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Incredible Topwater Fishing
continues at Lake Mateos
By
Billy Chapman Jr.
We
continue to hear the same the same comments from recent guests at our
new Lake Mateos Lodge that we heard when we first opened last November.
These comments, and often they’re coming from widely traveled anglers
with years of experience, is that Lake Mateos is providing the finest
topwater bass fishing they’ve ever encountered.
And if
we’re not hearing that kind of comment about surface lures, we’re
hearing much the same thing regarding spinner baits. The fishing has
been flat out tremendous ever since our grand opening.
It is
indeed gratifying for us to also hear the many kind things visitors are
saying about our new Lake Mateos Anglers Inn Lodge.
We’d like
to share a couple of comments we’ve had from couples that have spent
time with us. They say the new lodge is a great place to simply relax
in their own private cabin. They’ve liked the unlimited access to a spa
and the beauty of their surroundings.
We urge
you to do what we’ve suggested many times before. It’s simply to ask
someone who has been an Anglers Inn guest how they felt about the
experience. This applies every bit as much to our new Lake Mateos
operation as it does to our world famous operation at El Salto Lake.
Give us a
call. Let us book a trip for you. We’ll do our very best to add you to
an ever growing list of happy Anglers Inn clients.
Also,
check out our website at www.anglersinn.com to read recent articles
about Lake Mateos and to see our new gallery.
Following
are some comments from anglers who spent time with us in recent weeks.
Jim Taibi,
along with bandmates Tim Tuttle and Mike Baca and Tim’s brother Terry
were among our guests who fished Lake Mateos in mid-January. These men
are experienced anglers and all together have made more than 20 trips to
El Salto. Here’s what Jim Taibi had to say about their Lake Mateos
visit.
“Lake
Mateos is an amazing place. What we found upon arrival was a beautiful
new lodge in a tropical jungle- like location. As usual Ramon and Joel
were there to greet us with Margarita’s and appetizers as our bags and
tackle were whisked off to our cabins. The new rooms at Mateos are very
spacious and well appointed. The new amenities have been well thought
out and we couldn’t have been more comfortable or content.
“Being
able to relax outside at night with the river valley in full view was
very special. Anglers Inn at Mateos is a masterpiece in my opinion.
Billy has done it again. The lodge is very roomy and open with a great
feel to it. The inside and outside dining areas and bar are very
comfortable and there are great views of the river valley from all of
the outside areas. The fire pit is a great place to relax after one of
Delfino’s amazing meals or a soothing massage at the spa. Speaking of
the food, the new lodge has not missed a beat in preparing the dishes
that Anglers Inn is famous for. Anyone who has been to Anglers Inn at El
Salto will recognize the excellent quality and presentation of the
classic meals and service style.
The first
thing you’ll notice at Mateos is how massive this body of water is. At
55,000 surface acres it dwarfs El Salto Lake. There are endless
brush-lined banks and countless bays and coves with more diverse
structure and cover that any one angler can fathom.
There are
two main river systems entering the north end of the lake. We had our
best fishing in the Humaya River arm area. We fished coves that were
brimming with small tilapia and quality bass. Water hyacinth and a very
unique type of brush make for excellent spinner bait and topwater
fishing.
“We
caught all of our topwater fish on Rio Rico’s, Super Spooks and Spro
Bronzeye Frogs. By far the lure of choice for Mateos has to be the
¾-ounce titanium-framed spinner bait in chartreuse & white or solid
chartreuse with gold blades. We slow-rolled the spinner baits on the
outside of the tree line for our better fish. A Rapala DT-16 crankbait
in the bluegill color was another good bait to use on the steeper rocky
points.
“There
are many, many bass in Lake Mateos. Some are small and some large. When
we got in an area that was producing smaller fish we would simply move
to another location and usually find solid 3 to 5-pound pound bass.
There is no doubt that there are giant bass to be caught in Mateos. We
had fish of 7 and 8-pounds on this trip. There may not be the numbers of
huge bass that El Salto is famous for, but if you want to catch quality
fish all day long with unmatched scenery and serenity then you should
definitely give Mateos a try. I found it to be a little bit more
“fisherman friendly” and laid back than El Salto. I had the impression
that a lot of these fish had never seen a lure before. It’s also nice to
fish all day without seeing another boat or angler.
“There is
great fishing, great fun and great memories to be had at Anglers Inn on
Lake Mateos. The new fleet of bigger, faster boats and eager guides and
staff are waiting to make your vacation one of the best of your life.
My partners and I are all chomping at the bit to get back to Lake Mateos.
We have already booked our second trip for December of this year.”
Greg
Wollner is the executive vice president of Rapala Lures. Greg was also
one of our January visitors. Note what he has to say about the topwater
fishing at Lake Mateos.
“We had a
great trip to Lake Mateos! We caught 75 to 150 fish per day with the
best topwater action I have ever seen in my life. Every morning we
started with Rapala Skitter Pops (gold chrome was the best color) then
fished with Terminator white spinner baits, X-Rap Slashbaits and Storm
Swimbaits during the day. We caught six fish of more than 6-pounds in
three days and several that topped 4-pounds.
“I have
never been on a fishing trip with better fishing and service. Anglers
Inn was an A+ in both. Thank you for a great trip.”
Chappy
Chapman and his fishing buddy Mike Yoke were also here in January.
Here’s what Chappy had to say about it.
"Between
my fishing buddy Mike Yoke and I, we landed 114 bass in just one
morning. Most of those bass were in the 4 to 6-pound range! You talk
about bloody thumbs. The best thing about the half-day of fishing is
that more then half of these bass came on spinner baits. We started out
using a white & chartreuse color spinner bait but with the cloud cover
decided to go with a darker color. What a difference!
“The bait
of choice that day was a ¾-ounce D&M custom spinner bait in the tilapia
color. We used "chunks" as trailers in the watermelon seed color. After
we broke every one of these spinner baits, we threw black spinner baits.
It didn't seem to matter as long as you had a darker color.
“One of
the keys to finding bass (and trust me they are everywhere) was throwing
next to a bush and letting the spinner bait sink down about 5 or 6
seconds and then starting a slower retrieve. Almost every tree it
was---WHAM! Fish on! Long submerged points with buck brush were very
successful. Later in the day we fished a couple of submerged islands and
also had great success.
“Just to
break it up a bit, we started to throw a new Senko-type bait called the
"Pepper Stick" made by El Grande Lures. These baits were made strictly
for Mexico bass fishing and they work. The tilapia color worked the best
for us on Mateos.
“Mike
hooked his big fish on a spinner bait on a point buck brush but it came
unbuttoned right at the boat. This bass was easily in the 9 to10-pound
range. To sum it all up, we had 114 bass in the 4-6 pound range, lost a
monster at the boat and had bloody thumbs from boating all these fish.
It was one heck of a morning for us."
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