My 9 yr old son and I just returned from fishing El Salto in Mexico. We met some friends down there and had a blast. The fishing initially started slow due to the lake coming up over 40 feet back in September. I guess that is a blessing as the lake was at 30% capacity. But eventually once we figured them out it was a pig feast.

One thing I learned about El Salto is that it contains mostly tilipia and bass. As a result there is tilipia shad everywhere and you hear and see top water explosions going on often. So when a top water explosion occurs, you never have to wonder if it was a carp or gar�it was a bass! One pig I caught was in 2 feet of water. It had a huge tilapia by the tail and it was swimming with it as the body of the tilapia was sticking out of the water. It was similar to when jaws has that girl by the legs and you can see is the upper torso sticking out of the water as the shark is running with her.

Top honors goes to a gold rattle trap, 8 magnum flukes (watermelon red flake) and 5 inch stick baits (green pumkin with gold and purple flake) custom made by www.flecksbait.com. That stickbait was the bomb! Honestly, I have no idea how many fish we caught per boat per day. If I had to guess, I would guess it would be around 40. Most fish were decent fish. By El Salto standards, this is considered slow. Normally one should be bringing in around 50 to 100. One thing for sure, I got to experience and that is that El Salto Fish fight frecking hard. I am not sure if it�s cus of their diet or because most hadn�t been caught before. I would chunk a rattle bait out with my KVD rod and get rocked by some bass. As a result, we lost a bunch of fish that broke off because we couldn�t get them turned around or they would make a hard run. My son lost a pig. It made one jump about 8 yrds from the boat. It was so huge it couldn�t come out of the water. Unfortunately, it made a run down under the boat and it got hung up. It ended up breaking off. My son literally started to have tears coming down his face. It took him (and I) a long time to shake it off.

I never drank so many margaritas in my life. I swear, when the shuttle bus is arriving back to the lodge for lodge, there is a guy named Carlos with a tray filled with Margaritas. When you are returning back in the evening in the evening, there is Carlos again with his tray. What is cool is that they even thought of my son. They didn�t count him out. They had his �non-alcoholic� (so I was told�ha!) version waiting for him�how cool is that ? They leave a large cooler out filled with beer, cokes, water, in case you want to stay up late and enjoy! In the morning they send you off with a bag filled with breakfast burritos (I mean its filled). Its more than enough to hold you until lunch. After a full course lunch, you get to take a nice siesta in your air condition room for about 45 minutes....NICE!!! It helps to recharge the batteries and get ready for another battle.

Lvillelrat here on TFF helped me a bunch on how to prepare so THANK YOU very much!!!

We ended up with a couple 10�s, one 11.4 (I question the scale, I think it was more like a 10), a 9.11 and several 7�s and lots of 3 to 6 lbs.

If your interested in going, send me a PM or email (hvfath@yahoo.com) and I will put you in contact with the lodge manager.

Notice how similar my rattle bait looked to the tilapia shad I hooked

they take care of you at El Salto Lodge -3 meals a day and they do great!

Sounds like a blast, Killer Pics.......

Man, That is awesome!! He will never forget that trip.
Way to go DAD:)

I told You that place was sick !!!! Glad you enjoyed your trip I still have chills just thinking about my trip down there and I'm looking forward to returning.

how much does a trip like that cost. i mite need to save up!

Awesome trip Johnny! You ruined Sam though Like he's gonna want to go with you to Grapevine again...

There will be one less boat on grapevine. I sold my boat here recently and why I had money for the trip. Wrong or right, I decided to stop buring up gas and boat money on trips around here but rather go to places with my son such as this recent trip. I cant afford to keep a boat and do fishing trips so I had to make a decision. The boat lost the coin flip. So far no regrets. I can always get another boat later if needed. Plus, lots of guides I can hire if I get the itch or I can borrow your boat...

Next on the agenda is Tarpon fishing, followed by Marlin, then Peacock bass fishing in Brazil.

Outstanding Pics and an Outstanding Report. Love the mountains in the background of some of those pics. Also very healthy fish. Thanks for sharing your trip. Memories of a life time.

They got a sal program?

That looks like a great trip. That color of senko works great on Amistad as well. Something about the purple fleck in it.

what makes it great is you rarely see a bass boat. What is common is mexican tilipia fisherman going to check their nets. I never had to worry about being crowded out or someone casting into my spot.

No boats...

It looks like Oscar was your guide.. he does a good job.

LOL>....I should have went on your trip instead o mine!!!!

Anytime Johnny! As long as it comes back with a new high dollar electronic gadget every time