What They Bitin’? – El Salto January 2022
We just returned from what was likely the toughest bite in our nearly 20 trips to Anglers Inn Lake El Salto. You have to understand that “tough” is a relative thing. Just like pizza and sex, even when it’s “bad,” El Salto is still “good.” Five of the 14 members of our party caught their personal bests and just about every day some legit, scale-weighed, 8- and 9-pounders showed up.
What I mean by “tough” is that we quickly learned we were limited in the range of baits that would produce. Yes, we kept the fish honest by trying to expand that range for some time each day, but it rarely worked. One of the reasons that we typically like going in January is that you can catch them lots of different ways – that wasn’t the case this time. While other members of our group may have caught bass on a few other presentations, here is our remarkably short list of baits that produced bites:
5-inch Senko, Texas Rigged, 1/16 to 3/8 ounce weights (mostly various shades of watermelon and green pumpkin)
5-inch Senko, Wacky Rigged (watermelon and green pumpkin)
6-inch Senko, Wacky Rigged (watermelon and green pumpkin)
Zoom Trick Worm (watermelon) on 3/16 and ¼ ounce shakey heads
Berkley Maxscent Hit Worm (plum apple and watermelon candy) on 3/16 and ¼ ounce shakey heads
5-inch Senko (black with blue tail) on 3/16 and ¼ ounce shakey heads
9-inch Uptons Custom Worm on Mag Shakey Head (Margarita red flake)
Zoom Magnum Lizard, Carolina Rigged (watermelon red)
Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 112 (ghost minnow)
Megabass Ito Vision 110 (M Shad)
Lobina Lures Rio Rico (Albino, K Baby Duck, Blue Chartreuse, Holographic Shad)
½ ounce Berkley Warpig (chrome blue)
¼ ounce Brovarney Swim Jig (white) with matching Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer
Zoom Super Fluke weightless (baby bass)
Notes
A Texas-rigged 5-inch Senko in some form of green was by far our group’s number one producer.
Remember, the bite is different every time, even under the same conditions, so assuming we go back next year at a similar time I’ll still bring my ridiculously wide range of tackle.
My dreams of an epic rat bite quickly evaporated, and I never even threw the new ones.
This might be the first time in all of those trips when I did not catch a single fish on a 10-inch worm. Hell, I never even threw one, although first-timer Jimmy Keller of Wisconsin caught his PB 9-pounder on the classic black-and-blue Power Worm.
Most people don’t pack enough Senkos for a situation like this one. I felt like a crack dealer between sessions as other lodge guests tried to get a few from me.
