El Salto Lake Level Is Low  But Fishing Success Is High

John O’Neill visited Anglers Inn for the first time last October.  Here’s what he had to say about his recent May visit: “My first trip to El Salto was last fall in late October. The lake was full and the land was green.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the lodge recently.  I looked out at the lake that once lay only 200-yards from my cabin, but was now more than a quarter mile away with thousands of trees showing and the water 25-feet down.  My worries of low water affecting the prosperity of our trip were unfounded. As I soon learned, if you want to catch huge fish, this was the time of year to come.

Bassmaster Crew Hammers Bass At Lake El Salto

The good folks who produce Bassmaster Magazine just don’t write about fishing---they get out there and do it! We had several Bassmaster staff members as our guests at Anglers Inn recently. Here’s what they had to say about their Lake El Salto fishing.

James B. Hall, editor of Bassmaster magazine: “With the lake being quite low, I was worried that the fishing might suffer. After leaving our first spot with 17 bass up to 7-pounds after no more than 20 casts, I knew my worries were unfounded. All of those fish were caught on a Fat Free Shad by quickly reeling down a secondary point, then pausing. The most successful day (82 fish in the morning, 31 in the afternoon) of the trip came by way of a 7-inch YUM Zellmander and 10-inch Berkley Power Worm (both watermelon & red flake) pitched and flipped to the base of standing timber in shallow water. Small clumps of trees that featured multiple 2-inch-diameter trees were more fruitful than the large trees for both numbers and size of fish. Regardless of the type of timber fished, dragging a bait through the branches was key to getting strikes.

Post-Spawn Lunkers Smacking Lures At El Salto Lake

The big post-spawn bass are being caught mostly off points, humps, islands and up on the flats. Some bass are suspending.  That’s why Pradco’s Fat Free Shad is starting to catch some really nice fish, especially in the afternoon when the wind picks up.  Other great afternoon wind baits recently have been ¾ to 1 ½-ounce spinnerbaits.

Late February Produces Trophy
Bass For El Salto Anglers

Some of El Salto’s bucketmouths have already spawned and moved to deeper water.  Some are still up on the nest.  That’s why Yum Dingers and Yamamoto Senkos are still the favorite baits early and late. Wacky rigging these effective plastics without a weight and fishing them slow has been the key.  Top colors lately have been watermelon and watermelon with red flakes.   For larger bass, 6 and 7-inch soft plastic jerkbait have been better.  For post-spawn females, the top bait is the Zoom 8-inch watermelon lizard rigged Texas or Carolina Style.