Happy New Year!
It’s a brand New Year and the bass are still biting at El Salto Lake!

Recently most bass have moved into the shallows.  Some of the best catches have been made close to the shoreline.  The topwater bite is still good, but lately soft jerkbaits have been even better.  Yum Dingers, Kinami Flashes and Yamamoto Senkos in a watermelon color have been producing numbers of fish.  Rigging these baits wacky style and fishing them tight to the bank has been especially effective.  Submerged trees are also a good bet.

We predicted El Salto Lake fall fishing was going to be good and by golly it has been! Just ask some of the anglers who’ve been here recently.

Chuck Aedo of California caught an 11½-pounder and 13½-pounder on his late October trip. Chuck got those beauties on a Brush Hog by pulling it through submerged trees next to the bank. Chuck’s 13½-pounder was the largest bass caught during the last two weeks in October. Chuck nailed his whopper in the morning. He also did well fishing 5-inch swimbaits in the channels and around the drop-offs.

Best tournament weight ever?  There were four participants in our recent El Salto Lake Monster Bass Tournament.  All contestants weighed in their five biggest bass for the four days of the event.  Would you believe the winner wound up with a total weight of 122 pounds!

That’s exactly what Les Melton, of West Virginia, accomplished here this past week.  Melton’s total surpassed the all-time 4-day B.A.S.S. tournament record.  Most of his fish were caught on 5 and 7-inch Senkos or Dingers fished wacky style.  We had four professional judges for the contest. One of our judges was James Hall, the editor of Bassmaster Magazine.