Fishing Falcon Lake, on the Texas-Mexico border, has become similar to a mountain-climber's quest to scale Mt. Everest in the minds of some anglers: "I could have the time of my life, but will I make it back alive?"
That type of thinking has been prevalent on Internet fishing message boards since September, when a vacationer was murdered while jet-skiing on the Mexican side of the lake. Shortly thereafter, the lead Mexican investigator in the case was also murdered.
Suspicion has been cast on the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for a staggering amount of recent violence in their home country. As a consequence, the number of visits by anglers to Falcon – and by extension, other venues in the vicinity – has been drastically reduced.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Byron Velvick owns a resort at Lake Amistad – another border impoundment located about 225 miles northwest of Falcon. He says business there has suffered, too.
"It's guilt by association, even though we've had no recorded incidents," he said. "Half the wives won't let their husbands go because they think they might not come back.
"Both places have a Border Patrol presence, but we also have the National Park Service at Amistad and it's all ranch lands on the (Mexican) side – there aren't any roads that make it accessible over there. It's really apples and oranges, but that doesn't resonate. People are saying, 'You're not going to Amistad. We've got kids to think about.'''
From Fame to Infamy
The fishing at both Falcon and Amistad has long been superb, and the lakes have received worldwide recognition over the past few years in the wake of visits by the Bassmaster Elite Series. Those stops produced weights that were nothing short of eye-popping – 30-pound bags became almost routine.
Now, at least in the case of Falcon, much of that positive publicity has been washed away by the murder of 30-year-old Coloradoan David Hartley.
"Business is down a lot from last year and we've lost a bunch of tournaments," said James Bendele at Falcon Lake Tackle. "Fishing is the only thing that's driving this town (Zapata, Texas) right now, and we're probably at about half of what we saw last year, maybe less. I'm actually scared to look at the numbers."
Said Falcon guide Tommy Law: "I've been staying pretty busy, to be honest with you, and the fishing's been incredible. But it has hurt some guys that weren't as well-established, and there's a couple guys I know who aren't doing anything."
The area is feeling the pinch from the loss of several big tournaments that each would've brought hundreds of people to town for multi-day stays. Included among those were a couple of championship events involving numerous clubs from around the state.
Also, the FLW Tour was originally scheduled to visit Falcon in 2011, but that changed prior to the Hartley murder. When Walmart came back as an FLW sponsor, a spot needed to be opened for the return of the Walmart Open at Arkansas' Beaver Lake.
"With Walmart rejoining FLW Outdoors and reclaiming their presence in the fishing industry, it was only natural for the FLW Tour to return to Beaver Lake," said FLW communications manager Chad Gay. "Walmart, being headquartered in northwest Arkansas, and Beaver Lake and the FLW Tour have a rich and long-standing tradition.
"Each 2011 Tour stop was carefully evaluated to accommodate a Beaver Lake stop, and the decision was reluctantly made to relocate the Falcon Lake event. Looking back now, in light of the events that have transpired on Falcon Lake, the choice to make that change has been solidified. The last thing FLW Outdoors would want to do is put their anglers in harm's way."
Byron Velvick, who owns a resort at Lake Amistad, said fear of the type of violence that occurred at Falcon this fall has affected his business, too.
Know Where to Go
In addition to the tournaments, an untold number of individual trips to Falcon have been canceled. Elite Series pro Alton Jones, who lives about 6 hours away in Waco and keeps a motorhome there throughout the off-season, has nixed three of them himself.
"Back during the spring they'd had some robberies down there, but my plans stayed the same," he said. "But since the (murder), things have changed. I had some events planned with sponsors and a giveaway trip with Pradco, and neither they nor I felt comfortable enough to go down there. I also had some things scheduled with outdoor writers so they could get photos for their files, and we've had to move those to different locations.
"The last time I was down there was about a week before the shooting, but I haven't been back since. I imagine I'll make another trip or two before Christmas. I still feel fairly comfortable going fishing – I know the lake well enough to know which parts are safe and which might not be."
The prevailing sentiment is that staying on the U.S. side, which comprises nearly half of Falcon's 80,000 surface acres, will prevent anglers from encountering the type of criminal element that's generated the recent negative news. However, both Bendele at Falcon Lake Tackle and Law, the guide, say they still do the majority of their fishing on the Mexican side.
There are simply specific areas that must be avoided, and chief among those is the Salado River arm, which contains the Old Guerrero Church that was formerly a major attraction for visitors. That arm extends to the southernmost part of the lake, and it was there that Hartley was killed.
"My thought on it is we're all big boys and girls and we're capable of making our own decisions," Bendele said. "I tell people that when they look at the facts, you could go to any Walmart in any town in the country and get held up or shot.
"The lake's been here for 50-some years and this was the first time that something like this had happened. People are missing out on a lot of good fishing because of the fear-mongering, but I also understand the reason for the fear. People don't want to fish while looking over their shoulder."
Notable
> Jones said he's never seen any activity at Falcon that he associated with drug-dealing – he wouldn't expect to because those operations are well-concealed. But he did witness an incident of human trafficking that he immediately reported to the Border Patrol. "I was fishing a cut about 400 yards off the (Rio Grande) River, near a little fishing camp, and I saw a boat that would ordinarily be manned by two people leave the camp with seven people," he said. "A little while later it came back with two people, and then it left again with seven."
> Velvick said the fishing at Amistad this fall has also been outstanding. "There's been quite a few 9-pounders and 8-pounders caught," he said. "There were two 9-pounders in one tournament."
