High Stakes Bassin

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Zapata, TX
High Stakes Bassin

A client centered guide service that focuses on putting the client in the best possible situation to Want to fish the #1 bass lake in the country?

Put the odds in your favor and hit the water with a guide who does one thing and one thing only, and that’s fish Falcon Lake for monster bass. High Stakes Bassin is a client centered guiding service that focuses on putting the client in the best possible situation to be successful.

05/03/2026

A very welcomed busy stretch along the border has come and gone…..both Falcon and Sugar did not disappoint since my last writing. 30-50 fish days have been the norm. No monster stringers but a lot of fun healthy 2-4 lb fish. Did we catch a few walruses? Have a few more on? Absolutely. Can legit say it’s been a blast on the water. I can only hope and pray that this trend continues. I’m optimistic it will especially on Sugar. The fish have just now in any sort of numbers begun their Summer pilgrimage offshore and that’s what I live for. I’ve got a busy end of May first week of June. But before and after are wiiiiiiide open. Tough to imagine the border disappointing right now.

Check out the pick of my boat.😂😵‍💫🤦‍♂️ The welds busted that hold the roller on. It happened on the way to Sugar. Those roads are no joke. Luckily Noe always has our back and got two welders over to weld everything back in place. They did an absolutely phenomenal job.

Give me a shout if you want in on the action. Have a grrrrrrrrreat week ahead Facebook fam.

04/17/2026

Been slow on the job front so I’ve not been on the water in a hot minute. James and I decided to give Falcon a run this morning and man we had a blast. Any walruses? You bet including one with whiskers.😂 The other walrus was the biggest mouth/head/frame of a fish I’ve caught in some time. Unfortunately she wouldn’t have stretched the scales past 10 lbs as she was needing a double whopper, large fry and a gallon of Blue Bell to go. Sure was fun seeing a really big fish on Falcon….that too has been a hot minute. Fishing along the border is still fishing about as fun as you’re gonna find just about anywhere on planet Earth. (Especially Sugar)

Have a grrrrrreat rest of your week Facebook Fam.👊🏻

03/30/2026

Fun. That pretty much describes Sugar Lake Mexico right now. Wanna flip for a walrus? Let’s go. You wanna throw a 6xd for a walrus? Let’s go. You wanna get on a hump and drag a Texas rig mag ole monster for a walrus? Let’s go. How about one of my offshore brush piles? You guessed it….lets go. Not a lot on the books currently ….soooooo if you’ve got the time and the means ….a fun time will certainly be had. Have a great week Facebook fam.

03/15/2026

I hope everyone reading this has had a badass start to their 2026. I’ve not fished much over the last couple of weeks. The Mexico news didn’t do me any favors by any stretch. The climate and passage to and from the lake remains the best I’ve ever seen it. The fishing on the hand has not been the best I’ve ever seen unfortunately. La With that said has it been bad? Absolutely not bad….Id characterize it as inconsistent. We have been all over the fish each day.(as can be seen on the live scope) We’ve had stretches throughout each day that were blazing hot….like nearly 30 fish with a 32 lb bag in two hours type of hot. Now the flip side? Each day had stretches where the fish we were staring at simply did not react positively to anything and everything we threw at em. We did have the coolest catch of the year and a first for High Stakes Bassin.…. A walrus was caught ……drum roll……on a hollow body Snag Proof frog.😂😵‍💫😂 Ya never know when a first will happen on any given day. The explosion and fight were nothing short of spec freaking tacular. Not a lot on the books this week. I’ll be taking Melissa to sugar over the weekend in preparation for trips that are rolling in the following week. I can’t freaking wait. If walrus hunting sounds fun and ya have the means and the time….come on down. A damn good time will certainly be had. Have a great week Facebook Fam.👊🏻

02/24/2026

The crazy warm temperatures for February have come and gone. I fished quite a few days during this time frame. The results?…….extraordinarily underwhelming. I had Justin and Courtney down for a couple days last week.

1.) warming trend☑️
2.) new moon☑️
3.) water temps upper 60’s☑️

But and it’s a big but…..green algae bloom everywhere. Sugar and bright green water is a recipe for tough fishing and it certainly was.

Now fast forward a few days to today with a post big North wind and significantly cooler night and morning temps. Water was much cleaner today and the bite was on. Mind you Melissa and I only fished a couple hours on Sugar, but during those couple hours we whacked the crrrrrrrap out of em. Why only fish a couple hours?😂 We spent most of our time making and installing new bunks on my trailer. Freaking trailer is 3 years old and all my bunks completely rotted and fell apart in about a 5 week window…..but we will not be having that issue again.

I know the border and Mexico has been in the news once again. Let me be as clear as possible. I will NEVER knowingly put a client in harms way over a fish or a dollar. PERIOD. I have a lot contacts in Mexico. Some of those contacts and opinions I weigh heavier than others. At the end of the day bad s**t happens in the USA and bad s**t happens in Mexico. I love Sugar Lake Mexico and the fine people and friends that I have gotten to know in Mexico. Melissa has a lot of family and friends who live in Mexico. (She goes to Mexico frequently for weddings, birthdays, baby showers, festivals, etc etc etc) I pray cooler heads prevail amongst the people running the country. Time will tell, but rest assured I’m monitoring the situation very closely. Today the travel to and from the lake was spotless and without a shred of difficulty.

Have a grrrrreat week Facebook Fam.

02/16/2026

Had a fantastic week on Sugar Lake Mexico. Was the fishing out of this world great? Unfortunately it absolutely was not. What was great?….the people that I got to share a boat with. The week started with Melissa and ended with my Boyyyyyyyeeee from Illinois. In the middle was my main man Guy. Both Guy and Vaughn have been with me from the very beginning of High Stakes Bassin. Vaughn has been fortunate enough to have caught several 10+ pound fish over the years. Guy? His first trip ever with me he jumped off a sure fire 10+ on Falcon throwing a 6xd. We laughed at the time….told him he’ll have plenty more chances where that came from. Fast forward 14 years and practically every person he’s ever brought down has caught a double digit fish with him in the boat. (in some cases multiples) This trip had the worst heartbreak arguably of my career as I want sooooo damn bad for him to hang one on a set of scales in my boat. Thursday around 11 o’clock he chunked a 10xd over a ridge and proceeded to hook up on one of the biggest fish I’ve ever seen. She was 15 feet from the boat when she jumped and spit the 10xd out. I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to straight up passing out while fishing. One day…..it’s going to happen for Guy. The celebration, when it does, will be historic. This week looks like we are going to see temps in the 90’s yet again AND a new moon. Holler at me if chasing a fish of 18 lifetimes sounds fun and let’s get after it.

02/05/2026

Got to spend some time on Sugar Lake Mexico over the weekend and man did Joey, Kyle, and I have a blast. The fishing was all over the map and so was the weather.😂😵‍💫🥶 We caught 15-20 fish a day and had elite bites each day. Unfortunately, and I hate having to type this, but I was the only one to land one of those elite bites. (1 for 3) She came in at 12.60 pounds. There was no dominant pattern whatsoever. We caught fish in under a foot of water all the way out to 23 foot. We simply could not find any concentrations of fish anywhere. It was truly a fish or two in every area or technique we tried. The long term forecast over the coming 10 days looks absolutely incredible. I’d be willing to wager a significant chunk of change that somebody fishing Sugar lake will catch and hang a bass on a set of scales that will go North of 15 lbs. It’s straight up gonna happen……Will it be out of my boat once again this year? I hope so, but it’s gonna happen out of someone’s boat. Buckle up Buttercup and give me a holler if you wanna throw your hat in the ring for a chance at a once in 18 lifetimes Mega Walrus.

01/10/2026

Hopefully everyone reading this has had a badass start to their 2026. I’ve spent 4 of the first 9 days of the new year in Mexico. To say the fishing is trending towards nuclear would be an understatement. I’ve seen or heard of numerous 10+ pounders and even a 46 lb bag. My boat has not been fortunate enough to land any MEGA walruses. Have we had em on?….lol. Yeah….several, but I’m playing in the jungle currently and if you’ve played in the jungle down here before you know the deal. I’ve not been this close to switching over to 80 lb braid in a very very very long time, but the heartbreak and flouro break is starting to get to me. The biggest boated fish to start 2026 comes in at 9.45 lbs. Someone wanted to call it a “10 pounder”. We had to explain that’s not how it works.😂 The numbers of fish for January have been the best I’ve seen in years. Things are looking up Facebook Fam.

01/02/2026

Happy New Year Facebook Fam! To say 2025 was a memorable one would be an understatement.😂 2025 saw the biggest bass of my guiding career hit the scales at 15.14 lbs. I’m beyond optimistic for 2026. Sugar Lake Mexico will be magical once again. I’ve got plenty of great dates available and if fishing for MEGA walruses is your thing …..let’s go break some records in 2026.

Cya on the water

12/25/2025

Merrrrrrryyyyy Christmas Facebook Fam!!

If y’all are looking for a belated Christmas present I know a guy that might have a Mega Walrus or 3 still under the tree(s)!😂

Address

Zapata, TX
78076

Telephone

(956) 754-0626

Website

http://www.highstakesbassin.com/

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