By BILL RICE

CULIACAN, SINALOA, MEX. - There's a new kid on the block, but he's already a big man. It's the "new" Lake Mateos where the fishing is already spectacular.

Mateos is not actually new, but is a reborn fishery that was all but dead in the 1980s and early 1990s as drought conditions and heavy agricultural water use decimated the lake and the bass fishing. It's back! And famous lodge operator Billy Chapman Jr. is the first to jump on the bandwagon with a sparkling new Anglers Inn Resort located just below the Humaya Dam, on the banks of the river, only 10 minutes away from his lake fishing fleet.

Bass fishermen who have been to Chapman's deluxe resort on world famous El Salto (probably the finest lunker bass lake in the world) also will be impressed with this facility which debuted in November. Anglers Inn Mateos is still a work in progress with additional cabins to be added for angler comfort. Presently the lodge has six deluxe rooms, with Chapman planning to expand with four more in the future. It's amazing that after only 4 months a resort sprouted from this brushy hillside.

But let's get to the bass fishing. Mateos is undoubtedly the finest surface fishing lake I've ever seen. During the 10 years of drought and low water, vegetation slowly increased all along the shoreline of this 55,000-surface-acre lake. The last 3 years saw a deluge of water thanks to coastal hurricanes and the best rainy seasons in 50 years, and the lake is now inundated with vegetation.

With the growth of the lake also came the outstanding growth of the bass fishery.

"We've been pre-fishing the lake for the past year with a select group of our longtime customers," said Chapman. "We found spectacular surface plug fishing all year long. I think Mateos will break every record we've known for this action. It's common for anglers to fish the surface all day long and catch upwards of 100 bass per day.