New site is LIVE!!

www.highstakesbassin.com is now officially off the ground.  I will be using that site exclusively in the very near future.  Go check it out, its a lot of fun and I can't thank my web developer Danny Silva from www.stage5studio.com enough.  This guy is simply amazing and a great friend.  If you need anything done that deals with web presence or website development he is the man, but can tell you he ain't cheap and nor should he be.  He is the best in my opinion.  My new blog post is up.....what are you waiting for?  Go check it out!  **SPOILER ALERT!!**  Dad and I stroked a 41 lb sack with a 10-1 kicker today in less than 5 hours.  Falcon got silly today.


I am going to miss Eblogger.  13,000 page views in 3 months.  Thanks to all who stop by and read what I have to say, it means a lot.  Also thanks to all who have spent their hard earned money to come and fish with me, without you this isn't possible.  Thank you.

Cops episode on falcon lake....

Took out Cody and his buddy Ryan for a Falcon Lake guided trip today. They both are police officers. Man I have nothing but love and respect for that profession and the fine Americans that occupy those positions. Cody did most of the catching today with a lot of nice fish being caught. Numbers were down again though. These guys are fishing a tourney tomorrow and my money is on them. We caught fish on sq bills, 6xds, ball n chains, and crigs. Cody had the secret weapon today. He had a 100 count of 10 in Berkeley plum worms and dang did they catch fish. Pops is back in tomorrow. Got my crank order today.... Would like to thank my sponsor www.tackletrap.com

Total fish: 16
Best five: about 29 lbs
Kicker: couple of 7 lbers (1 pictured)

Numbers are down....quality still there.

I have a trip tomorrow and the bullet is polished up and ready for the assignment. The bullet is fun, but man I miss the rangers ability to run the lake when the wind gets up. No DD's yet with dad, but we have scared it 3 times. My dad will be fishing with my neighbor tomorrow and will have a great time.

Family here, Big B is back and its a small world after all...

Well the folks made it down after a two day journy safe and sound.  I couldn't blow my dad out of bed this morning with a stick of dynomite.  Sooooooo we hit the water around 9 and spent and hour and a half breaking in the motor for the Bullet. (new powerhead)  Then we hit a ditch for a few minutes and dad got a lil fish slime on him.  Nothing big, but fun.  We were back to the ramp by 11:30.  Then it was off to see the folks at Pro Angler Marine in San Juan Texas.  Took in my z521 for a lil scheduled maintanence and just might make a deal and bring home their 2012 z522 that they have sitting in the showroom.  The cool thing is that Joe recognized me and he reads my posts on www.texasfishingforum.com  and my blog here.  Small world for sure.  Joe and Hector are cool cats and look forward to doing a lot of business with them now and into the future.  Sure is fun hitting 90 mph in a boat again, although I was only able to hit 89.7 today.......lil too much chop, but Big B is back.

Father son duo and some strrrrrrong wind

Took Stacey and son Matt out for a falcon lake guide trip and we were met with some seriously tuff winds. We spent most of our day in tigers and managed one fish, yes one fish. We finished the day with 13 though and some decent fish. These fellas had trolling motor issues yesterday and I was happy to get em out there and on a few fish today. Notice the first pic....that was taken after spearing a 5 footer..... Lol

Total fish: 13
Best 5: about 26 lbs
Kicker: 7 lbs

Research to rescue.......

I was out bright and early today with my neighbor "looking".  Then I got a phone call from yesterday's clients and they were tied up to marker 3 with motor problems.  The boarder patrol told them they no longer tow and were shit out of luck.  What the @#$% is that?  I am still steaming over that.  I know of 3 folks in the past 2 months that have been towed in by them.  Sooooooooo my neighbor and I took them the rest of the way to the state park and then drove back to the county to get their trailer.  They didnt have 4 wheel drive so I detached my truck and used it.  Falcon was just too nasty today to try and tow a boat 17 plus miles.  So 4 hrs later the rescue mission was done and it nearly finished me off.  I came home loaded up on headache meds and laid down.  I just cant take beatings like that and wow did we ever.  Good news is that I feel 100 times better now and will give it heck tomorrow.

Justin and his friend Optimus Hung Schwieters.....

Sorry ladies.....he's taken.  Great day to be alive and kicking once again.  Justin and Optimus (and no I ain't talking Prime) went out today and at times were unstoppable.  Me?....well um eh.  I caught 3, but 4 if you want to count my catfish.  lol, but that's a good thing. I like to see my clients catch the heck out of em and they certainly did that especially considering how tough its been of late.  Did we catch any Walruses?  Nah and to be honest I don't think we had a single Walrus hit, but we sure did have the 3-6 lb fish cornered.  We caught fish on nearly every technique today.  We fished in 20 ft of water on a road bed up to 2 foot in timber, from t-rigs to deep diving cranks with everything in between.  We also ran the lake and then some.  Very fun day to say the least and I hope to someday have the opportunity to take these fellas out again.


I planned on posting a detailed report, but I have been REALLY busting my butt on and off the water of late.  I also wanted to time it with the grand opening of my new website.  Is it done? well closer than the last blog entry. lol.  I could of rushed it, but I have a great web developer working on it and he has done a fantastic job.  He can't fish a lick, but he tries hard.  Don't quit your day job Danny!



Total fish: 35
Best 5: about 28 lbs
Kicker: we didnt have one.....had several near 6 (5.11 was the only one weighed, but had several the same size)

One more trip left in August.......

.....then its on to September.  I will be posting a detailed report over the next few days to let people know what to expect at this time here on Falcon.  Kiddos start back to school tomorrow and are very excited to start the year.  Football season is right around the corner and have my folks heading to town a week from today.  My dad's 10-1 PB will come under fire.  My new website that I keep talking about is done and will go live within the next day or two.  I am pumped to say the least.

The ball n chain......

..... And no I'm not talking about the wife. Lol. I'm talking about the ball n chain from www.paydirtcustomjigs.com.   This has been blistering hot of late. The falcon fluke on the back is as good as it gets. We are also using zoom mardi gras mag flukes. 3/4 oz or 1oz depending on depth and wind. Dennis caught the big fish of the day on the 1oz with a falcon fluke in the ugly color. Yes that's the name of the color..... Ole ugly. We ran out of ball n chains today and that really hurt us. The fellas I took out today are hardcore dusk til dawn experienced Falcon regulars who have fished with some falcon icons such as Charlie Haralson. We did not tear em up by any stretch..... Well I didn't. Lol. At one point I thought my first ever falcon skunking was heading my way, but that didn't happen luckily. Dennis and Donnie are loaded back up with ball n chains and will give em hell again over the weekend without me.

Total fish: 14
Best 5: about 25 lbs
Kicker: 8 lbs

Cancelation.....again

Well Steve didn't answer the bell today after partying all night with Billy from TLCbaits.com.  This month has been tough with cancelations and no shows.  Comes with the territory I guess.  So I went out today around 11 for about 4 hrs and scanned and mapped some more.  Today was by far my best day scouting.  I found some great stuff that I am very excited about.  I fished for maybe a total of 30 minutes and did pretty well.  No giants but several fish between 3-5 lbs. Another words, a lot of fun.  I have Dennis and his buddy tomorrow.  I am going to mix in at least one new spot tomorrow.  Should be fun.

late start....early finish.

Took Steve and Ryan out today and they wanted to sleep in after catching the 10 lber yesterday and only fish a half day today.  The plan was to get out at 10 and fish til 2.  Well we got out at 11 and fished til 1.  lol  Fish were biting, but they were worn out and burnt and partied hard the night before to celebrate the DD club.  Steve bought some steaks and came over for BBQ as apposed to fishing.  Not a bad deal. I have them again tomorrow, but they were hanging with Billy from TLCbaits.com tonight last I had heard.....might be another late morning effort coming.

Another day another PB.....

Today was a short day. Victor and Travis only had a few hours to fish today before they had to leave. Travis made short work of his old PB by catching a beauty of a bass that tipped his bogo grips to 8 and a quarter. I have Steve the next two days, yes that Steve. Lol. He's back already. I gave him a few spots to hold him over until we fished together. Well a 9-3 and 10-2 later I think he's off to a good start to this trip... Lol.

Hardhat....

Wow.....tough day.


Total Fish: 10
Best five about 19 lbs
Kicker: 8 lbs (me unfortunately)


I have these guys again tomorrow.  Its been on again off again here of late......let's hope for on tomorrow.

Well it happened......

Mark the date.  Today on Sunday, August the 19th 2012 I saw the biggest freak of nature I have ever seen.  Spoiler *ALERT*, no we didn't get the bass in.  I am not a big fan of writing about the big ones that get away.  I will make an exception here.  Let me take you back 15 minutes prior to seeing this freak of a fish.  Gary had just caught his new personal best, a beautiful 8-9 (pictured) and we had caught others in the 5 pound class.  Yes it was on.  Then Brad sets the hook and immediately yells giant.  Keep in mind Brad is no rookie and has an 11 pounder to his name.  I look up and immediately say I think your snagged.  WRONG.  The line starts going side ways and pulling rediculously hard.  Now I'm thinking a monster cat or gar.  Think back a week ago when 13 year old Colten had a monster of a fish on, but we never saw it and to be honest that fish was pulling too hard to be a bass, so I thought.  Turn the clock to today and I am thinking the same thing until we saw it.  It's tough to describe a bass like that.  I have caught many DD's including my 12-2 PB and a clients PB of 12-7.  I also released one of our sharelunkers earlier in the year.  People that know me and have fished with me know that I don't BS when it comes to stuff like this.  Now I'm not going to get stupid and call it a 15 lb fish because we will never know.  What I will call it, is the biggest bass I've every seen and it isn't close.  What a day.


Total Fish: 25
Best five: about 28 lbs
Kicker: Gary's 8-9 (pictured)

Didn't get the job done today.

Poor performance on my end....nothing else to say.  I burned $120 bucks in gas and could of caught just as many at the ramp, but ya know what?  I am going to run the shit out of the lake again tomorrow and we are going to give it heck again.  We are going to switch up the order of my holes and see if we can get em when they decide to feed.


Total Fish: 9
Best 5: about 19 lbs
Kicker: 5-10


Watch out Walruses a lil

           

will be rocking tomorrow morning.

Soft plastic vs cranks....

Soft plastics with a decisive win today. We crig'd flukes and used em on the ball n chain from paydirtcustomjigs.com. Flukes were the ticket. We caught a few on the crank, but all our quality fish came on the fluke. Wind was an issue again, but not nearly as bad as the past few days. I had a great time with Andy and Jason today and hope they finish strong over the weekend. Good bunch of fellas for sure.

Total fish: 24
Best 5: about 28 lbs
Kicker: 6-15

Postponed....

After getting up this morning with a massive headache and a neck like the tin man I decided to move today's client back to tomorrow. Hopefully the winds will be a little more manageable. I just can't be stupid at this stage of my recovery. When my body says no I have to listen. My clients did pretty good on their own though. They managed only a few bites, but caught a 7.5 and 6.5. That ain't too shabby if ya ask me.

35+mph winds and the state park

Well took out burl and his friend jerry today for a falcon lake guide trip. We launched from the temporary ramp at the park and I would not advise it. Tight does not begin to describe it, but will be doing it again tomorrow because of 30+ mph wind gusts round 2. They should be moving that ramp to the gravel point soon. We started out pretty dang good today, but had to really grind through some terrible winds. We called it a day at 1.

Total fish: 11
Best 5: about 24 lbs
Kick: about 6 lbs

Burl is back

Had the day off today and headed down to the state park to check out the temporary metal ramp they put in. The ramp is at the end of the channel on a mud bank. I used that mud bank a couple of weeks ago and had no issues. Now I am a little more concerned. The metal that is laid down does not extend into the water, but rather helps your tow vehicle get traction. Problem is that there are some nasty ruts that are developing from people using the same spot over and over again. I am going down there to launch due to the wind. So I will be rolling the dice. Sooner or later they will have to move that portable ramp to the gravel point. I have a repeat client tomorrow and last time he was down he brought his wife.  She flat wore the big fish out as you can tell by the pics below. Burl on the other hand was size challenged.... Lol. Burl looks to get some revenge tomorrow. The wind is going to be brutal, but we are going to give em heck regardless.

Round two....

We caught another spectacular day again. We started out like a house of fire and then the hardhat was not an option it was a requirement..... Lol. Ole Colten has himself one heck of father and the good thing is, I really think he understands that. There is nothing better than taking out a father and his kid. Good news is that Billy will be bringing his dad down to fish with me in the not so distant future. How cool is that? Bring your son to falcon and then bring your father. Billy's dad has never been on a guided trip before. I am already looking forward to it. After a day like today, it really makes me want to hang out with my folks..... Good news is that they will be in ztown in under a month and are bringing the bullet back down..

Total fish: 14
Best five 24 ish
Kicker: 6 ish (two of em)

Billy, Colten, and a flying squirrel... Round 1.

What a fantastic day in regards to the weather. Perfect amount of wind. Colten caught the 3 biggest fish of the day with a 6-3, 6-1, and 5 plus. Most of our fish were in that 1-4 lb range. We fished deep pretty much all day. The three jackpot spots I found before my vacation only produced a few small fish. Colten had a beast break his crankbait off, but I'm not 100% sold it was a bass. We never saw it. Billy got abused once in the jungle as well at the end of the day. I only got small bites :( We had a great time and very much looking forward to round two.

Total fish: 20
Best five: about 23 lbs
Kicker: 6-3

10 years in the books.....

I've said it once I'll say it a thousand more. Nobody deserves the life that I have lived. Blessed doesn't begin to describe it.

Tomorrow is a drive day and then back to work. Watch out falcon walruses.