While I certainly hope the best for everyone involved in the recent chaos,

in and around Puerto Vallarta.

Just as a PSA—Mexico as a country covers roughly 760,000 square miles.

For reference, it's like 3 times the size of Texas.

There are over 510 miles / 10 hours driving time between Puerto Vallarta

and Lake Baccarac Lodge.

Stay Safe.

A-Jay

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

While I certainly hope the best for everyone involved in the recent chaos,

in and around Puerto Vallarta.

Just as a PSA—Mexico as a country covers roughly 760,000 square miles.

For reference, it's like 3 times the size of Texas.

There are over 510 miles / 10 hours driving time between Puerto Vallarta

and Lake Baccarac Lodge.

Stay Safe.

A-Jay

This is very true, and I will add, that so far there have been no reports of any change in the Bacarac area. All is quite to the North of PV. Increased Cartel activity centered in the state of Jalisco many miles to the south.

On 2/24/2026 at 10:36 AM, A-Jay said:

While I certainly hope the best for everyone involved in the recent chaos,

in and around Puerto Vallarta.

Just as a PSA—Mexico as a country covers roughly 760,000 square miles.

For reference, it's like 3 times the size of Texas.

There are over 510 miles / 10 hours driving time between Puerto Vallarta

and Lake Baccarac Lodge.

Stay Safe.

A-Jay

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!

19 minutes ago, bacolmm said:

283 Days To Go. 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!

That's the Lake Baccarac I know and love. His bass fishing is ruined for life !

❤️

A-Jay

On 2/11/2026 at 12:50 PM, rmcguirk said:

Jumping out of my skin here. I'm leaving this weekend for fishing starting Monday. It sure is a crazy trip to get there--much harder than El Salto/Piccachos--but I'm hoping that it is worth it!

@rmcguirk Hope your travel was safe and you hammered some Giants !

Did I miss the trip report?

A-Jay

On 3/4/2026 at 9:45 PM, A-Jay said:

@rmcguirk Hope your travel was safe and you hammered some Giants !

Did I miss the trip report?

A-Jay

AJ, you did not miss a trip report.  I debated whether to do one for reasons that will be clear pretty quickly.  But the following is an overview of my trip.  First, the TLDR version:  the fishing was super, super slow.  I understand from people who overlapped from the prior week that it was slow the prior week as well.  That is strange as we had very stable, hot weather both the prior week and the week I was there. 

I caught 9 on Monday, 10 on Tuesday, 11 on Wednesday and 22 on Thursday.  Biggest was only 6.76 lb.  The next largest was 5.95 lb.  Everything else was smaller, and most were under 2 lbs.  In my group of three, my buddy did slightly better numbers wise and also caught one 8.04.  He also had a couple of 7s and some 5s and 6s.  But still very, very slow.  Our third member, his adult son and a very good fisherman, didn’t get anything over 5.5 and also didn’t get any numbers. 

From talk around the camp, we were in line with others numbers wise.  There were scattered bigger fish caught, including one 11 lb stud.  But there appeared to be little rhyme or reason to it.  One person (a self-professed casual angler) reported catching only four fish all day but two of them were 9 lbs.  She threw nothing but a weighted wacky all trip.  Frankly my takeaway for the time we were there is that if you hit the right fish on the head with your bait, it might bite.  But fish were not really chasing. 

More details if you’re interested:

Travel:  If you can, it really would be better to fly directly into the small airport at the lake.  There are two other primary options.  First, you can fly into Los Mochis and then drive the 2:45 to the lake.  Second, you can fly into Mazatlán and drive the 5:30 to the lake.  They’ll pick you up at either airport.  The cost of the drive is included from Los Mochis but they charge per van for the drive from Mazatlán.  We flew into Los Mochis.  That required an extra flight and transferring at Mexico City.  If I ever do this again (doubtful), I’d either fly directly to the lake or fly to Mazatlan and drive the extra two-plus hours.  Having to take that extra flight with all the risks that entails and humping your bags around Mexico City airport is no fun.  And, given the long layover you have to build in to transit customs and switch terminals, you really don’t save any time.  Fortunately, all of our flights were on time and all of our luggage arrived and returned with us no problems.  And, as a side note, we left on Friday and the troubles in Mexico started Saturday.  Thoughts and prayers for anyone in the danger zone, but it did not impact us. 

The Lodge:  The accommodations are really nice.  The rooms are comfortable, relatively modern, and clean.  The WiFi works flawlessly.  The staff is super friendly and helpful, the margaritas are plentiful and delicious, and the beer/soda/water was always available and cold.  The food was also very good.  In short, the lodge is just about a perfect get away for fishing. 

The Guides and the Fishing:  First, as noted, we had a three-person group.  When we do these trips, we rotate who is fishing by themselves.  So, we had two guides.  One was much, much better than the other.  For other Mexico trips (my only other experience is multiple times at Picachos and El Salto with Ron Speed), you typically get a new guide every day, unless you reserve someone (which they kinda discourage).  Here, you get the same guide for the entire time.  That is fine if you get someone good and/or someone who meshes with the style of fishing that you like.  If you don’t… And, until you’ve gone a few times and worked your way through guides, or have someone who knows better, you’re stuck with luck of the draw.

As I mentioned, one of the two guides we had was clearly better than the other.  The first guide loved the weighted wacky rig with a six- or seven-inch senko.  While fishing a weighted wacky is fine by me—and I do it plenty at home—it’s not really what I travel to Mexico to do.  I’ll do it if it is working—and especially if I’m catching big fish, but if I’m just really engaged in casting practice with it, I get bored.  At every stop, it was the only thing he suggested and that was notwithstanding the fact that all of the fish I caught on it with him (a total of 3) were under 1.5 lbs.  That also was so, even though most of the fish I caught that day were on presentations other than that and ones that I decided on without his input—including a few on an A-rig, a couple on a Berkley chop block, and one on top water.  About mid-afternoon, I held up the weighted wacky rig to show him, pulled out my scissors, and cut it off.  That was the end of that.  I didn’t fish with him again, but my buddy and his son had similar experiences and results. 

While the other guide was also a big fan of the weighted wacky rig, he also pushed a t-rig (again six- or seven-inch senkos).  But at least the second guide would start to hunt around and try to figure out what else might work.  So, with him, I tried a ton of different presentations, and he really seemed to care about finding something that would work. 

Given how few fish I caught, this information may be worthless, but I’d say that I caught the largest number of fish on an A-rig, including one double, which is always fun.  I caught a couple on a jig, several on a t-rig (including my largest), a couple on top water, including a decent one on a weightless fluke, several on the weighted wacky, and a couple on the Berkley chop block and one on a wobble head. 

Somewhat surprisingly, even though I caught most of my fish on an A-rig, I got no bites on a paddle tail swimbait, whether that was a bare swimbait on a jig head, an underspin or a Bacca Burrito.  It is one of my favorite presentations, so that was disappointing.  I also didn’t get any bites on any sort of crankbait, and I tried a number of different types/depths.  I also got nothing on lipless crank or bladed jig. 

Unlike El Salto and Picachos, our two guides never pushed a lizard, which is an absolute staple at those other lakes.  Our first trip to Mexico, we threw lizards most of the day.  Also different is that the guides at Baccarac didn’t seem to think that scent/dye was all that important.  At El Salto and Picachos, the guides don’t want you to forget that. 

My takeaway:  I’ve struggled with how to evaluate this trip.  All in, I don’t think I’ll be going back to Lake Baccarac—or at least not in mid-winter.  The fishing was simply not good, either numbers wise or size.  No one in our group caught a PB or really a trophy.  (My buddy lives in central Florida, so an 8lb fish is a great fish but not a true trophy.)  Coming from upstate New York, that is a trophy for me, and not far off my Mexico best.  My 6.76 lb fish was a great fish, but nowhere near my Mexico PB, or even in the top 10. 

And there appears to have been no objective reason for the slow fishing.  The conditions were perfect and had been for some time.  The fish were just not active.  If you dropped your bait on their head, maybe they’d bite.  Believe me, I get it.  I’ve had my fair share of tough days on the water, where you feel like nothing is working and you’ve got little hope.  But I usually don’t spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles to a legendary bass lake for that experience. 

So, how would I have felt about this trip if I had caught a new PB?  Or, better yet, how would I feel if I had caught a DD?  My guess is that if I had caught a PB, I obviously would be happier—but still not really pleased with the fishing on the trip.  If I had caught a DD, I could check that off my list but catching only one such fish and having the slow fishing we had, I still don’t think I’d go back.  We’ve already agreed that we’re going back to El Salto (assuming it is open) and Picachos next year.

If you have any questions, happy to respond either here or in DMs. 

Held up the wacky rig and cut it off with scissors 😂 😂 😂

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Held up the wacky rig and cut it off with scissors 😂 😂 😂

I know, pretty dramatic. But I had told him no more wacky rig a few times and he just ignored me. So, I had to show him.

1 hour ago, rmcguirk said:

AJ, you did not miss a trip report.  

Travel:  If you can, it really would be better to fly directly into the small airport at the lake. 

The Lodge:  The accommodations are really nice.  The rooms are comfortable, relatively modern, and clean.  The WiFi works flawlessly.  The staff is super friendly and helpful, the margaritas are plentiful and delicious, and the beer/soda/water was always available and cold.  The food was also very good.  In short, the lodge is just about a perfect get away for fishing. 

@rmcguirk Thank you for taking the time to share your trip here.

I do understand that since the fishing wasn't what you'd hoped for,

A write-up was like pouring salt in the wound. No one wants to document poor fishing.

But like you said, it happens.

And I'm glad you decided to add that here.

I think it's important for folks to know that bass fishing is bass fishing.

It is not always rainbows and unicorns, even in Mexico.

As for the lodge, I expected nothing less than a glowing report.

The people and the accommodations are quite proper.

As for the travel, I did mention that we only do the private air to the lodge.

(Meaning NO Van Rides).

Mostly because of the inconveniences of the Mexican commercial air travel you mentioned.

I will make zero attempt to try and dissect how your fishing trip went.

I will say I wish it had gone better for you, but there is no way I could tell you from here

if there was anything you could have done differently.

It may be easy to review or evaluate the lodge and accommodations anytime.

But it may be a little trickier trying to judge the fishing on that giant lake based on one week of fishing.

I have 212 days and a wake-up before our next trip, and I'm excited.

Over the years of going there, we've had a few tough days but also had plenty of crazy awesome days as well.

So we just keep going, because 10, 11, and 12 lb-plus bass do live there.

And we want to be there when they bite.

Stay Safe and thanks again

A-Jay

Dang it, McQuirk!

The lake is uncharted.

Water levels rise/fall 40-60 feet from year to year.

Guides are mandatory.

A-Jay

9 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

The lake is uncharted.

Water levels rise/fall 40-60 feet from year to year.

Guides are mandatory.

Got it.

Question, and this is for anyone who’s been. I’m hearing I wanted to try this and the guide didn’t think it would work and one guide was hunting and the other seemed stuck on a certain area/pattern. Can you not say you want to try this or that or say you want to target this area or that?

I get the guide can make or break a trip as can many other factors that are out of anyone’s control, guides included.

My only guide experience was mixed. It was a bachelor party and chartered two boats on Lake Michigan for salmon. My boat, it was slow and ended up catching one fish each. It was a good time but very slow. The other boat were catching them left and right and the two captains were talking and the one told our captain to come on over and our captain was a stubborn old man who didn’t want to come over. I get it, coulda shoulda woulda.

I’m not a salmon angler so I’d never consider or even have a clue where to target salmon. We’re all bass anglers and have experience, ideas, and things we’d like to try. Is that not welcomed when you hire a bass guide?

4 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Can you not say you want to try this or that or say you want to target this area or that?

Just like any customer/client deal, the guide works for you.

So you drive the bus all day every day.

However, If you have never been to or fished a lake that 25 miles long and 5 miles wide and the guide has lived and fished there his entire life, as much as I think I know bass fishing,

I will always bow to the man with the experience.

How do you think he got that job ?

We have had our best trips by allowing the guide to do his job.

I have beat this horse way dead in this entire thread.

Also the guide is 'evaluating' the client to assess his/her fishing ability & experience.

We all want to believe that in our fishing world, we are really good bass fisherman.

Great casters, great at reading water, great at hooking and landing big bass and so on.

Well the guides see it ALL. Day in and day out. The good, the bad & the ugly.

The trip is then molded to match whatever level clients in his boat are at.

What I do on Lake Menderchuck will never translate to catching bass in Mexico.

As soon as I put myself right there, things started to click.

The anglers that do the best and catch the most and biggest bass on Lake Baccarac,

are often the least experienced.

Because they do what the guide tells them to do.

I will now be taking this thread back to its roots and simply posting about my own trips.

Will no longer be commenting on what other bassheads have experienced down south.

A-Jay

I live in Mexico, and fish a lake that has on average as many DD bass as any lake in Mexico. The lake is very small, and doesn't take a professional to figure it out. I have fished there for 5 years, and learn something new every time I go. The water level fluctuates from full pool to 25 feet down depending on the season. I prefer to fish in June when the water is at its's lowest, but a couple other anglers that fish this lake won't even go during low water because they prefer to fish topwater when flats are flooded. I have mapped the entire lake with my Garmin, and even though the lake is only 2 miles long, by 1/2 mile wide, I catch bass somewhere new every trip.

Even with all this local knowledge I have, and the number of times I fish there, I still get skunked one or twice a year. Bass in Mexico are Florida strain bass, and they can be finicky wherever you find them. The bass in Mexico spawn every month of the year. It is very difficult to pattern them by season. I can catch post spawn fish in January, and land giant pre spawn fish in June. Not being able to predict their behaviour by time of year can make fishing for them even more difficult. Water temperature is irrelevant, and I mostly try to pattern the bass by water level and clarity. I wish I knew more about their main prey Tilapia but I have found very little information on their habits. A google search will get me many recipes, and basic life cycle but not much else.

The advantage a guide has fishing for Mexican bass is they are on the water every day. I can only go a few days a year so every time I get to the lake I have to start from scratch. A bigger lake such as Baccarac, would be almost impossible to find bass with only a few days a year to fish there. A guide is an absolute necessity at a large lake here.

I have guided anglers most of my life, and know the biggest complaint any guide has is an angler that doesn't listen to his guide. That said, I have also seen way to many times a guide who gets stubborn and sticks with his past success way to much. I have personally been guilty of this behaviour, and am constantly trying to avoid this common trap.

If a client wants to fish a different way than I recommend, I will tell them I think my way would be best, but it is their trip and I will work as hard as I can to get them fish the way they want to fish. Most of the time this is when an angler will only fly fish, and many times the situation does not favor the fly rod. If the fishing is extremely slow and I am confident that my method is the only thing that will work, but we have to stick with it, I will tell the client what I think. If the client then says that they do not have the patience to stick with the method and grind it out, I understand, and will glady switch over to searching new areas and trying new techniques. This gives the client a break from the same routine, and also give me a chance to break away and explore. Most of the time a guide doesn't get the chance to try something new, because they are expected to produce every day. They get confidence in something that works and stick with it. Most of the time the only chance I would get to explore new places is when the fishing was so good, I would suggest we try something new. When the fishing was slow, grinding it out usually is the best option.

The client is there to have fun. Usually that means catching the most or biggest fish, but if they don't want to fish a wacky worm all day, I better have a place I can try a crankbait. Being stubborn is not the answer. Communication is key. If you don't want to fish a certain way, make sure you don't you tell your guide that you don't doubt his decisions, you simply want to try something different. If they are too stubborn to understand this than they should not be guiding. Most of the time the best fisherman does not make the best guide, and the best fisherman usually does not make the best client. Great anglers trying to guide are used to fishing for themselves, and have a difficult time adjusting to helping less skilled anglers catch fish. The best anglers make bad clients because they do not want to listen to their guide, because they may have as much or more fishing skill than their guide and feel they know best. I have been at both ends of this problem. I will admit I'm a terrible client because of my experience, and from time to time have been way too stubborn of a guide. I realize my weaknesses and try and improve on both every time I guide or go on a guided trip.

Bottom line is Bass are Bass, and Florida Strain Bass are the worst when it comes to not biting for no apparent reason. Bass fishing in Mexico can be unbelievable, but there is no place on earth where a skunk isn't lurking close by.

FFS is taking over bass fishing in Mexico like it has other places. It was late getting here, but it is here to stay. Some of the lodges on major bass lakes are equipping their boats with the latest technology and some guides are quickly learning how to utilize it. Some guides refuse to change over to the new sonar, and will eventually get left behind. It is no different than the tournament anglers in the States. Either you learn to embrace the technology or fall behind. If I were going on a once in a lifetime trip to a lodge in Mexico I would insist on being in a boat that is equipped with FFS and have a guide that can not only use the equipment but is also good at teaching the client, therefore capitalizing on the technology. The scoppers are producing unbelievable numbers of big bass on all of the famous lakes in Mexico, the same as they are in Texas. I don't know how I feel about the technology myself, but I do know from experience, that any guide that doesn't learn the latest techniques' in any kind of fishing will soon fall way behind and eventually will be out of work.

Bass fishing in Mexico can be tough, but if you stick with it, that DD bass is only one cast away.

@rmcguirk I have made about 8 trips down to lake Baccarac since 2013. Only had one year where the fishing sucked due to a probable fish kill. What I have learned from numerous fishing trips to fly in locations all over Canada, Northwest Territories & Mexico is the importance of the guide assigned to you. After the very first trip experience with a guide that did not suit us I learned not to just take what ever guide that was assigned to us without a prior discussion with camp management or the camp owner what my expectations were for the trip & what we were looking for in a guide. Communication skills, experience & thinking outside the box were always top guide priorities. I never liked a guide who was overly stubborn or unwilling to try different approaches. Personality conflicts are par for the course and I get it. I always asked for their best guide well in advance of the actual trip to ensure we got the best available. I didn't always get the best but I never got the worst again. After multiple trips to the same location you can always get the guide that you liked the most or a very good substitute based on your learning curve. Lake Baccarac Lodge has two fee structures for their guides. A requested guide gets tipped a higher amount than a regular assigned guide which is done on a rotating basis to be fair with all the guide getting more regular work. When you spend your hard earned money on a fishing trip you want it to be successful & to have fun so you have to be proactive in your planning. That is a very valuable lesson to learn.

I went old school with the money belt. haha.

I just estimated my tips and got denominations I thought would fit.

On 3/6/2026 at 2:58 PM, rmcguirk said:

AJ, you did not miss a trip report.  I debated whether to do one for reasons that will be clear pretty quickly.  But the following is an overview of my trip.  First, the TLDR version:  the fishing was super, super slow.  I understand from people who overlapped from the prior week that it was slow the prior week as well.  That is strange as we had very stable, hot weather both the prior week and the week I was there. 

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.

22 hours ago, bacolmm said:

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.

We fished four days, from February 16 through February 19. We fished with Lake Baccarac Lodge not Pro Bass Adventures.

As noted, the first three day were bad. The fourth day was much better, with double the number of fish caught, and the fish just seemed to be more active. I believe it was the start of an upwards trend in the fishing, as I've seen reports that the last two weeks the fishing has been much, much better.

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.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2079079512937743/

205 Days and a wake up.

A-Jay

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.

It's snowing again today, so I needed a fix.

196 Days & a Wake Up ~

A-Jay

Since my last entry here, I think I've repacked twice, purchased some new sunglasses,

changed out a few baits and even subtracted a few baits.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that this one is already paid for in full.

Which, for a retired enlisted guy living on a fixed salary, is a pretty big deal.

I call it creative financing.

My wife thinks that's funny, but this is no laughing matter.

OK - maybe it is.

188 Days and a wake-up.

And here are Scorable Bass stats from the epic Oct 2018 trip.

It was getting hard to keep track on the water.

So Big Fish Jeff kept the notable catches on his phone.

This is a screenshot.

Ask me again why we call him Big Fish Jeff.

A-Jay

On 3/30/2026 at 10:18 AM, A-Jay said:

Ask me again why we call him Big Fish Jeff.

I friggin’ hate that guy 😜