Burning Crankbaits Hot For El Salto’s Trophy Post-Spawn Bass

As the normal water level begins dropping due to irrigation, anglers fishing El Salto are witnessing a phenomenon seen repeatedly during the past 18 years. Post-spawn bass are stacking up on points, humps and islands, and the best baits for catching them are fast-burned deep-diving crankbaits. Most anglers are starting their early-morning fishing sessions by casting topwater lures. The topwater bite has picked up a notch recently, with Rico Pops and Zara Spooks in the colors mentioned above being the best producers. The best spots are shoreline shallows wherever shad schools can be found. As the morning progresses, however, topwaters go back in the tacklebox, and its time to change over to crankbaits, swimbaits or lizards. All these lures will catch fish if you cast them near a school of hungry bass, but crankbaits have been super hot, particularly the deep-diving, citrus-colored Fat Free Shad or a hot mustard- or parrot-colored Rapala DT16. The key is burning the crankbait fast—real fast—as guests Jack and Michael Fitch learned by accident. Jack explains. “It was late in the afternoon on our final day of fishing,” he says. “We were fishing a spot that had already proven to produce good fish, but my dad had an unfortunate accident and lost his rod and reel over the side. I was trying to retrieve the rod and reel by burning my deep-diving crankbait, but instead I hooked the best fish of the trip—a nice 11-pounder.”

Another father and son team, Bob and Will Worthington, also had good luck on big bass. During three days fishing, they landed more than 370 largemouths, including many that fell for crankbaits. “My son Will caught bass weighing 11 pounds, 9.1, 8.8, 7.14 and 7.3,” Bob says. “The best baits were the Fat Free Shad, 10-inch Power Worms and Storm swimbaits. Nothing could have made our trip any better! Thank you for all you do to make the experience world class.” If you’re keeping track, the two big bass up to this point in our report weighed 11 pounds each. Could there be a third 11-pounder this month? Indeed! Al and Sandy Wells of Medford, Oregon sent a photo of an 11-pounder they caught, too, along with this note from Al. “We enjoyed our stay at Anglers Inn immensely,” he said. “The food was fantastic, the camaraderie was great, and it all added up to the best vacation we have ever had! Sandy loved the pampering and special treatment. Say ‘Hola!’ to everyone, and tell them thanks from both of us!” And if you thought that was all the 11-pounders possible … well, think again. Loren Smith from California was on El Salto with fishing partner Zack Gruner. Loren says, “I have fished bass my whole life, and my biggest bass was 6.7 pounds. In four days on El Salto, I caught 8.2-, 9.0-, and 10.1-pound largemouths. The pure numbers of big bass are amazing. Most of my bass came on deep-diving crankbaits and Storm swimbaits. Zack landed his biggest bass of 11 pounds on a Fat Free Shad crankbait.” 

We had other special guests at Anglers Inn this month, too. TV personality Larry Dahlberg, who hosts the show “The Hunt for Big Fish,” fished both El Salto and Lake Mateos on his recent visit. He and Jeremy Sweet from Shimano Corporation landed more than 300 bass on film in just 1-1/2 days of fishing! Also visiting Anglers Inn were Wayne Black and Joe Nickols, winners of an all-expenses-paid trip for two sponsored by Florida Fishing Weekly. As you’ll understand after reading the paragraphs that follow, these guys, like many other guests, say a trip to Anglers Inn isn’t just about the fishing; it’s about the whole experience. “We arrived at Anglers Inn around noon, and cold drinks were brought to the van as the staff took our fishing gear and baggage to the cottage,” Wayne says. “We were asked what we wanted to drink in the morning and if we had any special needs or requests for food or lodging. Then, at 2 p.m., José said it was time to go fishing. He took us and our gear to the boat where we met our guide Manuel. Manuel asked if we wanted big fish or numbers, and we told him numbers. We caught 63 fish the first afternoon, including several 4s and 5s. Even the smaller ones fought like much bigger bass. “When we came in that afternoon, we were greeted by José, Armando and Sammy whose politeness and obvious enjoyment of working at Anglers Inn were very plain to see,” Wayne continued. “They were just fantastic, and it got even better when they brought the filet mignon to our table cooked just the way we said we liked it. Then it was off to a very clean, air-conditioned room and comfortable beds for a great night’s sleep.”

According to Wayne, he and Joe’s first full day at El Salto started just like the day before had ended—with great food and great service. Then their bass fishing began in earnest. “Manuel greeted us with a smile, and we proceeded to boat 77 quality bass, including a lot of 3s and 4s, with several in the 6-pound-plus range. We came back to the lodge for lunch and had an appetizer on our way to the room to freshen up before the terrific lunch. After lunch, it was siesta time, and we rested up for another great afternoon. Shrimp Rockefeller for supper; need I say more?” Day 2 included more great fishing, with Wayne and Joe landing more than 100 bass. “I started using 65-pound braid with a 3-foot, 20-pound Vanish leader tied with a uni-knot,” Wayne says. “This worked very well, even when throwing the 6-inch Storm swimbaits. We caught fish on swimbaits, deep-diving cranks, chrome-and-blue 3/4-ounce Rat-L-Traps, 9-inch worms, 8-inch Zoom lizards and 5-inch craws. The colors on the worms, lizards and craws were black with blue tail or watermelon red. The crankbaits were Fat Free Shad, white with a green back, and Bandit watermelon-red, 16-foot divers. We also caught a few on a Spittin’ Image white with a blue back topwater very early. The topwater bite was just starting to get good, and by May, I’m sure it will be a hot bite. “Day 3 was more of the same,” Wayne continued, “and I had to put an Ace bandage on my wrist, which was sore from setting the hook. Now isn’t that something! We caught well over 300 bass in our three and a half days.” Wayne concluded by reemphasizing that great fishing is just one facet of the El Salto experience. “It’s not just the outstanding fishing that made this trip a bass fisherman’s dream; it’s the whole experience, service and accommodations and, more importantly, the people,” he says. “We were made to feel like family. And to get that on a fishing trip … Wow! The sunsets, sunrises and scenery were wonderful. The quiet and peaceful nights were relaxing. Think about taking your family, too. If they like to fish or just get away to a quiet, hassle-free place, Anglers Inn is where to take them. We’ll be back!”

As you can see, the fishing on El Salto has been red hot. The number of bass being caught each week by all the guests combined is in the thousands. And these are good quality bass in the 6- to 8-pound range, with countless more weighing 3 to 6 pounds. The bigger bass take a little more skill and/or luck to land, but I’ve heard many stories of “the ones that got away,” and quite a few about those 10 and 11-pounders that didn’t get away. When you come down, be sure to come prepared with 17- to 20-pound-test line and the baits mentioned above to improve your chances of landing the big bass of a lifetime. And finally, with your sons and daughters getting out of school soon, you may want to take Wayne Black’s advice and bring your family to El Salto for a visit. That’s exactly what David Crook did with his daughter Gabby. Dave said, “We fished for one day and caught 50 bass. And Gabby caught the biggest fish of the day at 8.4 pounds. Gabby is just 9 years old, but she’s quite a little fisherwoman. She caught her bass on a lizard.”

Give us a call to find out about our Summer Camp special. You and your son/daughter won’t regret it!

Better come down and find out for yourself. Call Toll Free 888.479.BASS ( 2277 )