Viva Mexico Report

[Pat Dilling]

Kate and I left Anglers Inn at El Salto yesterday afternoon.  We are currently recovering and relaxing in Mazatlan before flying home this afternoon. I am doing this on my phone, not a great thumb texter so it will be brief. More details later. We had a good trip! Numbers were fewer than I hoped, but had excellent quality. I had five 7 pounders in 3 days, plus a 6.83 on the last morning.  Kate reset her personal best twice with a 5.53, then a 6.65! We caught them on chatterbaits, 10 inch worms, 10Xd and 6XD cranks and Kate caught her big one on a Hula stick Ned rig!. The last morning was overcast and I had a 6.33 on a Chopo.  Kate has already mentioned "next time!"

[Smallie_Stalker]

A couple of piggies there Pat.

You know what they say happy wife, happy life!

Congrats to you both on the catches. Looking forward to more details.

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[big g]

Congrats to both of you.  Looks like you had good weather, and some good bites.

[Mike Cork]

Congrats on a wonderful trip, I'd love to take Laurie down there one day!!! Looking forward to the full report.

[BassmanRudy]

Sounds like a Great trip!

[Pat Dilling]

OK, back home now at my computer.  Fully recovered and tackle resorted for "regular" fishing.  I am fortunate to have been to Mexico 4 times now.  I have fished El Salto 3 times and Picachos twice.  One of the trips was a combo to both lakes.  This was the best trip so far!  Having my wife Kate along was a special bonus.  I have been twice in Feb-Mar, one time in November and now in early May.  I liked this time of year the best.  It's warm, but not hot-hot.  Temps in the morning were in the 60s, highs in the low 90s. We started the day with a sweatshirt, it came off pretty quickly.  The time between 10:30 or so and coming in for lunch around 11:30 was the least comfortable.  Then the daily breeze came up and improved the comfort level and the fishing.  We had lunch and siesta every day from 11:30-2:30 and got an AC fix in our room if we wanted it.  Our fishing numbers were less than I expected or hoped for, the fish had not schooled up on ledges, channels or humps yet as I have been told they typically do. But the quality was pretty amazing.  We fished 3 and a half days, 4 morning sessions, 3 afternoon sessions.  Together we had 5 fish over 7, 3 over six, several over 5 and a few 4s and 3s.  We caught some 2 pounders and under, but not one after another.  Not a lot of fish to just swing in the boat.  Our guide had us fishing mostly steep banks and major rock points.  This suited Kate's fishing ability better than fishing in some of the heavily wooded areas.  I was amazed at his knowledge of the lake, where the hidden points were etc, even though the water level is down and varies.  All this without a topo map or electronics.  The variety of baits that caught quality fish was nice too, 6 lb+ fish came on 10XD cranks, 10" power worms, Jackhammer chatterbait, Berkley Chopo and Kate's on a Z-Man Hula stick on a weedless jig head.  Depth was from the surface down to 15-18 feet.  Water clarity was better on this trip with 3-4 feet available in some places.  The guides all have amazing talents getting snagged lures loose, I lost very little tackle, even though this is a snaggy place.  Great story, I only had one Chart/white chatterbait, our guide Martine knew that.  I hung it up, I thought it was in an old tilapia net, but turns out it was on a flexible limb and would not push loose with the rod.  Next thing I knew, Martine was head and shoulders under the water and managed to get it back!  At the end of the trip, I cut it off and gave it to him.  He rescued it after all! 
In addition to the great fishing, the service at Anglers Inn is spectacular, the food is gourmet level and plenty of it, there is an open bar, they do your laundry every day so you do not need to pack many clothes, more room for tackle! They have their own water purified and bottled so you do not need to worry about Montezuma's revenge. They provide quality St Croix rods for us to use.  Most of the ones we selected still had tags hanging on them, brand new.  We each had 4.  We brought our own reels and fresh line along with baits.  They have some of the most common tackle or sale, mostly soft plastics and a few hard baits. but the price is higher as might be expected.  The guides and staff are top rate.  They have aluminum boats custom made by Triton I think.  They are 18-6, very wide and stable with 60 hp Yamaha 4 strokes.  The guide sits in back with the tiller steer outboard and trolling motor and does all the boat control.  All you have to do is fish. They bring an iced cooler full of drinks of your choice.  Everything is in good shape.  They even provided the requisite COVID test before we left for home at no charge!

This is definitely a bucket list trip, but the trouble is; once you go, you want to go back again!

A few more pictures

[Smallie_Stalker]

Lifetime of memories right there. It's great that you got to share that with the Mrs.

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us!

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