Fishing Even Better As El Salto Water Level Begins Rising

Heavy rains have resulted in a substantial increase of the water level at Lake El Salto.  The lake has risen about 5-feet since our last report.

That’s good news, of course, because water levels had been down for some time.  As the water came up, fishing success has also improved. 

Some of the most productive lures lately have been Storm 4-inch WildEye Swim Shads.  Shad, blue shad, pearl white and golden mullet have been the best colors.  Anglers tell us the best technique with these baits is to retrieve them very slowly.

New vegetation is growing as the lake level comes up and that’s where small baitfish are hanging out.  Anglers using plastic baits like Senkos, Dingers and Flukes have been successful in the morning and evenings fishing in the areas where new vegetation is growing.  Successful Anglers Inn clients have also been throwing dark colored buzzbaits early and late in the day.  Some of the bass taken off the top with these baits have been dandies.

If you’ve been considering a fall trip to El Salto, we want to remind you of the “Pre-Season Special” we have starting Sept. 15.  Two anglers will be able to book for the price of 1 ½ during this special offer.  You can get additional details at the Anglers Inn web site at www.anglersinn.com.

Let’s take a look at some of the reports we’ve had from Anglers Inn clients who were here in recent weeks.

Mark Roberts has visited Anglers Inn several times.  He was here again June.  Here’s what he had to say about his recent visit: “This was my seventh visit to your lodge.  I had never fished El Salto during the summer.  Wow!  The fishing was the same but different. What was the same was an amazing number of huge fish caught but with different techniques than in the fall and early winter. 

“Our guide Herman did an excellent job and let us fish the way we wanted.  If we wanted to throw a worm off a deep bluff or channel we found fish.  Crankbaits or swimbaits on the creek channel caught more big fish.  If we needed just to catch numbers, we fished with a fluke or a blade.  Herman had a number of perfect points.  Some of our biggest fish came on a 5-inch Storm WildEye Swim Shad in a shad color with a chartreuse tail and the Excalibur Fat Free Shad. 

“Our most productive lures for the bigger fish were Lucky Craft LV-500 lipless crankbaits in a natural muted aurora brown, ghost minnow, and chartreuse shad. The lipless crankbaits accounted for the largest number of 8 and 9-pounders. We lost one bass right at the net that was the biggest fish I've seen at El Salto in a number of years.  We fished the creek channel edges just about everywhere. Fish were suspended and chasing shad along these edges.  You could stay in one area and pound fish for hours.  Once again thanks to you and your staff.  We'll be back again.”

Erwin Brown was another June guest.  He says: “Gerry Mueller and I had an unbelievable four days of fishing at Lake El Salto with Carlos as our guide.  We counted boating 348 fish and no doubt missed counting some of the others.  We had many doubles.  The highlight was the number of high quality fish.  We caught two of more than 10-pounds; four of more than 9-pounds and uncountable fish from 5 to 8-pounds.  I estimate that out of the 348 bass at least 75 were quality fish.  Most were caught on 5-inch Senkos, but we also did well with topwater lures as well as silver and blue Rat-L-Traps.  I think that most anything would have worked so we didn't do much changing of baits.”

Gerald Mueller backs up what his fishing partner had to say:  “Thank you from Erwin Brown and myself for a great bass fishing trip at Lake El Salto.  I have fished all over the world, and in my 75 years of fishing (I am now 81 years old)  this trip rates as one of the best I have ever taken.  In four days we caught 348 bass.  Our guess is that 45 to 50 per cent of the fish were 4-pounds or larger. Our largest bass was 10 ½-pounds with many fish in the 7 to 10-pound range. Many of the bass were thinner than normal or their weight would have been higher.   Accommodations at Anglers Inn were excellent as usual and our guide did an exceptionally good job.  I look forward to coming again soon.”

Larry and Sandy Clinton were others who had a great June trip.  Here is what Sandy says about it: “Thanks for going out of your way to make yet another of many trips to El Salto so nice for Larry and me.  Accommodations were more than we expected.  Service was all that we have come to know and love and the people who took care of us were above ‘above average’.  We've had almost all of your guides now and all are efficient, courteous, and know how to help us catch fish.  We have already booked our next trip for January and February and we are excited.  We also have six days booked for the end of May.  Thanks again for making our June trip special.”

Terry Mitchell was another late June guest.  He said: “I want to congratulate you and your staff for such a wonderful trip.  My friend, James Crooks and I caught 443 bass in

3 ½-days.  Our guide was Luis.  He put us on a crankbait pattern in two holes that was unbelievable. We caught the rest of our fish on 10-inch Zoom worms in junebug  and watermelon red colors.  We also made most of our worm catches in just two places. We did not get into the real big fish, but we caught a pile of 5 and 6 pounders. Our largest fish was an 8-pounds, 4-ounces that we caught on a crankbait.  The trip was fabulous.  Your staff is to be commended for their excellent service and good food.  This is quite an operation that you guys have.  We will be calling in a few weeks to book our second trip.”

Air Temp:  80°-84°F (Early Morning and late evenings) 93°-99°F (Siesta time)

Water Temp: 79°-84°F

Average number of bass per boat per day: 70-100

Largest bass caught:  10-pounds

Popular lures used this week:

1. Storm WildEye  4” Swim Shads in mullet, golden mullet, white & white with chartreuse back.

2. Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5, 6 & 7-inch Stinkos in        watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue flake, red shad and white & chartreuse.

3. Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back.

 4.  Eight inch Zoom or Yum Lizards and 10-inch Berkley Powerworms in black with blue tail, watermelon, watermelon red flake and junebug.

5. Buzzbaits in ½ & 5/8-ounce in black, black with blue and white.

6. Bomber Fat Free Shad & Rapala DT10, DT14 &DT16 Crankbaits in citrus shad, fire tiger, white. (Important key is an orange belly)

7. Spinnerbaits in ½ to 1-ounce in white, white & chartreuse, chartreuse and shad. Both silver and gold willow blades have been successful.

8. Zara Spook in chrome with black top.

9. RicoPop in white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad.