El Salto Is In Great Shape!

El Salto is in great shape as we begin the 2007/2008 season here at Anglers Inn. Rain has been bringing the lake up steadily for the past couple of months. Right now the lake is holding at 100 per cent full pool.

This represents a dramatic change compared to conditions we experienced a year ago. Last year the hurricane saw the lake climb some 25-feet in just 24 hours. The result was it scattered the lake's bass population all over the place.

Right now the lake is stable and the fishing has been excellent. Smaller bass and tilapia are tight to the bank and larger fish can often be found moving in to feed on them early in the morning and late in the afternoons. The result is some great topwater action with both surface lures and buzzbaits. Mid-day the bass have been following the schools of shad around and can also be found off the deeper drop offs.

Other top baits since we reopened have been 5 and 6-inch Senkos or Yum Dingers in watermelon or watermelon with red flakes. Anglers have been scoring later in the day by Texas or Carolina Rigging 8-inch Zoom Lizards.

Other good bets have been 4 and 5-inch Storm WildEye Swim Shads in a shad color. When the bass are feeding on shad you need to have these baits in your box. The ever popular Rat-L-Trap is another good bet.

If you want to concentrate on lunkers, fish deep and medium diving crankbaits along the underwater points and creek channel drop offs. Burning Bomber Fat Free Shads in a citrus color have been excellent producers for anglers using this approach. The faster you work your retrieve with these crankbaits, the better.

Following is what some of our clients who have been here since we reopened have to say about their experiences.

Jeff Dugan nailed one of those monsters that have made El Salto famous when he fished El Salto in early October. "I was bouncing a green pumpkin lizard off submerged tree branches in 15-feet of water," Jeff says, "when I hooked a 12-pounder. I was lucky I hooked her up close to the boat or this would have just been another fish tale."

Mike Thurston sums up his recent visit to Anglers Inn this way: "It was a fantastic trip as always---lots of fish along with excellent food and service. El Salto is alive and well. I caught more than 250 bass in three days. Many were quality fish that topped 6-pounds. My best bait was a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm in black with a blue tail."

A Fat Free Shad used with a fast retrieve caught a bunch of fish for David Hudson on his recent visit. "I caught more than 200 bass," David says, "in 3 ½-days. The largest weighed more than 9-pounds."

Jeff and Hunter Daniels, a father and son team, won't forget the last day of their trip to El Salto this fall. "I caught two 8-pound, 15-ounce bass the last afternoon," Jeff says, "by throwing a crankbait off windblown points. We caught a lot of good fish burning crankbaits. Some in our group had better luck with a slow or medium retrieve. It's wise to vary your retrieve speed until you determine what the fish want."

Rich and Paul Thurber had their best success using a Rapala DT-16. "The best color," they say, "was a honey-mustard. We caught more than 40 bass in just one afternoon."

If you watch the fishing shows on television you're likely aware Mark Zona is the host of the "World's Greatest Fishing Show." Mark, along with Pro Bass Fishermen Gerald Swindle and Greg Hackney who are part of the ESPN film crew, visited El Salto recently. Here's Mark's report: "Both the quality and numbers of bass came from deep water. I had an unbelievable number of 4 to 6-pound bass out of the 100 plus fish I caught in three days.

"When you found a school of fish in 20 to 40-feet of water, you could get them on every cast for about an hour. Crankbaits caught the most, but a swimbait used with a slow retrieve caught better quality fish.

"I've been bass fishing in Mexico several times and I've seen many outfitters. Without a doubt, Anglers Inn provides the finest all around service I've experienced. And that's from the minute you get to Mexico, to the minute you leave. Anglers Inn is by far the best in the business. If you've never been bass fishing in Mexico---look no further."

Gerald Swindle caught his largest El Salto bigmouth on his recent visit using a 5-inch Storm WildEye swimbait. "The 8-pound, 2-ounce fish," Gerald says, "bit on a slow retrieve in 18-feet of water. The really big bass are not up good, but fish in the 4 to 7-pound class are biting well. We had good luck burning crankbaits over trees that were 25 to 40-feet deep. A crank and pause retrieve was best in the middle of the day. Another good bet was using Storm swimbaits in the golden mullet color. We let them sink, and then used a slow retrieve."

Greg Hackney also used a fast retrieve with excellent success. "The best tactic was burning a crankbait through submerged trees," Greg says. "The key to getting bites is to vary your retrieve and bang your lure into the trees. Our best colors were shad and white. A swimbait was the best bet for big fish. All of my hits from big fish came that way.

"The first day I lost a monster right at the boat. It would have easily topped 10-pounds. El Salto is an awesome place to fish. Every cast may bring the fish of a lifetime. That big fish I had on will stay with me forever."

That's about the size of it. El Salto continues to do exactly what it has been doing for years--helping visiting anglers return home with a bag limit of treasured bass fishing memories.

Ask somebody who has been here. They're going to tell you you're missing a bet if you don't give yourself a chance to do the same.

Air Temp: 82°-85°F (Early Morning and late evenings) 88°-95°F (Siesta time)

Water Temp: 80°-82°F

Average number of bass per boat per day: 50-70

Largest bass caught: 12 pounds

Popular lures used this week:

1. Bomber Fat Free Shad & Rapala DT16 Crankbaits in deep divers in citrus shad, parrot, fire tiger and white.

2. Eight inch Zoom or 7” Yum Zellamanders Lizards in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue tail, and junebug.

3. Storm WildEye 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in shad and golden mullet colors.

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

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

6. RicoPop in white, white with sparkles and shad.

7. Zara Spook, Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen in clear, chrome with black top and white.

8. Rapala X-Rap or 4 to 5-inch jerkbaits in white, clown, perch and shad.

9. Buzzbaits in ½ & 5/8-ounce in black, white, chartreuse.