Anglers Inn El Salto Super Grand Slam
When I refer to Anglers Inn most people will automatically think largemouth bass. Specifically, they think about the trip of a lifetime for trophy-sized, Florida strain bass.
It’s what they are rightfully known for, and when we’re preparing and packing our gear it’s with them in mind -- we bring down, use and lose, leave behind and then bring back pounds and pounds more of bass-specific tackle.
However, there are more than just bass in Lake El Salto. That’s right, there are shad (which I won’t count for purposes of this exercise), tilapia, mojarra and channel catfish.
In past years, I have caught the occasional tilapia and thought nothing of it. Last year I caught what I thought was a tilapia and was told it was a mojarra, similar in appearance but not in color. Now and then someone comes back to the lodge letting us know they caught a catfish, but never more than one.
In June of 2022, of the sixteen people in our group, seven anglers caught what I’d call the “Super Grand Slam.”
The term “grand slam” was first used in golf when Bobby Jones won the four major tournaments in 1930. From there, the terms were adopted in tennis and became the name to refer to winning all four majors in a year: the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
And of course in baseball, when you have players on every base and the batter hits a home run, that too is a grand slam.
Now technically there are Grand Slams in fishing. They are achieved when an angler catches three specific fish in a 24-hour period. The Super Grand Slam is any four fish caught in a single day by a single angler. For example, when fly fishing in the Caribbean, a Grand Slam is when an angler is able to catch a bonefish, tarpon and permit in a single day. There are other Grand Slams as well you can achieve through the IGFA and I would have never known if I hadn’t caught my own “Slam” at El Salto.
This season the bait was abundant. Watching the bait balls swim towards you made you think there was a creature in the water coming to attack. It’s a double-edged sword, you see -- without a lot of bait the fish won’t have food and won’t grow to trophy weights, but with so much bait the fish have so much to eat they may not be as interested in our baits.
We caught a large number of healthy 4- to 6-pounders, some sevens and the cheeseheads, Samantha Sukupcak and Mike Yee, each caught 8-plus pounders, including Samantha’s personal best.
On this particular trip, seven of us caught the Super Grand Slam. I thought this to be a WOW situation and wanted to look more into the particular species caught.
Tilapia are mainly freshwater fish inhabiting shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. They are found in temperate climates die to their inability to survive in cold water. They are the fourth most consumed fish in the United States and became popular due to its low price, easy preparation and mild taste.
We know El Salto for its world class bass, it is also one of the nation's largest tilapia fisheries. They provide great benefit to local economy. They are captured by tilapia fishermen between the months of September and April with nets put in twice a month for 10 days at a time. This should not deter you as an angler as some of the largest fish I’ve caught were at times when the nets were in the water.
So now, if this doesn’t give you an idea about what color baits to bring down, here are a couple that work well for us from trip to trip and that I believe closely represent tilapia:
Mojarra is also commonly used in Latin American countries as a name for various species of the cichlid family, including tilapia. The mojarra aren’t as abundant as tilapia at El Salto but this trip you wouldn’t have thought that on this trip – we caught quite a few. They are a common prey and baitfish and exhibit a schooling behavior. We definitely saw a ton of these fish schooling.
Channel Catfish – “No time for slime” is my catch phrase when we catch catfish at home. Channel cats thrive in small rivers, natural lakes and ponds and can be found in Canada, eastern and northern United States and parts of northern Mexico. They have a very keen sense of smell and have taste buds over the surface of its entire body. These senses allow them to find food in the dark or muddy water. My catfish was no more than a pound and a half. Pete caught a 6-13 last January, so they don’t grow particularly big there. They can get up to 40 to 50 pounds. The world record was caught in the Santee-Cooper Reservoir in South Carolina.
On our last afternoon of the trip we were back at a spot we had fished the previous day where we had done pretty well. I caught a fish that just felt like a smaller bass, got it to the boat, saw it and said “Oh, a catfish.” Then the excitement came over me as I realized I completed the previously-unknown of the Anglers Inn Super Grand Slam.
You know that little jump and run the baseball players do when they know the ball has gone out of the park? Or the clenched fist and the scream of accomplishment when you clinch victory? Or the “Get down on your knees, you gave it your all, you have nothing left, you did it,” feeling?
YEP, that was me, doing a little jump, because I had caught a catfish and the time for slime was perfect.
Here are some of our past articles about lures that replicate tilapia:
There are also a few lures that are meant to imitate catfish, if you want to go down that path:
