North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine September 2018 | Page 49

By Fred Telleen
FLY FISHING FOR
MEXICO BASS
Sinaloa, Mexico
Temperatures range from 72 °F to
109 °F with rain and thunderstorms during
the summer months and dry conditions
throughout most of the year.
March 5th
We might have smirked a little to ourselves as
we left eight-degree weather and the deep snow
of Montana on our flight to Minneapolis. We
had just enough time to reach our gate, board
for Mazatlán’ and beat the snowstorm that was
chasing us eastward. By 1:30 p.m., we were
meeting our driver curbside for the 20-minute
trip to our beach hotel in Sinaloa, Mexico. He
had a cooler full of cold ones. By 3:00 p.m., I
had sand in my toes and was sucking down an
ice cold Pacifico and a plate of ceviche in the
shade. It was 82 degrees.
March 6th
Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at
9:30 a.m. for the ride to El Salto Lake. After a
fantastic breakfast on the patio, we took a two-
block jaunt down the street to find trip guest,
Dan Falcon, some Mexican coffee beans. A
word of warning. A block along Mazatlán’s
Malecon is equal to at least a kilometer. By
9:27, we had caught a cab back to the hotel,
arriving a few minutes late to find another guest,
Dan Hinckley, talking with our driver.
The ride was two hours to El Salto which
included a stop to pick up another guest.
When we arrived, we were met with a tray of
margaritas, a platter of fresh Mahi Mahi, and
all the fixings we needed for fish tacos. After
lunch, we spent our siesta time rigging rods and
taking in our surroundings. At 1:45 p.m., we
hopped into a van with our gear for a short trip
down the hill to the boats waiting for us.
Our first afternoon on the water yielded my
largest bass. The fish weighed 6.4 pounds on
the scale, I was stoked. We continued catching
several bass ranging from one to five pounds,
all on fly. We were the only ones at the lodge
not fishing worms and lizards in 10-15 feet of
water. The experienced worm fishermen were
averaging 40+ fish per session.
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