So what happened to Falcon

From Boom to Gloom&Doom in a few years.. I've never fished there so, I can only live it through you that have.
I fished fork before and after the virus, so I know what happened there-Boom to Doom real quick..
So where did all those big fish by the dozens go???? Did they just die, anyone see them floating around like on Fork... What happened ?
Reports of good numbers of small fish everywhere, just like Fork and many other lakes right now.
That's great going forward, in a few yrs..

Bassmaster, meat hunters, low water and alligator gar.

I'd like to know, too. I sure miss going down there and eating those cheese and gravy smothered CFS's. You did miss some of the best fishing that's ever happened. But you got all of Fork in its heyday. My 3 and only 3 DD's came from mutha Falcon, one in 2011 and two in 2012. Then things all changed once the lake started losing water in mid 2012. 2013 it sucked! Crazy.......

Mother Nature ...... she doesn't like it when things get "predictable".

when anything gets to easy she makes a change, then you have to start all over again.

Chris,

Why Bassmaster?

Gotta agree with fouzman and Nutman !!!

The exposure the lake got after they had a slug fest there.

You ever see how them guys handle fish for one they dont care. Especially at weigh-in.

Because they exposed it to the world during the 2008 Elite Series event. Followed quickly by the meat hunters. Remember what happened to Amistad after BASS went there?

Share-A-Lunker program destroyed the lake.

Lake Fork guides transferred LMBV to it.

I saw two of them headed south on 35 last Sunday. But don't think Falcon's ever had the LMBV amigo.

I would have to agree with this. I still watch the video of Paul Elias catching 132 pounds that year. Then Keith Combs put it on them again in 2013 for the falcon slam. 154,000 people have watched that video and 244,000 have watched Pauls YouTube video. That kinda exposure with low water levels and meat hunters hurts.

In my opinion many of those big fish Elias caught were mature fish, that was almost 7 yrs ago. I'm no biologist, but I would assume many of them have expired by now.. Combs fish were pretty recent, it must have been a lot of meat hunters to knock it down so low, from so high.
I see very bad fish handling by people at fork all the time, taking 5-mins to take a damn pic, seriously.
It happens all the time...

too many livewells!

Low water and the cycles of Mother Nature......every lake goes thru it

Over harvest and the cycle couldn't keep up. It will be back in a couple years if water levels stay where they are

Don't forget about the netting......I'm sure quite a few are lost to that as well - of all sizes. When the lake was at its lowest, it concentrated the bio-mass, making all more susceptible to the net.

I also agree with the reality that fish have a lifespan and that banner year-class has suffered old age die-off. Bass get sick and die in old age much more readily than when in their prime, just as we do. I once spoke with a biologist about a fish I caught from a healthy reservoir. It had a HUGE head & very long body (I forget actual length), but was emaciated at 6 pounds. He told me such a condition was typical for a past-prime trophy fish approaching natural death. He said that fish was probably 12+ in its prime.

Netters?

On the Mexico side it's legal for them to use gill nets.

Low water eliminates good spawns, big fish die off. No tear classes for the past 4 years. Make a huge difference in the fishing. It will be back.

I agree 9094. Vegetation has grown on the shore while the lake was down. Now that the level has risen, a lot of organic matter and cover has been introduced. This fuels the reported successful spawning that has been occurring; the cover also increases survival of the young. All this sets the lake up for a not-to-distant fun time.

The one time I went to falcon, we went to the mexico side and there were so many nets in places that you couldn't put a lure in the water without getting hung in one. We could see fish in them but all the fish we saw were carp and buffalo, I'm not trying to say they dont catch bass though

Nets have always been there. It's more about over harvest and spawn cycles. Shad and perch spawn play a critical role in this cycle as well which doesn't get mentioned often. When you lose habitat due to low water, you lose cover for forage spawns as well.

There's been many a big bass killed by the ferocious alligator gar, too.

I remember reading several years ago it was down also I think its a combo of things low water and such a lot of lakes here in our area west are off right now also and they have been low for a few years.

That's the real answer. It'll be back like it was in 5 - 10 years. Most of the lakes in Texas have a 20ish year cycle they go thru.

I fished its full pool "heyday" 4-5 years ago regularly and it was outstanding. It was not exaggerated! It was amazing how fast the fishing declined when the level was rapidly & drastically dropped. Ya there were gar, tilapia, nets, fishermen...but to me the largest rapid change was the water level. Good news is the world is round and cycles come back around. It will come back again.

Amistad has gone though the same thing, you might not have caught some of the sacks Falcon had but not far off. Mother Nature makes the rules!

Trolling crank baits and filleting 8 pounders didn't help.

Si

Mother Nature is correct.....

Been fishing the lake for almost 30 years....catching by far and large has almost always been better on Mexico side. Yes there are lots of gill nets but they take a lot of trash fish that inhibit large mouth. Just sayin......

You may want to slow down a little.

This is what I was told buy an older gentleman at falcon that had fished it for 40 years. He said the fishing totally went from great to terrible in 60 days. His reason was some floods (dam breaks) in Mexico flooded copper mines that ran into the river and got Amistad and Falcon. Remember this summer when the copper mine chemical leaked into Animas river in Durango, they said it killed everything. As good as anything I have heard.

Yea we've all heard the copper mine rumor. There were tons of water samples taken from Amistad and Falcon when all that started and they never found anything in the water to worry about.

Just like the quail, now that the rain returned so did they, and so will the bass. Wonder how much money was spent just to figure out rain = quail. Rain = Bass

From my experience lakes are cyclical and I would be that Falcon will be back in good form in another 3-4 years. I was at the event Keith Combs won and those guys smashed 'em for sure! I don't think Bassmaster will be going back anytime soon - although wouldn't it be cool to see them try and figure out that lake now that it's a little tougher.

What do you guys think it would take them to win a 4 day Elite Series event right now?

Falcon is not "that slow". it is just not letting every Joe Schmo (me) go down and catch a bunch of 8 pounders in a day.
Dec 4th there was a 35# bag of 5 caught
Dec 5th there was a 10.10 weighed for a gentleman that it was the first time on the lake fishing out of a center console Boston Whaler. Not that the boat means anything, just saying.
My sons and I caught over 100 fish in 2 days, no BIG huge ones, but not bad.
I guarantee you the January Bass Champs tournament will have some very nice bags of fish weighed in.
It is just not like it was (2011) and won't be for a while.
But it will be, the word will get out and it will get hammered again.
right now it is kinda nice to drive down there and fish without seeing 10 other boats on the same spot you are trying to fish.
it really depends on whether or not you know where to fish.
I can drive 8 hours to Falcon and come back smiling and talking about the fish I caught,,,,,,,
or I can drive 2 hours to Sam Rayburn and come back cussing the lake and talking about how everyone makes up stories about the fish they catch there.
if you know where to go,,,,,you can catch fish.

I first fished it in 1981 when I lived in Corpus. It's been up and down over the years. Best lake I ever fished. I remember stripper fishing too. Lake levels effect spawns. Big fish getting cut up at cleaning tables. Guides pouring in from all over the state. To many large tournaments. Its a wonder it still got a fish in it. Lakes come back fast. I bet if the water came up Choke would turn about quickly too.

Stripper fishing? with platform shoes? Was she more expensive than a guide? (more entertaining regardless I bet)

And those water turkey things that swim under water and take bites. I fished it hard last year of heyday and high percentage of fish had beak bite marks under tail.

I think theories big fish are still there and just went to river and suspended are wrong at this point, those fish would have shown back up by now spawn or feeding.

Jackson, of the 100,000's of fish in that lake how many SAL's were caught from 2008 to present?

Bruce, I think Jackson was making a joke at the expense of James Bendele. Though I seriously doubt James would take offense as he can dish it out and take it!

being the distance from falcon to Athens my hope is all fish caught sal size are released back to the lake.Just my thinkin

Mine too!

When i was there 4 years ago we went to alot of the cleaning stations and the amount of big bass that we saw cleaned was crazy we saw a few meat hunters with close to 40lb sacks. Also another day we where there the game wardens were out checking the ramps for licenses and a few people where caught without licences. The amount of just fish in general they had was crazy, 3 people were on 1 of these boats and they had well over the limit on 3 species of fish Bass, catfish, and sand bass. as far as the bass goes a few were to short but, alot were 7-8lb bass. i will never forget the look on the guys face when the game warden said your going to jail, not to mention a ticket for the dead fish and a ticket for the fish that will die beacuse he had to complete his evidence ect. Other than that id say also mother nature and fish just doing a better job at hidding or just not biting.

same thing happened to Amistad

The interwebs are a huge factor in Falcon taking a dive.

Falcon has been very good for many years with the netters being there and the water levels always varied.

Throw in the fact people like to brag via the WWW and you have people going there from all over the nation. All that added pressure does amazing things to Florida strain bass.

I don't know but that lake a few years back was off the chain. Talk about big fish pitching wood!!-dang!
And big fish banging rock with cbs- dang!!!
It was really easy to catch a lot of big ones - relative to other lakes imo.
Hope it comes back strong- likely it will in time!

The fishing is pretty good right now. Huge numbers. Really decent ones mixed in. The fishing is awesome.

Bass eat more bass than gar. People always have and always will kill fish. The biggest fish killer is lake level falling and not being able to sustain the big fish population. It happens on land as well as water. Food is everything. We all need to do our part as far as fish care and conservation. But in the end. When the gates at the dam open and the water drops drastically. Mother Nature does what she does to sustain the system.

Well said Tio

I do believe Tom nailed it....

Get ready to make the drives again. The big fish are still there and will be coming in to spawn. If we have a mild Winter and no Tiliapa kill from cold water it will happen. I have seen this happen many times on Falcon and Sugar Lake. The Bass will gorge themselves on the dying Tiliapa during cold water times. The bacteria that kills the food source makes the Bass somewhat sick and it all shuts down. They just want bite.

Sorry Bruce,

Chris is right. I was just having a little fun stirring the pot. As Falcon was this perfect storm of great conditions leading up to its reign as the best lake in the world, it's also been it's undoing. I know I didn't get a trip on the books until that Bass Master cover.

J

I will be catching them out of the cactus in Feb!

Most people used to fish the lakes in their area. If they learned anything about a lake they either found it themselves, heard it firsthand from a friend, or read about it in the newspaper. I remember when I used to look forward to reading Luke Clayton's report in the Dallas Morning News on Thursdays.

Now...within minutes of it happening people all around the world can see pictures or video of big fish being caught and read all about lakes and fishing hundreds of miles away. If the fishing isn't that great at the hometown lake...just load up and drive to where the pictures and accounts say it is.

There are also more fishermen than there have ever been, and a lot more novices are starting out fishing 20-21 foot boats with high dollar electronics on them. The first boats I ever fished from were either my dad's wooden boat...which he had to patch over and over to keep it from leaking...or a rented aluminum boat that came with paddles. Maybe because it takes a lot less effort and involves fewer inconveniences than it used to...and because of TV and websites that make pro anglers celebrities...fishing has become one of the "cool" sports to enter.

Considering there are now high school tournaments all over the state drawing 200-400 boats, the crowds and pressure to which our lakes and fish are subjected aren't going to decrease anytime soon. And, anytime these huge numbers of fishermen read or hear about a lake where 35-45 pounds sacks and 10 pounders are being caught "easily" they are going to head there in droves, no matter how far away it is.

Just my 2 cents...

http://falconlakeguide.com/blog/

The only thing I could add to that is loss of habitat, which was caused by the falling lake levels. Especially Amistad; they dropped it so fast the hydrilla died.
Even though there are a few non believers who will always claim--- "the big fish are still there".

True!

I would like to reply to that first comment about fish dying at lake fork.I have been fishing at fork since the early 80s .When all those fish died at fork that' July was two weeks after Texas parks and wildlife tried killing all the grass off .Chemical cuts off oxygen in water grass dies fish live in grass in summer months .we are led to believe red algae bloom kills fish .but I know the truth I was there that weekend saw all the dead bass .so we believe what they report to us .took over ten years to come back to what it is now and still not what it use to be in those days

^^^^^^^^ Truth it happened. TPWD shocking fish at Cooper and bringing them to Fork too, after that debacle.

Who killed JFK?

same thing that happened to Amistad

I'm confused with that reply..


You claiming TPWD sprayed the Hydrilla at Amistad ????

It sure didn't help that Facebook and message board heroes were carrying around fish all day in a live well so that they could take some photo of them holding two 7 pounders like it was some big accomplishment. A lot of those fish were turned loose and died a day or two later.

Add to that all the fish that were filleted and then delayed tournament mortality and you can account for fishermen helping to undermining the lake's productivity.

Never said a thing about TPW sraying anything.Just shortly after the big fish decline in Amistad so went Falcon.My thuoghts have always been whatever came down the river after the last flood had something to do with it.And that's just what I think.Copper mine in Mexico or waste from flooded towns upstream maybe but IDo do think they are connected.Dont think gar are nets were the cause.

Gotcha -- Hard to tell from your comment just two post's after the post talking about spraying on Fork.
JMO-- I was seeing a decline in Falcon before Amistad.
I figure if there was "Copper or waste" that came down the Rio Grande from Mexico it would not have affected the Devils river area or anything on that end of the lake at Amistad...But the Devils suffered just as the Rio Grande side did.
I will always contend that dropping that much water off Amistad in that short amount of time. --Killed all the hydrilla.
Those million of bass that grew up in that hydrilla- either learned to live in open water and compete with the stripers and sand bass for what little forage was left---- or they starved!

Tests were conducted at Amistad by TPWD on the water, the mud bottom, and some bottom feeding fish.. No above average traces of Copper or any other toxins were found.

This from the biologist in charge of Amistad for PAW, Randy Myers in San Antonio..

There was no copper poisoning at Amistad.. So I would guess that it had no affect on Falcon either..

The up then down twice extremes certainly killed the hydrilla.It use to grow 40ft deep when the lake was so clear before the floods.If someone really knows where the big fish went they aint a talkin.Mystery?