ICAST 2021 – New Lures and Terminal Tackle for El Salto
At this point, I probably have enough tackle stored at El Salto that I could make it through several trips without having to restock anything. Even if we were to go on a hot run of losing 10XDs or days where we sacrificed a couple dozen Senkos to the fish gods, I could still likely get by. Of course, anything I don’t already have down there I almost certainly have in triplicate (if not more) in my oversized garage.
Nevertheless, because I love fishing tackle so dearly, I would be remiss (and extraordinarily disappointed in myself) if I didn’t at least assess the offerings of ICAST 2021 as they relate to my future fishing plans. I’ve already assessed some of the travel-related offerings and award winners, but in that column I steered clear of lures. Now I’m back to take a second bite of the apple. Specifically, because Anglers Inn Lake El Salto is my happy place, I’m looking for tackle that I can use South of the Border.
Over the past decade or so, El Salto has been my testing ground, a place that I look forward to trying new lures, new terminal tackle, and new classes of both, to see if they might have an application in my every day fishing. Also, by potentially being the first person to try something down there, it gives me a psychological edge that I might have something the fish have never seen before. The only time I feel that truly panned out was throwing the Whopper Plopper back in 2015. I might not have been the first to try it down there, but from the way the bass reacted to the lure it was clear that not many of them had seen anything of the sort. I’d love to relive that thrill.
Here are five lures and one terminal tackle item that caught my eye, and will almost certainly put a dent in my wallet before Hanna and I return with our next group to Sinaloa in January of 2022:
On our first trip to El Salto in December of 2009 I brought an “oversized” Lunker Punker topwater, but I did not have the right rod to fish it. The one rod I brought that was heavy enough to throw it was too long for me to work the lure properly. I had one very big bass jump over the lure and miss it completely, and that was it in the short time I fished it Subsequently I’ve had some good days with walk-the-dog topwaters in Mexico, including the Lucky Craft Sammy and the Megabass Giant Dog-X, but I’ve never caught a giant that way. Maybe SPRO’s new topwater, which at 130mm (5.12”) is larger than some of those and has a body shape similar to the Punker, will be the tool that I need to get the topwater strike of a lifetime. It’s hard to resist the bone color, but the pattern called “The Deal” is the one that’s beckoning me now. I may have to buy both.
Berkley’s entry into the soft ultra-realistic bluegill imitators represents the only product on this list that I’ve actually seen in person already. Pure Fishing was kind enough to send me a pre-ICAST goody bag that included a clamshell of this lure. It reminds me quite a bit of the segmented Imakatsu Javallon Gill swimbait, albeit at a much more reasonable price. I’ve considered purchasing the Javallon for quite a while, through many Tackle Warehouse and eBay purchases, but I’ve never been able to pull the trigger. Now I have what I presume to be their functional equivalent. I assume that I’ll fish them swimbait-style most often, where they’ll imitate a dumb tilapia (in Mexico) or a wayward bluegill (at home), but according to the literature that I’ve read and the Mike Iaconelli video I watched, the lure is much more versatile than that. Among other things, it can be fished on a dropshot or a jig head.
The Fat Free Shad will always be the long-term crankbait king of Mexico, based on longevity alone, and others like the Rapala DT20 and the Berkley Dredger have proven effective, but my go-to for most deep cranking down there in recent years has been the 6XD. Actually, that’s not one hundred percent true. I LOVE the 10XD, especially for big fish, but on this last trip we didn’t fish much water that demanded that diving ability, so we reverted to the 6XD. I don’t really know if the sound profile of the crankbaits regularly makes a substantial difference, but I am sure there are times that a silent lure or something with a different rattle will outproduce the standard. I know that I’ll add a few of these, in my standard cranking colors, to my ever-evolving resident deep diver collection.
Deps Evoke Zero
The days of being the first one on the lake ripping a Whopper Plopper are long gone in the rearview mirror. Today, just about every angler heading down to the water when a decent topwater bite exists has one tied on. That doesn’t mean that plopping baits, including the original, won’t still work, but you might benefit from presenting something slightly different. As I learned by fishing the Berkley Choppo in June, it pays to experiment with different sound profiles. The Deps Evoke crankbaits have produced several top Bassmaster finishes, including for Connecticut Pro Paul Mueller, and everything I’ve used so far from the company has been of a super high quality. This lure has the bulbous shape of the cranks, but with a metal “plopping” blade on the back. In addition to the treble behind the blade’s rear edge, it has a quad hook hanging from the belly to maximize hookups. I like the fact that it comes in both 120mm and “oversized” 150mm options. While the little Ploppers will definitely catch fish, in wind or over deep suspended fish I’d like something obnoxious to pull them up.
A wacky-rigged Senko is the easiest to fish and perhaps year-round the most effective single lure you can use on El Salto and Picachos. Watermelon with red flake is many anglers’ favorite down there, but I tend to start with Green Pumpkin and go from there. We’ve used the tactic successfully every month of the year that we’ve been down there. There are only two limitations: The first is that because the lure is so light, if there is any wind, or you’re fishing especially deep, you may not be able to put the Senko into the strike zone quickly or consistently. Second, because the lakes are underwater jungles at any water level, you’re going to spend a good amount of time hung up, wasting precious moments. This new hook counteracts those problems by allowing you to Neko Rig the lure, adding a nail weight to one end, and then embed the hook point within the soft plastic, to minimize snags. It also has a built-in swivel to reduce line twist and a wire keeper to keep your plastics positioned properly. It only comes in sizes up to 2/0, so it may not be ideal for 6- and 7-inch Senkos, but it’ll get a workout with some 5-inchers, as well as trick worm style lures.
Yes, you read that correctly: Poop. Not a mistake or improper translation, as you’ll see if you check out the tubular, rough-edged lure. It looks like a turd, which isn’t all that off-the-wall when you consider that for the last several years one of the most popular and productive techniques (Ned Rigging) has often utilized Z-Man’s TRD. According to my friend Matt Paino, an expert on all things related to Japanese tackle and fishing culture, the “scat” technique—which is essentially a heavy but stubby Senko that maintains a horizontal position while it falls—has been the giant killer among all of the Lake Biwa guides in recent years. Indeed, the Deps Cover Scat has been sold out for months at the few U.S. retailers who purportedly carry it, and they go for about $50 a bag on eBay. I managed to get a bag in the wrong size and the wrong color for retail a while back, but I have not fished them yet. Assuming that I can get these, ideally in a green pumpkin or watermelon color, I’m anxious to try them in Mexico and closer to home. The Senko is still the greatest bait of all time, but it no longer has the novelty that it did a decade or two ago.
Remember, many of these products can be purchased through Tackle Warehouse. If they’re not there already, they should be in stock soon.
What ICAST baits excite you most, for Mexico or elsewhere?
