Lake Falcon Fishing Report - January 15, 2009

Decided to start the first day of the Stren Series in an area I caught 40 pounds on 2 weeks prior. It was basically some old Mexican Ruins that were flooded. The water was 6-8 foot then in there and the water temp was 66-68. When I pulled up, the water temp was only 61 and I hoped all the fish were still there. I hit a fence line with trees just on the outside of the area that was holding bass just a few days prior and it paid off with one over 7 that I had found on the exact same spot then. I was throwing a weighted hook fluke and I planned on throwing it a lot since they seemed to really like it. I was excited after this fish since I thought they'd all still be in their spots and not another boat would even venture here. I proceeded to catch fish as I entered the thick trees in this area. I pulled out 4 in total but had on at least 2 that were the size of the one I had but both found a way off. We decided to go up river and fish some spawning flats and I caught my 5th fish in no time and missed 3 big ones on a frog. All in all it was a fun day but the possibilities of having around 29 pounds instead of the 16.3 I ended with hurt.

On the second day, I really had to swing for the fences so I changed up my plan completely and headed down to start in the Tigers area where Terry Bolton grabbed 2nd place in the East/West fishoff a few months prior. Several other boats, including one of the leaders were in here and caught some fish but I couldn't buy one. I hit one other area in here before deep cranking the dam and finally getting my first one there. After cranking half the dam, I headed to a spot I looked at in practice and broke off a giant in which was Benavidas. There we pulled up to a spot and proceeded to catch 4 limits out of but my biggest was only about 5lbs. With about 45 minutes to go, I hooked into what I thought was only about 4-5 lbs. I played this fish for a bit and was amazed how powerful it was after thinking of it's 4lb size when all of a sudden it screamed to the top and before I could catch up to it, it flew out of the water about a foot from the net my co-angler was holding. It was a giant between 10-11 pounds but it threw the hook. Ouch! With just enough time to head in after catching a few more, we took off. But when we were one point away from weigh-in with 8-9 minutes to spare, I decided to stop and fish a bit. On the 2nd cast, my co-angler landed one over 7 off the green pumpkin Waveworm he'd been throwing. I felt great for him and took a picture.

He went out the day before and neither he or his pro caught a fish. It was a very fun day. But losing that one fish kept me out of the money and including losing the fish the day before, it kept me from making the top 10 and fishing the next day.

In review though, it was the biggest tournament I've fished and I learned a lot. Not only could I find the fish with some of the top fishermen around, beating some of them, I learned that having the right equipment is sometimes all it comes down to. I'm beefing up all of my equipment now and I'll be back to compete with these guys again soon. I'll take a donation if you'd like to see me there sooner. hint hint. LOL