Lake Mateos
Fishing Report
By Billy Chapman, Jr.
April 1st - 30th, 2008

Air Temp: 67°-69°F (Early Morning) 84°-89°F (Lunch time) 75°-80°(Late Afternoon).
Water Temp: 73°-75°F.
Average number of bass per boat per day: 80-120 (being conservative).
Largest bass caught: 13.4-pounds and 10.8-pounds.

Popular lures used this month: Lures are listed in order of productivity!

• Storm WildEye 4 and 5-inch Swim Shads in shad, pearl white and white with chartreuse top.
• Eight inch Zoom or 7-Yum Zellamanders Lizards in watermelon and watermelon red flake.
• Zara Spook, Sammy and Reaction Innovations Vixen in chrome with black top and frog.
• Rio RicoPop in white, white with sparkles and bleeding shad.
• Jigs in ½ & 3/4th-–ounce in black and blue, watermelon and green pumpkin with rattles.
• Ten inch Berkley Power Worms in watermelon red flake, watermelon purple red flake, black with blue tail and tequila sunrise.
• Pepper Sticks, Yamamoto Senkos, Yum Dingers or Bass Pro Shops 5 & 6-inch Stinkos in watermelon, watermelon red flake and white/chartreuse.
• Rat-L-Traps in ½ & ¾-ounce in silver with blue back.
• Booyah Spinnerbaits in ½ and ¾-ounce in white, white/chartreuse and chartreuse. Double willow blade with a gold/silver and gold/gold combo. Be sure to bring down your Zoom split tail trailers in white and chartreuse.

Big Bass Are Busting Topwater Baits!
Chances are you’ve already heard about the tremendous spinnerbait fishing Lake Mateos had been producing ever since we opened our Anglers Inn Lodge here last November. Lately dropping water levels and warmer water temperatures have brought a change. Recently our Mateos bass have been blasting the bejabbers out of topwater baits and some of them have been really nice fish.

Deeper water continues to produce the trophy bass. The largest bass taken in April weighed 13.4-pounds. That’s a dandy bass any way you slice it. There have been many other fish of more than 10-pounds. Early morning and late evening have been the most productive periods for topwater action. The reliable old Zara Spook in a frog finish has been a great producer. So has the Rico Pop and a Yellow Magic Popper.

Bob Davenport was among our April guests. Here’s what Bob had to say about his visit: “Our trip to Lake Mateos wasn’t as good as I expected---it was better! What an outstanding job you people have done. The food as well as the service, lodging and personnel are outstanding. Your Ziggy, Julio, Ramon, Jules and Fredrico could not have been more friendly or helpful.

“Don and I fished with Charlie and he was excellent. The fishing was phenomenal. In 3 ½ days four of us caught 577 fish, most on topwater lures. My biggest was 7 ½-pounds. I also had 6 ½-pounders and numerous 3 to 5-pounders. The next time I come down I hope we can float the river for a day.”

Our new Lake Mateos Anglers Inn Lodge is rapidly becoming a favorite for couples. This is evident in the comments some of the couples who were here recently shared with us. Here’s what Elaine and Vernon Merrifield, of Ponca City, Oklahoma, told us: “We have fished many times with Anglers Inn at El Salto, and we were filled with excited anticipation about visiting Lake Mateos. We had already heard about the 80 to 100 fish days and the size of those fish.

“We found Paradise! The new Anglers Inn Lodge, coupled with the incredible fishing, was the perfect retreat from our busy schedules. On the second day of our trip, I boated a 10.2-pound lunker. It's certainly fun to land the biggest fish of the trip and have bragging rights over my husband. The third day of our trip, I let my husband go fishing with the guide while I busied myself with sleeping late, a massage, and exploring the quaint Mexican village.

“What could be better than spending your days in a beautiful, tropical setting, being catered to and pampered, and catching a 10.2 pound lunker! Anglers Inn and Lake Mateos has it all. It’s unbelieveable!”

Bob and Nina Stroupe were equally enthusiastic about their April Lake Mateos visit: “Thank's to the great hospitality of Ramon and Billy Chapman Jr., my friends and I had a great trip. We caught in excess of 250 fish per boat for the three days fishing. We all had quality fish as well as some little guys. However, the 6 and 7-pounders quite frequent. What a great place for couples. The accomodations overlooking the river were wonderful.

“The guides were knowledgeable and put each of our boats on fish every day. Cathy had never fished before and after catching a 6.5 pounder she said, "I'm hooked.” Her husband Steve is glad since we are planning another trip in December. Donnie and his wife, Durenda, competed for the big ones and I believe she won. As for me and Nina, we caught fish all day, every day. I got an 8.4-pounder and Nina got a 6.25-pounder. Needless to say we were very pleased. Most of our fish were caught on fat free crankbaits, watermelon lizards, swim baits, white and yellow spinnerbaits. The topwater fishing was great with Pop R's and Rico Pops.

We recently had a group from Berkley and Bassmaster with us as well. Here is what some of the anglers in the group had to say.

I LOVED Mateos, and have been talking it up to everyone since I returned. I just have to say, Billy knows how to host. You just feel like you're in the lap of luxury. I think the ultimate compliment is that I would gladly take my wife to his lodges. They are that awesome. You just hate to leave! - Ronnell Smith, BASS Editor

After the topwater bite tapers off most of fish are being caught in 14 to 25-feet of water off the deeper points, creek channels or islands. Over the years the Storm WildEye Swimshad has produced many bass over 10-pounds at El Salto Lake. Now it is starting to do the same at Lake Mateos. The better colors have been the pearl white, white with a chartreuse top and shad colors in the 4 and 5-inch sizes. It also wise to also bring plenty of the 6-inch size in the same colors mentioned above.

Jermey Bott, and his fishing partner Mark Neal, from Colorado, know something about big Lake Mateos bass. They were also among our recent guests. Mark says: “The Anglers Inn staff is first-class. This is the finest experience I’ve had at a destination fishing lodge. The trip far exceeded my expectations. I caught a lot of fish in the 6 to 8-pound range. However my biggest fish, a 13-pound 4-ouncer, was caught at 8 p.m. on a watermelon lizard. The quality of this fishery is outstanding! I fly-fished for several days using black woolly buggers and green and red poppers on both floating and Rio sink tip lines”.

And Jeremy says: “Lake Mateos is awesome! I caught my 10.8-pounder on a 5-inch swim bait. Fishing slow with an 8-inch watermelon lizard in 20 to 30-feet of water was also very productive. The fish are deep off the points. Anglers Inn has absolutely the best service of any lodge anywhere!”

Other anglers tell us that’s it’s always wise to carry 7 and 8-inch watermelon red flake lizards for a Lake Mateos adventure. This soft plastic bait has been one of the most consistent Lake Mateos producers. Rig them with a smaller bullet weight for morning fishing. Use a heavier bullet weight for afternoon angling. With the amount of bass being caught in a three day period at Mateos, it’s possible to go through several packs of these colored lizards in short order.

On a final note, don’t overlook the special Anglers Inn Summer Camp scheduled to start June 1. It offers an incredible opportunity for you fathers and grandfathers to spend quality time that all involved will treasure for the rest of their days. Besides the tremendous bass fishing, we’ll have everything from ATV riding to clay target shooting, fishing lessons, river float trips and more for youngsters to enjoy.

Here’s a testimonial from a proud father:

WOW..Fathers, Uncles, Grandfathers and friends. if you ever want fantastic lifetime memories with a child Anglers Inn can help!
My two sons and I, Garrison 14 and Sawyer 10 just completed our 3rd annual trip with Anglers Inn to lake Mateos. Sawyer's big fish was 10.1lbs. Beating Garrison's 9.9lb lunker from El Salto last year!

Garrison's 7.8lbs. The fishing was absolutely to dream about. Juan, our guide, makes the whole day easy. Whether it is top water spooks or lizards. Juan, always smiling, reties baits, fixes backlashes, gets us un hung, takes fish off and of course delivers refreshments. Therefore I was able to fish and man the camera. Capturing memories and spending the best quality time with my boys.

After the second day Sawyer said" Dad I just can't quit smiling this the greatest trip ever!" Want to talk numbers? When only counting fish landed we averaged 150 a day. Size? many fish 5-7lbs. We took the time to swim, look for rocks and explore. What a vacation!

Being from Louisiana and being blessed to hunt and fish on Glasscock Island, it take an amazing place to impress my boys. From the clean comfortable lodging, the world class service, great food and the most friendly people- Billy Chapman and Anglers Inn has it.

Our group grows every year. We are already planning our 4th annual trip.

Thanks Billy. Every family needs to experience a trip like this.

Norm Thompson, Alexandria, Louisiana.

In June your children will just be getting out of school. There’s simply no better time or opportunity than right now to get your own adventure lined up. The kids will love it! For more details visit our Anglers Inn website at www.anglersinn.com or give us a call. Let’s customize a trip for you!

Anglers Inn
www.lakemateos.com
1-800-468-2347