Falcon Not Exactly Floundering

Day 1 Falcon Leader Keith Combs, BASS Photo

Falcon Lake isn't as dazzling as in '08, when Paul Elias set the Elite Series record for four days of fishing and when everyone was catching limits of jumbo fish. In fact, most pros have reported not getting a tremendous number of bites and having to grind it out their limits. That said, this big impoundment along the Texas/Mexico border obviously is still a pretty impressive fishery. Leader Keith Combs, who brought plentiful local knowledge into the tournament, weighed in five fish that averaged very close to 7 pounds (34-13). To put that into perspective, Combs' Day 1 weight would have landed him in eighth place for all four days last week at the Sabine River.

Combs wasn't alone with an impressive catch. Sixteen anglers brought in more than 25 pounds on Day 1, and 45 anglers broke the 20-pound mark. Three quarters of the field brought a limit to the scales. Big fish for the day was a tie between Edwin Evers and Rick Morris, both of whom toted a 9-11 to the scales. Contrasted with last week, when limits were very tough to come by, and decent fish were even tougher to find, Falcon still probably seems quite impressive to most of the Elite Series field.

No one ever says a tremendous amount about patterns after only one day of a four-day tournament, but reports I've heard suggest that fish are being caught both shallow and deep. Some bass are still up on the beds or staging just after the spawn, while others have already moved offshore. Combs focused on key deep-water areas that he expected to produce big fish -- if they produced at all --and said he had to work for his catch. Cliff Prince of Palatka, Florida, who is in second place after the first day, split his efforts between deep structure and shallow trees, which he fished by flipping.

They'll be back at it in another hour or so. Watch the Bassmaster blog for regular updates and even a few peeks at big fish anglers catch during the day.

Sudden Death & Alabama Rig Research

Photo Courtesy of PAA

One fish was all it took for Keith Combs to win the Toyota Texas Bass Classic and the $100,000 and Legend boat that came with the victory. One fish in a sudden death fish-off, that is.

After three full days of fishing, Combs and Mike Iaconelli had ended up tied atop the leaderboard, each with a weight of 76 pounds 12 ounces. Between Combs and Iaconelli, they had six daily limits of fish that average more than 5 pounds per bass, and they outfished the rest of the field by more than 25 pounds. Still, they were tied, and Combs was able to seal the deal with a 15-inch fish, which he caught on the same Norman crankbait he'd used throughout the week.

A championship event comprised of top pros from the BASS Elite Series, the FLW Tour and the PAA Tournament Series, the TTBC included 50 of the nation's top pros. It was held on Lake Conroe in Texas.

Meanwhile, the big buzz in the bass fishing world has been the Alabama rig, a unique multi-lure rig that's unlike anything that most bass fishermen had ever seen a week and a half ago. That was when Paul Elias revealed the crazy rig he's been using to blow away the field in the FLW event last week at Guntersville and to catch 102 pounds, 8 ounces in four days. The Alabama rig notched another big win last weekend at the Everstart event on Kentucky Lake.

Enough has been reported about the Alabama rig by folks who have seen it for themselves that I'm not going to re-hash it here. That said, I'm North Alabama bound tomorrow for three of fishing on three different lakes (including Guntersville) with four different pros. One of those pros, Chris Lane, was in the middle of all the excitement at the Guntersville tournament. If I get to see the rig and how it works first-hand, therefore, that probably will be my next blog!