Lake El Salto, Mexico  Fishing Report For July 1-30, 2008 By Billy Chapman. Jr. Air Temp: 72°-79°F (early morning), 93°-99°F (lunch time), 86°-89° (late afternoon). Water Temp: 76°-79°F Average number of bass per boat per day: 60-80 Largest bass caught: 11 pounds, along with plenty of bass in the 8- to 10-pound range!!!! Popular lures used this week: Lures are listed in order of productivity --Storm WildEye 4- and 5-inch Swim Shads in shad, pearl white and golden mullet. --Lizards: 8-inch Zoom or 7-inch Yum Zellmanders in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue tail, and junebug. --Yum Money Minnow Swimbaits in bluegill, hologram shad, pearl and Tennessee shad with Blade Runner Paddle Head jighead. --Spinnerbaits: 1/2- and 3/4-ounce in white, white/chartreuse with gold willow blades --Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers, El Grande Lures Pepper Sticks 5-, 6- and 7-inch: watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue flake, tilapia and baby bass. --Berkley Power Worms: 10-inch, black with blue tail, red shad and junebug. --Rat-L-Traps: 1/2- and 3/4-ounce in silver with blue back and gold. --Heddon Zara Spook, Lucky Craft Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen: clear, chrome with black top and white. --Lobina Lures Rio Rico and Yellow Magic poppers: white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad. --Crankbaits: Bomber Fat Free Shad, Norman DD22s and Rapala DT16 deep divers in citrus shad, Tennessee shad, hot mustard and white. Summer fishing is much better than many anglers expect it to be, and the number of 8-, 9-, 10- and 11-pound bass caught this month is incredible by anyone’s standard. As one of our visitors so aptly put it, “The fishing is awesome!” Jeff Nolte says he has dreamed of fishing in Mexico for many years and was excited to finally come down after watching many fishing shows shot at Anglers Inn. “I was not disappointed,” he told us. “Your staff made me feel at home from the moment I climbed into the van. The service and food alone were worth the trip, but the fishing was also incredible. My guide put me on several fish that broke 25-pound-test line, and helped me land the biggest of my trip, a hawg caught on a Storm swimbait that weighed just over 8 pounds. I had eight fish over 7 pounds and countless more over 6. Most were caught on swimbaits or weightless Senkos. I can't wait to come back!” Jim Wagner, who was just back for his second visit to Anglers Inn, says the food and service were excellent once again, and the fishing ... well, “that was even better!” Jim and his buddy caught over 200 bass. “My biggest was a 9 1/2-pounder caught on a deep-running crankbait worked extremely fast near wooden structure. Other lures we used with a lot of success were a Booyah buzzbait and topwater popper. And speaking of topwater fishing, it was fantastic during one of our morning outings. We landed 48 bass in less than an hour, with many of them in the 3- to 5-pound range. We look forward to returning in 2009!” Jeff Davis, like many of our guests, brought his son with him to experience the trophy bass fishing one only can find on El Salto. “I can’t thank Anglers Inn staff and guides enough,” he said. “Billy Chapman, you run a top-notch service. My son got his dream fishing trip! He caught two 10-pounders and had a 130-fish day. You just can’t ask for more than that. We caught all our big fish on swimbaits, and there were many of those! We caught bass until our arms were sore. Our guide knew exactly where the fish were any time of day.” Jeff and his son fished three days and caught close to 300 bass. “Out of those, we had about 40 in the 6- to 9-pound class,” he said. “The lodge staff there waits on you like you are a king and are the nicest people I have ever dealt with anywhere. I travel the world hunting and fishing and never have I been treated so good. I will be going back next year for a week and will recommend Anglers Inn to all who wish to go on a fishing trip of a lifetime! Thank you for making this trip so enjoyable for my son and me!” Terry Mitchell just made it back for his third visit to Anglers Inn, and what a trip it was. “I didn’t think the fishing could surpass my two previous trips,” he said, “but that was not the case. I fished alone for 5 1/2 days, fishing strictly for big fish, and the fishing was awesome. My guide put me on some unbelievable bass.” Terry’s primary big fish bait was a Nichols ¾-ounce spinner with gold willow blades. “The unique thing about the bait was I took a white skirt off a chatterbait and put it on a fire tiger-colored spinner with a chartreuse head. This provided some color, and the skirt from the chatterbait gave the lure a lot of action when I pumped it. This new and different combination made the difference. When I slow-rolled the spinner through the tree tops, the bass would literally jerk the rod out of my hand on the strike. It was incredible. I also caught one big fish on a swimbait and a couple over 8 pounds on 8-inch watermelon/chartreuse lizards. “I was really impressed with my guide,” Terry continued. “We clicked right away. He is a quality guide and a very nice person. With his help, I had this total on the fish: two bass over 7 pounds, two over 8 pounds, one over 9 pounds, one over 10 pounds and two over 11 pounds. Not a bad outing for a Louisiana boy! As usual José and the folks at the lodge were terrific. You are blessed to have such a quality staff supporting your outfitting operation. The food was excellent, too. I loved the fried Oreo cookies and the fresh crawfish from El Salto. These are the things that make you guys at Anglers Inn so unique. I look forward to seeing you again this fall and next July. I can't wait to experience a little more heaven on earth at Anglers Inn on Lake El Salto!” As you can imagine, with El Salto often being called “the best trophy bass lake in the world,” we frequently have guests who are here to film shows for television. Such was the case this month when a crew that’s part of Joe Thomas’ and Jim Kramer’s “Reel in the Outdoors” program on the Outdoor Channel came down for a visit. Rick Skidmore and Gerry Addison are members of that crew, and they had lots of good things to say about their visit to Anglers Inn. “Anglers Inn. Wow! What a dream come true,” said Skidmore. “It was the fastest three and a half days of my life. We caught fish nonstop from our first cast to our last, including 53 bass over 6 pounds. My biggest fish was 9 pounds, and my partner Doug Shaiper caught the biggest fish of the week with an 11.5-pound monster. Our guide was the best I have ever had. His knowledge, excitement and courtesy were exemplary. “The food was five-star quality,” Skidmore continued. “You will gain some pounds during your stay so plan on it. The wait staff and room-cleaning staff were excellent. They would try to take the shirts off of your back to wash them for us. Every morning when we returned for the midday break, our clothes from the previous day were clean and folded setting on our freshly made beds. If you don't have something you need, it’s because you failed to let someone know. The whole staff was accommodating and courteous. You can tell they love their jobs. “Billy Chapman, Jr. and his staff run a world-class operation,” Skidmore concluded. “Stand proud because you have earned it. And thanks for a wonderful break in this crazy world. I’ll see you next year.” Gerry Addison returned for the second year in a row, and said the crew from “Reel in the Outdoors” had a great time at Angler’s Inn. “The fishing was great again this year, and the fish seemed to be much larger than last year,” he said. “My partner and I caught seven bass over 7 pounds during three and a half days of fishing. I have no idea how many bass over 5 pounds we caught, but it was enough that we actually started to relax when we saw it was ‘only a 5-pounder.’ In one spot, I caught eight bass over 5 pounds on eight consecutive casts. Our party of 15 caught six fish over 10, with the largest being over 11 pounds. “As far as numbers of fish, it simply cannot be believed,” Addison continued. “I have told people how many fish you can catch, and they always give me that ‘you-must-be-crazy’ stare. I’ve just started telling people you have to be there to believe it. We tried to count fish on two different days and lost track both days and gave up.” The most successful lures used by Addison and his friends were large Senkos fished Texas style. “We also caught fish on 9- and 10-inch plastic worms and 9- lizards,” he said. “Watermelon with red flake seemed to work best with the Senkos and lizards, and blue and black seemed best with the worms. We caught several nice fish on buzzbaits in the early morning and a lot of nice fish on deep-diving crankbaits like Fat Free Shads. We used 7-foot, medium-heavy rods and 20-pound mono on our baitcasters. “The thing most people don’t talk about enough is the service at Anglers Inn,” Addison said. “This year, due to an emergency, our original guide had to leave, and we ended up using three different guides. All three were great. They put us on fish and all were a pleasure to be with. In fact, all the people at Anglers Inn make you feel welcome and totally at home. I enjoy seeing the people that work there almost as much as the fishing. They are a special treat and you can tell they all enjoy their work. Let me just say, I’ll be coming back next year for my third trip and that says it all!” So there you have it: another report on some great summer fishing at Anglers Inn on El Salto. If you’ve never considered a summer fishing trip here, we suggest you do. It just might be better than you ever imagined. Some of this biggest bass of the year are caught this season. Until our next report, here’s wishing all your fishing trips are unforgettable! Anglers Inn www.anglersinn.com 1 800 468-2347