After a short but good night's sleep, we were up at 4:45 am, had breakfast, and were vanpooled to the lake by 6 am. The weather all three days was great, cool mornings and warm, windy afternoons. The first morning didn't work out well for my fishing partner and me. While each pair left the launching area with their guide in nice Ranger boats, our guide didn't show. Someone took us out but didn't know the lake, so I wound up guiding us until 11 am when our guide was brought to us by boat. We did catch several bass that morning, but nothing over three pounds. We found out later that the swimbait bite was on, but we missed out the first morning. As we did every day, we came back to the launch area and had a great lunch in their lakeside building. After that, the greatest thing about Mexican life - a Siesta after lunch! Wow, I wish I could do that with my guide service!!! About 3:30 we were back at work - I mean fishing - until 8 pm when we headed back to the motel and a nice dinner.

The lake was down about 20 feet or more, so I got a good look at the whole picture. As far as topography, the lake reminded me of a smaller Lake Oroville with a few open water areas but mostly river arms and large bays. Most importantly, it took me back to my early days of fishing Lake Amador in the early '70's. They simply flooded the area - not a stick was cut. There are flooded scrub brush and trees everywhere in the lake. What I loved were the great rockpiles I saw out of the water. I could only imagine what was under the water!! I even saw a manmade rock wall that ran into the lake. The flooded cemeteries - now out of the water - were a little spooky! There were walls and ledges that were unbelievable - almost like Lake Tahoe. One wall had a ledge that came out to about 10 feet and dropped to 80 feet - boom!!! There are rock areas at the dam and another causeway. Add to that underwater islands, humps, and you have one fantastic structure lake. I believe the lake is eighteen years old and some of the shallow timber is beginning to rot away, making it easier to fish the rocky areas.

The bass were in post-spawn period - most of the quality bass were suspended at the 20 foot level in and around submerged trees. Since the bass were feeding on Tilapia and Shad, the Storm swimbaits that were in shad and off-yellow black stripes (Tilapia color) were the preferred bait. The plastic worm bite took a lot of skill in all those trees, but the results, at least while we were there, were only small bass. I fished the Yamamoto 8 inch grub, #066 (black/chartreuse tail) a lot and caught a lot of bass up to 5 pounds, which, believe it or not, was my biggest of the trip. Yes, I caught the smallest "big" fish of the trip. As for the swimbaits, we just threw them as far as we could, let them sink as we counted to 15, and reeled them in, trying not to hang up on too many tree limbs. I was simply amazed at the size of the fish some of the fellows (and the lovely wife of one who made the trip) caught. One guy caught his first two bass ever - a 6-8 and 7-9, back to back casts! Wow!! My roommate, new to the sport, caught a 12-8 the second morning. Big fish for the trip was a 13-1, caught by a fellow who had never caught a big bass. All I can say is it will be downhill for these folks from now on, har!

One of the great mysteries of bass fishing happened on this trip. I see it all the time while I am guiding - the person who has done the least bass fishing catches the most or the biggest - not all the time but more often than not. Do not mistake this for sour grapes, but I was the logical one to get into some big fish, just from past experience. That is what makes fishing such a great sport - anything can happen to anyone! I threw that swimbait 'til my arm nearly fell off, but I could not get the big bite whatsoever! It just wasn't meant to be. The great side of this story is that I fished with my good friend Jim Grassi on the second day. He introduced me to bass fishing at Lake Berryessa in 1962 - where I caught my first bass - on a topwater lure at 12 noon. They were stupid in those days! Jim has waited forty-two years to catch his first 10 pounder and I got to be in the boat with him when that great event happened. He caught ANOTHER 10 in the afternoon, both on swimbaits, as well as a 6 1/2! What a day - I was thrilled that he caught those!! We had a 36 1/4 pound limit that day. Hey, I did land a 4 1/2 pounder on a swimbait, chump change - I know.

I did a lot of thinking about the future of El Salto during my three day observation period which included talking to some local Mexican bass fishermen. The fishery seems to be holding up well for the time being, but there are some concerns. The locals told me that fishing was a lot better four or five years ago. There are two or three (or more) outfitters with lots of boats out there. I really thought at one point that I was at Clear Lake on a weekend - there were at least thirty boats I counted at one time. However, it is a big lake and I believe it is "catch and release" only for the tourists. There were two reports of locals spearing fish, but it seems no one cares. Then there is the netting problem. Local groups are allowed to harvest the Tilapia for commercial use and there are nets everywhere! They are allowed to do this for a certain period or until they reach a certain quota. I was told that these nets are trapping the bass too. I don't want to say any more because I don't know much more than that. I do know that there are still plenty of huge bass in El Salto (lake record stands at 18-6) and I saw juvenile bass everywhere! Yes, you are likely to get a 10 pounder sooner there than anywhere else in California - there simply are more of them! A tourist angler is at the mercy of their guide and I guess some are better than others. If you tell your guide what you want to do, and if he understands you, he will take you to offshore areas where most of the trophies are. I was very impressed with how hard the guides worked, even in tough wind conditions. I believe the best months to fish are January through April, and again September through November.

Would I go again? I think I might, but probably during February or March. The cost of a three day adventure, including air fare, is around $2200 dollars. To hook one of those healthy, HARD-FIGHTING Mexican hogs is worth the tariff! I guess I'll have to go back - I didn't get one yet!!!