FISHING REPORT UPDATE
January 2008

Incredible Topwaer Fishing Continues al Lake Mateos

By Billy Chapman Jr.

We continue to hear the same the same comments from recent guests at our new Lake Mateos Lodge that we heard when we first opened last November. These comments, and often they’re coming from widely traveled anglers with years of experience, is that Lake Mateos is providing the finest topwater bass fishing they’ve ever encountered. And if we’re not hearing that kind of comment about surface lures, we’re hearing much the same thing regarding spinner baits. The fishing has been flat out tremendous ever since our grand opening. It is indeed gratifying for us to also hear the many kind things visitors are saying about our new Lake Mateos Anglers Inn Lodge. We’d like to share a couple of comments we’ve had from couples that have spent time with us. They say the new lodge is a great place to simply relax in their own private cabin. They’ve liked the unlimited access to a spa and the beauty of their surroundings. We urge you to do what we’ve suggested many times before. It’s simply to ask someone who has been an Anglers Inn guest how they felt about the experience. This applies every bit as much to our new Lake Mateos operation as it does to our world famous operation at El Salto Lake. Give us a call. Let us book a trip for you. We’ll do our very best to add you to an ever growing list of happy Anglers Inn clients. Also, check out our website at www.anglersinn.com to read recent articles about Lake Mateos and to see our new gallery. Following are some comments from anglers who spent time with us in recent weeks. Jim Taibi, along with bandmates Tim Tuttle and Mike Baca and Tim’s brother Terry were among our guests who fished Lake Mateos in mid-January. These men are experienced anglers and all together have made more than 20 trips to El Salto. Here’s what Jim Taibi had to say about their Lake Mateos visit. “Lake Mateos is an amazing place. What we found upon arrival was a beautiful new lodge in a tropical jungle- like location. As usual Ramon and Joel were there to greet us with Margarita’s and appetizers as our bags and tackle were whisked off to our cabins. The new rooms at Mateos are very spacious and well appointed. The new amenities have been well thought out and we couldn’t have been more comfortable or content. “Being able to relax outside at night with the river valley in full view was very special. Anglers Inn at Mateos is a masterpiece in my opinion. Billy has done it again. The lodge is very roomy and open with a great feel to it. The inside and outside dining areas and bar are very comfortable and there are great views of the river valley from all of the outside areas. The fire pit is a great place to relax after one of Delfino’s amazing meals or a soothing massage at the spa. Speaking of the food, the new lodge has not missed a beat in preparing the dishes that Anglers Inn is famous for. Anyone who has been to Anglers Inn at El Salto will recognize the excellent quality and presentation of the classic meals and service style. The first thing you’ll notice at Mateos is how massive this body of water is. At 55,000 surface acres it dwarfs El Salto Lake. There are endless brush-lined banks and countless bays and coves with more diverse structure and cover that any one angler can fathom. There are two main river systems entering the north end of the lake. We had our best fishing in the Humaya River arm area. We fished coves that were brimming with small tilapia and quality bass. Water hyacinth and a very unique type of brush make for excellent spinner bait and topwater fishing. “We caught all of our topwater fish on Rio Rico’s, Super Spooks and Spro Bronzeye Frogs. By far the lure of choice for Mateos has to be the ¾-ounce titanium-framed spinner bait in chartreuse & white or solid chartreuse with gold blades. We slow-rolled the spinner baits on the outside of the tree line for our better fish. A Rapala DT-16 crankbait in the bluegill color was another good bait to use on the steeper rocky points. “There are many, many bass in Lake Mateos. Some are small and some large. When we got in an area that was producing smaller fish we would simply move to another location and usually find solid 3 to 5-pound pound bass. There is no doubt that there are giant bass to be caught in Mateos. We had fish of 7 and 8-pounds on this trip. There may not be the numbers of huge bass that El Salto is famous for, but if you want to catch quality fish all day long with unmatched scenery and serenity then you should definitely give Mateos a try. I found it to be a little bit more “fisherman friendly” and laid back than El Salto. I had the impression that a lot of these fish had never seen a lure before. It’s also nice to fish all day without seeing another boat or angler. “There is great fishing, great fun and great memories to be had at Anglers Inn on Lake Mateos. The new fleet of bigger, faster boats and eager guides and staff are waiting to make your vacation one of the best of your life. My partners and I are all chomping at the bit to get back to Lake Mateos. We have already booked our second trip for December of this year.” Greg Wollner is the executive vice president of Rapala Lures. Greg was also one of our January visitors. Note what he has to say about the topwater fishing at Lake Mateos. “We had a great trip to Lake Mateos! We caught 75 to 150 fish per day with the best topwater action I have ever seen in my life. Every morning we started with Rapala Skitter Pops (gold chrome was the best color) then fished with Terminator white spinner baits, X-Rap Slashbaits and Storm Swimbaits during the day. We caught six fish of more than 6-pounds in three days and several that topped 4-pounds. “I have never been on a fishing trip with better fishing and service. Anglers Inn was an A+ in both. Thank you for a great trip.” Chappy Chapman and his fishing buddy Mike Yoke were also here in January. Here’s what Chappy had to say about it. "Between my fishing buddy Mike Yoke and I, we landed 114 bass in just one morning. Most of those bass were in the 4 to 6-pound range! You talk about bloody thumbs. The best thing about the half-day of fishing is that more then half of these bass came on spinner baits. We started out using a white & chartreuse color spinner bait but with the cloud cover decided to go with a darker color. What a difference! “The bait of choice that day was a ¾-ounce D&M custom spinner bait in the tilapia color. We used "chunks" as trailers in the watermelon seed color. After we broke every one of these spinner baits, we threw black spinner baits. It didn't seem to matter as long as you had a darker color. “One of the keys to finding bass (and trust me they are everywhere) was throwing next to a bush and letting the spinner bait sink down about 5 or 6 seconds and then starting a slower retrieve. Almost every tree it was---WHAM! Fish on! Long submerged points with buck brush were very successful. Later in the day we fished a couple of submerged islands and also had great success. “Just to break it up a bit, we started to throw a new Senko-type bait called the "Pepper Stick" made by El Grande Lures. These baits were made strictly for Mexico bass fishing and they work. The tilapia color worked the best for us on Mateos. “Mike hooked his big fish on a spinner bait on a point buck brush but it came unbuttoned right at the boat. This bass was easily in the 9 to10-pound range. To sum it all up, we had 114 bass in the 4-6 pound range, lost a monster at the boat and had bloody thumbs from boating all these fish. It was one heck of a morning for us."

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
Fall 2007

You just can’t beat “taking ‘em off the top!” Bass fishermen may debate about everything from lures colors to hook sizes, but there’s one thing on which they have unanimous agreement. It’s that nothing compares to watching a largemouth bust into a surface lure. If your heart doesn’t turn a somersault or two when that happens, it’s time to quit fishin’ and take up crossword puzzles. Why do I mention that subject? Because it’s something we’ve been hearing from one client after another ever since we opened our beautiful new lodge on Mexico’s Lake Mateos. “The top water fishing is the best I’ve ever seen,” is a comment we’ve heard time after time over the past month. Following is a quick summary of what some anglers who were here in November have told us. Dan Washington, of Tennessee, was one of our recent guests. What he to say at the end of his visit is typical of what we’ve heard about the terrific Lake Mateos surface angling. “We fished two and a half days,” Dan says, “and we must have missed 30 to 40 more. We estimate we boated 424 bass. We caught fish all day on top water lures. And that’s not all the fish would hit. We used every bait in our tackle box and they hit everything. It was absolutely our greatest fishing trip ever. Our guide was great and so were your staff and accommodations.” Monty Henderson, of Arkansas, had much the same kind of summary. “The top water bite was the best I’ve ever seen,” Monty says. “There were no really slow times during the day; the bite was continuous. I’d never fished in November in Mexico before out trip to Lake Mateos. I really like it! We caught 65 fish the first afternoon we were there, 199 the second day and 160 the third day. Our largest bass weighed over 6-pounds and our single most productive lure was a Pop-R.” Gary Shumskie, of Texas, and his fishing pal Pete Klein, say they got an estimated 300 bass on their recent trip. Like so many others, they say they got fish all day long off the top, but that the Lake Mateos bass aren’t picky. “We used every lure in our tackle box,” they say. A Rico-Pop and a spinner bait with a white and chartreuse skirt were among their top producers. Bill and Betty Eddleman, of Louisiana, estimate they boated 280 bass on their recent visit with us. Their largest fish weighed 6-pounds and they had their best luck with a Fat Free Shad and a Pop-R. Steve Basarich, of California, is one of our A-Team members. His being a member of that elite team tells you he’s a bass angler of considerable experience. He’s been around and here’s what he has to say about new Lake Mateos operation: “We had a terrific time at Lake Mateos. Billy Chapman Jr. has done a fantastic job with his new lodge. The accommodations were over the top. The three of us in our party boated 484 bass in three days. I look forward to seeing everyone when I come back in May.” Jerry Sepulveda, of California, says he thought our Lake Mateos Lodge was great. “We had excellent service in a relaxing atmosphere,” Jerry says, “and the fishing was outstanding. A watermelon colored lizard, a Rico-Pop and a 5-inch Senko were among our best baits.” Louis Villeneuve, of California, used a counter to keep track of the number of fish he and his two companions put in the boat on their recent trip. “The three of us had 484 fish in just three days,” Louis reports. “We must have lost another 100 right at the boat. Our trip was outstanding at every level.” This is what Dan and Debbie Pendley said:
"Debbie and I wanted to send you a follow up report on our recent fishing trip to Lake Mateos and El Salto. Upon arrival in Mazatlan on Monday we were greeted by you staff, as usual, and driven to Lake Mateos where we were met by Ramon and your friendly staff with margaritas and snacks and shown around your wonderful new accommodations at Mateos. The brand new rooms and lodge overlooking the river below was fantastic, only to be surpassed by the service of your entire staff, which Debbie and I have grown accustomed after many couples trips to El Salto. We had brought along a couple of our friends, Tom and Dawn Cullinan for their first Mexico fishing adventure. We relaxed that afternoon, having a great steak dinner while the wives enjoyed a massage and facial as part of the couples package. Marty & Valerie Todt from Pennsylvania: “My husband and I came down for the top water action and we were not disappointed at all. We caught a total of 507 fish majority on top water. The action is outstanding throughout the day! The new lodge is awesome! Cabañas and plantings are lovely and picturesque. Roses and bougainvilleas all around. Patios overlooking the river are a beautiful luxurious touch. Everything was kept clean and comfortable, always. Your staff is amazing, so personable and attentive. Anglers Inn truly has it all.
 
Tuesday morning was our first morning of fishing and Sparky, our guide, immediately put us on fish where Debbie and I caught a number on 2-5 lb. fish on large Zara Spooks and Pop R's. We moved out to deeper water later in the morning where we caught more fish to 6 lbs. on crank baits and 8" lizards with watermelon/chartreuse and kudzu being the best colors. However, this is such a great fishery; I do not think color is all that important. We had the same great fishing that afternoon and on both fishing sessions Wednesday. We really enjoyed fishing out of the larger boats with the 75hp engines. We were able to fish for 4 hours Thursday morning before we hopped on the Anglers Inn van to depart for the 2-hour ride to El Salto and the fishing was spectacular. Debbie and I caught approximately 25-30 fish between 2-6lbs on top waters early and then moved to a submerged hump that dropped off to deep water where we caught over 70 bass. I threw a spinner bait and was catching a fish on every cast for most of an hour. When this slowed, Debbie and I switched to shallow crank baits and continued to catch fish on most casts. A little later we moved to the edge of the hump where it dropped into deeper water and continued to catch fish on lizards up until the time we had to come in to get ready to go to El Salto. All in all we caught 100 bass that morning........incredible. We caught over 300 bass while at Mateos and were treated with the great hospitality and service Anglers Inn is known for. We can't wait to come back!" Clay Adkins, of Louisiana, “The top water bite was the best I’ve ever experienced,” Clay says, “and the weather was also great. We caught 206 bass and the largest was 7-pounds. We had many fish in the 4 and 6-pound bracket. Our best baits were a watermelon lizard, buzz baits, spinner baits and a Pop-R.” Joe Goldenson from Arizona says “Entering into the compound of the new Anglers Inn at Lake Mateos, it was a feeling of foreboding. The road led into and through a shantytown and then into the main entrance of what turned out to be Billy Chapman, Jr.'s wonderful new fishing encampment. The six cabins built for comfort and luxury for the visiting fishermen are second to none. Everything from t.v.sets to well-stocked mini refrigerators is at your fingertips. The beautiful river rock shower stall to the comfortable queen sized beds is there for your use. What more could anyone want??....well great fishing, of course. Even with the beauty of the lake's endowments, the fishing was even more spectacular. The bass were numerous and even more powerful. I didn't know if I had a whale or a one-pound fish the way they fought. My guide took me to a place of beauty where I was just spellbound by the scenery. One hundred percent top water fishing, all morning, all forenoon and all afternoon until dark. I have never experienced anything like that. My poor Rico popper had three quarters of its skin off and still, the fish kept on hitting it. If you like action; if you like strong fish; if you like natural beauty like you've never seen before, Lake Mateos is for you! The Humaya River which runs along side the compound will be available for a morning's or afternoon's fishing. Wait 'til you see the scenery there! Wow! I'm making myself jealous of the fishermen who are there now! Lake Mateos' Anglers Inn has far exceeded my original expectations. For a place that just opened less than two months ago, IT IS NOW THE PLACE TO BE. I can't wait to go back. I want to fish that river!” Marc Mills, “Mateos is OFF THE HOOK!! The lodge is absolutely beautiful and top quality you look over the most beautiful forest and river. It is what postcards are made of!! Fishing started out great and just got better and better and the fish got bigger and bigger. Top fish was my 8+pounder in the evening on the second nigh on a large top water Vixen. This is a great place to fish the FROGS. I was given some of the new Canyon Plastic Frogs and ran out, so I glued what I had. I was there with Bill Rice and we had the best 1hour top water that I have ever seen and Bill had ever seen in his 40 years of fishing. We did not catch a fish under 4 pounds and my top fish was 8+ most of the fish were 6-7. These were true 4-8pound class not normal Mexico weight standards. Plus the number of fish in a body of water that size is unbelievable!! Billy Chapman Jr. did it again!!! All I can say is GET THERE!!” Donald Sheehan, “I just got back from Anglers Inn, lake Mateos lodge. You have to go!!!!!!!!!! We caught about 300 quality Bass in three days, ( I have the "bruises" to prove it). Explosive strikes!!!!!!, and many Bass in the 4 to 6 pound range. This lodge just opened this month, and the largest Bass so far is over 11 pounds, ( Zara Spook is the top water lure of choice). Their El Salto lodge seems to have larger Bass; however as this lake develops I am sure it will produce larger "lunkers". The inn itself is first class; as we found El Salto in 2001. You will be spoiled by Billy Chapman and his staff”. Gregory Ray, Vice President of Outdoor Connection says “I wanted to thank everyone at Anglers Inn for such a great time. My client really enjoyed the trip and is looking forward to bringing his 3 groups in next year. With what I do for Outdoor Connection I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world to hunt and fish with numerous outfitters. I can honestly say that Billy and the entire Anglers Inn crew run one of the most organized destinations I have ever been to. I believe the El Salto, Mateos, combo will be a huge success for Outdoor Connection franchise owners! From the time we arrived at the airport to the time we were dropped off we never had to ask for a thing, the staff was very attentive and made sure we had everything we needed. I was really impressed how the staff called everyone by name, we felt right at home. I guess I should also mention the fishing was incredible I personally caught over 200 fish on our 3 day trip, the largest on El Salto was a 9-pounder. What I was really impressed with was Mateos. I caught 77 fish in one day with the majority of those being in the 5 to 6 pound range, and the best part, they were ALL on top water!
Thanks for a great trip. We are also planning a trip just for our franchise owners for the 2008 season so make sure you stock up on the tequila”. Keith Kaneko, Angling on the Fly, visited the new lodge at Lake Mateos and he says “This is the most incredible top water LMB fishing I have ever experienced in my life. Anglers Inn provides the best lodge experience that I have ever seen”. Take a look at some of the pictures we’re including with this report. You’ll see for yourself why our clients are saying what they have about our new Lake Mateos. We knew the fishing here was going to be good or we wouldn’t have opened our new lodge. But it has turned out to be even better than we expected. Come join us to see what we’re talking about. We're kickin' ass on fish from 2 - 7 pounds. Biggest fish this month? 9.6 pounds

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
Oct. 16th thru Oct 31st 2007

1. Bomber Fat Free Shad & Rapala DT16 Crankbaits in deep divers in citrus shad, parrot, fire tiger and white.
2. Eight inch Zoom or 7” Yum Zellamanders Lizards in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue tail, and junebug.
3. Storm WildEye 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in shad and golden mullet colors.
4. Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5 & 6 -inch Stinkos in watermelon, watermelon red flake and black with blue flake.
5. Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back.
6. RicoPop in white, white with sparkles and shad.
7. Zara Spook, Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen in clear, chrome with black top and white.
8. Rapala X-Rap or 4 to 5-inch jerkbaits in white, clown, perch and shad.
9. Buzzbaits in ½ & 5/8-ounce in black, white, chartreuse.

Wow!

That one word is a good choice to describe the reaction of the few anglers who have had opportunity to visit our new Anglers Inn lodge at Mexico’s Lake Mateos. We had a limited number of anglers who signed on to be our guests during the two weeks prior to our grand opening on Nov. 1. Most of these fishermen had previously visited our operation at El Salto. “Billy Chapman has done it again,” one of the October visitors said. “We knew he was Mexico’s leading outfitter and fishing lodge operator. We didn’t think he could ever come up with something that rivals the accommodations of Anglers Inn at El Salto, but he sure did. There were a number of experienced anglers among our October visitors. Even they weren’t prepared for the tremendous bass fishing Lake Mateos offers. One of them said he wondered if the Lake Mateos bass had ever seen a lure before. The truth of the matter is that on this 55,000 acre lake, probably a good many of them hadn’t. Our guests used a variety of lures to catch fish. We had many comments from those who were mostly throwing surface lures. There were others who had equally good success with either spinnerbaits or plastic baits. As has long been our practice, we prefer to let our guests tell you how they felt about their Anglers Inn visit in their own words. Here’s what a few of them had to tell us about Lake Mateos before they left for home: “The Lake Mateos Anglers Inn Lodge is absolutely a first class operation.” Says Bob Martin. “It’s the best we’ve found in 15 years of fishing in Mexico. We had excellent topwater action in the mornings. We also fished long brushy points with big plastic Lizards and Power Worms. Half ounce lipless crankbaits will also catch a lot of fish. Look for bass pushing large schools of baby tilapia into the flats and shallows. Try casting shallow running crankbaits into the baitfish schools.” Bob and Cam Martin are already rebooked to come back in March. Gary and Ron Giudice were also among our October visitors. “This was the best ever,” Gary says. “Lake Mateos is the prettiest lake in the world and it has the most fish and the best lodge. It’s just great!” Gary’s largest bass was an 8-pounder that he caught on a jig in about 12-feet of water. Ron had much the same kind of comment. “The high quality of everything associated with Anglers Inn always amazes me,” Ron said. “On Lake Mateos there were almost too many bass to count. We estimate we boated more than 100 fish per day. The action was never slow no matter what time of day we were fishing.” Ron and Gary Giudice are already talking about coming back this season. The Lake Mateos topwater action was what was especially appealing to Ben Dilsaver. “Lake Mateos is the best topwater lake I’ve fished,” Ben says. “If you wanted you could just fish topwater lures. If the topwater fishing did slow down, a watermelon colored lizard was also excellent. I’m looking forward to learning this lake. We are already talking about coming back to Mateos this season” Jerry Bott had the same reaction as Ben. “The topwater fishing is excellent,” he says. “We had hits on surface lures all day long.” Jerry also had good success using a slow retrieve with a large spinnerbait. “We had 80 to 100 fish each day,” Jerry says. Many anglers don’t expect too many fish in the boat on their first bass fishing adventure. That wasn’t how things turned out for Scott Pacheco. “I had an amazing first bass fishing trip,” Scott says. Scott’s largest fish was a 7-pounder he caught on a watermelon colored lizard. He estimates he had more than 120 bass in three days. “It was unbelievable,” he says, “I will be back.” Ever been on a bass fishing trip where for the better part of an hour you had a hit or caught a fish on almost every cast? James Leggeti will tell you that was his experience on his first visit to Lake Mateos. “We boated an estimated 150 bass in 2 ½ days of fishing,” James reports. “One evening in a period of 30 to 45 minutes we caught a fish or had a strike on 95 per cent of our casts.” Joseph McCarthy was another of our October guests who had his first bass fishing experience. Joseph is a lifelong trout angler. “This was my first bass fishing trip,” he says, “I caught more than 50 fish each time out. “I even caught several 2 to 5-pound fish on my fly rod. The Lake Mateos fish are healthy and fat. They put up a good fight.” Bruce Morain urges Lake Mateos anglers to get out early in the day. “The fishing was unbelievable the first hour of the day,” Bruce says. “It was the best action I have ever experienced. I personally caught 452 bass during the three days I fished and my partner, Jerry Brand caught over 300 fish. A total of 762 bass! We can’t wait to come back to Mateos! Have you noticed how often the word “unbelievable” or “best ever” have surfaced in these reports from visitors to our new Anglers Inn operation at Lake Mateos? And keep in mind that many of these anglers have had considerable bass fishing experience, including multiple trips to Anglers Inn at El Salto Lake. Even the first timers caught a bunch of bass. You can do the same. But don’t delay booking your Lake Mateos visit as soon as possible.