Three New Lures I Intend to Try at El Salto (June 2021)
We’re headed back to El Salto shortly, for our close-to-annual May/June offshore slugfest. My understanding is that the water is at unusually low levels, even for a time of year when it’s normally at its lowest. I’m hoping that bodes well for us – of the nearly 20 trips we’ve taken since 2009, our best one by far was Memorial Day week of 2013, when the lake had shrunk to the lowest we’ve seen it before or since. Of course, even though low water likely means the fish will be bunched up, there’s no guarantee they’ll be chewing. In this case, the primary thing working in my favor is that it’s El-Fricking-Salto, and the population is strong and the fast-growing fish need to eat. Second, I am pretty good at keeping the staples tied on – at this time of year I expect to do particularly well with deep-diving crankbaits and both Texas Rigged and Carolina Rigged soft plastics, with a swimbait backup. The topwater bite tends to be a little more hit-or-miss.
Despite the years of knowledge informing my decision to keep it basic, I can’t go South of the Border without at least trying a few new tackle items. Over the course of my six days of fishing, they may only get 10 casts or they may turn into new go-to items, but they will get thrown. Here are three of the ones I’m most excited about.
Evergreen Last Ace 168
The Zoom Super Fluke and the Mag Fluke are staples for a lot of anglers at El Salto, no matter the time of year. When the fish are up shallow and not fully committing to topwater, a slowly-twitched white fluke (with or without the tail dipped in chartreuse dye) can be deadly. When the fish are offshore and eating a Carolina Rig, some of the biggest catches come on a watermelon red flake Mag version. Despite that knowledge and that evidence, I’ve never had a banner day with a fluke down there, or even caught a fish over 6 pounds on one. I don’t know if that’ll change this trip, but I bought the Evergreen Last Ace 168 as a hedge against the idea that everyone else will be catching the snot out of fluke fish and I’ll just be a pained bystander. I first saw it on the YouTube channel of The Hook Up Tackle in Arizona, and when they described it as a mix between a fluke and a swimbait I was intrigued. Then I watched a few videos and was impressed with its versatility and natural action. At 168mm (6.6”), it’s about the same size as the Mag fluke and weighs nearly an ounce. While the line-thru treble hook rigging might not be good in heavy cover, I’d expect that overall it’ll have a better hookup rate than a fluke with an EWG hook. Durability remains to be seen, but overall I’ve been impressed with all of the JDM products I’ve purchased from Evergreen, and of course the Jack Hammer is the favorite vibrating jig of many top anglers.
PB Rat Three-Piece Wake Bait
While I’ve had occasional instances of big bait success in Mexico, I’ve never been able to dial it in consistently, perhaps because of a general lack of experience. The one bite that has excited me the most has been with topwater wake rats, specifically the models from SPRO. While the 40-sized SPRO rat produced the most fish from this category of lures (last November), my single best rat fish (approaching 7 pounds) came on the larger 50-size. Is there a better rodent out there? I’m willing to pay the price if it results in big fish on top. I put my money where my mouth is -- $140, the most I’ve ever paid for a single lure – when my friend Dennis Shew said that the three-piece PB Rat is one of his favorites and worth every penny. As a scion of the TackleTour empire, Dennis is one of my go-to sources when it comes to high-end, enthusiast tackle, although he’s not nearly as penny-pinching as yours truly. This rat’s resin body has a distinct swirled look and the tails are easy to change out. Unlike most of my other mice and rats, it’s a light color. I’m not sure if that’s a net positive, but it broadens my offerings, and if it works out the payoff could be huge. Even one gigantor makes it worthwhile if I don’t soil my drawers in the process.
Nichols Magnum Flutter Spoon
As I’ve documented repeatedly since we last returned from El Salto in November, we finally got on a flutter spoon bite, and it was spectacular on fish up to about 7 pounds. I don’t know if it made a difference, but the spoons we used were modestly-sized – in the 5- to 6-inch range – largely because that’s what we had with us. When Tackle Warehouse opened up the sale floodgates, I stocked up on those new staples, but also opted for the 8-inch version, which weighs a whopping 3.5 ounces. I don’t know if we’ll be lucky enough to get on that offshore spoon bite again, but if we do and I suspect that there are some grandes around, I’m gonna bring out the elongated hubcap. If it works on Kentucky Lake and Pickwick, there’s no reason that those greedy green bass below the border won’t eat it, too. I just need to figure out which rod, reel and line to use.
