High Stakes Bassin

10/21/2026

Got the opportunity to take Phillip and Mary out on a very very VERY windy day on Falcon Lake last week. God I love fishing these two. Unfortunately Mother Nature has sabotaged their last several efforts to come down and fish with me so it had been a hot minute. Once again Mother Nature was not on their side, but they said heck with Mother Nature we’re coming down to whack on em. Yes they indeed whacked on em even in the less than ideal conditions. Unfortunately I was not able to get to where I’ve got some big fish located. Soooooo we fished where we could and caught a BUNCH of fish just no walruses. Mary is celebrating retirement in 2027 and rumor has it a big Sugar Lake BONANZA is in the works. I can’t freaking wait. Speaking of can’t freaking wait….my folks are heading to the border to come see me over my birthday. Can’t wait to get Mom on these fish here on Falcon. She’s gonna have a blast. Dad and I are also planning to lean on a few Sugar Lake Walruses as well. It’s a great time to be alive Facebook Fam! Hope everyone reading this has a bad ass week and if you want in on the action holler….would love to have ya.

10/09/2026

Elmo “Action” Jackson. A lot of ink has been written about this man and for good reason. Elmo was one of the very first people to give me a shot 15 years ago. Elmo has had some unbelievable days with me over the years both on the great side of unbelievable but also on the terrible side as well. Numerous times I’ve told Elmo the fishing was terrible and that if I was him I wouldn’t come. Every single time Elmo’s response went a little like this. “I don’t give a $&”@!……it’s fishing and ya can't catch em if you don’t go and I’m coming to see you.” Trip after trip after trip after trip….the common theme? A great time. After each trip I’d look at Elmo and say “I live for the day you put a 10 lber in my boat.” Has Elmo scared 10 pounds with me? Yeah about 50 times.😂 Today my main man and one of my best friends on Earth reeled down and set the hook and said “good one”. I looked up from my graph out to where Elmo’s line was and up came an absolute monster. After netting the fish I hugged him so hard I’m lucky I didn’t break his nose or glasses.😂 She hit the scales at 10.24 lbs. Getting Elmo a 10 lber was straight up a life goal of mine and I’m not joking. I’m on cloud 9 and will be up there for a while.

To Elmo and Rosa….Thank you.

10/08/2026

Went out to check on the bite yesterday afternoon with my personal fish finder. Feels great to not have to run to the dam to find fish. The water is rising after last week’s rain and I found the bite to be a bit off compared to last week. Got two days coming up with my man Elmo and we ready. Here’s a couple of fish from yesterday. Big fish went 7.37 pounds.

09/23/2026

Got the opportunity to take David and Chris out on Falcon Lake Monday and Tuesday. These fellas flew in from Tulsa Oklahoma. They told me they were more about trout and fly rods than chasing green fish. If any two day fishing trip would turn ya to the green side this one certainly would.😂 Good grief Falcon was fun the last two days. Numbers of fish were silly and multiple times I left areas with biting fish in efforts to find a few big bites. Did we ever find the big bites? Yes we did and were fortunate enough to land a few of em. The biggest fish of the trip came in at 9.32 lbs. I honestly don’t know how many fish we caught over two days…..you’d of needed a clicker and I haven’t needed a clicker on Falcon in who knows when.

Just a great time to be alive and on Falcon Lake Texas.

Have a great rest of your week Facebook fam!

09/09/2026

Pretty cool write up by wired to fish on the 15 pounder we caught on Sugar Lake Mexico. Never thought I’d appear on Wired to Fish. Pretty freaking cool.

Is this the biggest bass ever caught on a YUM Dinger? Dave Holland tried for 40 years before finally landing his dream fish.

08/20/2026

Double digit fish have been few and far between for my boat in 2026. Just quite simply hasn’t been my year. I live and die every single day I’m on the water. I’ve always been that way and oddly enough I’ve always gotten far more enjoyment out of my fishing partner catching fish rather than me. Some of my earliest memories are fishing with my folks and wanting my mom to catch fish. (Dad too but he had a tendency to be a poor winner back then😂) Fast forward to today on Sugar Lake Mexico. One of my very best friends I’ve ever had in 48 years broke his DD drought of 14 years. I live for friends and clients to have days like today. Our first fish of the day hit the scales at 10.49 pounds. I netted that fish and James and I both looked at each other…..didn’t say anything but “holy sh*t”. I was mentally preparing myself to see 9.99 lbs and I know James was too.😂 But when the scales popped up 10.49 the celebration was on. Our best 5 went 35 ish pounds that also included a 9.79 and 8.04. Was a great day to be alive with a great friend on Sugar Lake Mexico.

Have a great rest of your week Facebook fam!

08/18/2026

The Dog days of summer continue to roll along down here on the border and I’m
sure where you are as well. James and I have been talking about hitting the water together for the past couple weeks….the main culprit for that not happening? Wind. We finally have a break in the wind department this week. We loaded up and headed to Falcon yesterday and we will be on Sugar Lake Wednesday. How was the fishing yesterday? Well…..the first fish of the day went 8-6 lbs. For a brief moment we had visions of a 40 lb bag. I stress the word “brief”. Unfortunately we did not boat another walrus. We were on the lake at 7:30 and off at 11:30. The launching conditions on Falcon Lake are the best I’ve seen in years. The amount of bait and fry in the water is completely off the charts. The water? Absolutely beautiful. Was a great day to be alive and on Falcon Lake Texas with my man James. Next up Sugar…..will report back in a few.

07/23/2026

Rain and water……two words over the last 15 years I’ve not gotten to write enough about. Well I’m getting to write about it now and I’m very grateful for that fact. Now listen is Falcon fixing to fill up tomorrow? No sir….but man we are quite literally one rain event away. The Rio is rolling along nicely and our water shed is saturated. The stars are lining up for something special as we enter the heart of our hurricane season.

On the fishing side of things the jobs unfortunately have been few and far between. My boyeeeeeeeee from Illinois did come down for a last second, spur of the moment trip and damn it if we did have our usual great time. The fishing was pretty damn good for the first 6 hours of his trip….the last 14 hours? We won’t talk about that. Let’s just say rising water does not do the immediate bite any favors.

I just got back from Cleveland a couple days ago. I went up to spend time with my folks and watch some guardians baseball. Yes…Mom and I squared off with the casino as well. Drum rooooooolllllllll….we both actually won.😂 We certainly didn’t win enough to buy any private jets, but enough to entertain the idea of doing it again if we make a playoff run.

I hope everyone is having a kick ass summer…..here’s a few pics including the Rio Grand in Laredo. Please do a rain dance or 12 for us.

06/11/2026

I’ve had a wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild ride since I last posted and that’s putting it mildly. The fishing aspect of the wild ride has been fantastic. (Most days😂) Numbers have been pretty good, but the overall quality has been the most fun. Just about every hook set is North of 3 lbs. (fun fish with very few dinks) No double digits however, but a 9.47 for Dad and a 9.72 yesterday for Joel which is his new personal best. My expectations on Sugar lake Mexico is 50 fish a day with a legit shot or two at a Mega Walrus. Fishing along the border right now is just straight up fun and I’m certainly not taking it for granted. That’s the end of the fishing end of the wiiiiiild ride.

As the late great Paul Harvey would say…..The rest of the story. During all this good fishing I had had to cancel/reschedule 3 trips. I’ve been on this planet 48 years and I got the sickest I have ever been in my life. I did not go to the Dr so I don’t know exactly what it was or how I got it. But with that said I was in a straight up dog fight for three days and it took me a solid 17 days to fully clear it. My money is on some sort of Covid variant…..there is just no way it was a common flu or head cold. Just no freaking way. My sick radar is at an all time high. If I see anyone coughing or sniffling I’m running the other way and fast. I’m very fortunate that my folks showed up when I was in the recovery stage of this illness. I was more than concerned that it would still get em, but it did not. With that said it robbed my Dad of some fishing time as I just couldn’t answer the bell till the last 4 days that they were here. Dad turned 78 while they were down. We enjoyed watching baseball, movies and shows in the face of not being able to get on the water till their last 4 days.

That’s enough rambling for one post.😂😵‍💫🤪

We are healthy and the fish are biting….come down and have a blast. I’m ready to show ya a grrrrrreat time. Have a great rest of your week Facebook fam.👊🏻

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.