Is a Trip to Lake El Salto or Picachos a Good Deal?

I get asked all the time why we spend our time and money to go to Anglers Inn Lake El Salto and encourage others to do the same. Sometimes the question takes various forms:

“Is it worth the expense?”

“Can it be done cheaper?”

“Why not just stay in the U.S.?”

While there’s nothing wrong with carefully watching your disposable income, and hunting down the most bang for the buck, these questions kind of miss the point of taking a vacation. It’s not like a car or a lure or a can of tomatoes where you can put a fixed price on a commodity. Instead, it’s about the experience and while it may cost the same amount to two different people, their takeaways can be completely different.

Only You Know Your Fishing Travel Budget

Simply put, if you don’t have the money to go on a trip to El Salto or Picachos, it doesn’t matter how good the deal might be. You’re staying home. At 25, I could have afforded it, but it would have been a terrible financial decision both short- and long-term. By the time I was 40 I was in a different place, and by the time I turned 50 my situation had changed enough to warrant further travel. The price of a peacock bass trip we took in 2011 was truly daunting, and it still wouldn’t be insubstantial, but my values and my wallet have changed, so I have more flexibility.

Obviously Hanna and I place a premium on our travel budget. We both work full-time jobs plus side-hustles, we bought our house at a good time, and we don’t have kids. That puts us in position to take a lot of trips I never would have thought possible a decade ago, but I still can’t justify the cost of going someplace like the Seychelles—maybe someday.

Don’t forget that the package price, airfare and gratuities aren’t necessarily all you’ll be spending. If you need special tackle, clothing, visas or shots, that adds to the cost.

Comparing it to Other Bass Options

If trophy bass are your all-consuming passion, and chasing them is the way you want to spend your vacation time and money, there are lots of options in the U.S. Those of you who live in Texas, Florida, Alabama and California may not even need to leave your home state to fish on world-class waters. But assume that you don’t, and you’ll need to fly someplace to chase that dream. That would make airfare more or less a wash. Gratuities are likely to be the same. How does the cost breakdown shake out?

For this upcoming season, a base trip to Anglers Inn is $2,095 (El Salto) or $2,045 (Picachos). Effectively that’s $4,100 or $4,200 for two anglers and includes three and a half days of guided fishing, four nights lodging, all food and drink, transportation to and from the airport, and daily laundry service.

To go to another famous stateside bass lake, you’d probably pay a guide $500 a day (for two) for the three full days, plus perhaps $300 for the half day. That’s $1800. Figure a hundred bucks a night (some places would be more, some would be less) for four nights is another $400. Perhaps $150 a day combined for food on the three full days, and half of that on the partial days on either end, is $600. That puts you at $2,800. You’d also need to buy (non-resident) fishing licenses, which are included in the Anglers Inn package. You might also have to rent a car to get to and from the airport and the boat ramp. Suddenly it’s not all that much cheaper.

More importantly, to me at least, is the quality of the fishery. While El Salto and Picachos occasionally get into a funk, on average they’re going to produce better fishing, including more fish over 8 pounds per hour of effort, than just about any place you’ll go.

One more thing – you’re going to get close to 12 hours of fishing a day, while I know that many other bass guides run by a careful 8 hour clock. It may be hard to quantify that distinction, but it likely makes up for any discrepancy in flight costs. Over the course of three days of fishing, that’s 36 hours versus 24, a gain of 50% of fishing time.

Comparing it to Similar Trips

So even when you’ve decided to go on a Mexican trip, there are many options in front of you. The same trip or style of fishing may not appeal to everyone equally. Maybe you’ll be most happy with 100 fish a day, every day, of any size. Maybe you’re willing to hold out for just five to seven bites a day, with a reasonable chance of encountering one over 9 or 10 pounds. Maybe you want a mix of those two extremes. You might even not know what you want. Assuming you do, however, make sure that you’re comparing apples to apples. I’ve only been to El Salto, Picachos, and Mateos, so I can’t compare those to the other lakes, but even if you know what you want make sure you’re getting it at the right price.

For example, for some locations there are commercial flights available, but a far better way to go is to charter a plane, at greater expense. At some lodges, if you don’t bring your own rods, there is a charge for “rod packages,” which may be limited in number and in terms of the models available. You may even have to pay a surcharge to get a particular guide or a particular type of boat. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with an “a la carte” arrangement, as long as you factor it into your pre-trip planning.

I also know that some of the other lodges on El Salto and Picachos have package prices out of the gate that seem less than those at Anglers Inn. I haven’t fished with those outfits so I can’t compare anything substantively—just make sure that you’re getting the same inclusions. If you have to pay for transportation to and from the airport, for rods, for a hotel in Mazatlán on the last night and a taxi to the airport, the ultimate price may be the same, or the “bargain” may turn out to cost more. Just do your homework.

Think “Value” Instead of “Price”

Thinking about a vacation in terms of the absolute price you pay is a mistake. Imagine this, you could book an offshore saltwater charter for $500 or for $1000. You’d take the lower cost option, right? Well what if it turned out that the lower cost was for a much smaller boat with one mate instead of two? Depending on the body of water and the style of fishing, that could make a huge difference or it could make no difference at all. Figure out which aspects of a trip and which amenities matter most to you and invest most heavily in those.

Unfortunately, this is a sport where results aren’t guaranteed, and indeed there seems to sometimes be a cruel irony to who enjoys the best catches. So you might make the right decision as to the charter, guide or outfitter you book and end up not catching your trophy fish. That’s the way it sometimes goes, but if you go on enough trips over the long haul the odds will even out and picking wisely will often make a difference.

“Value” Takes Many Forms

So is a trip to El Salto or Picachos “worth it”?

It goes back to the value proposition, and that’s a deeply personal calculus.

As for El Salto and Picachos, literally the second I get to the lodge, I feel my stress drain away. It’s my happy place. I could spend the time and money to go elsewhere, but each return is special. I think most bass anglers would agree. That’s why most of Anglers Inn’s clientele is repeat customers. It also means I can take just about anyone who’s not a complete pain in the ass and I expect they’ll have fun.

What about other trips?

I wasn’t sure what I’d think of our journey to Sportfish Panama Island Lodge back in April. It certainly wasn’t inexpensive, and I didn’t know what I’d think of the fishing, the lodge or the overall experience. If the fact that I’m going back seven months later doesn’t speak volumes, let me lay it out there for you: It was more than worth the money to me. Not only did the trip offer inshore fishing, popping for tuna, and other offshore options, essentially making it a three-in-one deal, but it fundamentally changed what I’m looking for in some future trips. I simply need more of that. Was it out of a lot of peoples’ budgets? Probably, but I can tell you that every day when I look at the picture of me with three friends, all of us smiling and holding yellowfins, I get $50 worth of happiness. Those bills add up quickly in the life reserves.

For those same reasons, I treasure our trips to Casa Vieja Lodge. Over six days of fishing there, we’ve averaged over 13 sailfish landed per day, and that’s considered far from exceptional down there. Billfishing isn’t cheap anywhere, and CVL is pricey, but again you get a lot for your money. That means first class boats, service, toiletries, food and drink, and also a lot of bites. We have the option to stay at a house at the Delaware beachfront any time we want, and we’ve considered going there and chartering a boat to go offshore for a day. Each time I look at their prices, though (typically $2,100-3,500 a day) and how few fish they expect to catch compared to a trip to CVL, I’d rather save my money for the option that promises a greater likelihood of success, and feels like a vacation.

Paying for Memories

I know a lot of people in financial positions similar to ours (or in some cases better than ours) who choose not to spend nearly as much as we do on vacations, and certainly not on fishing vacations. They’d rather invest in something more tangible—a nicer house, artwork, etc.—and many of them certainly live fulfilled lives. I don’t regret a penny I’ve spent on any of the trips I’ve taken, even the ones where the fishing turned out to be subpar. I want to see as many places as I can, catch as many fish as I can, and when I’m 80 or 90 I don’t want to rue the fact that I missed out on an opportunity.