[Editor: this article first appeared on www.ronsfishingblog and may only be used by permission of Ron Speed]

Today we are going to talk about POOR OLE MEXICO. This just has not been Mexico’s best year. First came the travel advisory by the US State department which kept most Americans from travel to the resort areas. Now they have had the swine flu breakout in Mexico City and that is really hurting Mexico’s tourist business. Very understandable. So far we have been fortunate in our area of the lakes and Mazatlan and have not had any reported cases.

If you all remember a couple weeks ago I wrote in this blog how crazy and ridiculous the travel warning was for the whole country of Mexico. Well guess what our State Department in Washington said last week: “WE ARE NOT ADVISING PEOPLE NOT TO GO TO MEXICO,” says Heide Fulton, a State Department spokeswoman. She went on to say the only areas of concern are the cities along the border. That is exactly what I reported to you two weeks ago, but a lot of damage had already been done to the rest of the country. All the resort cities reported a 50% drop in reservations and travel all over the country is down by 50%.

This lack of credible information from the US State Department has dealt a terrible blow to the country of Mexico and it was so uncalled for as the only problem area was Juarez, and a couple other smaller border towns.

Mike Ackerman, a security expert and president of the highly-regarded Ackerman Group, says that tourists can safely travel to Mexico as long as they stay clear of the border cities. Also, the Mexican Tourist Board has launched a new site showing the trouble areas and it also has a video of Americans talking about their recent trips to Mexico. The site is mexico-update.com and I advise you all to pull it up and get the correct info on what is happening.

My brother Jere Speed lives in El Paso, across from Juarez and he told me a couple days ago that things were calming down in Juarez since the soldiers arrived. I feel like things will return to normal along the border as time goes by, so don’t fear about travel to Mexico because of the drug wars at the border.

HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FISHING AND WEAR THAT LIFE JACKET!

Today, lets talk about fishing in Spring, which is everyone’s favorite time to fish. The fish have been pretty dormant all winter, not eating very much as their metabolism is in hibernation mode. As the water temperature warms in Spring the fish move up into shallows to feed up and to spawn.

All fish are easier to catch during the Spring as they are very active and very hungry. The fish are also in shallow water where they are easier to find. The tip I can pass on to you is first to fish the warmest water you can find back into coves. You are looking for 60-plus degree water in these coves protected from the North wind. Therefore you need to find a cove that runs North & South and fish the coves on the North side of the lake. This will allow the warm south winds to blow into the cove and help warm the water.

Once you are in to the cove then put on a chartreuse 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz spinner bait and turn your troller on and just go down the bank line fishing fairly fast using a medium to fast retrieve. Once you catch a fish then stop and analyze where you are in the cove. You are trying to determine a pattern for the fish. If you are half way back in the cove then you might assume that all similar coves will hold fish starting halfway back.

Once you catch that first fish then slow down and start working your bait slower and covering all visible cover. One of the main reasons I like to spinner bait fish in the spring is that you can throw into heavy cover and not hang up as long as you keep the bait moving. DON’T BACKLASH or you will hang up big time. If you hook a bass in this heavy cover it’s important to keep his head up and the fish moving toward you. This requires your rod to be at least 1 o’clock to straight up and you leaning back with all the pressure you can put on the fish. The larger the fish the more pressure you must put on the fish.

This tactic works all the way from Lake El Salto in Mexico to your favorite lake near your home. The only difference in Comedero and El Salto lakes in Mexico and lakes here is that the water warms sooner in Mexico than here in the USA. That means the spawn is usually 1 month earlier in Mexico than the spawn in the Southern part of the US.

I hope this tip on spring fishing is of some help to you!