James Niggemeyer – Falcon Toad and a Big Hookup

It’s early in the morning and I’m headed back to Van, Texas. I have been in Zapata at Lake Falcon doing some guiding down here and as soon as I got here I went out to do some fun fishing and also just checking to see where all the fish are to prepare for my guide trips.

I had an incredible surprise! I was slow rolling a 3/4-ounce chartreuse and white Strike King spinnerbait through some buck brush and I had an 11-pound, 12-ounce largemouth just crush it!

It was just incredible! At first I thought it was a six or seven pounder – when it jumped it just kind of wallowed on the surface; and as it got to the side of the boat the water was just kind of dirty so I couldn’t get a real good look at her. So, as it got to the side of the boat I realized “I’ve got a donkey here!”

She put up an incredible fight and was really pulling! I caught that fish on a St. Croix rod and Ardent reel and 20 pound fluorocarbon. I lifted her into the boat and realized that this is just an absolute giant! Definitely one of the best fish I have caught; not my personal best, but really, really close.

Overall, the trip was pretty exciting and we really caught quite a few fish every day and fishing was pretty good! Conditions made it tough, especially on the last day with the wind gusting more than 30 miles an hour. It was really kind of difficult to get on the things we wanted, but other than that, we were catching quite a few fish each day; some good quality ones and having some fun with my clients; it was really a blast.

We caught some on spinnerbaits; but, we caught them on mainly KVD 1.5 and 2.5 crankbaits and then we caught some flipping trees with Strike King Rage Hogs on the 1/2-ounce Tour Grade Tungsten weight.

After I get home I’ve got another guide trip booked at Lake Fork this weekend, so things are pretty busy.

I forgot to mention something that happened at Falcon. We were cranking 6XD’s and catching some good ones there and one of my clients got their line hung up on some really heavy mono that was under the water. The wind was blowing really hard, so it made it hard for us to work together on the snag. He went down there to cut it free, it shot back and drilled that size 2 treble hook right back into the palm of my hand, right there in the thick part at the base of my thumb. I mean it buried it clean into the bend; it was all the way in there.

It was kind of crazy because the wind is blowing; and I’m trying to keep the boat off the rocks; I’m bleeding everywhere and I’m having kind of a hard time trying to get everything under control.

One of my clients pulled the boat off the rocks, so I didn’t hit them. He pulled us out into the main lake and the boat is rocking with some pretty good waves out there. It was pretty difficult – we had to ruin the bait because we had to cut the hook hanger off. Finally, we did the line trick and that thing popped clean like my hand was a wet paper bag.

That line trick is something that every angler should learn how to do. It is just incredible how easy it is to get a big hook, any kind of hook – I’ve had a 4/0 hook in my hand and gotten it out with that trick I’ve only ever been hooked past the barb twice, but both times the line trick was just the deal to get the hook out of there with no problem! Sometimes you can do it by yourself; sometimes you need the assistance of another person.

So, anyway, Falcon is an incredible fishery – definitely in my top three picks for favorite bass fisheries on the whole planet. I think number one is still Lake Fork for me and two and three is a toss-up for me between the Delta and Falcon and you know, Clear Lake runs a high third and Guntersville probably fourth, yes, there is five in there anyway, with a couple of ties.

Great time at Falcon, then a couple days back to Lake Fork and then it’s time for me to be getting ready for the Lake Lewisville Central Open.

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