By Shane Beilue
Southern Staff Writer
July 21, 2010
The recent passing of Hurricane Alex across northern Mexico brought a tremendous amount of rainfall into the Mexican creeks and draws that feed into Lake Amistad. As a result, the massive border lake rose 14 feet in less than a week! Many lakeside picnic tables and bathrooms located on high ground were quickly under 3-5 feet of water and some boat ramps became flooded well into the parking lots.
Anytime a reservoir begins to rise, the bass will typically move shallow with the lake level to feed.
Fortunately, I was able to time a trip this past week with some friends to fish the lake as it was on the rise. The food chain was certainly on display this past week as tarantulas, grasshoppers and mantis sought refuge in the upper branches of flooded huisache and mesquite bushes that were previously several yards back from the shoreline. Anytime a grasshopper would fall from a bush, hundreds of sunfish were waiting among the bushes for an easy meal. Just below the sunfish, a multitude of bass were seeking their meal among the sunfish.
It was absolutely phenomenal bass fishing as the water was rising: soft plastics pitched among the bushes, shallow cranks fished between the bushes – even topwater frogs over the newly submerged prickly pears produced while the skies were overcast. There was an absolute abundance of quality fish in the 3-8 pound range caught during the rise– often on successive casts and from the same clump of mesquite bushes. Many of the bass we caught had bellies that were distended nearly beyond capacity, likely full of 3” sunfish!
Water authorities had to delay the release of water into the Rio Grande until some communities below the dam could be cleared, as the total volume of water about to come down river could possibly flood these areas. By mid-week, the gates were open wide and the lake level began to slowly subside. More runoff from Mexico is expected, so it could be a while before Amistad’s water level stabilizes.
Bass fishing on the lake is still good; however, the shallow bite slowed as the week progressed. By mid-week, the deep water bite was more reliable than the shallow bite we experienced earlier; however, fishing deep with the high water requires a little mental adjustment. One has to think back to what the lake was like prior to the rise to get a good visual on how to fish the deep structure with an extra 12-13 feet of water in the lake. Hydrilla and duck weed that was previously near the surface 
on points and humps are now deeply submerged and only visible with electronics. Add the same 12-13 feet to the Navionics contour lines to get a true depth reading. Deep crankbaits over the submerged vegetation produced some quality fish, as well as Carolina rigged plastics along deep breaklines; however, the fish tend to suspend and scatter with this kind of high water, so the groups of big fish in deep water were never found during the week.
The good news continues for south Texas bass fishing, as all the water being released from Amistad is flowing down the Rio Grande into Lake Falcon, located near the southwest tip of Texas. Falcon has been about 12’ below full pool; however, the same phenomenon experienced this past week in the shallows in Amistad is about to happen at Falcon, if it hasn’t already! Rising water will push the fish into the newly flooded shoreline bushes seeking an easy meal from the sunfish. Try the new Yamamoto Large Flappin’ Hog in shades of pumpkin or watermelon for pitching shallow cover. It’s the perfect size to match most of the sunfish grouped up among the bushes and punches easily through the cover.
In a previous article, I documented the incidents of Mexican pirates robbing U.S. citizens while fishing the Mexican waters of Lake Falcon. While discussing this matter with a Border Patrol agent on Amistad this past week, he said there have been no further incidents to report, as the U.S. has increased patrols on Lake Falcon due to the existing threat. Fortunately, he indicated no border problems on Lake Amistad; however, the agent advised to always keep an eye out when fishing the Mexican side of either lake and use common sense to get out of the area quickly if something doesn’t seem right about an approaching boat.
Lake Falcon is about to get hot – air temperatures are in the 90’s and the bass should be going crazy! The heat this time of year keeps a lot of traffic to a minimum, so just stay aware of your surroundings and file a float plan with a friend or relative when fishing Mexican waters.
