Ron Zich: November 2024 Lake Picachos Report
Special Thanks to Hanna at Half Past First Cast for setting up the trip and making everything easy. We knew going in that the size of the bass at Lake Picachos wouldn’t offer the same average as El Salto, but the numbers were as promised: incredible.
Upon arrival at the Mazatlán and an hour van ride, we were greeted by our first of many Anglers Inn margaritas. With rods delivered to our room, we fixed up our gear, grabbed some soft plastics (T-Rig 6” watermelon lizard for me and natural shad 5” Senko for Bill) and caught a dozen or so fish up to 2 pounds right in front of the lodge.
Day 1
5AM came awfully early (coffee delivered to our room) given the margaritas and cervezas consumed the night before, and by 5:45 our guide Junior was parked in front of the lodge, ready to go. For the next two hours we caught about 40 between us, the biggest at 4 pounds, using bone and shad-colored small poppers, fishing outside buck brush. Once this bite died we switched to lizards and senkos (mostly 5”) in watermelon red and natural shad colors. Bill was using a ½ or 3/4oz Free Rig while I used a Texas rig, and I got outfished at least 3-1. We boated another 20 or so fish and headed in at 11 for lunch at 1130, then a quick siesta.
Your guide will ask what time you want to go back out: 1PM was our choice, others went out at 2 or even 3PM.
After lunch we headed up lake and started along buck brush covered flats that dropped into deeper water. Casting into deeper water we discovered the larger fish were deeper, as evidenced by the 5 pounder I caught on a citrus shad 8XD. The same soft plastics as the AM produced, but we did upsize to 6” Senkos (and I relented and changed to a Free Rig). While the afternoon “only” produced about 40 fish, we had found our pattern for the next three days -- shallow in the AM and deep in the PM. (Note—some who fished deep in the AM had minimal success). Back at 5:30 for dinner (if you mess with your tackle before dinner you will miss the appetizer, don’t ask how we know!).
Day 2
Rinse and repeat. We started way up in a creek on a point that had less buck brush than we had fished the day before, and the topwater bite was on again for a couple hours. While we only got about 30, the quality increased to a 2-2.5 pound average, using bone poppers with orange on the belly (never got on a bite with large poppers or moving topwaters). Then until lunch it was fishing shallow with plastics, the AM yielded probably 70 fish.
Back on the water at 1PM, we hit 5-6 spots catching a few at each. At 3:30 we came to a windblown point and it was on for the next two hours. We caught 25 fish, with a 3-pound average. I found that a 1/2 oz shakey head 7” watermelon red or watermelon Senko produced fish up to 5 pounds, while Bill used 5” Senkos in natural shad for a numbers-fest (don’t be fooled, he got plenty of 3-4 pounders).
Day 3
Rinse and repeat…sorta. We started back at our Day 2 point and got 3 fish on topwaters. Bill, being the sage fishermen he is, threw his 1/2oz free rig natural shad Senko on the other side of the boat (aka deeper) and discovered a 1.5lb average over 30 or so fish. I stuck with the same weighted 5” watermelon red Senko with success, throwing a lizard periodically just to keep them honest. We had it dialed into one small area, we think the creek channel, to do our damage. The remainder of the AM was spent hopping around points with brush catching numbers.
We told Junior (our guide) after lunch we wanted to fish for “grandes” so he took us to a deep water point (20’ or deeper). We had we can only be described as the best fishing we have EVER HAD over the next 45 minutes. When you partner tells you “Stop catching those 2.5 pounders, they are ruining our average,” you know it’s good!
I was throwing a 1/2oz shaky head with 7” watermelon red Senko and Bill used a ¾oz free rig with 6” green pumpkin creature bait, we got 10 fish that went close to, if not over 40 pounds. Our largest was over 6 on my Senko. From 2-3PM our size decreased a little, but we got about 15 more off this point. This was on a Saturday afternoon and we started to see tilapia nets out, which impacted us some. For the rest of the afternoon we fished brush with the lures previously described for shallow water and caught another 25-30 fish. (Note: we did try different plastics such as watermelon red worms and brush hawgs, rattletraps and deep crankbaits, but never did much on those).
At dinner that night another pair of anglers told us they had caught 391 fish in 3 days, and while our numbers were less, our quality was better due to the deep water commitment.
Day 4
Tired but ready for our last day, the tilapia nets really impacted our topwater bite. While we caught 10 or so, it was just a slow first couple hours. Back to Senkos, we ended up with 50 or so fish just moving around. If we didn’t catch a fish in our first 10 or so casts, it was off to the next spot.
After our daily siesta, we headed back to our Day 3 afternoon point and again it was on. I switched to a black magnum shakey head worm (tail dipped in chartreuse) with the 1/2 oz weight, while Bill used his trusty natural shad (he did catch a couple nice fish with a white swimbait on his free rig). We got around 30 in a couple hours, and while not as big as the prior day, both our hands were aching from gripping our reels. Sad as it sounds, I’m almost complaining about a few 5s, a few more 4s, and a bunch of 3s!
Departure Day
No sleeping in as the staff is delivering coffee to the guests, so a leisurely breakfast, then fishing in front of the lodge, catching 10 up to 2 ½ pounds in 30 minutes. By 9:30 we were on the road to the airport.
Let’s end with some tips that we hope help you have a great trip.
Decide if this is a fishing or drinking trip – you can do either but it’s hard to do both (there is beer on the boats).
Bring a bigger pair of pants for your flight home (just kidding, sorta). The food is exceptional and there is always plenty. The skirt steak was the best we’ve ever had, made to order breakfast every morning, fresh squeezed OJ, and did I mention the margaritas?
If you can afford the trip, you can afford the tip. Guides and staff work hard to make it an enjoyable overall experience, and they rely on tips for a living.
Listen to your guide. They are on the water every day. Just dump a bag of plastics out when trying something new and let them choose.
Unhooking fish. This may sound crazy, but if you unhook a couple hundred fish over 4 days, your hands will be destroyed. The guides are more than willing, so most of the time we let them. And they are very good at getting deeply hooked fish unhooked.
Shallow = smaller and more fish, Deeper = bigger but less fish. Pick your poison.
Don’t be afraid to tell the guide you want to fish shallow or deep. I believe their default is shallow for numbers.
Take a siesta, even if just 30 minutes. Staying out all day (12 hours) is tough.
Be in shape to fish. If you don’t fish much, be ready to be sore in places you didn’t know existed. Heard this from a couple other groups.
