Whether you’ve done this trip a thousand times, or it’s only your second visit to the Mazatlán airport (see our arrival guide here), there are a few things that’ll make your departure go more smoothly. Having done this nearly 20 times, we’ve made all of the mistakes, so you don’t have to.

One of the best times to go to Lake El Salto is during the winter months when it is cold at home and fishing has slowed down. Here are a list of pros and cons (mostly pros) to scheduling a trip to Anglers Inn International in Mexico in January.

Hanna and I love fishing Mexico’s Lake El Salto in May and June, when the water level is typically at its lowest, The bass get schooled up on offshore structure and both the numbers and average size can be mind-blowing. Low water is no guarantee of superior fishing, but the great trips this time of year clearly outweigh the merely good ones. Of course, you’ll want to “make hay while the sun shines.” Here are strategies I’ve developed that I feel give me a leg up.

I don’t need motivation to want to go to El Salto. Hanna and I refer to the Anglers Inn facility there as our second home, and I’ve been fortunate to go enough times that I’ve lost count. Every time I buy my plane tickets the countdown to the next trip starts — and I always have some sort of goals.

Since most of the year you can be on the water before 6am, if your package includes a last-day half-day, that gives you plenty of time to fish – if you take a few steps to make it happen.

I will never be as famous as Vinko Bogataj for his wipeout featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports, but my disappointments and failures leave me just as devastated. Anyone who has ever fished knows that while we like to talk about our success, the chatter at the dock is always about “the one that got away.”

We’re headed to famous Lake El Salto in June of 2021 for an offshore slugfest — and there are rooms available if you want to join us.

Well over 80 percent of Anglers Inn’s business consists of repeat customers. In our trips down there we see many of the same people over and over and over again, some of whom have been coming for over 20 or 30 years and visit up to five times per year. So if before you depart you’ve already decided that you want to return, you should start preparing ASAP. Prime dates get booked up quickly, and particularly in the era of COVID lots of rescheduling filled them up ever earlier than usual for 2021.

Have you ever seen someone waltzing onto an airplane with just a paperback book, a small tablet, or perhaps nothing at all? I’ve always wanted to be that guy, someone who travels light and doesn’t seem to miss anything, but the truth is I will never be that guy. I’m an overpreparer, a true belt-and-suspenders type.

Whether you’re an experienced world-traveler or an air travel virgin, each airport presents its own set of challenges – and if you’re traveling to fish those concerns may be compounded. Whether you’re headed to Anglers Inn El Salto or Picachos or a number of other destinations in Sinaloa, General Rafael Buelna International Airport in Mazatlán (MZT) is likely your arrival point.

When learning to fish you need to go where you will get a lot of chances. If you’re only going to get one bite a day, and they’re only hitting one particular lure, it’s hard to refine your technique. If you only catch little fish, you won’t be tested. In Mexico, not only are there numbers of fish, but lots of quality specimens, too, so you’ll have tons of opportunities to catch them just about any way you want.

Right on the heels of “Who is the best guide at El Salto?” the top question we receive is whether it’s safe to go. It’s certainly a valid question about any foreign or domestic vacation destination, and especially when you’re discussing Mexico, which has gained a reputation for violent crime in recent years.

Hanna and I have been to Anglers Inn El Salto and Anglers Inn Picachos nearly 20 times combined, with more visits to the former than the latter. We’re frequently asked “Which guide should I request?” or “Who is the best guide?” When we don’t have a definitive answer, people assume we’re trying to hide something from them. If they only have the magic guide, they assume, they’ll catch one double digit after another after another. If only it were that easy.

Everyone always wants to catch a 10-pounder when they go to Anglers Inn, but no one wants to talk about the 10 pounds of extra weight it’s possible to bring home. I haven’t gone that far, but I’ve left with an extra five to be sure, as the food at Anglers Inn is ridiculously abundant and rich, and every part of it is YUMMY.

I am crossing my fingers that our June Anglers Inn El Salto trip will go off as planned, but in case it does not I have already reserved dates for the June of 2021, and have also blocked out rooms for November 2020.