Captain John Grabowski and Jim Sleight of the All Outdoors Radio Network brought a group of 22 anglers to Anglers Inn recently. Here’s what Captain John had to say about their trip: “Our group was comprised of mostly tournament bass fisherman from San Diego, however we had a few guys from as far away as Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our good friend and repeat Anglers Inn customer, Bob Brower, came from Chattanooga and fished six straight days. He was rewarded with the biggest bass of the week for our group. He caught a 9.8-pound beauty on a Rapala X-Rap late in the day on his final day of fishing.
“Anglers Inn at Lake El Salto is one of our favorite destinations to visit and fish each season and this year was no exception. From the accommodations and staff at the resort to the guides in the boats and the ground transportation coming and going to Mazatlan things are "World Class" at Lake El Salto.
“We come down each year as the All Outdoors Radio Network Group (www.alloutdoorsradio.com) to fish a four day tournament. In the tournament we fish a two man team format looking for the largest one fish each day and the top five fish combined team bag per day.
“We have had heavier weights and more consistent fishing on big fish in past years, but as I said it was a tournament format and these guy's are tournament fisherman and everyone adapted to the conditions of the lake very well.
“During our four day tournament the heaviest five fish weight came on day two from Jay Malkoff and Mike Randell who had 25.13-pounds with a 9.04-kicker. The heaviest four day total was compiled by Byron Frankenberger and Gary Howard whose four day total of 20 fish came to 67.06-pounds.
“The group as a whole in the four days caught 14 fish from 6-pounds to 9.8-pounds and there was another handful in the 5-pound category. The majority of the fish we found where 1.5-pounds to 3-pounds. You could basically catch that grade of fish all day long working deep banks and long points with Wacky Rigged Senkos.
“The best bait for the bigger fish seemed to be either a 3-inch or 4-inch Swimbait in a shad color or a Carolina Rigged watermelon red flake lizard fished in 18 to 25-feet of water. Most big fish came from up in the flats in the river. We also found a topwater bite each morning for an hour or so and the best bait was the Rico Pop in black & silver.
“We would like to thank Mustad & Sons USA for sponsoring our tournament and supplying each team with the digital scales that we used to weigh our five fish limits each day. This was a big help to keep each team on a level playing field and successfully fish a catch and release tournament.
“Thanks again to the entire staff of Anglers Inn for the opportunity to come down and fish our tournament at Lake El Salto. We will see you all next year.”
Bob Brower was one of the anglers who was in the All Outdoor Radio Network group. Here’s his report of his recent El Salto Lake visit: “Overall fishing was tough for the six days I recently spent on Lake El Salto. The first day John Grabowski and I fished together. We caught 25 fish with three weighing over 3-pounds. Many were under 1.5-pounds and were caught with 5-inch Senkos rigged Wacky Style and cast next to the shore. I also caught two that day on a silver Rat-L-Trap. The remainder of that day most fish came on Texas Rigged Zoom 8-inch Magnum Lizards in watermelon & chartreuse and watermelon & red flake.
“Day two to five of my fishing were with Joe Aldredge from San Diego. We fished the tournament with John Grabowski's All Outdoors Radio Network group. We had daily totals of 17 to 45 fish with our largest weighing 3.5-pounds.
“Beginning on Wednesday we seemed to get on a color pattern of purple and brown. While Joe was busy catching fish with a Chatterbait rigged with a brown & purple stripe worm, I was getting some fish with a peanut butter and jelly 8-inch Zoom Magnum Lizard. The purple & brown pattern continued for the remainder of my fishing.
“During the tournament, we had five fish weight totals of 10 to 12.5-pounds and that’s light by El Salto standards. There would be no payout for Joe and I this time to follow up on our record 138-pounds, 5-ounce 20 fish total for four days of fishing last year.
“Friday was by far my best day of fishing. It started off with my first topwater fish of the week. A chartreuse & white Rico did the trick on a 5.04-pound fish. After a steady morning catching fish to 5.5-pounds on Wacky Rigged Senkos and Texas Rigged lizards, I caught my big fish for the trip. It was a 9-pound, 8-ouncer. I caught it on a Rapala X-Rap purple & gold jerk bait.
“That day my five fish sack held 9, 8.5, 6.5.4, 4.6 and 3.5-pound bass for a total five fish weight of 27-pounds, 13 ounces. That’s a nice sack by any measure. All of the fish were weighed on my Mustad scale.
“My guide Martin was excellent. He was more disappointed with the tough fishing than I was and that is a true testament to the dedication of your dedicated staff. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at your lodge. The service, food, drinks and transportation were all first class. Thank you once again for a memorable adventure!”
Gary McNeil was another repeat angler and here is what he had to say about his recent trip. “Tuesday, our first day, was slower than hoped and we chose to blame the absolutely beautiful “blue bird day” in lieu of our need to sharpen our fishing skills. The largest fish between our two boats were two 3-pounders out of the 21 fish caught. Wednesday’s catch was better with a total of 55 fish. The largest was my 7.25 pounder caught on a Rat-L-Trap. We attributed the increase in numbers and size to our renewed fishing skills instead of the partially overcast conditions.
“Our third day started off with the greatest promise yet with plenty of topwater action. Due to our schedule, we only had time to fish for three hours that last morning, but we still boated in excess of 30 fish. The largest was a 5.25 pounder that I caught on a top water Pop-R.
“We again attributed the fast and furious action to our by now finely tuned fishing skills and not to the completely overcast conditions. It was hard to head the boats back in by 9 a.m. knowing that we were on track to claim “camp bragging rights” for Thursday.” Gary’s fishing partner, Mike Whitman landed some nice bass as well, along with this monster Tilapia.
Mike Ishikawa has been a guest at Anglers Inn several times.
Here’s his account of his most recent visit: “As you know, Chuck Aedo was well enough to visit El Salto again with me in December. We were both disappointed about the high water situation, but were both very happy to visit El Salto again. The service from all your staff was fabulous as always.
“We started out our first day on Monday by fishing the area beyond the canyon to the left side. We threw everything in our arsenal but the topwater bite was nonexistent and the fishing was very inconsistent. We ended up with only 24 fish and nothing over 3-pounds. On Tuesday we fished in the lower section of the river channel. The fishing picked up and in the morning we managed to hook about 26 bass. In the afternoon we fished a cove in the river channel, and were lucky enough to catch two 7-pounders and a 6-pounder on large Texas Rigged watermelon Senkos and chartreuse Swimbaits.
“On Wednesday we decided to stay away from inside the canyon and fish the river channel area. The morning started with a good bite on the Wacky Rigged Senkos fished shallow along the shore. In mid-morning we fished Swimbaits, lizards and Senkos and ended up 17 fish. The afternoon started with an 8.5-pounder in the same area and caught on a large watermelon Senko. We ended the day fishing in the same area, with Rat-L-Traps and Swimbaits working for another 16 fish. Thursday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday with a 7-pounder and a count of 36 fish for the day.
“On Friday, Chuck was not feeling well so he decided to stay put and rest. I was introduced to a bass fisherman that came all the way from Fukuoka, Japan. His name was Yuji, and he told me that it has always been his dream to fish El Salto.
“Since Chuck was not fishing, I invited Yuji to fish with me. Yuji brought enough tackle to stock the shelves at your tackle shop. Daniel said we would start fishing where I had caught my 8.5-pounder and Yuji was very excited. Yuji started throwing some topwater lures and fancy jerkbaits but had nothing to show for his efforts. Daniel told me to tell Yuji to use a Texas Rigged lure. He started with a small Senko, and was happy when he caught several smaller bass. He later tied on a Japanese version of a Swimbait. He threw the lure several times, and on his eighth cast, we saw him swing very hard on a fish. A wide smile appeared on his face, and we knew he was hooked into a large bass. Daniel quickly netted his fish and on Yuji's digital scale it weighed 6-pounds, 13-ounces. He said it was his fish of a lifetime.
“On behalf of Chuck, and myself, please thank everyone on your staff for the attentive service they provide for all guests at El Salto. We will be back!”
1. Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5, 6 & 7-inch Stinkos in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue flake, and white & chartreuse.
2. Storm WildEye 3, 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in pearl white, golden mullet, shad and fire tiger.
3. Eight inch Zoom or Yum Lizards and 10-inch Berkley Powerworms in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue tail, blue flake,
4. Rapala X-Rap or 4 to 5-inch jerkbaits in white, clown, perch and shad.
5. Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back.
6. Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbaits in citrus shad, fire tiger and white.
7. Rico Pop R in white, white with sparkles and silver & black.
8. Zara Spook, Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen in clear, chrome with black top and white
9. Buzzbaits in ½ & 5/8-ounce in black, black with blue, white, chartreuse.
Fishing Reports 
