Happy Thanksgiving! From my family to yours, we hope you enjoy your holiday with your family or wherever you happen to be.
We're thankful this year that people are catching good fish at Lake El Salto, the premier trophy bass lake in the world, and Lake Mateos, the hottest numbers lake in Mexico. The water level is slightly below normal at El Salto, but just about right at Mateos.
Floridians Carl P. and his son Carl J. Hochrein took full advantage of what Anglers Inn International has to offer. After averaging more than 80 bass per day up to 7 pounds at Lake Mateos, Carl P. caught his first sailfish and Carl J. caught his first roosterfish off Mazatlan. They also caught many dolphin, snapper up to 15 pounds, jacks and other fish before heading inland to challenge the trophy largemouths in Lake El Salto. The lake delivered! The younger Carl struck first, catching a personal best 9.5-pounder on a Strike King Rage-Tail Shad burned across the surface. Not to be outdone, the father demonstrated how experience can overcome youth. He landed a 10-pounder the following day on a bleeding shad Lobina Rico popper thrown on a medium-light spinning rod. For more on the Hochreins' adventure in their own words, see the sidebar below.
"My son's fish won the biggest bass of the day award and I think that he is still smiling," Carl P. said. "My 10-pounder was not my biggest bass ever, but on light tackle it was a really great trophy. The best part was that I beat my son as we are highly competitive when we fish together."
Gerald Davenport is surely another thankful person this year. He had a heart valve replacement operation in September, but decided to visit Anglers Inn El Salto for the holiday. It's his first time to fish the lake in his 77 years, but I think he'll be back. Before coming to El Salto, Gerald never caught a bass bigger than 8 pounds. Right off, he caught a 7-pound, 14-ounce bucketmouth and followed up with his personal best, an 8-pound, 4-ouncer the following day. Both lunkers hit topwater baits.
"I don't know how I will be able to describe this to people back home," Gerald said. "It's even better than Kirby (his nephew) said it was."
Noted outdoor writer Robert Montgomery caught his share of trophy bass over the years, but this year decided to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with us at Anglers Inn El Salto. Robert, a senior writer for ESPN/BASS Publications, wrote Better Bass Fishing. In it, he lists Anglers Inn at Lake El Salto as his favorite bass fishing destination in the world and might add another chapter to the legend of El Salto now.
Fishing started slow in the morning, but picked up in the afternoon, Robert reported. Each boat caught about 20 to 30 fish, mostly on black and blue worms or watermelon lizards. Then, on the afternoon before Thanksgiving, the anglers found great action with Yellow Magic and Storm Chub Bug topwater baits.
"Before this afternoon, we were struggling to catch fish, although Gerald did manage to get the 7-pound, 14-ounce bass on a topwater," Robert said. "We weren't having any luck patterning the fish. Everyone was catching a fish here and there, but the bass weren't concentrated anywhere. Then, we saw bass crashing tilapia off windy points and the topwater bite turned awesome. Our boat caught about 50 fish the day before Thanksgiving."
That same day, Gerald Davenport caught his big fish on a popper and Wiley Hatcher landed an 8-pounder on a lizard. The fish held on shallow points where they pinned tilapia to the banks. Toss topwaters toward the shorelines and twitch them a couple times, pausing occasionally to let the ripples fade.
"Bass were extremely aggressive and would chase our baits if they missed the first time," Robert said. "I had one 6-pounder flush my bait three times before I finally hooked her. Norm Klayman and I caught 25 bass on top during the last 90 minutes of the day. We had an 8, a 7, as well as several 6s and 5s."
Early in the morning, throw topwaters near the shorelines or flick 5-inch white flukes over the grass beds. Later in the morning, look for bass in about 15 to 20 feet of water. Drag watermelon lizards or black and blue worms, either fished Texas-rigged or Carolina style, over the bottom. Also toss a 1/2-ounce chrome and blue Rat-L-Trap toward the shoreline in about six to eight feet of water and work it out toward the depths. Keep a shad-colored Lucky Craft Sammie walking bait handy to toss at schooling bass.
Also join us for our next Amazon adventure. I'll personally escort a group to the peacock paradise of the Amazon Basin on Jan. 27, 2010. We'll stay aboard the 95-foot luxury yacht Captain Peacock. Joe Thomas, a top bass pro and TV personality will join me and I hope you will also. I'd love to see you catch a monster peacock while Joe films it.
Anglers Inn International also operates a lodge at Lake Aguamilpa, duck and dove hunting operations and saltwater fishing. Out of Mazatlan, the staff at Anglers Inn International can organize light-tackle and bluewater saltwater excursions into the Sea of Cortez. Guests may select the "cast and blast" option to combine hunting and fishing on their next adventure.
Anglers Inn International also serves as the exclusive Sportsman's Club for the Pueblo Bonito properties, a company that operates a chain of 5-star resorts in western Mexico. Pueblo Bonito gives guests booking with Anglers Inn International a considerable discount for their adventures on the sportsman's paradise along the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
For booking trips or more information on any Anglers Inn International operation, call 800-GOTA-FISH, (468-2347). On line, see www.anglersinn.com.
Father-son duo experiences salt and sweet adventure, land trophies
Lake Mateos
My son and I fished with Anglers Inn Lake Mateos for four days in November and averaged more than 80 bass per day up to 7 pounds. The topwater and spinnerbait bite was fantastic. Our guide, Sean, was great and he quickly got use to us throwing Rico poppers on our medium-light spinning rods, even though I'm sure that he thought that we were loco.
While we lost a few bigger fish, overall, we landed most of our strikes and had a great time. The Anglers Inn Lake Mateos staff was great; Ramon was exceptional! The airlines had lost both of our checked bags, which contained all of our lures and clothes. Upon our arrival, Ramon put together a tackle box that enabled us to go fishing right away. He also stayed in contact with the airlines and on the morning of our second day, while we were out fishing, Ramon made the trip to Culiacn to get our bags. Happiness was getting our tackle and fresh clothes. Many thanks, Ramon!
saltwater action
Then it was off to Mazatlan for three days of inshore and offshore fishing. I caught my first sailfish and my son caught his first roosterfish. We also caught dorado (dolphin or mahi, mahi), lots of jacks and many types of snapper. Several red snapper topped 15 pounds. Mario from Angers Inn was great as he picked us up every morning and made sure that we got to and from the different marinas on time and with our drinks and box lunches.
Lake el salto
Next, it was off to Lake El Salto for three days of bass fishing. That second morning, my son decided to try something different, so he tied on a Strike King Rage-Tail Shad and started burning it across the top of the water. What a commotion that lure made! It wasn't long before he started catching 4- to 5-pound bass.
As the morning moved along, we were fishing in a large canyon with many fingers and small pockets. My son made at least three casts to this one pocket with no strikes. He tried one more cast and all I heard was a massive explosion. I turned around to see him fighting what appeared to be a really big bass. We had no idea how big it really was -- until it made its first jump! The bass was every bit of 9 or 10 pounds. Well, a few anxious minutes later, the bass was safely in the net. It weighed 9.5 pounds; my son's best bass ever.
To say that he was excited would be a gross understatement. We took some quick pictures, did some high fives and returned the bass back to the lake. My son won the biggest bass of the day award and I think that he is still smiling.
The next morning it was my turn. Still fishing with the medium-light spinning outfit and a Rico bleeding shad popper, we heard and then saw a big fish actively chasing baitfish onto the shore way back in a cove. I made a really long cast that landed maybe a foot from shore. Before I could even close the bail, the fished exploded on the lure, but I never had a chance to set the hook.
Disappointed but still determined, I made another cast to the same spot, only this time I closed the bail just before the lure hit the water. The lure landed and nothing happened, so I twitched the lure once, paused a few seconds and then popped it very aggressively. The resulting explosion was incredible and I made sure that I felt the fish before setting the hook.
Now all I had to do was get the bass past a half-dozen trees and pray that the 10-pound-test fluorocarbon leader and the 15-pound-test PowerPro line didn't break. The giant bass made several strong runs under the boat. With my long light spinning rod, it was all I could do to get the fish under control and to the net. The bass weighed in at 10 pounds, the largest fish caught that day at the lodge. Not my biggest bass ever, but on light tackle, this 10-pounder was a really great trophy. The best part was that I beat my son as we are highly competitive when we fish together!
Fishing with my son and catching lots of bass, including several trophy-sized fish, made this a great trip and one that we will both remember for a long time. We look forward to our next opportunity to do it all over again. My son vows to catch the biggest bass next time. Many thanks to all the Anglers Inn International staff at both lakes. They made this trip very enjoyable. -- Carl J. & Carl P. Hochrein