Dave Burkhardt (fishing below) hoists a typical El Salto "football."

The lake record at Lago El Salto is 18 pounds, 8 ounces, caught in May 2002, according to resort manager “Chappy” Chapman. Chappy, who is the 28-year-old son of Anglers Inn owner Billy Chapman Jr., has been working at the resort for most of his adult life.

“The growth of these fish has been phenomenal,” he explains. “My father and grandfather stocked the lake as it was filling (at about 3,000 acres) with 60,000 Florida bass fingerlings in 1985 and opened a lodge in 1990. In 1995, we found a dead 16-pounder floating on the surface with a tilapia stuck in its throat. For a largemouth to grow to 16 pounds in just 10 years is tremendous.”

From what we can tell, Lake El Salto should be at or near the top of the list of Mexican bass lakes for some time. But keep in mind it’s an impressive list.

The big reservoirs in Mexico are attractive to U.S. anglers for a number of reasons. For one, the lakes typically produce better numbers and sizes of largemouth bass than do most U.S. waters, even in Florida. Very seldom do visitors have a slow day on El Salto or any other Mexican bass lake. Mild weather makes for an extended growing season, and there is very little fishing pressure or predation on the lakes. Package prices including guide, boat, food and accommodations, are very reasonable considering the dollar to peso exchange rate and wages south of the border.

The Mexican government seems to build a new lake every 5 to 10 years; ground breaking to complete filling can take up to 15 years. In the next 10 years, Chappy’s father Billy Chapman Jr. expects to see two or three more reservoirs in the range of 20,000 to 70,000 acres. Most of the lakes are built initially for irrigation purposes, strictly for opening up new farmland nearby and not for hydroelectric generation. Several years later, some will become hydroelectric producers when regional needs warrant.

Today there are about 17 impoundments on the west slope of the Sierra Madre Mountains, and about five on the east side. The mountain range starts around El Paso, Texas, and runs down the center of Mexico. Most of the steeper gradients with substantial rivers drain to the west into the Pacific Ocean, and that’s why the Mexican government has created more reservoirs on that side.

From the day largemouth bass fry are stocked in the initial backup of water, it normally takes five years before they and the lake mature enough to support quality fishing. Tilapia are the main forage, and these fish are stocked by the government to provide a source of revenue to villagers displaced by the impoundments. The tilapia netting seldom impacts the bass fishery.

Mother Nature takes care of everything else. A lake is typically a “numbers” lake before fish grow to trophy proportions. Typical growth rate on a new lake is 1 11/2 to 2 pounds a year. The fishing for bigger fish starts getting good in five years when the bass are 8 to 10 pounds. The numbers may drop off some then.

“On almost every new lake in Mexico, the big fish after four years is 8 pounds,” says Billy Chapman Jr., “and then they are 10 pounds after five years. As some lakes get older than that, they don’t continue to see the 2-pound-per-year growth rate in their bass.”

He should know, after outfitting clients on several Mexican bass lakes for over 29 years. Billy Jr. began his Mexico outfitting career in 1973 when he went to work as a fishing guide on Lake Dominguez for his outfitter father, Billy Chapman Sr. In 1975, his father stocked Florida bass into the newly flooded reservoir called Lake Baccarac. Billy Jr. opened up a new operation for his dad on that lake in 1980 and hosted thousands of visiting anglers during its heydays in the early 1980s.