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Burning Crankbaits Hot For El Salto’s Trophy
Post-Spawn Bass
By Billy Chapman Jr.
As the normal water level begins dropping
due to irrigation, anglers fishing El Salto are witnessing a phenomenon
seen repeatedly during the past 18 years. Post-spawn bass are stacking
up on points, humps and islands, and the best baits for catching them
are fast-burned deep-diving crankbaits.
Most anglers are starting their
early-morning fishing sessions by casting topwater lures. The topwater
bite has picked up a notch recently, with Rico Pops and Zara Spooks in
the colors mentioned above being the best producers. The best spots are
shoreline shallows wherever shad schools can be found.
As the morning progresses, however,
topwaters go back in the tacklebox, and its time to change over to
crankbaits, swimbaits or lizards. All these lures will catch fish if you
cast them near a school of hungry bass, but crankbaits have been super
hot, particularly the deep-diving, citrus-colored Fat Free Shad or a hot
mustard- or parrot-colored Rapala DT16. The key is burning the crankbait
fast—real fast—as guests Jack and Michael Fitch learned by accident.
Jack explains.
“It was late in the afternoon on our final
day of fishing,” he says. “We were fishing a spot that had already
proven to produce good fish, but my dad had an unfortunate accident and
lost his rod and reel over the side. I was trying to retrieve the rod
and reel by burning my deep-diving crankbait, but instead I hooked the
best fish of the trip—a nice 11-pounder.”
Another father and son team, Bob and Will
Worthington, also had good luck on big bass. During three days fishing,
they landed more than 370 largemouths, including many that fell for
crankbaits. “My son Will caught bass weighing 11 pounds, 9.1, 8.8, 7.14
and 7.3,” Bob says. “The best baits were the Fat Free Shad, 10-inch
Power Worms and Storm swimbaits. Nothing could have made our trip any
better! Thank you for all you do to make the experience world class.”
If you’re keeping track, the two big bass up
to this point in our report weighed 11 pounds each. Could there be a
third 11-pounder this month? Indeed! Al and Sandy Wells of Medford,
Oregon sent a photo of an 11-pounder they caught, too, along with this
note from Al. “We enjoyed our stay at Anglers Inn immensely,” he said.
“The food was fantastic, the camaraderie was great, and it all added up
to the best vacation we have ever had! Sandy loved the pampering and
special treatment. Say ‘Hola!’ to everyone, and tell them thanks from
both of us!”
And if you thought that was all the
11-pounders possible … well, think again. Loren Smith from California
was on El Salto with fishing partner Zack Gruner. Loren says, “I have
fished bass my whole life, and my biggest bass was 6.7 pounds. In four
days on El Salto, I caught 8.2-, 9.0-, and 10.1-pound largemouths. The
pure numbers of big bass are amazing. Most of my bass came on
deep-diving crankbaits and Storm swimbaits. Zack landed his biggest bass
of 11 pounds on a Fat Free Shad crankbait.”
We had other special guests at Anglers Inn
this month, too. TV personality Larry Dahlberg, who hosts the show “The
Hunt for Big Fish,” fished both El Salto and Lake Mateos on his recent
visit. He and Jeremy Sweet from Shimano Corporation landed more than 300
bass on film in just 1-1/2 days of fishing!
Also visiting Anglers Inn were Wayne Black
and Joe Nickols, winners of an all-expenses-paid trip for two sponsored
by Florida Fishing Weekly. As you’ll understand after reading the
paragraphs that follow, these guys, like many other guests, say a trip
to Anglers Inn isn’t just about the fishing; it’s about the whole
experience.
“We arrived at Anglers Inn around noon, and
cold drinks were brought to the van as the staff took our fishing gear
and baggage to the cottage,” Wayne says. “We were asked what we wanted
to drink in the morning and if we had any special needs or requests for
food or lodging. Then, at 2 p.m., José said it was time to go fishing.
He took us and our gear to the boat where we met our guide Manuel.
Manuel asked if we wanted big fish or numbers, and we told him numbers.
We caught 63 fish the first afternoon, including several 4s and 5s. Even
the smaller ones fought like much bigger bass.
“When we came in that afternoon, we were
greeted by José, Armando and Sammy whose politeness and obvious
enjoyment of working at Anglers Inn were very plain to see,” Wayne
continued. “They were just fantastic, and it got even better when they
brought the filet mignon to our table cooked just the way we said we
liked it. Then it was off to a very clean, air-conditioned room and
comfortable beds for a great night’s sleep.”
According to Wayne, he and Joe’s first full
day at El Salto started just like the day before had ended—with great
food and great service. Then their bass fishing began in earnest.
“Manuel greeted us with a smile, and we
proceeded to boat 77 quality bass, including a lot of 3s and 4s, with
several in the 6-pound-plus range. We came back to the lodge for lunch
and had an appetizer on our way to the room to freshen up before the
terrific lunch. After lunch, it was siesta time, and we rested up for
another great afternoon. Shrimp Rockefeller for supper; need I say
more?”
Day 2 included more great fishing, with
Wayne and Joe landing more than 100 bass.
“I started using 65-pound braid with a
3-foot, 20-pound Vanish leader tied with a uni-knot,” Wayne says. “This
worked very well, even when throwing the 6-inch Storm swimbaits. We
caught fish on swimbaits, deep-diving cranks, chrome-and-blue 3/4-ounce
Rat-L-Traps, 9-inch worms, 8-inch Zoom lizards and 5-inch craws. The
colors on the worms, lizards and craws were black with blue tail or
watermelon red. The crankbaits were Fat Free Shad, white with a green
back, and Bandit watermelon-red, 16-foot divers. We also caught a few on
a Spittin’ Image white with a blue back topwater very early. The
topwater bite was just starting to get good, and by May, I’m sure it
will be a hot bite.
“Day 3 was more of the same,” Wayne
continued, “and I had to put an Ace bandage on my wrist, which was sore
from setting the hook. Now isn’t that something! We caught well over 300
bass in our three and a half days.”
Wayne concluded by reemphasizing that great
fishing is just one facet of the El Salto experience. “It’s not just the
outstanding fishing that made this trip a bass fisherman’s dream; it’s
the whole experience, service and accommodations and, more importantly,
the people,” he says. “We were made to feel like family. And to get that
on a fishing trip … Wow! The sunsets, sunrises and scenery were
wonderful. The quiet and peaceful nights were relaxing. Think about
taking your family, too. If they like to fish or just get away to a
quiet, hassle-free place, Anglers Inn is where to take them. We’ll be
back!”
As you can see, the fishing on El Salto has
been red hot. The number of bass being caught each week by all the
guests combined is in the thousands. And these are good quality bass in
the 6- to 8-pound range, with countless more weighing 3 to 6 pounds. The
bigger bass take a little more skill and/or luck to land, but I’ve heard
many stories of “the ones that got away,” and quite a few about those 10
and 11-pounders that didn’t get away. When you come down, be sure to
come prepared with 17- to 20-pound-test line and the baits mentioned
above to improve your chances of landing the big bass of a lifetime.
And finally, with your sons and daughters
getting out of school soon, you may want to take Wayne Black’s advice
and bring your family to El Salto for a visit. That’s exactly what David
Crook did with his daughter Gabby. Dave said, “We fished for one day and
caught 50 bass. And Gabby caught the biggest fish of the day at 8.4
pounds. Gabby is just 9 years old, but she’s quite a little fisherwoman.
She caught her bass on a lizard.”
Give us a call to find out about our Summer
Camp special. You and your son/daughter won’t regret it! |
