FISHING REPORT UPDATE
January 2010

Lake Mateos continues to produce outstanding numbers with some good fish. Most bass run in the 2- to 6-pound range, but some approach 9 pounds. Chartreuse spinnerbaits, white topwaters and watermelon plastics remain the hot baits.

Michael Smith and Russell Hoyle and others from Ashville, N.C., enjoyed a combo package, fishing 2.5 days at Lake Mateos and 2.5 days at Lake El Salto. At Lake Mateos, Smith and Hoyle landed more than 600 fish with at least one breaking the 8-pound mark. “We caught many on spinnerbaits, but our primary baits were watermelon lizards and flukes,” Smith explained. “The fish were mostly shallow off points. We caught several fish in the 7- to 8-pound range with one over 8 pounds, but they averaged about 4 pounds. On El Salto, we went back to the lizards, but also caught some bass on watermelon and white swimbaits, flukes and spinnerbaits.”

Lake Mateos stretches over 55,000 acres, about twice the size of Lake El Salto. The lake record exceeds 14 pounds. With no human structures anywhere on the isolated wilderness lake, most anglers target rocky outcroppings, points, humps, creek channels or flooded timber. Work a watermelon, white or pearl fluke, Yumdinger or senko next to the trees or drag Carolina-rigged lizards along bottom contours.

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
January 2009

Popular lures used this week:

Topwater Baits:

1. Lobina Lures Rio Rico poppers or Yellow Magics in white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad finishes.
2. Heddon Zara Spook and Lucky Craft Sammy in shad, chrome with black top and white colors.
3. Rapala Skitter Pop in chrome and gold chrome.

Swimbaits:

1. Storm WildEye 4 and 5 inch Swim Shads in white with chartreuse top and pearl finishes.

Spinnerbaits:

1. Booyah double willow blade: ½ and ¾ ounce in white/chartreuse.

Plastics:

1. Zoom Super Flukes in pearl white.
2. Eight-inch Zoom Lizards in watermelon with red flakes and watermelon
3. Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops in 5 and 6-inch sizes in watermelon with red flakes and watermelon shades.

Crankbaits:

1. Bomber Fat Free Shad medium diver in citrus shad.
2. Rat-L-Traps: ½ & ¾ -ounce sizes in silver with blue back and silver with black back.
3. Rapala X-Rap or 4- to 5-inch jerkbaits in white and shad.

The weather is warming up here at beautiful Lake Mateos. Fishing prospects are warming up right along with it. The bass are moving up and into their spawning areas. That always heralds great surface fishing opportunities. If you like to take your bass off the top---and who doesn’t---better get down here mucho pronto! As usual, the best topwater action is coming early and late in the day. Working the surface with popper type lures has been very effective lately. One of the primary keys here is to fish your lure extremely slow. Make your cast right up close to cover and then leave it along. Get a real good grip on your patience before you begin manipulating the lure. This is one time when patience really pays. One of our recent clients was a guy who knows a whole bunch about surface lures. He’s Zack Swanson, vice president of sales for the Normark Corporation. “Our recent trip to Lake Mateos, Zack says, “was another wonderful experience. Our most productive times were early morning and late evening. The Rapala Sure Set Skitter Pop in the #7 size in the new chrome or gold chrome colors were good lures. These lures must be fished very slowly and as near to the cover as you can get. Give the lure one big pop and then let it set. “The bass didn’t want to chase surface plugs, buzzbaits or any other fast moving surface lures. Storm Chug Bugs in a #8 size in a chrome finish also worked very well for us. “During the day, Texas rigged Trigger X Lizards in a watermelon red flake were the ticket if you wanted to fish plastics. The ½-ounce Terminator spinnerbait in a bright white shad finish was our Number 1 lure. We caught our biggest fish on these lures by casting them to the shoreline and then slow rolling them back to the boat. The titanium spinnerbaits held up far better than some stainless steel models that the Mateos fish would simply destroy. We fished near and around a lot of cover. If you could swim a DT crankbait through the brush, you'd hook up with quality fish. Texas Rigged Lizards were another good bet.” “We caught anywhere from 35 to 70 fish in a half day of fishing. Our total for the full day usually ran from 70 to 100 fish. They were good quality fish. Some of the 4 and 5-pounders fought like 10- pounders!” Jim Taibi was one of a group of 10 anglers who also visited our Lake Mateos Anglers Inn operation in January. Here’s Jim’s report of his group’s adventure. “Our group of ten had a fantastic trip to Angler's Inn at Lake Mateos,” Jim says. “This was our second trip and it was everything we hoped for and more. “As usual, the staff was very accommodating, tending to our every wish and desire. Delfino cooked up a storm and some of the new dishes were outstanding. I hope they make the list of classic meals at the lodges. We had a lot of fun in camp besides the fishing. The guys enjoyed teeing off on golf balls and hitting them over the river. Everyone in camp came out to watch as Tim Tuttle hit a shot over the river canyon that we estimated at 400 yards. “Having Steve (Bear) Babbidge at the lodge while we were there was an added bonus. So was having Billy Chapman Jr. drop by on his way back from the states.“The fishing was good for everyone in our group. We would have enjoyed a longer topwater bite as the fish only hit for the first 45 minutes in the morning. By far the weapon of choice was a 3/4th-ounce spinnerbait in chartreuse and white with big gold willow blades. The extra weight of this size spinnerbait was responsible for about a foot more of depth, which kept the bait barely visible during the retrieve. We fished these all day long with the windy afternoon sessions being off the hook at times. “Some of our fisherman had good results with 8-inch Zoom Lizards fished tight through the trees. Watermelon and green pumpkin were the best colors. My boat had an average of 70 fish per day. Most of them were super fat and spunky 2 to 3-pound fish. We definitely had our share of bigger fish as well. There were numerous 5-pounders caught as well as a few 6 and 7-pounders. “Our largest fish of the trip was a beautiful 8-pounder caught on a Rico by Mike Baca. “As I mentioned, this was our second trip to Lake Mateos. We all noticed how much the guides have learned about their craft in the past year. They take a lot of pride in their job and perform it as professionals. Our guide Sparky has definitely brought his A-game to the table. He was busy all day long, getting us off snags and dealing with the fish. He was also very good at repairing spinnerbaits and getting out braided line backlashes. He seemed at times to be one thought ahead of me and already doing what I was about to ask.” Ingrid van Arnhem & Graham Miller from Hollywood Hills, CA said: "Great staff, Great service, Great accommodations, Great guides, Great fishing (my husband and I caught 40 - 50 per day), Great food, all you can drink - Everyting about Lake Mateos is GREAT. Imagine as a woman, coming home from a fishing trip and no laundry to do! Everything was laundered prior to our departure. This was our first time at Lake Mateos after fishing Lake El Salto on numerous occasions. "I'll be back", or I should say, my husband and I will be back." It’s always good to have customers share with us how they feel about their recent Anglers Inn visits. We much appreciate what Zack and Jim give us their thoughts. Speaking of thoughts, there’s another thought we’d like to share with you with regard to Lake Mateos. Do you like a little solitude along with your fishing? Lake Mateos is a big body of water. At roughly 52,000 acres it’s about twice the size of Lake El Salto. Being on a lake that size means you’ll have a whole lot of it all to yourself. There just isn’t that much pressure. If you want to find a stretch of water that’s no one has tossed a bait into on the day you’re here it won’t be difficult for you to do so. We guarantee, of course, that you’ll also enjoy the service, accommodations and food that are a trademark of Billy Chapman, Jr.’s Anglers Inn operations. As we’ve mentioned many times before, you don’t have to take our word for it---just ask someone who has been here!

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
November 2008

1. Buzzbait ½-ounce in white & chartreuse, black, black & blue.
2. Rio Rico poppers: bone, white with sparkles and bleeding shad.
3. Eight-inch Zoom Lizards: watermelon and watermelon red flake.
4. Heddon Zara Spook in natural frog.
5. Storm WildEye 4 and 5 -inch Swim Shads: white with chartreuse top, bunker and pearl. (Bring your spike-it chartreuse dye!).
6. Rat-L-Traps: ½ -ounce in silver with blue back and silver with black back.
7. Spinnerbaits in ½-ounce in white & chartreuse, white, chartreuse. Be sure to bring chartreuse split tail trailers.
8. Berkley Power Worms:10-inch in watermelon red flake and tequila sunrise.
9. Yamamoto Senkos or Yum Dingers in 5 & 6-inch length: watermelon red flake, black with blue flake and pumpkin seed.
10. Bomber Fat Free Shad: medium divers in citrus shad.

Are all fishermen liars or do all liars fish?

You’ve probably heard that comment or something like it before. It’s not always true. Need proof? Just ask some of the anglers who had booked a November trip with us to fish big Lake Mateos. Here’s what Joe Goldenson, of Scottsdale, Arizona, had to say to us recently: “After receiving an e-mail the Saturday before my son Erik and I were to leave for Lake Mateos, I was given a new and fresh outlook on humanity because an actual business cared about our trade. “You see, we got a phone call from Anglers Inn, they told us that fishing was not good at Mateos right then and that it would be better for us to fish at Lake El Salto or even postpone our trip to let the weather cool down and the bite heat up! That’s when we realized we had booked with the right outfitter, Billy Chapman’s Anglers Inn. “We couldn't cancel our flights because of the non-refundable tickets they were, so we let them know that we'd be at the Mazatlan airport on the 7th of November to be picked up as planned, but to go to El Salto instead of Mateos. As always, everything would be taken care of. It was and we fished at Lake Salto from Nov. 7 to 10. “We both want to stress that if not for the quality of outfitting and honesty found in Billy Chapman, Jr.’s team at Anglers Inn in telling us it would be better at El Salto than our planned Lake Mateos outing, we would have been telling everyone that ‘it is fishing, not catching!’ We’ll be back next year at one lake or the other.” Joe’s comments are really meaningful to us. Here’s why. We here at Anglers Inn decided years ago, you see, we’d “tell it like it is” with regard to the fishing prospects wherever anglers sign on to fish with us. Has it paid off? You bet it has! That’s why the vast majority of our clients are repeat customers. With over 30 years in the business, we know that honesty is the based for a long-lasting friendship and relationship with our customers. So we say that old business about all fishermen being liars is so much malarkey. At least it is here at Anglers Inn and the comments Joe and Erik provide are among the many who will tell you they agree. We advised the Goldensons that Lake Mateos had been slow in November because that’s how it was. We think that was due mainly to air temperatures. The daytime temperature had been running into the 100s during much of the month. It has been our experience that when this occurs, the bass tend to go down deep and that’s not what Lake Mateos is not known for. During this period last year, with cooler water temps, the topwater fishing was the best we’ve ever seen. We can give you proof of that also. Steve Basarich was here last November. Here’s what he told us: “I just wanted to let you know we had a terrific time at Lake Mateos. We caught 484 bass in three days of fishing between three guys. The accommodations were over the top. Billy did a fantastic job on the new lodge.” Marc Mills was another of our 2007 November guests. He says: “Fishing started out great and just got better and better and the fish got bigger and bigger. Our top fish was my 8-pounder in the evening of the second night. I caught it on a large, topwater Vixen. This is a great place to fish frog lures. I was given some of the new Canyon Plastic Frogs and I ran out of them. I glued some of what I had back together. “I was at Lake Mateos with Bill Rice and we had the best one hour topwater action that I have ever seen and that Bill had ever seen in his 40 years of fishing. We didn’t catch a fish under 4-pounds and my top fish was more than 8-pounds. Most of our fish were 6 and 7-pounders.” It pleases us to report that things at Lake Mateos are already changing. Morning temperatures now have dropped into the 50s and the bass are eyeballing the top just as they did a year ago. Fish of more than 8-pounds have been taken lately and anglers are averaging 40 to 60 fish per boat. The better baits lately have been Rio Rico’s and buzzbaits early in the morning and late in the evening. Plastic worms and swimbaits have been producing during the mid-day. The spinnerbait bite is also very good, especially with white and white & chartreuse colors. Attaching Zoom’s Split Tail trailers in a chartreuse color to these baits make them even more deadly. Again, here at Anglers Inn we are in business for the long term. That’s why we make such an effort to give you the kind of fishing reports and customer care you can take to the bank. Our objective is to earn your business over the long haul. We hope you’ll come down and experience for yourself the best service and accommodations to be had anywhere on any Mexican Lake. We guarantee that’s exactly what you’ll get at Anglers Inn and we look forward to seeing you soon.

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
Sept 15th thru 30th2008

1. Lizards: 8-inch Zoom in watermelon, watermelon red flake, black with blue tail, and red shad.
2. Berkley 10-inch Power Worms in watermelon red flake, watermelon, black with blue tail and red shad.
3. Lobina Lures Rio Rico and Yellow Magic poppers: shad, white with sparkles and bleeding shad.
4. Heddon Zara Spook and Lucky Craft Sammy in natural frog, bullfrog and chrome with black top.
5. Yamamoto Senkos and Yum Dingers 5 and 6- inch. Best colors watermelon, watermelon red flake and black with blue flake.
6. Spinnerbaits: 1/2- and 3/4-ounce in white, white & chartreuse and chartreuse.
7. Storm WildEye 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in pearl white and white with chartreuse top.
8. Rat-L-Traps: 1/2- and 3/4-ounce in silver with blue back.
9. Bomber Fat Free crankbaits in shad and Rapala DT16 deep divers in citrus shad, Tennessee shad and pearl white.

Bass will be busting topwater baits this fall at Lakes Mateos.

Summertime rains have brought the lake up approximately 60-feet over the past three months. When the lake reaches the height it is now, water moves into the brush cover you’ll find all around the lake. The bass move into this brush cover. Anglers who have been here when conditions were similar know surface lures fished in and around the brush often bring crashing strikes. Water clarity always plays a role where surface lures are concerned. Right now Lake Mateos visibility is running 8 to10-feet. The fish will have no difficulty spotting your lures. The lake’s water temperature is still warm, but is beginning to drop a bit especially early and late in the day. Your best bet is to concentrate on surface fishing early and late and switch to deep water tactics at mid-day. One of the most productive surface lures recently has been the Lobina Rio Rico Pop in a bleeding shad color. The reliable Zara Spook in a frog finish has also been taking some nice fish. When you begin fishing deeper water try 8-inch Zoom Lizards rigged Texas Style. Some of the best catches on these baits have been made by anglers who’ve dipped the tails of the lures into a can of chartreuse colored Spike-It dip in a garlic flavor. You’ll also be wise to bring a selection of crankbaits as well as 5-inch Storm WildEye Swim Shads in a white and chartreuse shade. Both Bomber Fat Free Shads in a citrus finish and the Rapala DT 16 in shad have also been effective. We have a suggestion for you when you throw the Swim Shad. Make your cast and let the lure sink to the bottom. Use a slow retrieve all the way back to the boat. Stop reeling from time to time and pop the bait up with your rod tip. Keep a good grip on your rod when you use this approach! Spinnerbaits are usually one of the best fall baits at Lake Mateos. So far they haven’t been red hot but you can bet it’s going to happen. It sure has in the past. Casting spinnerbaits into pockets in the brush and then using a slow, steady retrieve has usually been most effective. White and chartreuse is always a good bet for spinnerbait skirts on Lake Mateos. Spinnerbaits used with Zoom chartreuse trailers have also taken some dandy fish.
Here is what a recent group of fly fisherman said about their trip to Mateos:
My friends and I ventured to Lake Mateos during the last week of September. We were happy to see that the lake was in great shape and the Bass were on the grab! Despite the warm conditions, we still had very good topwater sessions early and late in the day. The best topwater fly patterns were: Leo's Poppers and Crease Flies (yellow and silver colors); Putz's Poppers (black w/ chartreuse belly); Umpqua' Pike Fly (red/white) and Swimming Frog (orange belly). We fished these flies with a Sage Largemouth BASS rod and fly line. During the midday hours, the action kept its pace while fishing subsurface with baitfish style fly patterns on sink tip fly lines. The hot subsurface patterns were: Umpqua's Flashtail Clouser (brown/yellow on jig hook); Blanton's Whistler (red/white); and Bisharat's Airhead (chartreuse/white). We averaged about 25 - 50 bass per day, with the largest of the trip being about 7 pounds (topwater!) What an amazing fishery - these Bass are in prime shape and put up a strong fight!
Fly Fishing Action in the Sierra Madre!
We came to the mountains to bust some bass and get some teamwork done. Looking at my checklist we did both big time! The bass were in great shape. I was especially impressed with their bright golden hue. They’re beautiful specimens that anyone would be proud to catch. We caught them on topwater presentations. We caught them on subsurface tempters. And you guessed it, we caught them dropping down into the depths of the lake. The entire range of fly fishing expression was realized as we explored this excellent fishery. If you were willing to change your tactics, you got rewarded for the effort. Nice. The Angler’s Inn operation at Lake Mateos is a first class experience (would you expect otherwise?). The lodging is very comfortable, clean, and downright serene. The food was a great celebration of local flavors and flair. “It’s a must do for any fly fisher who appreciates quality gamefish, quality habitat, and high quality service.”
Cheers, Ken

FISHING REPORT UPDATE
April 1st thru 30th2008

1. Storm WildEye 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in shad, pearl white and white with chartreuse top.
2. Eight inch Zoom or 7-Yum Zellamanders Lizards in watermelon and watermelon red flake.
3. Zara Spook, Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen in chrome with black top and frog.
4. Rio RicoPop in white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad.
5. Jigs in ½ & 3/4th-–ounce in black and blue, watermelon and green pumpkin with rattles.
6. Ten inch Berkley Power Worms in watermelon red flake, watermelon purple red flake, black with blue tail and tequila sunrise.
7. Pepper Sticks, Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5 & 6-inch Stinkos in watermelon, watermelon red flake and white/chartreuse.
8. Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back.
9. Booyah Spinnerbaits in ½ and ¾-ounce in white, white/chartreuse and chartreuse. Double willow blade with a gold/silver and gold/gold combo. Be sure to bring down your Zoom split tail trailers in white and chartreuse.

Big Bass Are Busting Topwater Baits!

Chances are you’ve already heard about the tremendous spinnerbait fishing Lake Mateos had been producing ever since we opened our Anglers Inn Lodge here last November. Lately dropping water levels and warmer water temperatures have brought a change. Recently our Mateos bass have been blasting the bejabbers out of topwater baits and some of them have been really nice fish. Deeper water continues to produce the trophy bass. The largest bass taken in April weighed 13.4-pounds. That’s a dandy bass any way you slice it. There have been many other fish of more than 10-pounds. Early morning and late evening have been the most productive periods for topwater action. The reliable old Zara Spook in a frog finish has been a great producer. So has the Rico Pop and a Yellow Magic Popper. Bob Davenport was among our April guests. Here’s what Bob had to say about his visit: “Our trip to Lake Mateos wasn’t as good as I expected---it was better! What an outstanding job you people have done. The food as well as the service, lodging and personnel are outstanding. Your Ziggy, Julio, Ramon, Jules and Fredrico could not have been more friendly or helpful. “Don and I fished with Charlie and he was excellent. The fishing was phenomenal. In 3 ½ days four of us caught 577 fish, most on topwater lures. My biggest was 7 ½-pounds. I also had 6 ½-pounders and numerous 3 to 5-pounders. The next time I come down I hope we can float the river for a day.” Our new Lake Mateos Anglers Inn Lodge is rapidly becoming a favorite for couples. This is evident in the comments some of the couples who were here recently shared with us. Here’s what Elaine and Vernon Merrifield, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, told us: “We have fished many times with Anglers Inn at El Salto, and we were filled with excited anticipation about visiting Lake Mateos. We had already heard about the 80 to 100 fish days and the size of those fish. “We found Paradise! The new Anglers Inn Lodge, coupled with the incredible fishing, was the perfect retreat from our busy schedules. On the second day of our trip, I boated a 10.2-pound lunker. It's certainly fun to land the biggest fish of the trip and have bragging rights over my husband. The third day of our trip, I let my husband go fishing with the guide while I busied myself with sleeping late, a massage, and exploring the quaint Mexican village. “What could be better than spending your days in a beautiful, tropical setting, being catered to and pampered, and catching a 10.2 pound lunker! Anglers Inn and Lake Mateos has it all. It’s unbelieveable!” Bob and Nina Stroupe were equally enthusiastic about their April Lake Mateos visit: “Thank's to the great hospitality of Ramon and Billy Chapman Jr., my friends and I had a great trip. We caught in excess of 250 fish per boat for the three days fishing. We all had quality fish as well as some little guys. However, the 6 and 7-pounders quite frequent. What a great place for couples. The accomodations overlooking the river were wonderful. “The guides were knowledgeable and put each of our boats on fish every day. Cathy had never fished before and after catching a 6.5 pounder she said, "I'm hooked.” Her husband Steve is glad since we are planning another trip in December. Donnie and his wife, Durenda, competed for the big ones and I believe she won. As for me and Nina, we caught fish all day, every day. I got an 8.4-pounder and Nina got a 6.25-pounder. Needless to say we were very pleased. Most of our fish were caught on fat free crankbaits, watermelon lizards, swim baits, white and yellow spinnerbaits. The topwater fishing was great with Pop R's and Rico Pops. We recently had a group from Berkley and Bassmaster with us as well. Here is what some of the anglers in the group had to say. I LOVED Mateos, and have been talking it up to everyone since I returned. I just have to say, Billy knows how to host. You just feel like you're in the lap of luxury. I think the ultimate compliment is that I would gladly take my wife to his lodges. They are that awesome. You just hate to leave! – Ronnell Smith, BASS Editor

After the topwater bite tapers off most of fish are being caught in 14 to 25-feet of water off the deeper points, creek channels or islands. Over the years the Storm WildEye Swimshad has produced many bass over 10-pounds at El Salto Lake. Now it is starting to do the same at Lake Mateos. The better colors have been the pearl white, white with a chartreuse top and shad colors in the 4 and 5-inch sizes. It also wise to also bring plenty of the 6-inch size in the same colors mentioned above. Jermey Bott, and his fishing partner Mark Neal, from Colorado, know something about big Lake Mateos bass. They were also among our recent guests. Mark says: “The Anglers Inn staff is first-class. This is the finest experience I’ve had at a destination fishing lodge. The trip far exceeded my expectations. I caught a lot of fish in the 6 to 8-pound range. However my biggest fish, a 13-pound 4-ouncer, was caught at 8 p.m. on a watermelon lizard. The quality of this fishery is outstanding! I fly-fished for several days using black woolly buggers and green and red poppers on both floating and Rio sink tip lines”. And Jeremy says: “Lake Mateos is awesome! I caught my 10.8-pounder on a 5-inch swim bait. Fishing slow with an 8-inch watermelon lizard in 20 to 30-feet of water was also very productive. The fish are deep off the points. Anglers Inn has absolutely the best service of any lodge anywhere! Other anglers tell us that’s it’s always wise to carry 7 and 8-inch watermelon red flake lizards for a Lake Mateos adventure. This soft plastic bait has been one of the most consistent Lake Mateos producers. Rig them with a smaller bullet weight for morning fishing. Use a heavier bullet weight for afternoon angling. With the amount of bass being caught in a three day period at Mateos, it’s possible to go through several packs of these colored lizards in short order. On a final note, don’t overlook the special Anglers Inn Summer Camp scheduled to start June 1. It offers an incredible opportunity for you fathers and grandfathers to spend quality time that all involved will treasure for the rest of their days. Besides the tremendous bass fishing, we’ll have everything from ATV riding to clay target shooting, fishing lessons, river float trips and more for youngsters to enjoy.

Here’s a testimonial from a proud father:
WOW..Fathers, Uncles,Grandfathers and friends. if you ever want fantastic lifetime memories with a child Anglers Inn can help!
My two sons and I, Garrison 14 and Sawyer 10 just completed our 3rd annual trip with Anglers Inn to lake Mateos. Sawyer's big fish was 10.1lbs. Beating Garrison's 9.9lb lunker from El Salto last year! Garrison's 7.8lbs. The fishing was absolutely to dream about. Juan, our guide, makes the whole day easy. whether it is top water spooks or lizards. Juan, always smiling, reties baits, fixes backlashes, gets us un hung, takes fish off and of course delivers refreshments. Therefore I was able to fish and man the camera. Capturing memories and spending the best quality time with my boys. After the second day Sawyer said" Dad I just can't quit smiling this the greatest trip ever!" Want to talk numbers? When only counting fish landed we averaged 150 a day. Size? many fish 5-7lbs. We took the time to swim, look for rocks and explore. What a vacation! Being from Louisiana and being blessed to hunt and fish on Glasscock Island, it take an amazing place to impress my boys. From the clean comfortable lodging, the world class service, great food and the most friendly people- Billy Chapman and Anglers Inn has it. Our group grows every year. We are already planning our 4th annual trip. Thanks Billy. Every family needs to experience a trip like this. Norm Thompson, Alexandria, Louisiana. In June your children will just be getting out of school. There’s simply no better time or opportunity than right now to get your own adventure lined up. The kids will love it! For more details, give us a call. Let’s customize a trip for you!

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.