BRING THE LIZARDS; IT’S SPAWNING TIME IN OLD MEXICO
By Billy Chapman Jr.            

The primary spawn occurs during the full moon of February at both Lakes El Salto and Mateos with a secondary spawn occurring during the full moon of March. Of course, not all bass in any given lake spawn at the same time. The spawning season could last for several months.

When preparing to spawn, male bass head shallow first to build nests. They scour out bedding sites on the bottom. When ready, females move shallow under the full moon to find mates.

After a female deposits her eggs, she leaves the nest and may drop back into deeper water to recover from her ordeal. After about a day of rest, she goes on a feeding binge to replace the energy she used up during the spawning process. Anglers can often intercept big post-spawn females as they follow tiny channels from the shallows toward deeper water.

Male bass guard the nests, defending the eggs and fry against a multitude of enemies, particularly crustaceans and salamanders. For this reason, lizards and craws work effectively during spawning season. Texas-rigged plastic lizards dragged over the bottom look like salamanders attempting to raid nests. When bass see them, they attack, not necessarily to eat them, but to kill potential egg eaters.


Lake Mateos



Rapala Lures brought a group to Lake Mateos with Sam Anderson of Minnesota, landing the lunker. Sam created a mega-bait by fashioning a Trigger X Lizard to a 1/2-ounce white Terminator spinnerbait to tempt his 10-pounder.

“We had some really good luck with the Rapala Skitter Pop for fish in the 1- to 8-pound range early in the morning,” Anderson said. “After the sun came up, I switched to the Terminator 4.5 spinnerbait with a Trigger X Lizard as a trailer. We also caught fish on white or white and olive X-Raps.”

Rapala visits Lake Mateos frequently to test new baits and entertain customers. The quaint setting of the smaller riverside lodge makes it a great place to discuss business. The group caught about 100 fish a day with a white Terminator spinnerbait producing the most and biggest fish. They also caught fish on an X-Rap 10 Shallow in mossback shiner.

“This is the best place that we’ve ever gone to entertain our customers,” said Gregg Wollner, executive vice president of Rapala. “We’ve been here four years in a row and the average size increased each time. This time, the average size was about 3 pounds. During the last three years, we’d catch two or three over 6 pounds. This year, we had a bunch of 6-pounders, several in the 7- to 8-pound range and one 10-pounder. We travel all over the world. Of all the places we go, there is nothing that compares to Anglers Inn Mateos.”

New to bass fishing, Steve Maestas of New Mexico, landed an 8-pounder on his first outing at Mateos. He caught it on a blue Skitter Pop topwater bait. Later, he added several fish in the 1- to 6-pound range that hit lizards, worms and spinnerbaits.

Mark Brumbaugh, a professional walleye angler from Arcanum, Ohio, doesn’t fish largemouths very often, but caught more than 100 per day at Lake Mateos. Like others at the lake, he caught most of his fish on white spinnerbaits and 7-inch Texas-rigged worms, but also landed some fish on jerkbaits.

“This was the most largemouth I’ve caught in a long time,” Brumbaugh said. “Walleye fishing is pretty similar to bass fishing in many ways, but walleye hit more crankbaits and smaller lures. Lake Mateos has the most awesome bass fishing I’ve ever seen in numbers and big fish. The facilities are awesome. I can’t say enough about the service and the staff.”

Lake El Salto

Lizards, senkos and similar soft plastic baits dominated the catches recently at both Lakes El Salto and Mateos. At Lake El Salto, Dave Wahl, who spends half a year in Denver and half a year in Phoenix, used nothing but lizards. He brought three packages of 6-inch watermelon lizards and used them all.

“I caught my biggest bass ever, a 10-pounder,” said Wahl, who usually fishes a light fly rod for trout. “I came to Lake El Salto to see what bass fishing was all about. I have no idea how many fish we caught, but it was a lot.”

Fishing with her husband, Marty Todt, Valerie Frazier of Philadelphia took lunker honors with soft plastic. She caught an 11.3-pounder at Lake El Salto with Marty catching a 10.5-pounder. They also fished Lake Mateos, catching about 60 fish per day.

“The fishing was the best we could ever imagine,” Val said. “Marty was throwing at a little stump. I decided to throw an olive-colored wacky worm two feet to the left and all hell broke loose. At 11.3 pounds, it was the biggest bass I ever caught. Marty had a day that any bass pro would give his right arm to experience. In just 90 minutes one morning, he caught five bass weighing more than 46 pounds. This included three over 9 pounds and two over 8 pounds.”

Sachiko Takeno, our good friend from Japan, visits Anglers Inn El Salto several times a year and usually finds big fish. This time, she landed a 10.5-pounder while working a Tsunami Mighty Arrow Mini early one morning in the rain. She also landed four bass breaking 9 pounds and one topping 8.

Bruce Holt of G Loomis and Jean Mannin caught more than 80 bass per day for a 4-pound average. They landed several in the 5- to 7-pound range and three exceeding 7 pounds. They mostly used 10-inch Zoom lizards in watermelon red flake or white flukes. When not fishing, Jean enjoyed the pampered treatment, getting a massage, a manicure and a pedicure.

“I’ve been coming here for 10 years and caught many bass over 10 pounds,” Bruce said. “There’s never a doubt that big fish are here. It’s just a matter of getting the right bait in the right spot at the right time. When working a fluke, I use a 5/0 Gamakatsu extra-wide shaft hook because it makes the bait sink a little faster and it’s easier to cast. I also caught some fish on a Basstrix swimbait.”

Connie Orona and Mark Jacobs of Washington, added their names several times to the Bragging Board. Connie caught a 9.6- and a 9.2-pounder. They caught most of their fish on lizards and nearly ran out of plastic. She pulled the head off a used lizard with only one leg remaining and caught her lunker.

Mary Minor of Strike King won a trip to Anglers Inn El Salto and visited with her husband, Doug, plus Allan and Rhonda Ranson. Doug landed a 9-pounder on a motoroil Strike King Rage Anaconda super-sized soft plastic bait. The Ransons caught fish on 10-inch Anacondas, Rage Craws, crankbaits, jigs and Shadalicious minnow baits. Every time they left the dock, they caught at least one 5-pounder and some up to 7 pounds.

“We caught a ton of fish and many big fish,” Doug said. “We could catch fish on whatever we wanted to throw. Color really didn’t matter. If we put the bait in front of a bass, it hit.”

For more info or for booking your next Anglers Inn International adventure, call 1-800-GOTA-FISH, (468-2347) or send an e-mail to info@anglersinn.com.