Dinky

Just returned from El Salto Here are a few of the fish 2 of us were able to catch 4 days; 180+ fish 6 over 8lbs 4 more over 10 w/ 3 of those over 12 one 14+

I have fished as a non-boater for the last 3 years-all the BASS Southern Opens and one or two Central opens. (I also Marshal 3 or 4 times a year, often taking my boat and fishing the tournament lake the week after the Elite Tournament is over. (Hey, I know a bunch of great honey holes and the locals are at work!) I own a boat but will probably not compete as a boater because I am not interested in spending the time and $ necessary to do so....plus I am 68 years old. I have only fished one tournament on my 'home' lake, so knowledge of the lake is not an issue when I compete. On the one tournament on my 'home' lake I fished wherever the boater went on the first day-he never asked me anything. I out-weighed him. On the second day I was paired with Ish Monroe-he didn't ask me anything. Neither of us went to the weigh in.(I have Marshaled for Ish since then and seen him at numerous tournaments--I never mention this...he lifts weights and is in great shape!) I seldom pre- fish. I don't make a lot of $$ on the tournaments. I fish a lot of different lakes in this great country and meet a lot of nice folks ---and learn a lot about fishing. I always offer my boater $$ for gas etc. Some Take it all, some take some of it , the Elite Pros won't take any---all are grateful and appreciative. I love it and will try to enter some Northern Opens next year in addition to the Southern Opens. The boaters pay $1500 to fish and use their own boat--I pay $425 and don't have to haul my boat to the site. And I should complain??

Just three from last year at El Salto and a picture of the boat I fish out of in Mexican waters. No problems for me.

Just a few observations: Fishing for bass in Mexico's lakes is not a zero sum game. If you catch a lot of big fish in Lake "A", it does not mean you will not be able to catch just as many big fish in Lake "B". Yet many posters seem to be saying that only a lot of big fish can be caught in their particular lake. and not in other lakes. This is ridiculous. Weighing fish is the only way ( seriously? 'weigh' to 'way'?) to tell how much a fish ways..er weighs. Lakes in Mexico certainly will be affected by pressure over time. A lake that becomes 'hot' will attract more fishermen and thus more pressure. Over enough time it will experience a reduction in size/numbers. I have fished El Salto for over 10 years --probably 25 trips. But I am not so insecure about my choice that I would claim other lakes do not compare with it--at least not until I fished the other lakes 25 times over a 10 year period. El Salto is more convenient to get to than other lakes; but I definitely want to - and will-- try other lakes. It took me over 6 years of trips to El Salto to actually get a double digit in the boat. Meanwhile I boated hundreds of 6-8 pound fish-and enjoyed every minute of it. Since then I have become a better fisherman in Mexican lakes and have boated many more 10+ pound fish at El Salto. If I go to a different lake and do not catch as many big fish as I have on my best trip to El Salto will I conclude that El Salto is better than that other lake? Of course not. I look forward to fishing Lake Baccarac next spring and have Sugar on my radar. Adios amigos.

Do you come through Lexington on your way there or back? Where are you staying? Can I go too? lol I am about 4 0r 5 hours from St. Clair and have been trying to get up there for years. Let me know how it is and if you are going next year.

I have experienced the same behavior by the Pros when I Marshal ....But remember that they are metabolizing what they ate the day/night before the morning you got in the boat with them. Sooo..the question is what did they do BEFORE you got into the boat with them that morning! I do not know for sure what they did, but I am willing to wager a good guess.

Dateline: Logan-Martin Lake/BASS Southern Open #3,Pell City, AL, 5/17/2013 I am fishing this Bassmaster Southern Open as a non-boater and drew Chris Lane as a partner on Thursday. We indeed had a lot of fun and Chris is a fantastic fisherman (no surprise there!) as well as a complete professional and gentleman(again no surprise!) Chris indeed had skinny water strategy in mind from the get-go and he executed it to perfection: frog/toad in the main lake and secondary cuts and coves from the launch to the dam. He made some minor adjustments after we figured out exactly where the big bites were. His ability to analyze the bites/behavior of the fish and the conditions was really something to see. He made it look easy. Add to that his total command of the technique and his ability to put the lure in just the right spot and he made an 18+ pound day look easy. And wow, did I learn a lot!! It was an amazing day for me--and it was all due to Chis Lane,..thanks Chris!! Now if I can just get my Rage Toad out of this tree we can move on down the Coosa river and hunt some more big spots and green fish. Post script: Chris weighed in 10+ today. Good enough for 5th and he is in the top 12 and will be fishing for the win tomorrow! Me?I am packing up and heading to Pickwick to meet 00Mod.

A one day weight is not really a good test/comparison. It needs to be a level playing field as follows Tournament would be four (4) days. Lake would be off limits for 60 days prior to the tournament. Three official practice days-eg-mon. -wed. Anglers can only pre-fish with another tournament angler entered in the tournament. During off limits period- as well as tournament- no info from any source other than public source. No co- anglers. Marshalls to be used with bass track systems. No nets. No cell phone use except in emergency. All other general rules apply such as: no A-rigs can be used, no culling dead fish, penalties for dead fish, etc. Only then will you be able to have a true comparison of who is better on a local fisherman's home lake. (no horsepower restricted lakes could be use of course.)

Good to know , Rhino. Now I know why you wanted to take a separate additional ice chest on board at Pickwick--it must have been those Krispy Kreme crème filled chocolate covered pastries. yum.

I have the same stuff in my boat. It is heavy, heavy duty garbage bags. Also-my co-angler just gets to sit in front of the boat for a while--doesn't have to be downwind--mine don't stink-- just task Pro Crafter and Rhino!!

Actually they can do this--it is called declaring an emergency. It is ok as long as they are not fishing from outside the boat.

COMMITTMENT & EXPERIENCE These two traits seem to dominate the various analyses above. I agree and include in those traits synonymous traits like focus, persistence, experience, time on the water. As for the Elite Tour: it is very rigorous--and expensive. But like any other sport it is a pyramid in terms of relative success. There are there those few at the very top and the success(income) will lessen rapidly as one moves down the pyramid. If you saw the interview with J Todd Tucker by db here on the board you will see that he said that a tournament fishing day was an easy day compared to a practice day. These guys practice from dawn to dusk--12-16 hours for 3 to 3 1/2 days prior to a 4 day tournament in which they fish for 8 hours per day; but by the time they finish the weigh in, load the boat on the trailer, stop by the service yard to get a problem fixed with the boat and gas up for the next day it can quickly become a 12 hour day. Now it is time to eat and get tackle ready for tomorrow. No they don't all have caddies. If their Marshall doesn't help them load the boat, or they have a wife with them who will do it, they will do it themselves. You will see many Elite Pros (as well as FLW pros) fishing in the Bassmaster Opens. Sure, if an Elite Pro wins one of the 9 Opens it is an automatic berth in the Classic and a minimum $10,000 with a chance at $500,000 and that is an incentive to enter more tournaments. But they also enter because they are often pressured to by sponsors--those wrapped boats they fish out of are mobile billboards. It is what the sponsors are paying for.

I must disagree a little. The so- called "free research" done by the bait sponsors is done in response to a specific request by a pro for a bait to look/act a specific way under certain conditions. The pro has initially come up with the type of bait he wants and it's specific characteristics based on his months of fishing for a living and analyzing what works and what doesn't--ie-he is doing the research, not the bait company. The sponsors want to sell their products, but the pros must be successful on the tour for those sales to increase so they can continue to pay the pros. Statistical information for many lakes is readily available on-line. It has its limitations for sure and is of some, but not significant, usefulness. Regardless, everyone, pro or not, knows certain things and most of these can be found on line--Gunnersville: no grass, no bass; certain lakes with blueback herring forage favored by bass; etc, etc. Access to this info is no secret and is not why the pros are as good as they are. Hiring a guide is helpful to get a general overview of a lake; general structure, etc can also be determined by the pros from maps-and they can all read maps! but the off limits rules preclude use of guides when it would be most helpful--right before the tournament--, and thus its usefulness is questionable anyway. What the fish are doing in April on the lake is not a sure indicator of what they are doing in July on that lake. Besides-they are busy competing and hardly have time for guided trips other than in the off season--making the info even less useful 8 to 12 months later. It is true that they were all 'local' pros at one time-it is also true they weren't local for very long. Plus many have risen to the big time 200 best only to be soon returned to a smaller arena. Very few local/amateurs who weigh a big sack in his club championship on his home lake is capable of competing with those 200-no matter what they say about not having the resources to go pro.

Awesome! I'm in for $10 for every 5# and above. Hope to generate a donation at the Southern Open at Logan Martin next week. Expect the trip to El Salto in Juy to result in a pretty nice donation.

Pro Crafter Left you a little souvenier in Cabin 3

Made it to Lexington Sunday evening. Rained most of the way - I think it was following me around! Am now healing from my various mishaps - I'm doing better than my old trolling motor for sure! With the help of Medicare I should be healed in time for next year. Thanks to all for a great Road Trip: Glenn=thanks for finally drawing my number for the cool TUFFLINE fishing cap. Keri-thanks for drinking only white wine--leaving more red wine for the rest of us. Big-O-thanks for all the great info and for helping me get damaged trolling motor stowed. LM, 00Mod, and other trip cords-thanks for another great one. Ghoti-best soiree ever-food and wine were excellent. RW -thanks for cooking the burgers--the ones with the special Memphis blend-and for breakfast. Ronnie- the Cajun eats were great as usual. And thanks for helping me get old trolling motor stowed --also thanks for getting me on my feet at the ramp so I would'nt have to be put down. Pro-crafter--thanks for being our Cabin 3 chauffer. Next year we will get you a proper driver's hat. Rhino-thanks for teaching me how to disguise that I am actually trolling from the back of the boat--I can use it in the Bassmaster Opens. 00Mod - thanks for sharing all those hot fishing spots - sorry you had to make a premature withdrawal.....from the road trip. Let me know if I missed anyone. Won't matter-just be good to know. AYE! ps-Glenn - pics on way soon.

That.s a long way, ProCrafter. Don't your arms get tired?

she's a beaut, O!!

Fact Check II--It takes 80,000 Texas fisherpersons to equal 40,000 BR fisherpersons.

Wish you were going to be there, Traveler--I was going to bring you a hat. Next year?

Awesome! But I could never hold my breath that long.

Siebert- Hero3.

Great, Siebert, now I can show my ignorance--I don't know. I will check.

Cell phones are amazing now. I found a new use for mine---phone calls.