What's the deal with these Mexican lakes like El Salto? I always thought they were centered around trophy bass fishing and or catching a ton of 4-7lb fish. But after watching this video and them the one recently posted from a forum member who fish Picasoes.(probabally spelled wrong) thy didn't catch anything over 4lbs. So have I misunderstood these lakes as trophy lakes where when fishing during January-March u should expect to have a chance at a giant and at least catch quite a few 5-7lb fish or are these lakes more for the numbers 70-150 fish a day all around 2-3lbs? Seems weird to me to spend all that money to only catch small fish even if you are catching that many. I would imagine that these lakes are affected greatly by the Mexican gov dropping the water level to use for irrigation has that effected the big fish? Sorry if I seem like I'm putting down any of these lakes. Just curious because It seemed like these lakes used to he trophy lakes like Falcon.
Jake, this is what I have found from driving in for 25 years to many of the lakes and have picked one that I go to most often because it is consistent.
These big female bass of 10+ lbs. are protected by huge males that are in the 3-5 lb. range. It is literally an accident to catch the big female on a bed. The males are so aggressive toward her and any bait that comes close to the nest. We have tried for many years by putting the male in the live well and still no big bit. We have come back to that bed 30 mins. later to only find another male has taken her over. In my 25 years I have only caught one 12 and 6 others in the 10 lb. class. Almost all were caught in Dec. while they are cursing and looking on spinner baits and crank baits. Your numbers are cut way down in Dec.. Having caught many 10's in my live time, I would rather have consistency of 100 per day, with at least half of those fish over 5 lbs.
I have also found that it is best to fish El Salto when the nets are out. As a rule they are in for 9 days and out for 9 days. The bass will pattern this movement and your catch ratio goes way up when the nets are out. On this same note I choose
Lake Oviachic where the nets stay in and are not taken out until the end of April. The Bass get use to this and the fishing is great all the time. The Bass do not have many natural predictors to eat the eggs in Mexico so there are so many big fish they will take turns spawning through the month of April. Most of the rough fish are netted out of the lakes and lakes are restocked yearly with Talipia for the Bass's food source and netting operations on most of the lakes. The Florida strain of Bass is also stocked in most of the lakes that have outfitters working them and that is what makes them so productive.
You mentioned all that money to get there to fish. When we drive it is more about the days to make the trip than the money. We go for 10 days to make it worth the drive. The cost is the same as going to any lake in the U.S. where you have to make a road trip and stay in a motel, per day. My trips run about $110 per person per day depending on how much food, drink and Cuban cigars we consume on the trip.
As mentioned those huge Bass school up on the drops during the summer months. The problem with that is; numbers of fish caught and the heat. When those big fish are found deep and feeding they can be whacked and the numbers will go back up. Finding them with very poor depth finder equipment in the outfitter boats makes it very tough. I pull my Skeeter down there and do not have any problem finding them but they are not always in the mood to feed on the deep bite.
We all want that opportunity to catch the trophy. That opportunity goes way up down there as opposed to our lakes here. It is all about timing, the guide, equipment and the numbers of days on the water. I give that opportunity with 6 days on the water for the same money as flying in for 3 days.
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