Lake El Salto, Mexico

May 6-10, 2005



Brad Stone With A 7.0 Pounder
A few months ago I met my buddy, Jeff Cotten, at the old wooden bar at Luckenbach, TX for a couple of cold beers. It was there that I brought up the idea of finally fishing the famous largemouth bass lake down in Mexico called Lake El Salto. Well, it was sort of an ambush really. I had already planned the trip and had written down all the costs (e.g. lodging, guides, etc.). After reviewing my proposal, Jeff quickly agreed to go. LOL.

What a great trip! In just three days of fishing I caught 134 largemouth bass. My biggest was the 7 pounder shown above. I caught her early in the morning on a top water Pop-R. I also caught four more over 6 pounds, so I have five new entries on my Six Pounds Or Better page from this trip alone. I probably had another fifteen fish that were in the 4 to 5 pound range. This lake has more (and bigger) bass than even Lake Fork, TX did in its heyday. Jeff caught just about as many fish as I did and he caught the biggest fish of the trip - a 7.6 pounder. And both of us lost some monsters. I know I had a double digit bass break me off while I was working a Carolina rigged lizard. We heard that one of the other guys staying in our lodge caught a 9.6 pounder. Supposedly these numbers are very typical. Amazing.

If you are interested in the details of our trip, I included a section at the bottom of this page with info on how much it cost, what we brought, etc.



Jeff Cotten With A 7.6 Pounder
This was the biggest fish of the trip - and what a beauty! What a healthy, dark green hawg. Jeff caught her (and several others) on a crankbait. A 3/4 ounce Bomber "Fat Free Shad" crankbait in citrus color to be exact. LOL. Notice those beautiful mountains in the background?



Jeff Cotten Holding A 9.2 Pounder With A Tilapia In Its Mouth
While Jeff and I were fishing, our guide spotted a large bass floating on top of the water. So we trolled over to it and got it in the boat. It was a 9.2 pound bass with a one pound tilapia stuck in it's throat! The poor gal wasn't able to get enough water over her gills with that tilapia stuck in her mouth. Incredibly, after this photo was taken, our guide was able to get the tilapia out of the bass's mouth and both fish swam off just fine! Very cool.



Some Of Our Five & Six Pounders

    

    

    


That bottom picture is of Jeff with two largemouth bass on one lure! That is very rare. We were fishing a flooded field of mango trees that was full of feeding bass. In about one hour of fishing there, we caught several five and six pounders on the "Fat Free Shad" crankbait. Man, that was fun.



    
"Club El Salto"
The accomodations were fairly rustic - somewhere between Brushyland and the Rio Colorado Lodge in Red River, NM. The picture on the left shows the sleeping quarters. There are two very small bedrooms in that cabin and each bedroom contains two small beds and a bathroom. Each room also has a window A/C unit. Jeff and I stayed on the right side of that cabin. There are two or three other similar cabins so "Club El Salto" can probably hold a total of 12 to 16 anglers. But there were only four other anglers when we were there.

The picture on the right shows the pavilion in which all the anglers ate their meals. It is not air conditioned but there are screens all the way around it, allowing cool air to circulate quite well inside it. The pavilion has a satellite T.V. and a small kitchen.



Trip Details

Here are the boring details - for those who are interested.



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