El Salto Fishing Report

Stacy S. Twiggs

As always, high water or low water, El Salto was more than generous with size and numbers.  We embarked on a week of fishing on this majestic fishery and despite our effort to gently pace our rib cages from massive bruises, it once again proved to be an exercise in futility.  Just imagine bowing up on hundreds of fish over 4 lbs., multiplied by horsing ‘em out of standing timber, divided by break-offs then factor in a multiplier of numerous 8, 9 and 10 pound bass and you have the formula what our pirate friend Jack Sparrow would call “leverage.” For those of you who’ve never been, the leverage is your rib cage and when you leave El Salto if your rib cage doesn’t look like you just crawled out of the ring from a fight with Mike Tyson, you simply haven’t experienced the true meaning of life!  

Our morning patterns for this summer trip found us tightly fishing against sheer bluff and rocky banks.  Fish were slamming baitfish against the canyon walls or crushing them so hard that they went flying 4-5 feet high onto the rocky banks.  The tasty morsel floundering on the bank desperately trying flop back to the refuge of water gave new meaning to “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Within seconds of finding a false sense of relief, a giant swirl rolls and then complete calm settles back over the still water and the baitfish now understood its purpose in life – albeit a short life.  These conditions set the stage for a vicious topwater bite that would rip rod, reel, hand, arm and shoulder to the brink of obliteration if you could cast lure right against the banks before the sun crested the horizon. Rico’s and White Lucky Craft 100 MR Suspending Pointers. The timeline was short, but if you caught the early topwater bite you reaped a huge payoff!

Are you ready for some big fish? How does about 6,000 pounds of bass sound!  Before we talk about all those fish, we need to take a serious look at your gear before you can even think about the kind of success we experience on this once in a lifetime trip.  When you go down there, you need to be well prepared!  Simply stated, you must go with reliable equipment.  If you’re going with pistol grips you’ll get your wrist broken (seriously!) and if you go with old fashioned reels, the gears will strip on your first El Salto heartbreaker (seriously!). The fish in El Salto are freakishly strong and they will wreck you and your gear quicker than a dozer blade.  Don’t try to make this trip without Super Glue, but remember the glue isn’t for your gear, it’s to serve in lieu of emergency room stitches for your finger cuts and to glue your eyelids open so you can keep fishing!

You need turbo charged reels powerful enough to land fish in the badlands or in this case the badwaters. I’ve never been happier to own Shimano Chronarch 100B lightweight aluminum frame low profile baitcast reels. A weighty rod and reel combo will rip apart your forearm and joints after 5 days of fishing anywhere, much less El Salto. Shimano is famous for instant anti-reverse for faultless hook-sets, perfectly efficient gearing and audible clicking drag adjustment so you’re always in tune with your mechanics without taking your eyes off the action.    

In my opinion and aside from the obvious hook and line, the rod you’re using is the most valuable tool you have in your arsenal.  The rod is the balance of everything you’re doing.  The link between playing a fish properly or loosing the fish of your dreams.  If your rod is sensitive enough it literally tunes you in to every detail of the underwater landscape.  You’ll detect every rock, tree, ledge, hump and sniff of the bait.  If you have the right rod, it can tell you things that your electronics won’t and mean the difference between the ultimate fishing trip or just another day on the lake.

Keep in mind that I pay for my gear so I’m extremely picky and frugal.  I take no chances with my rod selection and look for value in everything I buy whether I’m spending a little or a lot - show me a serious fisherman who isn’t?  Kistler Rods give me the most mileage from my dollar with the absolute best rods in the industry and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

During this trip I primarily used a Helium 2 LTX 7' Heavy Fast Action Fishing Rod.  This rod was the perfect match for the fish we were pursuing. There’s not a bass that a Kistler Rod won’t handle. When you read the rest of the report below you’ll know exactly why.  With this rod I could Texas rig, Carolina rig, pitch a jig and slow roll those big spinnerbaits that El Salto has become famous for. For starters, Kistler has an exclusive "Sure Grip" wrapping over graphite, non-slip material and a counter balance weight pre-fabricated into the bottom of the handle. If you hate popped out rings like I do, Kistler has stainless steel ring lock guides with copper zirnonia rings, yes zirnonia, not zirconium. Finally, this is a one piece rod with an 11” handle perfectly designed to apply that all important Jack Sparrow leverage to those monster bass digging with every tail kick for heavy cover.

By now you certainly know that my rod and reel combination mean a lot to me, but my guide Lorenzo was too cool for the motor pool folks.  When I left Salto I couldn’t thank him enough.  Yes, I provided him with a very generous and well deserved tip, but he deserved something more personalized.  Despite my emotional attachment to those Kistler Rods, I promised him that I’d give him one of my custom Kistler Rods, more on that later, let’s get to “En la búsqueda del lobina grande!” – In pursuit of the giant largemouth bass!

If you moved with the fish, it was easy pick’ens.  The next logical ambush point led us to tress closest to the banks or bluffs.  The fish would suspend at the tops of the trees and as the sun crept toward the afternoon sky the fish would gradually move down in the water column to the more comfortable surroundings of cooler water.  Presentations had to be slow and deliberate, but in most cases if you cast to the same spot numerous times, you could cull the smaller more aggressive fish and continue to catch larger bass from the same haunt.  

Over our five days we caught hundreds of fish between 2 – 10.6 lbs caught on ¾-1 oz. Berkley and Jewel watermelon jigs accompanied with just about any trailer. I personally had my best luck with the new Strike King Rage Tail Craw and the YUM 3-1/2” Wounded Pumpkin Chunk Trailer. The old standby 6”, 7” and jumbo Senkos produced fish all day.  We fished Senkos on 5/16-1/2 oz. Texas rigs, weightless Texas rigs and wacky style catching countless fish on any presentation we tried.  The bigger the bait, the bigger our fish.  On several occasions the non-stop action made me consider appealing to Billy and Chappy for permanent placement of emergency oxygen on these boats. 

By afternoon the conditions change dramatically. This time of year in the desert your afternoon patterns vary greatly with the wind.  Depending on how much you had to eat and drink at lunch coupled with how long your siesta was or wasn’t - greatly influences your approach to the afternoon bite as well.  Waking up from our siesta we were greeted with the familiar blow torch wind.  If you haven’t been there, it’s actually quite nice, there’s not a hint of humidity, just dry heat. To enjoy your trip completely, be sensible and judiciously use sunscreen.

We had several coves that would produce 30-45 minutes of nearly back-to-back hook-ups on every cast.  These coves were situated where the wind would blow baitfish into the center of the cove in addition to holding healthy populations of tilapia.  We made long casts down the center of the coves, essentially swimming our crankbaits through the channels and bouncing them off of standing timber.  We fished Citrus Fat Free Shad crankbaits and Lucky Craft Flat CB DR-12 or DR 3” ½ & ¾ oz. Aurora Black and Chartreuse/Light Blue.  We caught countless 4-7 lb. bass and several up to 8 lbs over the 5 days.

The harder the wind blew, the more we found fish positioning themselves on points and banks as the wind created mud lines and wind current. We deliberately stayed in the wind blow areas and picked-up fish on steep points, timber lined creek channels or flats next to deep water and channels.

While most quality fish were all relatively deep, we caught large numbers of fish shallow and near the banks. Our best fishing unquestionably came alongside of standing timber (and sometimes inside of hollowed out timber) in 20-30’ of water. In just 4 hours of fishing my partner Jim Holcomb and I boated fish between 1-9 lbs. on ½ oz. Texas Rigged Senkos, 7” Watermelon/Red Zellamanders, Watermelon Red Lake Fork Craws and black/blue or watermelon ¾ oz. jigs.  Our terminal tackle selection consisted of 25# XPS Fluorocarbon line or 65lb Power Pro braid, 5/0 Owner Off-Set Wide Gap hooks and 5/0 Gamakatsu SuperLine Offset XWide Gap Hooks.

As the wind died down at dusk, we actually moved well off shore to a long expansive and gradually sloping flat.  Although we were more than 300-yards off-shore we sat in approximately 7’ of water and cast to water between 2-7-foot.  We fished with Carolina rigged flukes and just about any other plastic and caught fish after fish, doubling up on every cast. The same areas were fantastic to catch fish on ¾ oz. chrome/black or chrome/blue Rat-L-Traps, but at the rate we were catching them, one hook was so much easier to remove than 3-6 hooks so common sense prevailed.

I fished each day on Lorenzo’s boat.  After being blessed to fish with many stellar guides, I must say that Lorenzo is one of the best.  All the Anglers Inn guides are great and I’ve fished with many, including Javier, Armando, Antonio, Pepe and even Chappy to name just a few, but Lorenzo’s personality alone kept me entertained with each passing day.  As a matter of fact, I even asked Chappy to send Lorenzo to Florida so that I could reverse the roll; be his guide and take him fishing in the United States!  On every day but one, Lorenzo led us to more than 50 fish per set, equally more than 100 per day.  On only one day did we have less than a total of 70.  Unfortunately that was the day my brother and I fished together, but we had more fun than words can describe and we shared a day we’ll never forget. Sometimes fishing is secondary to moments like that shared with your brother, even on Lake El Salto.

What a run it was!! Our group, the El Salto Posse’ had another amazing visit.  The success of a vacation like this is the result of a lot of hard work by the staff of Anglers Inn.  Although you’re focused on fishing the Anglers Inn staff and the Chapman family are focused on your total adventure and world class service. Jose, Tony, Armando, Sammy and all the lodge staff will do everything under the sun to ensure you enjoy hospitality that makes every other vacation destination look deplorable and inadequate.

Three of the most enchanting words we heard with every waking morning were from our new friend Lupita.  Each morning she’d bring us our coffee and say, “It’s Fishing Time!”  Although we love Armando and Sammy too, their voice simply didn’t carry the same adorability as Lupita’s delightful morning greeting. When she took a couple of well deserved days off a group of six men ran around like a bunch of mother hen’s to make sure everything was okay with Lupita.  Thanks to Lupita, the Posse’ has added a new tag line to all our calls, emails and greetings – It’s Fishing Time!  

Angler’s Inn Lodge is a testimony to vision, dedication and leadership.  If you find the time, reward yourself with the closest thing to heaven on earth - you will forever cherish the memories you make.  On behalf of the Posse’, we look forward to our next excursion to Salto or Mateos.  With my deepest and most sincere appreciation ― thanks for the tireless hours devoted to customer satisfaction and for making a sport like fishing a life changing experience for everyone who visits Angler’s Inn. Lastly, thanks for always extending unparalleled courtesy to me and my guests - you should know that you’ve enriched the lives of many, especially mine.

It’s Fishing Time!

Stacy S. Twiggs

June 9, 2008