Reply With QuoteAhhhh, El Salto. The trip of a lifetime. The huge bass! The big numbers of bass with dozens over 5 pounds. Yes, it's true. I made my first and only visit to Lake El Salto in July 2005. My friend, it's the real deal!!!
May-July are great times to go (It's hot but the water is low and the big fish stack up and congregate in deeper water). My dad has had some good trips in February and November as well. Check out www.anglersinn.com for great info. Agler's Inn is where we stayed. It is a fantastic lodge and they treat you like royalty, no kidding. Here is a brief on my trip last year...
My flight left Nashville (I traveled with my brother and he lives in Nashville). We connected in Houston and arrived in Mazatlan Mexico. The travel experience south of the border was great. We were greeted my Angler's Inn staff in Mazatlan and traveled in an A/C van for about 2 hours with cold drinks on paved roads. Very comfortable.
We arrived at the lodge and were proptly greeted with nachos and margarittas. Angler's Inn staff members were all super helpful and friendly. They do nearly everything for you. All you have to do is fish, eat and sleep. The hospitality, service and food are all grade A. They will also do laundry for you daily if you want. Now to the fishing part...
I read the reports at anglersinn.com leading up to the trip. They don't update often so it was tough to know what to take. I ended up using about 5% of the baits I packed with me. 10" power worms, 8" watermelon lizards/brush hogs, 3/4 oz Rat L Traps and 1/2 oz. blk/blue jigs caught them best for me. Other guys were catching good quality and quantity on other baits as well (Big swimbaits, huge Banjo minnows, spinnerbaits, spooks, senkos, etc)...
Day 1: Put an 8 pounder in the boat in the first 2 hours of fishing. My brother and I combined for 40 before gong in for lunch. My dad and I partnered up after lunch. We got on an amazing Rat L Trap bite in the jumps right off the bat. We had several 3-4 pounders and I boated the largest bass of my life, an 11.2. That evening we used lizards and caught fish every other cast for about 2 hours. Dad and I caught 60 that afternoon. That's 100 total for Day 1. This number could have been much higher. I probably caught 75 or 80 of those 100. My partners on this trip don't fish much at all.
Day 2: Got out early and caught my first 8 or so on a Pop R, biggest was 6 pounds. Cloudy skies made for a good morning bite. I had 4 fish over 6 pounds, 2 over 7 and 2 over 8. Most of these came on Power worms in 20-25 ft of water. I think we had 60+ on Day 2.
Day 3: More of the same. The numbers on Day 3 were not as good but I had 2 fish at 9 pounds.
Again, I think the size and numbers could have been even better. The 5 guys I fished with were not really bass fisherman. This being said, all six of us caught at least one fish over 8 pounds. My brother and I both broke the 10 pound mark. My 11.2 was not the largest of the 3 days at the lodge (another guy had an 11.5). At least 2-3 bass over 10 pounds were caught every day by on of the 18 or so lodge guests.
Yes, El Salto is for real. I'm not saying every trip is going to be amazing. After all, it's fishing, right? My dad has had some trips to El Salto that have been fair. Maybe catching 1 or 2 in the 7 pound range but nothing spectacular. As for my trip last July, it was absolutely the trip of a lifetime. Not a week goes by that I don't think about it and just shake my head in awe. After 3 days of that action my torso and ribs were bruised and tender from fishing fish and setting the hook. It's heaven on earth for the hardcore bass fisherman.
