bacolmm

Sub 200 days (199) to go for me. With everyday that goes by that I don't hear any news on El Salto, I believe it's more and more likely that I'll be going to Baccarac. At this point, I don't expect any news on El Salto until October. If it doesn't open in October I'll be convinced I'm going to Baccarac.

Now 220 days out. My strategy of booking my flights so early hasn't panned out. Airfares have gone down, not up. Oh well, you pay your money and take your chances...

I need to study up a bit before I go back. Vamonos, Grande, and Plastico is about as far as I got. 236 Days to go for me...

I've sorta started buying some tackle. Based on my trip and info in this post, I believe it makes sense to bring a pretty healthy supply of Senkos. The weighted-wacky rig definitely seems to be a thing. My guide was very partial to 6 inch (not 5, not 7) Gary Yamamoto (Not Z-Man Giant TRD's) Senkos. Unfortunately, the bulk packs are only available for the 5 inch, so every time I make a tackle order I add a few bags of 6 inch Senkos.

That's mental! 248 days left to go for me. I set aside some $ from my tax return to cover what I still owe and to bring with me. I'm back to fishing in Ohio and I'm being reminded how much more difficult it is to catch 5+ pound bass here than in Mexico!

264 Days Out. Just booked my flights. Pulled the trigger early as I feel with fuel prices going up, there's a chance that flight prices will follow. Really just a complete roll of the dice at this point. Tickets are fully refundable.

My guide really pushed the weighted wacky rig as well, and not just any wacky rig, it had to be a 6 inch Gary Yamamoto. We did catch some good bass on it up to 8 pounds. I was in a similar situation to you, I wanted to try other baits, but it's really tough when you're not getting a lot of bites and the expert, your guide, is pushing the wacky rig. I also, kinda had to put my foot down and tie on my own baits I wanted to try. When I did that, he had no problem with it. Free rigged, Fatty Z turned into my favorite bait of the trip. We also caught some good bass on top water. Our guide wanted one of us to throw a popper and the other a spook. My partner figured it out before me, that the popper was the way to go, so he kept it welded in his hand. This meant our guide was always pushing me to throw the spook. Once again, it took me a while to figure out the popper was superior and then to put my foot down and keep it in my hand. I'm sure I missed opportunities at big bass as a result.

Thanks for the trip report! It's good information to have to moderate expectations. I was there for 5 days and eventually managed some good bass, however 3 of the 5 days I fished were pretty similar to your 3 days. What days were you there? Curious about the calendar. Also, if you fished with Bass Pro Adventures, I'd be interested to know what guides you fished with.

283 Days To Go. The recent unrest in Mexico hasn't changed my plans. I posted on YouTube and Social Media during my trip and I was contacted by someone who was going to Bacarrac for the first time. We traded some messages and he just got back from his trip. He didn't mention any travel issues. He did say that his best 5 for a day was over 48 lbs and best 5 for the trip was right at 50 lbs!

True story! I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to Mexico, but also getting back on the water locally. I'm targeting the weekend of March 7th here in Ohio.

That's a tank! Just dipped under 300 days (299) for me. There is definitely some joy in looking forward to the trip and the prep as well.

This was good advice that I unfortunately didn't take. The guy I was fishing with caught a couple good ones on a Real Prey. I was throwing a Burrito which is similar but the action of the Real Prey is unique and it made a difference. I will have them in my box next time I go.

I spend $1K on tackle. I have issues! Complete overkill. I'll be using a lot of what I purchased locally all season. Everything else will be packed away and ready to go when I go back to Mexico in December (309 Days).

I paid $2500 for 5 days of fishing, lodging (6 nights), meals, drinks. About $530 in tips, $700 in airfare. $4K ish, not including tackle...

323 Days for me. I just sent my deposit for El Salto in December. Hopefully they get that place sorted out before then! I really want to fish that lake! If they don't get it sorted, I'll be back at Baccarac which also doesn't suck! :-)

Love it! I'm excited for you! I'm planning on making the trip an annual thing. BTL is still working out the details; for now they're saying El Salto in December, Baccarac in February. I wish I could do both, but I don't believe I can. My preference is El Salto in December if it's sorted by then. If the El Salto trip gets moved to Baccarac, I will switch to the February trip if there's room.

A slow retrieve seemed to be key. I have never fished topwater, or experienced a topwater bite like we did. Pop.....wait.........Pop........wait........Pop. Bites always came when the bait was sitting still and the bites seemed to be completely random, with long stretches in between.

You're correct. I'm not opposed to using Livescope, however I would prefer not to heavily rely on it to target individual bass. I would personally rather catch 7's and 8's casting at structure / cover than catch 10's shaking a minnow at an individual bass on the scope. Just my preference. Kevin, who I was fishing with, shared this preference. Having said that, there seemed to be others on our trip that were having more success with a wider variation of presentations than we were. IMO, our guide was a bit too married to throwing 6 inch Gary Yamamoto Senkos.

I believe there were 8 DD bass caught by our group (12 guys, 5 days) all of them via live scope. Deep cranks were not a major player. Main baits were topwater, small under-spins and free rigs.

I actually got to fish with Matt Pangrac on Friday morning. He is a great guy and I really enjoyed sharing the boat with him! He mentioned me on the podcast today around 15 minutes in (I'm Matt from PA).

Back from 5 days of fishing Lake Baccarac with Pro Bass Adventures. I had a great time and I’m already planning on going back next year. Per some repeat customers, the fishing was extremely tough by Baccarac standards. It was still very good IMO, although I’d love to see what it’s like when it’s on fire. Bites were, however, difficult to come by, and we would go for relatively long stretches without a bite. I was traveling solo with a group of 11 other anglers on a trip put on by Bass Talk Live. Most were very experienced anglers, including a few pros. I predictably got my butt kicked in comparison, I did however learn a lot. I got along great with everyone, and it would be difficult to imagine a better group of guys. I was paired with Kevin, whose son is a pro. We got along great and he predictably kicked my butt and taught me a lot all week. The first half of day 1 was a wakeup call for both Kevin and me. I caught 3 bass with the largest being about 4.5 pounds. Kevin caught more, but the size was about the same. I believe the guide you end up with is very important. Ours was great and absolutely worked his ass off for us all week. If I go back to Baccarac, I would, however, request a different guide. Mostly because I’d like to experience a different approach, and also see different parts of the lake. It seems to me that each guide has their own set of areas they’re comfortable with. Our guide was very old-school, which for the most part was in line with how Kevin and I wanted to fish. It was a bit extreme at times though IMO. He was a huge fan of throwing 6-inch wacky rigged Senkos. Kevin and I immediately agreed that we’d share tackle. I had a bunch of Z-Man Giant TRD stick baits and Kevin had Yamamoto Senkos. He was not interested in us throwing the Z-Man baits, and we used the Yamamoto baits exclusively. We had to buy more from the tackle shop. At one point Kevin bought 7-inch Senkos and our guide wasn’t having it. We laughed about it. If we had pushed, he would have been fine with it, but it was clear he had strong opinions. In talking with other anglers, it was also clear that we were the only ones throwing wacky rigged Senkos and, I’m not sure it was the most effective approach. The second half of day 1 was similar to the first half for me. I caught 7 bass all day from the back of the boat with my best 5 good for 13 pounds. Not what I was expecting, but I learned a lot. Kevin continued to catch more bass than me from the front deck and ended up with 2 8 pound bass. After getting my butt kicked on day 1, I took the front deck on day 2. I did significantly better with about 25 total bass, 2 6 pounders, and 25 pounds for my best 5. Kevin still out-fished me from the back deck. I took the front deck on day 3. I caught 20 bass, 2 5 pounders and 20 pounds for my best 5. Kevin out fished me again from the back deck. I fished off the back deck on the morning of day 4 and it was my best of the trip. We had caught some key fish on topwater in the evenings, however topwater in the mornings sucked. I went against our guide’s recommendation, and stopped throwing topwater much earlier than Kevin, and caught a 5 pounder on a wacky rig. I then switched to a free rigged Z-Man Fatty Z and it would become one of my confidence baits for the trip. I caught 2 6’s and an 8, for a 28-pound bag and out fished Kevin from the back deck. It had been clear and sunny all week and we got cloud cover on day 5, and I figured we’d smash em. It turned out to be a tough day. I caught my biggest bass (5.3 pounds) at the end of the day on a Rio Rico, and had just under 19 pounds for my best 5. Kevin caught a couple key big bass early and late, and kicked my butt yet again. Most of the day was a real grind with lots of casts and very few bites. Late in the morning I casted my trusty free-rig close to some brush a bit off the bank. When I went to drag it a bit, it felt heavy, and I swung hard with an 8-foot heavy rod. The rod doubled, and I could feel headshakes, but I was never able to move the bass on the other end. I instantly had Kevin’s and our guide’s attention. I had the bass on for a few seconds until it felt like it broke my line (20 lb flouro) with a headshake. It’s the only bass of the trip, that I lost, that I’m confident was very large. Our guide said “For sure grande” and Kevin said “I haven’t seen your rod bend like that all week”.

Thanks! I'll post up my hindsight thoughts after my trip. I talked with Josh and he said that line on the reels is fine to carry-on for the trip to Mexico, but not home. He also said that fishing weights need to be checked?

1 week out. Just a couple minor tackle items to pick up. I did a video on the tackle I’m bringing. I’m open to any suggestions anyone might have. What’s the strategy for traveling with a stack of cash? I was going to bring a bunch of $100- and $50-dollar bills, but I’m guessing no one can make change, so I probably need a stack of $20’s, maybe even some smaller bills?

I agree! My understanding is El Salto was closed early due to cartel activity. When that happened Pro Bass Adventures moved all of their El Salto trips to Baccarac, so I've had it in the back of my mind that this was a possibility...