I had the chance of getting my dad down to Mexico for the 5 night/4 day package. We ended up getting rained out on one of the evenings so we fished 4 days, 3½ nights. I wanted to do a detailed write up to share the experience with anyone who feels like reading. While this wasn’t an epic trip in the sense that we blew away Lake Baccarac records or standards, it was incredible for me and my dad. I also wanted to give a special thanks to Dwight, A-Jay, and Jeff for providing me details to consider for the trip.
The flight out was long, but the destination was on your mind at all times. We flew commercial and arrived in Los Mochis around 7:30 PM on Memorial day. We had Rodrigo the cook pick us up with a cooler of drinks ready for the 2.5 hour drive back to the lodge. Rodrigo was a humble man and an incredible person to meet for the beginning of our Baccarac experience. At the lodge, Yessi and Senolida (I know I am probably not even close to spelling their names write, let alone pronouncing them right, but we tried nevertheless), had a pina colada waiting for us. They were a bit confused when we told them that we did not drink alcohol, but they quickly made a virgin pina colada and gave it to us. The adrenaline was rushing in us just being at this lodge that seemed like it was tucked away on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. But wow, you could feel the excitement that surrounded this place. We were greeted by Narlin who mostly manages the lodge now. We quickly realized that he was an incredible man and sincerely wanted us to have a great week. Despite getting in late, they made us some dinner. We walked around the dinner area and admired the pictures of giant fish and the huge mount on the side of the wall. The bass looked 30 pounds, but was just a very very big bass from the lodge.
We decided to rent the poles there at the lodge instead of bringing our own. That was a tough decision, but realized, if the airport broke my rod, I would have to rent anyways and would have spent the extra couple hundred flying the poles there only to break them. We selected the rods that fit the needs of our fishing. They were really cheap rods and I am still trying to decide if that was the right decision. I believe I lost some fish because of the rods that I had selected, but I also landed some good fish with them. The rods were 10 dollars a day so I rented 3 a day. It fit my needs and quite frankly, they did the job well, just made certain styles of fishing more difficult.
So we told Narlin that we wanted to fish early in the morning and requested to have Manuel (known as Mexico’s finest). He told me that we would not be able to have him but said he would have someone for me the next day early on. I was too excited to sleep. The air was hot, the lake was nearby and all I could think of was 5 hours from then, I was going to be fishing a world class lake. Comparitively speaking, I really don’t fish much (especially while getting my degree the past 11 years), and when I do, it is usually out of state in Minnesota at our cabin, so I have never had access to waters that have a lot of big bass.
5:30 AM arrives and of course I was awake before my alarm woke me up. Luckily the room had AC so I did get a catnap in. Baylar was ready to pack our bags when we walked out. We were too excited to eat breakfast so we skipped it. This seemed to confuse Rodrigo the cook, so he eventually made sandwiches and had Narlin bring them out to us on the lake around 9 AM. The drive to the launch ramp was exciting. It was dark, the road was very sketchy, but everything was just right. We arrived to the ramp to see several boats in the dark and then noticed these dark silhouettes sitting in each boat. The guides were sitting there quietly, all ready to start the day. We introduce ourselves to our guide and informed him, “no mucho pescados, yo quiero grande pescado.” In my mind it made perfect sense and in spanish, it probably sounded stupid, but that was the best I had, and I think he understood. We always have 100 to 200 fish days in Minnesota. That experience can already be checked off my bucket list. I like hunting for relatively big fish and so does my dad so we were all in agreement.
For lure selection, I had kept in contact with Terry the owner of the lodge and had read every fishing report from 2005 – 2016 in the months of Mid May to Mid June. I had decided that the swimjig, jig, and crankbait would be the bed I slept in. Of course I made sure I had a plethora of other lures as back up. Nevertheless, picking your starting lineup was almost as hard as picking the right women to marry. You finally had to make a decision and stick with it. A short 5 minute ride brought us to our first spot. Still dark outside, we passed 30 tilapia boats trying to pull in their nets for the morning. We probably passed 4 or 5 other bass fishing boats who were there from a different lodge. At our first spot, we parked adjacent to a point, cast down in 30 feet, and dragged up our baits. Dad was using his jig, I had my swimjig. Within the first 10 minutes, I had already missed a fish and had another 5 pounder jump off right next to the boat. But this was not painful. We had already decided that we will only weigh and keep track of 6+ pound looking fish. Within the next couple of minutes, I hooked into a better one and the first fish in the boat for our trip was a 7 pound 7 ounce bass. I just giggled to myself, high fived my dad, and smiled because I knew that this would be an incredible trip for us.
By the end of the first day, we had probably caught a total of 25 to 30 fish combined. This would actually be the most fish we ever caught in one day. There are stories here of the 100 – 300 fish days. That will just have to be for another trip. There were some spots where we would start to catch little fish (4 pounds and under) on every cast, but would then leave those pesky fish alone and quickly leave. I think it is tempting to fish these areas and hope to catch big fish with them, but it seemed like a trap and I think our guide agreed with us. So we left and searched for other spots. Fishing with Sixto was a different experience. He was more of the run and gun type and the jig fishing I wanted to do, I soon realized that I would have very few opportunities to do so. There are so many spots on the lake and he knows that if he keeps running, we will run into spots (in theory) that will be loaded with big bass; however, we never found a spot the whole trip that produced as such.
When it was lunch time, we ate quickly and were back at the ramp within the hour. I don’t think Sixto liked being back on the water so quickly, but he was a good sport. While we were fishing a point (very quickly), my dad found a good position to fish the jig that even with the boat moving, he could get a few lifts in. Using a ¾ ounce jig with a green pumpkin brush hog, he caught the first giant, a 10 lb even fish. This was the first time I had seen one in person. Let me tell you, for those who say they have caught one and never weighed it, or to those who have never caught one, they are a different looking animal. Earlier in the morning I had caught an 8 pound 5 ounce bass that I thought was 12 pounds. This fish looked different. Its body just kept going and going and it’s mouth seemed fake. Looked like a tarpon of sorts. My dad was so excited. He of course did a celebratory dance, high fives were thrown everywhere, and then length and girth measurements were taken. The fish came in at 26.5 inch length and 19.5 inches girth. What a beauty. We just wanted to hold it for a while, but knew it was time to let it go. None of the Baccarac boats had livewells, so we had to take pictures, measurements, and then let them go.
We ended Day 1 with our top 5 fish being: 10 lb (dad), 8.10 (dad), 8.5 (me), 8.2 (me), and 7.7 (me). Top 5 Total= 42 lbs 5 oz
Day 2 was as awesome as the first. We did not catch more than 20 fish the whole day. Sixto was confused with the numbers and let us know throughout the day that it was rare for the fishing to be this slow. We didn’t care, we were still getting a decent 5 fish limit. Perhaps my favorite fish this day was one I caught pitching a 6 inch lizard in a 40 foot forest of trees. This one came in at 9 pounds 2 oz. But of course, my dad had to out do me again. As he slow rolled a swimjig over a tree in 30 feet of water, a giant struck it again. I watched to see what would surface. I then watched this giant fish come out of the water so far, but still manage to have half of it’s body still underwater. Never had seen that before. After a good battle, he gets it in and it is a 10 lb 3 oz bass. Wow. I was becoming the paparazzi. The top 5 fish of the day: 10.3 (dad), 9.2 (me), 8.5 (dad), 7.14 (me), and 7.14 (me). Top 5 Total= 43 lbs 6 oz. Was funny, I wanted a 10 pounder so badly that when I hooked the 7.14 and got him in the boat, I had truly convinced myself that this fish was over 11 pounds since it truly looked like that to me. I would like to think I am good at guessing fish within the ounce at times, but I was playing a big boys game here with big fish and was clearly not acclimated enough to guess within 4 pounds!!! I must have sounded like an idiot to the guide.
Day 3. Started real rough. We had 4 fish by 11 AM and nothing was over 4 pounds. No bueno. We pull up to a wind blown island. We cast the same time and my dad quickly hooks into a decent one. I hear him saying it is nice and to get the net. At the same time, I got a good bite, fight him for a second and then see him surface...his head was huge. It was just so big...was it my turn? Si Bueno! Get him in after shouting at the guide and I am literally shaking I am so excited. Weigh her in at 10 pounds 10 ounces! So excited. It was literally everything I had hoped for it to be and more. My dad’s fish was 6 pounds. It was our first real double of the trip. I swore to myself that i would never use the word "Grande" when in Mexico fishing since every white person says it and it must get extremely annoying to the guides and staff....but, when i started catching bigger fish, the word just kept coming out. I now no longer judge when i hear it on the Baccarac fishing videos and accept that it is a side effect of catching bigger fish down south. Later that evening, we had another double with each of us having a fish over 8 pounds. Top 5 of the day: 10.10 (me), 8.8 (me), 8.7 (dad), 8.5 (me), 7.10 (dad). Total weight = 43 lbs 8 oz.
Day 4. Last day and half of the evening was rained out. It was my last day and it seemed that the fish had lock jaw. They wanted nothing unless it was dropped on their head or if it was swam past their face at lightning speed. So I went with the crankbait. My fingers were already swollen from fishing the previous 3 days. I ended up making a good choice. I fished that crankbait till it hurt and then I kept casting more. Towards the end of the night, my dad tied on the crankbait and happened to snag me in the face on the cast. Lucky and unluckily, the crankbait slid up my face and snagged my gopro and threw it in the lake. Lucky that my face was ok, unlucky that it ruined my new gopro. But, it was at the end of the trip. All my footage was already saved on my computer and the memories were already documented. I missed several of our big fish on the camera through not filming when I thought I was. But still got most on film. By the end of the day, good ol’ cranky got the job done. I ended up catching our top 5 and another grande!!!! Top 5 fish of the day was: 10 pounds 12 ounces (me), 8.12 (me), 8.5 (me), 8.3 (me), and 7.11 (me). Top 5 fish= 43.11 Again, we did not catch more than 20 fish for the day.
Altogether, we caught less than 90 fish combined the whole trip. Our top 5 fish went 50 pounds 11 ounces. My top 5 fish in one day was 43.11 and my top 5 for the trip went= 47 pounds 12 ounces. A 10 pounder was seen in the boat each day. That is living for me. I know others have better luck there at times, but for it being a slow week according to the guide, my dad and I were happy.
I guess I am not sure how well we could have done there. I guess all you can do is compare yourself to the other boats present at the lodge. There was another group of 4 there that fished in two other boats. They were there the whole time we were there (and had an additional half day) and only one 10+ was caught. They also reported very few 8s and I think only one 9 between the 4 of them. A lot of it is luck and they were all great fisherman. Point being, I think my dad and I made out well given the slow fishing conditions. As Sixto stated, “me fish here for 30 years, me no understand this place...no se why it is slow this week.” According to him, a couple weeks earlier was on fire. He stated that every spot had biting fish. He believed it was because the water levels stopped dropping and leveled out, which just put the fish in a weird funk. For the bigger fish we had, we went really slow or really fast. It was a grind and those bigger fish did not come for free.
I loved this place. It was hot. Very hot every day and in the 100s. But, they had water and a cooler so we just kept drinking. I loved every bit of this trip. It was a dream come true. As others stated, you cannot wait to come back and just hope you arrive there when the bite is on and they are loaded at spots. Lake Baccarac should be on everyone’s bucket list. Even if you live in Florida, Texas, or California, there is just something about being in a different country, being tailored to by people who are TOP CLASS, and catching fish. I loved it. It was another life changing experience and having my dad with me was better than any fish caught. The fellowship, the fishing, the pictures, the food, the people, the culture...start saving for this place and I hope to see you there some day. We will be the ones taking short siestas.
Videos Here:
and Part 2
