The local weather has been mild in the last few days and that has Dick Mittanck of Pleasanton chomping at the bit to go fishing at Falcon Lake.

Trouble is the San Antonio forecasters are not cooperating – or rather the weather isn’t. Mittanck said two days ago the forecast sounded good for Falcon later this week. Now it has apparently changed (as of Tuesday morning) and its calling for high winds this weekend at Falcon Lake. Mittanck says he’s had enough of fishing in windy conditions throughout his fishing career and now waits for a good weather report before hooking up his bass boat.

Most of you bass anglers know that high winds and bass fishing don’t mix well – especially at Falcon Lake where high winds make it almost impossible to navigate in open water.

Whether you launch at the county ramp at Zapata, Texas or at the state park at the lower end of the lake, you have to travel in open water to get to protected coves and creeks. If you don’t have a big boat with plenty of horsepower, a trip to Falcon can turn into an unforgettable experience.

Mittanck said Monday that the days of getting up at 5:00 a.m. and racing to one of his favorite spots at Falcon before the sun rises are long gone. Now he waits for good daylight before he launches his boat. “I don’t fish many tournaments anymore and there’s still a lot of hours of fishing in a day,” he said.

The Atascosa Bass Club fished Falcon Lake this past weekend and although some fish were caught, anglers had to fish in very windy conditions on Saturday.

Tinker Pfullman, who fished the tournament with his son Shane, said there were two disappointing factors with the tournament. One was the windy conditions on Saturday and the other was the number of fishermen on the lake. “Fishermen from all over the country are coming to Falcon. They’ve taken up all the hotel rooms at Zapata and there is no room to park. They know the weather is mild and they all know Falcon is one of the hottest bass lakes in the country. It’s all over the internet,” he said. Pfullman said he and his son pulled up to fish the Hedionda Creek early in the morning on Saturday and there were only two boats in there with them. An hour later there were over 20 boats trying to fish the same creek. “And that’s the way it was all over the lake,” he added.

If Falcon Lake is this crowded already I wonder what it’s going to be like in March when the bass spawn and the fishing gets better?

Well, you can always try fishing Choke Canyon which is much closer and hasn’t been drawing many fishermen this year.

According to one lady at the main office of the Calliham State Park entrance, the fishing has picked up in the last few days and fishermen have started to put together some good stringers.

Also, big catfish have been caught and one angler showed off an 11-lb. channel cat on his stringer.

Pfullman reported that Falcon Lake is receiving water from Lake Amistad in Del Rio but that has not affected the fishing.

Choke Canyon has not shown any after affects after the recent rains and remains 12 1/2 feet low.