 Air Temp: 70°/75°F early morning & late evening. Siesta Time 84°/90°F
Water Temp: 78°/ 82°F
Average number of bass per boat per day: 40-60
Largest bass caught: 11-3/4 pounds
Popular lures past two weeks:
Lures are listed in order of productivity
Storm WildEye 4 -inch Swim Shads: shad, white with chartreuse top and pearl.
Rat-L-Traps: ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back
Rapala X-Rap or 4- to 5-inch jerkbaits: white, clown and shad
Lobina Lures Rio Rico poppers: white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad
Heddon Zara Spook and Lucky Craft Sammy: shad, chrome with black top and white.
Eight-inch Zoom Lizards: watermelon, watermelon red flake and black with blue tail
Berkley Power Worms: 10-inch, black with blue tail
Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5- & 6-inch Stinkos: pumpkinseed, watermelon red flake and black with blue flake
Zoom Super Flukes: Pearl white
Bomber Fat Free Shad & Rapala DT16 crankbaits: medium & deep divers in citrus shad, hot mustard and fire tiger
Yum Money Minnows: 5-inch in bluegill, hologram shad and herring with 5/0 weighted hook The weather south of the border has finally started cooling down, and the big bass bite is on. The numbers of bass being caught are lower than normal, but the quality of those being landed is unbelievable. During one recent afternoon, one of our guests landed five fish over 8 pounds, and these catches were even more exciting because all these brawlers were caught on top with Zara Spooks. Dave Bennet landed the biggest bass during the first half of November, a whopping 11-3/4-pounder, plus several largemouths in the 9- and 10-pound range.
The topwater bite has been on and off, but big fish are being caught on Spooks, Ricos and buzzbaits. Another go-to bait is the faithful Senko in the 6-inch size and also Zoom Super Flukes in Pearl color. These soft-plastic jerkbaits are excellent follow-up baits if you miss a lunker on a topwater, so be sure to bring plenty when you visit. It seems that rigging the Senkos wacky style and adding a small bullet weight to get the lure down quicker has been most productive.
During the midday bite, smaller swimbaits have been working very well. Four-inch Storm WildEye Swim Shads in Pearl, Shiner Chartreuse and Shad colors have been deadly. A couple of friends from Arizona, Joe and Erik Goldenson, did well on the 5-inch model and had this to say:
“Our first day of fishing was slow on topwater Ricos. My son Erik and I caught a few fish before mid-morning, all of which were in the 5- to 9-pound range with no little ones. Then, from 10 a.m. until 10:30 a.m., we got into a WildEye Swim Shad (5-inch, shad color) bite. I wound up with 12 fish from 5 to 8 pounds, and Erik caught three more—a 7, 8 and 9! ‘What's going on here?’ we asked our favorite and regular guide, Armando. He said the weather and time of the year were such that the numbers of fish being caught were down but the size was two to three times bigger than usual. We proved him to be the Oracle at Delphi! That afternoon was slow, with only about six fish caught between my son and me, but the sizes were between 6 and 9 pounds once again!
“The second day was very slow for me, but Erik caught two 7s and a 9 on a Rico at first light. Topwater at its best! The afternoon was slow in numbers, but the eight I caught on a swim bait are shown in the photo I’ve included. As usual, Erik outfished me, catching 10 fish between 6 and 8 pounds.
“The last day was slow in the morning,” Joe continued. “But we returned to the area where we experienced that marvelous swim bait bite the first day and Bang! Erik got his biggest bass ever, a 10-pounder, which is shown in the photo. It was a great fight and good netting prowess by Armando. The rest of the day was slow in numbers again, but we caught 5s, 6s and 8s!
“Overall we counted an average of 20 fish per day, not our usual numbers action but the size does count! El Salto once again proved its "SALT" as the saying goes. Bragging rights aside, the thrill of getting the ‘big one’ is wonderful as well as humbling. I'm glad we ‘catch and release’ because someone else can enjoy the thrill of getting those fish again.
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