On our first trip to Anglers Inn Lake El Salto, Hanna and I went for 3.5 days of fishing. Since then, we’ve almost always gone for at least a week. On a handful of occasions when time was limited, we have jetted in for the shorter stay, and once we stayed for a full two weeks, but for most visitors I’d suggest that you fish at least 6 days.

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.

Friends are often surprised to hear that we go to Mexico during the warmer months. Indeed, there are several prejudices working against making such a trip. You may be giving up a few days of exceptional fishing at home, but in all but a few instances it’s likely to be better South of the Border.

f you’ve read our “Ultimate Guide to El Salto and Picachos” it should be pretty obvious that we’ve spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out how to maximize every trip South of the Border, developing systems for everything from what to pack, to how to pack, to what to eat and lures to throw. Despite all of those best-laid plans, however, we still screw up at times. We’ve decided to be transparent about our mistakes, hoping that you don’t end up repeating them.

Every time we go to Mexico I learn or relearn certain things, or get an opportunity to test out new products and theories. This may seem like a bunch of disconnected mumbo-jumbo, but I’m hoping that some of you can benefit from my experiences. Here are eleven notes from our June 2021 trip, in no particular order.

We were warned prior to our recent trip that Lake El Salto was at record low levels, and while we can’t confirm the historical accuracy of that statement, we can confirm that the lake is lower than we’ve ever seen it – and that’s over the course of 15-20 trips, with one or both of us visiting during the low water season every year since 2013. Here’s a gallery of some of the scenery.

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.

A day at Anglers Inn is designed to start before sunrise and end after sunset, making every minute count. It’s packed with full glasses, full bellies, lots of stories, plenty of camaraderie and, well of course, FISH….lots of them.

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.”

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.

You may be as regular as a Swiss timepiece, but for some reason travel seems to throw off many of our internal clocks and digestive systems. Whether it’s the change of venue, jet lag, different foods, dehydration, or some other factor, when you lose the home field advantage, sometimes your innards get screwed up. That can lead to both discomfort and inconvenience.

I’ve been a redhead all my life, and I’m old enough to remember coming home from playing outside all day (Xbox hadn’t been invented) and having sun blisters on my shoulders. My mom would walk me upstairs, sit me on the top of the toilet, light a match, heat up a needle and poke the blister to release the “goo.”