnerbait and fired it across the logjam only to see a bass rollup on the bait but not taking it. Instinct told him to drop the bait quickly after the fish missed it and he let it flutter down only to have the fish inhale it and set the hook. This fished weighed around 7 lbs. and after a quick release into the livewell he tossed his spinnerbug back into the same spot only to quickly set the hook on another 7 lber. After a short fight the fish wedged in a fork of a laydown and got free.
After the shock of losing the fish I flipped my trusted Ragetail SpaceMonkey into the very same spot and lost another fish around 6 lbs.
Now we were not happy about loosing those fish, but we were pumped because we had a workable pattern that we could duplicate in several areas on this same bank. Going into another pocket that looked simular to the last Ronnie flipped up another 7 plus lber on a Brushhog then shortly after that I got the bite we needed. Using the same Green Pumpkin SpaceMonkey, I flipped over several big logs in about 3 ft. of water.I hopped the bait one time and I felt the familiar "thunk"that I know is going to be the big one. After setting the hook the rod bent heavily as I pulled hard with very little give at the end of the line. "Big One"I grunted as Ronnie went for the net and I wrestled the chunky 9 lber over several logs in a worried state and into the boat.
We caught alot of nice fish and had a few missed opertunitys but the 35.70 lbs of fish we weighed that day was one day I will never forget. These kinda of days don't happen all the time and to do it with a no practice and working a gameplan that came together was truly special.
In all the excitment we did not take any pictures and believe me Jay let me hear about it but I do have a couple of pics from the following day when Ronnie and I stopped at Choke Canyon on the way home. A fat 7 lber fell prey to my Gold RattleTrap in about 5 ft of water Then we saw another critter in the cove we were fishing that was truly a better hunter than we were. Ronnie snapped this picture then asked me to get out on the bank next to him to give the picture some scale.... I didn't think so!!! .... See Ya on the Water.
Ronnie Wallace and I waited with anxious tension for our boat number to be called at take off that morning and were excited to be on one of the hottest Bass lakes in the country . Not knowing how the day would unfold is a big part of why I fish Bass tournaments and with a game plan in mind you cant wait to put it to the test.
Lake Falcon did not dissapoint as Ronnie and I pulled up to our 1st spot in the mouth of Solado Creek, a big creek arm on the Mexico side of the lake. A fat 5 lber crunched a DD-22 crankbait I worked near a dropoff then soon after that we headed to the shallow water for some spinnerbait and flipping action. Working my spiner through some small green willow bushes I saw a 7.5 lber inhale my bait near the boat and lit the water up with a thrashing you could hear all over the lake. After Ronnie netted the fish we noticed a very bloody tail and that told us we had made the right decision to move up and stay shallow.
We moved a few miles up the Rio Grande and started working some small pockets off the main river channel that were loaded with log jams that were remnance of the flood that had filled the lake a few years ago. Ronnie picked up a spinnerbait and fired it across the logjam only to see a bass rollup on the bait but not taking it. Instinct told him to drop the bait quickly after the fish missed it and he let it flutter down only to have the fish inhale it and set the hook. This fished weighed around 7 lbs. and after a quick release into the livewell he tossed his spinnerbug back into the same spot only to quickly set the hook on another 7 lber. After a short fight the fish wedged in a fork of a laydown and got free.
After the shock of losing the fish I flipped my trusted Ragetail SpaceMonkey into the very same spot and lost another fish around 6 lbs.
Now we were not happy about loosing those fish, but we were pumped because we had a workable pattern that we could duplicate in several areas on this same bank. Going into another pocket that looked simular to the last Ronnie flipped up another 7 plus lber on a Brushhog then shortly after that I got the bite we needed. Using the same Green Pumpkin SpaceMonkey, I flipped over several big logs in about 3 ft. of water.I hopped the bait one time and I felt the familiar "thunk"that I know is going to be the big one. After setting the hook the rod bent heavily as I pulled hard with very little give at the end of the line. "Big One"I grunted as Ronnie went for the net and I wrestled the chunky 9 lber over several logs in a worried state and into the boat.
We caught alot of nice fish and had a few missed opertunitys but the 35.70 lbs of fish we weighed that day was one day I will never forget. These kinda of days don't happen all the time and to do it with a no practice and working a gameplan that came together was truly special.
In all the excitment we did not take any pictures and believe me Jay let me hear about it but I do have a couple of pics from the following day when Ronnie and I stopped at Choke Canyon on the way home. A fat 7 lber fell prey to my Gold RattleTrap in about 5 ft of water Then we saw another critter in the cove we were fishing that was truly a better hunter than we were. Ronnie snapped this picture then asked me to get out on the bank next to him to give the picture some scale.... I didn't think so!!! .... See Ya on the Water.
3 comments:
There aren't any pictures in this post as of right now.
I had no clue there were gators in Texas.
I have seen them in east and south east texas; however, Choke Canyon is pretty isolated ... I think!
8-0
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