Bass pro Andy Montgomery has never fished a tournament on Falcon Lake in Texas, but after having a “horrible tournament” on the Sabine River last weekend, he is just glad to be back fishing in a lake.

“This is not exactly like a lake back home, but it’s still a lake and a lot easier for me to read than fishing the Sabine River last week with all the swamps and channels,” Montgomery said Wednesday after the final practice for the opening round of the Bassmaster Elite Series Falcon Slam tournament which starts Thursday.

“Last week there was so much water it was hard to figure out,” said the Blacksburg, S.C., pro. “I did catch a lot of fish, I just did not catch any keepers. I had 40 fish the first day and 20 or so the second day.”

Montgomery weighed in only two fish at 3 pounds, 9 ounces, and finished 87^th on the Sabine which flows between Texas and Louisiana.

“Things have got to pick up, that’s for sure,” he said with determination.

Although this is his first trip to Falcon Lake, the Bassmasters have been here before and fishing was very good the last time.

Falcon’s record for a single largemouth catch on a rod and reel is 15.63 pounds and 28 inches in length, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. In 2008, the last time the Elite Series stopped at Falcon, a 13-pound, 2-ounce largemouth was brought to the scales. That 13-2 still stands as the largest bass in the eight years of Elite Series history.

Paul Elias won the 2008 Elite Series event with a four-day weight of 132 pounds, 8 ounces, which still stands as a five-fish, four-day Bassmaster record. In the same event, 11 other anglers topped the 100-pound mark.

“It may not be as good as the last time B.A.S.S. was here, but there are going to be a lot of big fish caught this week,” Montgomery said. “The fish here are real skinny. The weights may be down a little bit but lengthwise the fish are huge.”

Montgomery said his practice this week has been a mixed bag.

“I had one really good day and two bad days. Today was pretty tough, but I think I can catch some fish here. You just have to catch a 7- or 8-pounder every day, at least one, and there is a little work involved in getting that big bite. I had some big ones on in practice that I did not get into the boat.”

Montgomery said the lake is extremely low, 35 to 40 feet low, so it is going to fish very small during the tournament.

“We are not going to burn gas like we did last week. The longest run for anybody probably will be about 15 minutes,” he said.

“I think there will be some fish caught deep and some shallow, but the tournament probably will be won deep, offshore,” he said. “Most of the bigger fish will be caught on crankbaits and big worms on the rockpiles off the long points. But there are also some fish still spawning around the shallow bushes and some will catch those fish, too.”

Montgomery said he plans to fish both shallow and deep in hopes of finding that big 7- or 8-pounder each day.

Bassmaster Elite Series Falcon Slam

Mar 21-24, 2013

Falcon Lake

Zapata County Public Boat Ramp

www.bassmaster.com