Mazatlan Fishing

[Norsky]

Anyone know any charters in the Mazatlan area for deep sea fishing or just bottom fishing? Also any recommendations for fishing Lake El Salto? Are there any locals that do day trips for $100 or so?

[harvey lee]

El-Cid Marina is a local marina that I have been very happy with.I have used several others including Star-Fleet and no one did the job that El-Cid did.Their boats are very nice and the captain and first mate were very friendly to fish with.If your going for billfish,they will still almost always get you some Tuna and other fish

There is also another small marina to the northwest of El-Cid that does bottom fishing with smaller boats for grouper and others that can also be alot of fun.

Depending on the time of year that you are there will tell you what type of billfish will be in those area waters.

I would tell you that there are people that will take you out on thier boats,but I have never found any to date.Also,watch out for the street venders that say they will pick you up in the morning as they will want half the night before and wont show,been there,done that.Honestly your best bet is to call the marina when you get there and book your fishing for the day you want as they can get full.You can also book with other people to cut your costs for the day and that also works pretty good,just less chance at catching a billfish if you are number four.The trips usually go from 7am to approx 2pm.Take your lunch and drink.If you catch a billfish they expect a tip for thier work,that just the way it is.

If your going in Feb.,there should be Sailfish and Striped Marlin and swordfish for billfish in these waters.Later in the spring you will find Blue and Black Marlin there,but dont think that a stripped marlin wont give you the fight of your life,they just are not 400 pounds plus.Dont forget,there is also always a chance at a shark.I always wanted to catch a Hammerhead,one day maybe.

[ptkane]

I fished at Lake El Salto last year - what an awesome experience!! I can't remember the name of the outfitter, but it was a place that did day trips and was located across the road from El Cid Resort, near the golf course, I believe. Huge bass on a mountain lake - I loved it.

[traveler]

Norsky, HL has given you some solid advice. It would help to know what season you plan on going and if you want to target a specific species. I've fished in Mazatlan in Feb/march a number of times while down with the family on vacation. There are better places to go purely for a fishing trip (see the other posts currently on the board about Cabo or PV) but Maz is OK and at times can be excellent. And El Salto is close by; I don't much fish bass but it still sounds like a fun thing to do. I looked into it once, briefly, and it looked like the places up there try to make it more of a package thing so the price was up there. If you could find someone to take you there to fish for a couple hundred a day I'd be surprised. And interested, for that matter. We'll be down there for a week Feb 19th and I don't have any fishing planned right now, although if nothing else comes up I may rent a panga for the first time and go play around with some bottom species. I know they do pretty well on red snapper and such, I'm just more of a big fish fan usually.

[Norsky]

Thanks for all the info. I'm actually leaving tomorrow morning for a week. It sounds like we'll just have to check around the El Cid marina area and see what we can find. I'm packing up a couple rods and tackle, hopefully enough to handle whatever we find. I'll let you know how we do, and any contacts I make down there. I've also found that the duck and deer hunting down there is great, rather expensive though (but the season is open right now!) I'll have to consult with the VP of finance at home about that one.

[traveler]

Cool. Have a blast and do check back and let us know how it went.

[Norsky]

Well I made it back from Mazatlan. The best part of the whole trip was the bass fishing on El Salto. I would highly recommend that to anyone. I found a guy down there, Javier Pena with i fish mexico (Contact US Regarding This Word) com and he was able to hook me up with the fishing on El Salto at Anglers Inn. The Lake is commissioned by the government and only 3 resorts have access to the lake I believe. The bass were unreal. My wife caught a 9.5, I had a couple up to the side of the boat that were that size but they spit the hook. The bottom fishing and deep sea fishing was slow because of the wind making the water murky. We did catch a bunch of Triggerfish which our hotel prepared for us, excellent eating. I'll defineately be back, only to fish El Salto again. One of the guys there caught a 13 pounder that day. That was a pig.

[harvey lee]

Its great that you got into some of the big bass.To bad that the billfish didnt bite as they are awesome.

[traveler]

Hey Norsky, thanks fo the report. A couple of questions; Did you do day trip(s) to El Salto? Cost? Sounds like you did one cruiser day and maybe one Panga? We leave in 2 weeks and I'm not much on bass, but if a day trip is resonable I'd maybe take my 13 yr old daughter up there, she'd love it (and so would I probably). Unless I hear some good reports, I probably won't do offshore this trip.

[Norsky]

Yes, we did just a one day trip to El Salto, they picked us up at 4 am at the hotel, brought us up there, ate breakfast there, fished, ate lunch, fished, at supper, drank, and went back to Mazatlan, about $300 per person. It was one of those things that seems really expensive, but the experience is one I'll never forget and it was worth every penny. They might give you a better deal for a father/daughter trip. Give Havier a call. For ocean fishing, I would highly recommend checking with some people to see how "green" and murky the water is. If it is murky, you probably won't catch much, if it has cleared, which it probably will, you'll do well. Some people go out there and bottom fish for red snapper and quit because their arms are literally too tired to pull in any more fish. It all depends on the location and whether or not the fish are feeding. We you go down there, if you do a timeshare presentation, then just say "no", you can get a really good deal on bottom fishing thru the Escualo fleet. We did a presentation at The Inn at Mazatlan, didn't buy anyting, got a free breakfast for the 4 of us, $300 (U.S. dollars) to use at their restaurant, 30% off of bottom fishing, and $52 in cab fare(to and from the airport). All for just 2 hours of our time (I can handle the high pressure sales-just say no). There is also a fair amount of shore fishing that can be done in the area for rooster-fish, they are really cool looking, and good to eat.

[catchin'whopper]

Norsky,

Thanks for the information on El Salto. I am doing a lot of research on going there for the day. I am staying at El Cid and dont want the name of the hotel to give the locals the idea we have a lot of money to spend: it's a time share that my buddies girlfriend is hooking us up with.

Anyway, i have done tons of online research, hoping to get a good idea of what to expect from the outfitters. i did see ifishmexico <dot> com and read their HSOforum... seemed somewhat reasonable. But the caveat is pretty much that some of these guides are bush league or the equipment can be pretty shoddy. Can you verify these questions?

- Boat that you were in and others seen through their outfit (condition, flat bottom, v-bottom, bass boats?)

- Trolling motor on boat to be used (bow mount/ transom?)

- Rods and reels decent/ functional?

- Lure selection adequate (should i anticipate bringing a small tackle box of my own bass lures?)

- General overall experience and comfort, food, etc...

Thanks so much, i know the 3 others i am trying to arrange this through are looking to have justification for the costs... Thanks!

-Jim

Email me if you want too, [email protected]

[Norsky]

The boats at El Salto were pretty decent. I'd much rather fish out of my Crestliner, but they weren't bad. It was basically a 16 ft bass boat with a casting deck in the front and the middle just has a wood floor. The boats were set up very simply with plenty of room for 2 people to fish. I believe all of the boats at Angler's Inn were very similar and most all just simply had transom mount trolling motors that the guide runs. The rods and reels were pretty good (shimano compre rods, abu garcia reels and others). When I go back I'll probably take more of my own gear that I'm more used to using. Definately need 20lb test for the bass there, and much larger baits than you would normally use. I would bring down some large green pumpkin or black with some blue type of plastic worms. The bass feed on the telapia which are kind of dark blue/black in color. I would also bring some large spinner baits that have those colors in them. The overall experience at Anglers Inn was amazing, the lodge, the staff, the food and drinks, it was worth every penny. They typically don't do one day trips there, most people that go there stay for 5 nights and 4 days of fishing and pay over $2000 just for that. It is very expensive, but if the weather is decent and the fish are biting, you'll catch the biggest bass of your life.