Mexico Largemouth Bass

Lake El Salto ranks as one of the world's best Largemouth Bass fisheries.  This supercharged fishery is renowned for it trophy-sized bass that can reach proportions of over 10+ pounds.  A variety of tactics are needed to fool these jumbo bass at times.  Ideally, we fish topwater flies to these aggressive bass.  However, when the sun is high on the water it is important to fish subsurface to stay in the game.  Therefore, specific tackle is required to be fully prepared for the spectrum of conditions that may be encountered.  Here they are:

Keith's Mexico Bass Tackle

  • Rods: Sage Largemouth BASS (330 grain) / Sage TCX/Xi3 890-4
  • Reels: Sage 6080 or 4580
  • Fly Lines: 
    • Floating / Topwater: Sage Largemouth BASS (330 grain) / RIO Outbound Short WF-F
    • Intermediate Tip: RIO Outbound Short WF-F/I
    • Type 6 (controlled depth): RIO Outbound Short Type 6 - MUST-HAVE!
    • Fast Sink Tip: RIO T11 or T14; Scientific Anglers Custom Cut Express
  • Tapered Leader (topwater): RIO Striped Bass (7' 20#)
  • Tippet Material: RIO Max (20#) for topwater and RIO FlouroFlex (20#) for subsurface
Recommended Bass Flies
  • Topwater Flies
    • Chewy Popper (yellow, white, and black - size 2)
    • Hard Popper (yellow/green/orange - size 4)
    • Bisharat's Pole Dancer (brown/white, fire tiger - size 2 to 1/0)
    • Blado's Crease Fly (silver or blue back - size 4)
    • Pultz's Poppers (black/chartreuse, black/silver - size 2)
    • Bubble-Head (baby bass, blue/silver, or olive/silver - size 2 to 2/0)
    • Dahlberg's Diving Minnow (perch and black - size 4)
  • Subsurface Flies
    • Big Game Gummy Minnow (pearl - size 2) MUST-HAVE
    • Bisharat's AirHead (brown/white or chartreuse/white - size 2 to 1/0) MUST-HAVE
    • Blanton's Flashtail Whistler (red/white or white grizzly - size 2/0)
    •  Clouser Minnow (chartreuse/white, brown over yellow/white - size 2 - 2/0)