Lake El Salto

[MadWags]

Just returned from Lake El Salto. Fished with my son Evan, my nephew Jason (Jay-MadWags), my brother-in-law and my friend from Wisconsin. We fished two days in a row with some varied results. Everybody caught some big fish. Jason had the best trip as he was able to fish with the famous Hono Elizalde both days. I will post picts and story later in the week. Here is a taste.

This is my son Evan with an El Salto Grande (Big Fish) caught on a Grandt Stealth 6'6" Medium Light action spinning rod. This is the only rod he fished with the entire trip. The Stealth had the back bone to pull these monsters from the trees. The fish took a Nemesis Green Pumpkin with Red Flake stick bait rigged Wacky style on 17lb test mono.

[t-bone]

Awesome picture - congratulations to your son, great fish.
Keep the pictures coming - they'll help get us thru this fricken cold weather!

[Cheetam]

Wow!  How big was that thing?!

[Fishmael]

Great fish.  I would have to say it makes my cabin fever worse!

[djkimmel]

Have you checked out the new Mexico Bass Fishing section here yet? That will really give the cabin fever a solid smack (not saying in which direction! ).

[MadWags]

The fish my son is holding is in the 9.5lb range. The biggest of the week was 12.5lb caught by Jason on a Grandt All American C10 Casting Rod, 17lb test throwing a 10" Berkley Power Worm in Black with Blue tail. Althought the top water bite was off, Jason managed several 9+lb monsters on a popper. Several large fish were lost to the trees. They are growing corn now, which requires more water to irrigate, thus the water levels are substantially lower than when I was there the same time 4 years ago. Having no rain since early December doesn't help either.






Notice the shoreline in the background. The water was down 12-15ft on average.

[MadWags]

[MadWags]

Pop Pop Pop Pop Wooooosh!!!!!

Jason's popper in the grave yard just before he caught "Pedro". The 9lb plus bass that lives there was nice enough to play in the morning of the second day on the lake. He was given the name "Pedro" by the amazing Hono Elizalde.

[MadWags]

Your typical El Salto Commercial Talapia fisherman in his office. 10 days of every month they fish the lake with their nets. The guy gave me a dirty look when I took his picture... or maybe he was smiling, I don't know.

[MadWags]

This guy made sooooo much darn racket with his "eeeee aaawww" I had to take his picture.

[Durand Dan]

Pop Pop Pop Pop Wooooosh!!!!!

Jason's popper in the grave yard just before he caught "Pedro". The 9lb plus bass that lives there was nice enough to play in the morning of the second day on the lake. He was given the name "Pedro" by the amazing Hono Elizalde.

Nothing like a good graveyard bite!!!

[djkimmel]

I think the sun was just in the eyes of that commercial fisherman. All of the ones we talked to (well tried to as much as the language barrier allowed) seemed friendly.

[MadWags]

This is Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay where my time share is. The resort is approx. 90 minutes from Elsalto.



Our Presidential suite was on the ground floor. This is the view from our Patio.



This is the Gang on this trip.



This is our transportation to and fom El Salto.



Here we are at Hono's resort having breakfast before we head to the lake.



Morning on Elsalto.



Some of Jason's fish.







Relocating to another spot.



One of the many bluffs we fished.



Some of the free ranging cattle.



Hey fish!



Wild Horses couldn't drag me away......



If you look closely you can see the one liter pop bottles that support the net going across the lake. At each bottle the net is lifted to create a doorway for the bass to swim through. At the far end you can see the fisherman that just layed the net. The nets are supposed to be 4' to 6' below the surface but many were not. My guide was carefule not to disturde the nets but some had to be altered .



Here is another nice fish my son caught. The first day he fished with Hono who you see in the picture. The guy is the best.



Here is one of the catamarans we rented to sail off the beach in Mazatlan.



Sunset in Mazatlan. Awesome!



My son got all the attention from the girls at the Fiesta!

[MadWags]

Should I post more pictures?

[matt]

I'm enjoying those pictures.

[MadWags]

Many anglers who fish for smallies on Lake St. Clair call the undersize fish "Dinks". I speak very little Spanish but have developed my own language that all the Mexicans seem to understand. Take any english word and add "EL" to the front end and "O" to the back end. Thus the proper Elsalto term for a small bass would be "Eldinko". We had all the guides saying it and laughing. Even Lake Elsalto has small bass in order to have big ones. The growth rate is so fast that a bass of the size below would be about 6 months old.