Thanks S. Dewey for these photos. I’m glad you guys had a great trip! I thought I’d post these while I wait for new photos to come in. We have a full camp this week so I’m expecting updated fishing reports with pictures! Don’t forget to keep checking back in. Teri
New Photos
Feb 2
14 to 12 Pounders Caught!
Jan 20
It’s taken a few days to sort out fact from fiction, but the group just returning from Lake Mateos Bass Lodge has provided this information and these photos.
B. Taylor – caught the biggest fish during this trip! He caught 2 – 12+ pounders! Rumor has it these were 14 pounders but he didn’t weigh them so we can’t be certain. These are the biggest catches so far this season but sadly Bub hadn’t signed up for the tournament so these large catches don’t put him in the running for the free trip next season!
K. Matthews – caught 1 – 12 pounder and was registered for the tournament, but didn’t remember his camera that day so his catch doesn’t count.
D. Dreiling – caught 2 – 8+ pounders and has pictures he will send to me. He also reported he personally caught 60 to 80 7# fish. Don – you were registered for the tournament so I’ll be checking with Bennie to make sure you followed all the rules! You could be the top runner right now!
T. Carmichael – thanks for sending these pictures. I don’t know who’s who, but ya’ll know who you are!
Have another group just leaving camp today. I’ll give them a day to return home, rest and then report in on how their trip was! Stay tuned! Teri
This just in from Bennie in Mexico: ”Our fishermen are catching 100 fish per day, per boat many 3 to 6 pounds. Most productive bait is chartreuse spinner bait, all kinds of lures are doing well. Biggest fish caught before yesterday was 8.5 pounder in 14 ft. of water using lizard worm. Yesterday though . . caught a 12 pounder in 16 ft of water using tequilla sunrise worm.”
Greetings from sunny and warm Mexico where the fishing and weather are both hot!
Here is the first fishing report of the New Year! We have 13 fishermen in camp since Sunday, January 10, 2010 and another 7 arriving tonight! A special shout out to B.P. (you know who you are) for sending me these photos! You rock and there will be a little something special waiting for you when you arrive home!
Lake Mateos is at 60% capacity which is perfect for fishing. Each boat is catching 100+ fish per day in the 4 to 5 pound range; the largest fish have been 8.5 pounds. The water is clear to 10 feet and there is a lot of top water action. They are having luck with all baits but catching the larger fish with larger chartreuse spinner baits. Wind is a non-issue.
Enjoy the photos; hopefully we’ll have more to share very soon!
- Last Minute Steal!
- Leave: Jan. 31st or Feb. 1st, 2010
- Fish: Feb. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 2010
- Return: Feb. 10, 2010
- Fish 8 days for price of 6 days, $2.299.00 with only 2 spots to fill. Airfare not included.
- You’ll fish with J.C. our camp owner who is looking for 2 people to fill out these dates.
- Call Teri at 866-668-2379 to reserve!
New Year’s Report
Dec 31
We know several of you are heading to Lake Mateos right after ringing in the New Year! Although we haven’t had a lot of fishermen in through the holidays we were able to send two fishermen out for a day of fishing so we can provide this updated fishing report. Sorry no pictures this time!
December 30th, 2009 – 2 fishermen fished from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm and caught 75 fish, most 3 to 6 pounders, 1 – 8 pounder. Here’s what they used:
Frogs, Rat-L-Traps, Chartreuse Spinner Bait, Zara Spook and Senkos. The 8 pounder was caught with the Senko.
Note – this fishing day missed both the a.m. and evening feeds. Not bad huh?
Those of you going soon, stay on Benny to send me daily fishing reports and photos. You all want to see yourselves on this web site don’t you? Thanks! Teri
November 16 – 20, 2009
Water Level: 70%
Water Clarity: Mostly clear water with few muddy spots
Number of Fish Caught: 100+ per day, most 3 – 6 pounders, 1 – 10.5 pounder
Best Baits & Color: Zara Spook, Rat-L-Trap, Frogs, Chartreuse Spinner Bait, Crank Bait
Weather Conditons: Calm mornings and light winds in afternoon
The fishermen in camp this week were happy with the numbers caught and thrilled with the 10.5 pounder!
While J.C. was in Mexico two weeks ago, he used Shakespeare’s Stealth Braid fishing line. He doesn’t normally endorse any one product, but in this case he was so excited about the line, he actually brought the empty box home so I would have record of what he used. In his words: “I used this line for 8 – 9 days in heavy fishing waters. The line is as good as advertised if not better! It’s quieter, smoother, casts further, is good for knots, and easy to untangle in case of backlash.” He is endorsing this product as the line of choice at Lake Mateos Bass Lodge!
I hope you can appreciate the challenges of owning a fish camp in Mexico and not speaking Spanish. We asked Bennie our Camp Manager to take more pictures this year so we can include them in our reports. What we didn’t get across was the photo should be of the fisherman and his fish, not Bennie and the fish. The fish Bennie is holding was caught by Jessie and reported to us to weigh 10.5 pounds.
Catching Little Fish
Bennie grunts over little fish!
Bennie was sent fishing again! He reports the lake at about 75% and JC says this means because lake not at 100%, the fishing will be great! “It will be an absolutely fantastic season!”
Bennie went out this past weekend, under the light of a Full Moon!
Thursday, October 1st – 2 fishermen
6:30 am – 11:30 am
Caught 50 fish varying from 3 to 6 pounds using top water lures. Caught 1 – 8 pounder in 15 ft. of water with watermelon lizard bait.
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Caught 43 fish.
Friday, October 2nd – 2 fishermen
6:30 am – 11:30 am
Used watermelon lizards, senkos, tequila sunrise worms, top water lures and Rat-L-Trap 3/4 oz. to catch 43 fish all 3 to 7 pounds.
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Caught 63 rish all 3 to 6 pounders.
Saturday, October 3rd – 2 fishermen
6:30 am – Noon
Light rain all day, a lot of action with top water of any kind. Caught 65 fish all 3 to 6 pounders, 2 fish over over 7 pounds.
3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Heavy rain toward evening. All top water lures used to catch 60 fish all 4 to 6 pounders and 1 – 8 pound fish.
Sunday, October 4th – 2 fishermen
6:30 am – 11:30 am
64 fish total, all 3 to 6 pounders, caught with top water lures.
To kick-off the fishing season Bennie our Camp Manager went out for a pre-season fishng weekend. Here’s a really good report on what he caught while fishing under the last quarter of the new moon.
Friday, September 11 – 1 fisherman
6:30 am – 8 am
Caught 16 fish with white and green bush bait, all 3 to 4 pounders in not too clear shallow water.
8 am – 10 am
Fished with ¼ oz. chartreuse spinner bait and yellow trailer worms and caught 8 – 3 to 4 pounders and 2 – 6 pounders.
11 am – noon
Caught 1 big 8.5 pound fish using large white Zara Spook bait in 10ft. of deep clear water.
5 pm – 7 pm
Used green worm lizard and caught 8 fish all 4 to 5 pounders.
Used spinner bait to catch 6 fish all 4 to 5 pounders.
Used crank bait to catch 12 fish all 4 to 5 pounders.
7 pm – 7:30 pm
Caught 1 big 8.7 pound fish using Zara Spook.
Saturday, September 12 – 2 fishermen
6:30 am – 9:30 am
All top water action using Zara Spook, buzz bait, poppers, Senko, and frogs and caught 40 fish all 5 to 6 pounders in shallow water.
9:30 am – noon
Used white ½ oz. spinner bait in 10 ft. of water and caught 12 fish all 4 to 6 pounders, plus 1 – 7 pound fish. Used Rat-L-Trap in chrome, blue and black for 10 fish all 4 to 6 pounders.
5 pm – 8 pm
Top water action using Zara Spook, yellow Magic and buzz bait for 55 fish all 5 to 6 pounders in shallow water.
Sunday, September 13 – 1 fisherman
Magic (yellow) – 45 fish all 5 to 6 pounders
Zara Spook – 2 fish both 7 pounds
Chuck Bait – 1 fish weighing 9 pounds
10:30 am – 12:30 pm
¼ oz. crank bait, ½ oz. and ¾ oz. Rat-L-Trap for 25 fish all 4 to 6 pounds.
SUMMARY
Friday – 1 person fishing – no fish under 3 pounds counted
3 to 4 pounds – 24 fish
4 to 5 pounds – 26 fish
6 pounds – 2 fish
8.5 pounds – 1 fish
8.7 pounds – 1 fish
Total number of fish 3 pounds or larger is 54 for estimated total weight of 230.2 pounds. Top 5 fish caught weighted 34.2 pounds.
Saturday – 2 persons fishing
4 to 6 pounds – 22 fish
5 to 6 pounds – 95 fish
7 pounds – 1 fish
Total fish over 3 pounds – 118 for estimated total weight of 639.5 pounds. Top 5 fish caught weighed 31 pounds.
Sunday – 1 person fishing
4 to 6 pounds – 25 fish
5 to 6 pounds – 45 fish
7 pounds – 2 fish
9 pounds – 1 fish
Total number of fish caught 73 for estimated total weight of 395.5 pounds. Top 5 fish weighed 35 pounds.
Note from JC: Received some real nice swim baits from PK Lures – Steve Garber. Met up with these folks at the July ICAST Convention and really liked the look of their lures. Thought the lures would be good for Lake Mateos so asked them to send some so we could try them out. Can’t wait to use them! Colors are super – especially the string vibration swimmer. If your coming to Lake Mateos this season you may want to consider getting some of these. I espcially liked the ones with the red heads. Check them out at pklures.com
Also, received some great stuff from Uncle Josh Bait Company! Met up with Brent Northup at ICAST too and really liked their fish attractor and baits. These folks really came through by sending a large box of items for us to try out. I’m told the Prop Wash Toad works like a buzz bait on top, the Pork Baits – are used on the back of a jig . . can’t wait to give all a try. Thanks Uncle Josh!
IS MEXICO SAFE?
Aug 14
Okay . . I’m looking at the new moon calendar for October and the new moon is October 17th. Guess what? I still have openings for October 14th and 21st! So, stop thinkin and give me a call.
J.C. and I were discussing safety yesterday and what makes our camp a safe place to travel??? Well . . here are a few reasons we believe it’s safe to travel to Mexico.
- We provide all ground transportation to and from the airport. So, your with our trained and professional staff from the moment you land until departure. We’re also just an hour from the Culiacan Airport so your not spending a lot of time in unknown, unchartered territory.
- We have unarmed watchmen on duty 24/7. They are unarmed because we don’t believe there is a need for them to be armed. Our staff are local, well-known and respected members of the community.
- Speaking of our staff – they aren’t people we just met. They’ve been with us for years . . . yes, Bennie is one of them!
- When you register we offer you full travel insurance and medical coverage.
- Our reservation form covers your medical and dietary needs. Bennie is given this information before your arrival so he has your records at camp in case of emergency.
- We have Wi-Fi as of this year. No matter where you are in our camp . . you have access to the outside world.
- Our rooms have secure metal doors with locks.
- We watch the weather and we (not you) decide if it’s safe to go on the water.
- We wash and sanitize all fruits and vegetables before serving them to you. We don’t buy anything off the back of a truck. We shop locally and buy from Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart and specialty stores.
- Our drinking water is put through a reverse/osmosis system which is by far better than most city waters in America. The water you bath, clean, etc. with is chlorinated to the same standards of your city water in the states. (J.C. is a CSW1 – WQA Certified Water Specialist! Bet you didn’t know that!)
- The boats are Coast Guard approved and equipped according to Coast Guard standards. They are also inspected on a regular basis by our management, owners and the CG.
Well that’s just what J.C. gave me in two seconds on why it’s safe to travel to Mexico. He was there last season right during the Swine flu scare and thought Mexico airport screening much safer than the screening he received when he returned to the states.
That’s my two cents for this week – stay tuned. Teri