diff --git a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/table/FallbackReadFileStoreTable.java b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/table/FallbackReadFileStoreTable.java
index d6f073fd2cff..dddc8ca43996 100644
--- a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/table/FallbackReadFileStoreTable.java
+++ b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/table/FallbackReadFileStoreTable.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.apache.paimon.data.InternalRow;
 import org.apache.paimon.disk.IOManager;
 import org.apache.paimon.fs.Path;
+import org.apache.paimon.io.DataFileMeta;
 import org.apache.paimon.manifest.PartitionEntry;
 import org.apache.paimon.metrics.MetricRegistry;
 import org.apache.paimon.options.Options;
@@ -44,6 +45,9 @@
 import org.apache.paimon.utils.Preconditions;
 import org.apache.paimon.utils.SegmentsCache;
 
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -60,6 +64,8 @@
  */
 public class FallbackReadFileStoreTable extends DelegatedFileStoreTable {
 
+    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(FallbackReadFileStoreTable.class);
+
     private final FileStoreTable fallback;
 
     public FallbackReadFileStoreTable(FileStoreTable wrapped, FileStoreTable fallback) {
@@ -397,10 +403,17 @@ public RecordReader<InternalRow> createReader(Split split) throws IOException {
             DataSplit dataSplit = (DataSplit) split;
             if (!dataSplit.dataFiles().isEmpty()
                     && dataSplit.dataFiles().get(0).minKey().getFieldCount() > 0) {
-                return fallbackRead.createReader(split);
-            } else {
-                return mainRead.createReader(split);
+                try {
+                    return fallbackRead.createReader(split);
+                } catch (Exception ignored) {
+                    LOG.error(
+                            "Reading from fallback branch has problems for files: {}",
+                            dataSplit.dataFiles().stream()
+                                    .map(DataFileMeta::fileName)
+                                    .collect(Collectors.joining(", ")));
+                }
             }
+            return mainRead.createReader(split);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/paimon-flink/paimon-flink-common/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/flink/BranchSqlITCase.java b/paimon-flink/paimon-flink-common/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/flink/BranchSqlITCase.java
index 7369ee4b2aff..bc886eb83b21 100644
--- a/paimon-flink/paimon-flink-common/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/flink/BranchSqlITCase.java
+++ b/paimon-flink/paimon-flink-common/src/test/java/org/apache/paimon/flink/BranchSqlITCase.java
@@ -311,11 +311,11 @@ public void testFallbackBranchBatchRead() throws Exception {
     public void testCrossPartitionFallbackBranchBatchRead() throws Exception {
         sql(
                 "CREATE TABLE t ( pk INT PRIMARY KEY NOT ENFORCED, name STRING, dt STRING ) PARTITIONED BY (dt) WITH ( 'bucket' = '-1' )");
-        sql(
-                "INSERT INTO t VALUES (1, 'Jack', '20250227'), (1, 'Jackson', '20250227'), (2, 'Sam', '20250228')");
         sql("CALL sys.create_branch('default.t', 'stream')");
         sql("ALTER TABLE t SET ( 'scan.fallback-branch' = 'stream' )");
 
+        sql(
+                "INSERT INTO t VALUES (1, 'Jack', '20250227'), (1, 'Jackson', '20250227'), (2, 'Sam', '20250228')");
         sql(
                 "INSERT INTO `t$branch_stream` VALUES (1, 'John Stream', '20250228'), (3, 'Rick Stream', '20250301')");
         assertThat(collectResult("SELECT pk, name, dt FROM t order by dt"))