We just got back from five amazing days of bass fishing on Lake Baccarac. Once again fishing with my good friends and BR members Dwight Hottle and 00 mod (Jeff) was a blast; both very good sticks and a ton of laughs. This second trip seemed especially sweet as it was a make-up job for one we had planned back in September. Unfortunately Hurricane Manual put an end to that one.
Living up to their reputation of excellence the lodge accommodations were top notch. Great food & drink, a friendly attentive staff and the best bass fishing guides in Mexico make these trips ones to be treasured.
We were blessed with favorable weather conditions on our four travel days and plenty of warm sub-tropical sunshine on all but one of our fishing days. The last day we fished in a stiff mountain wind and some rain.
After catching the first few bass we were reminded of just how well-fed these fish are and when pinned to the end of your line they seemed supercharged. Virtually every bass we caught was fat & healthy and pulled like a fish twice their actual size.
Total numbers of bass caught each day were not kept, there were just too many.
As we were mostly interested in the “grande” bass Lake Baccarac is famous for, we decided instead to only track, weigh and photo the fish at and over 7 pounds.
So how’d we do?
Fishing each day from 6am to 6pm with a 90 minute break for lunch, we spent the first day and a half fishing several different baits at various depths attempting to locate the bigger bass while hoping to put together a pattern. By the afternoon of the second day’s fishing, the stable warming weather seemed to help position the big gals on main lake and secondary points in 10-20 feet of water. Spinner baits, Rattle baits and a Scrounger / Fluke Combo were drawing the strikes we were hoping for.
By the third morning and straight on through the fourth day, it was on like Donkey Kong; the Big Bass were biting and we were hanging on for dear life. Man, these big fish pull hard.
As a group, our best 5 fish bag went 50 lbs 5 ounces ! That is by far my favorite stat of the trip.
I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate my friend Dwight on his first Double Digit Bass. A 10lb 2.5 ounce beauty of a Personal Best Beast that crushed a 3/4 ounce SK Redeye Shad off a main lake point in 20 feet of water. You fished long and hard for that big girl and definitely earned it, nice job.
As usual Jeff was making it happen as well, landing several in the Big Fish category topped off with a 10lb 1 ounce Toad of his own. Though not a PB for 00 mod his string of Double Digit Bass on every trip remains intact; impressive.
The capper of the trip for me came on the third day late in the afternoon. While fishing a ¾ ounce SK Redeye Shad (Sexy Shad) in front of some bushes on a “nothing” bank, I hooked what eventually turned out to be a new PB. The fish hit like a freight train and immediately ran for the bushes, I managed to turn her. Next she went way under the boat attempting to get free, I managed to foil that one. Then in a last ditch effort she went straight for the trolling motor, but my man Dwight had my back. With cat like reflexes and lightning speed, he snatched that baby up and out of the water leaving this now less inspired Trophy bass nowhere to go but in the net. Once our guide Manual placed the net bag onto the deck, with my heart just about pounding right out of my chest, the bait fell from the fish’s mouth. Wow, lucky for sure and quite a rush.
This fish weighed 11lbs 11 ounces was caught on Nov 11th (11-11) ~ now that's going to be a hard one to forget.
After getting a weight, photos and successful release, I had to take several minutes to collect myself – I had a bit of the shaky hands thing going on. It was cool.
By now the sun had just about set and once I could no longer feel my pulse in my face, I went back to fishing. The magic continued on my very next cast. An 8lb 14.25 ounce bass sucked down that redeye shad and the fight was on. To tell you the truth, I don’t really even remember the fight. I was still numb from the previous events. Somehow the fish ended up in the net, there was a weight and some pictures taken in the dark and then she was released. That’s 20+ lbs in two casts. It was like dream – the good kind.
It’s only been a couple of days and I’ll admit that the discussions on the trip home did mainly revolve around our next trip in March, but looking back that was one heck of a bass fishing adventure.
The pictures & videos from our trip are still in the collection and editing process but will be posted ASAP. Additionally, I’ll be adding a brief video narrative to this thread discussing the rods, baits, line and terminal tackle; what worked and what didn’t.
A-Jay
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