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

New Lake! New Lake! New Lake!

That’s right folks, we have ourselves a NEW BASS LAKE IN MEXICO! Lake Picachos has officially opened and is downright filthy with bass! Last May, our partner and general manager in Mexico, Carlos Lizarraga, contacted me to inform me that the new lake had opened. I then sent him to go check the lake and its fishing…feeling pretty confident the numbers would most likely be good but needed to know more about the size of bass. Carlos went to Picachos a week later and after returning, called to give his report. He informed me that he was only able to fish the lake for three hours one afternoon.

While he would have preferred to have fished longer, that’s all he really needed to be convinced that Picachos and the fishing was ready NOW! In three hours, Carlos boated 36 bass…mostly 2lbs – 4lbs but he did manage to land 7 bass from 7lbs – 9lbs! This was early June…very hot temperatures and also the hottest part of the day…from 1pm – 4pm. I then asked Carlos what lures he used to catch the bass? His response… “Everything in the tackle bag….spinnerbaits, crankbaits, Senkos, Lizards and one big one on Pop-R (topwater)” Naturally this news was fantastic and had me all kinds of giddy inside. However, I wanted to take a cautious approach and send him back to Picachos for more testing at a later date. Carlos returned to the lake August 31st and fished the entire afternoon or half a day, with his good friend “Pistolas.” Between the two of them, they landed 48 bass…again, mostly 2lbs – 4lbs but this time landed 12 bass over 7lbs with another 9 pounder being the largest! While on the lake that afternoon, a local bass boat approached them. The anglers in that boat told Carlos they had a big “lobina,” which is bass in Spanish, but didn’t have a scale to weigh the fish. Carlos weighed the bass and it tipped the scales at 12lbs even!!! After hearing this, I knew it was time for me to go see for myself…not that I questioned or doubted Carlos’ report but I just needed a good excuse to go get in on this fun!!!

I scheduled a trip to Picachos for the first week of November. There were four anglers including myself and Carlos. Tropical Storm “Sonja” had just hit the day before my arrival…dumping nearly 10” of rain on the region in 48 hours. This sent the lake on the rise…and it was already near full before the storm hit. I was fearful that this would have an adverse effect on our fishing BUT we were going fishing regardless! We started off the first morning using various topwater lures…from Pop-R’s to Chug Bugs to Zara Spooks to name a few. All drew numerous blow ups and FISH ON! Nothing very big, 4lbs was the largest, but it was fun nonetheless! In fact, there were literally acres and acres of bass schooling on top during our first 30 – 45 minutes of fishing. After the sun came up over the mountains, it was time to go subsurface. For this particular angler, that spells S-P-I-N-N-E-R-B-A-I-T! My favorite bass lure and nothing else is really even close! I had contacted my longtime friend and lure builder, Terry Oldham of Oldham Lures…and asked if he could build me some of his classic ¾ oz chartreuse / white skirt spinners with tandem blades…the big blade being a giant #7 gold willow leaf blade. Terry was a champ and got me all the spinnerbaits I would need for this quick checkout trip to the new lake.

Back to the fishing…no, I didn’t catch a bass on my first cast with Terry’s spinnerbait, nor did I catch one on my second cast…but on the third cast (?)…WAH-LAH! FISH ON! A fat 3.5lbs chunk! Hit like a 10 pounder! I couldn’t believe the brute strength of this short chunky 3 pounder! After about thirty minutes of spinnerbait action and approximately 20 bass in the boat, I decided it was time to do what I was there for and that was check the fishing with a variety of lures…even though it was very tough to lay down my favorite lure. I picked up another rod that had a 8” Magnum Zoom Lizard tied on…in less than 5 minutes, FISH ON! This one a nice 4.5 pounder! After about thirty minutes of THAT and approximately 10 fish, I couldn’t stand it anymore and went back to the greatness of the spinnerbait. For the next couple of hours, Carlos and I landed fish after fish after fish on those big spinnerbaits. Then about 10:30am, I hooked into one that was definitely not 4lbs or smaller. This fish was heavy…powerful…and was whipping my butt! After minutes of battling this fish around numerous standing trees as well as laydowns, I finally landed it…a beautiful 7 ¾ pound toad! I was on cloud nine! Just moments after a quick photo session and releasing the bass back to the water, Carlos hooked in to what appeared to be another big bass…his rod bent over double and line racing through and around numerous trees/laydowns…at that moment, the bass came out of the water like a missile! This fish was as wide as long…super thick! She threw that big head and his spinnerbait went flying! A moment of silence followed…Carlos eyes as big as mine! Of course we’ve all heard about “the one that got away” and how those fish seem to grow after being lost…so I won’t even try to guess or tell you the exact weight of this bass. The one thing I know for certain is that this giant bass was MUCH bigger than the 7 ¾ pounder I had just released. MUCH BIGGER!

We ended up fishing 1 ½ days on Picachos and saw all we needed to see. A gorgeous lake at the foothills of the Sierras, only 50 minutes north of Mazatlan and absolutely jammed full of bass of all sizes! Between two boats and four anglers, we landed right at 100 per boat (94 the first day with boat #1 and 107 bass with boat #2) on the first full day. The second day we only fished a half day and caught 42 bass with boat #1 and 38 bass with boat #2. Also in 1 ½ total days of fishing between the two boats, we managed to land 6 bass of 7+ pounds with my 7 ¾ lbs bass the largest, another 9 bass of 6+ pounds and 22 bass of 4 and 5 pounds. The rest ranged from 1 ¾ lbs – 3 ¾ lbs. All of this with the water level fast on the rise and not necessarily the most stable of water conditions. Still, it was more than enough to convince me that we have ourselves a fantastic new bass lake and one that will not just give our anglers lots of action but also a good chance at bigger fish too. There haven’t been many new lakes that have produced such catches when first opening as most need 5 years or longer to produce fish in excess of 7 lbs…not Picachos!

For those who have not been blessed or fortunate to fish new lakes in Mexico when they first opened, here’s your chance! I have been extremely blessed in my life in that my father, Ron Speed, Sr, one of the pioneers of this Mexico Sportfishing industry, took my older brother and me to famous Lake Guerrero in 1974…right after it opened. I was 10 years old at the time and that was my first experience of 100 bass per day. My father also brought me in to this business in 1987 to work for him…and Lake Comedero had just opened. Again, I was able to experience a great new lake. El Salto (1990) and Huites (1997) followed. Here I am again, 27 years after Comedero opening, finding myself all giddy inside over another fantastic new bass lake…PICACHOS!

So there you have it folks! We are now taking reservations to come enjoy the fantastic fishing that Picachos has to offer! We’re talking about a NEW lake that is filthy with bass of all sizes that will strike just about any lure, and is less than one hour from beautiful Mazatlan! Also, we are still enjoying the awesome fishing of Lake El Salto (approx. 50 minutes drive north of Picachos) and have plans to start offering COMBO packages in the future that will allow you to fish BOTH LAKES in the same trip!!!!

Remember the sooner you can fish these new lakes in Mexico after they open the better. Most, if not all these lakes are built for the primary purpose of irrigation. We never know from one year to the next how much rain we will receive and what the water levels will be. Right now we know the water level in Picachos could not be any better for fishing. It’s full!!!

Also, Know that with each passing year after these new lakes open, the fishing slowly declines due to “pressure.” Pressure from both Commercial and Sportfishing. Therefore it is imperative that you experience the great fishing a new lake like Picachos has to offer. Make plans as soon as possible……NOW!!!

Call us NOW to book your fishing trip of a lifetime! I want to tell you MORE about Picachos as well as some exciting news regarding El Salto! We have already started our fishing season at El Salto and early season reports are very, very good! The camp at El Salto is beautiful, new things added and …well….just call me and I’ll tell you all about it!

Good Fishin’
Ron Speed Jr.

1-800-722-0006