|
|
|
Lake Mateos Fishing Report
Popular lures used this week:
|
|
Incredible Topwaer Fishing 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." -End- |