North 40 Hosted Trip: World's Best Bass Fishing - Lake Picachos - Day 3
Picachos Dia Tres
Knock, knock. It’s 5:15… coffee… tasty breakfast… run to the room… finalize prep… hit the boat.
Session 4
The morning was perfect, and John and I were in the boat and venturing forth well before sunrise. We went deep up a canyon and began working what appeared to be ideal popper water. We cast and cast but had no takers before the sun came up. I was concerned that the banana curse was still with me.
What banana curse? You’ll want to read this.
John did not say anything, but I knew he was wondering what the heck was up. If things did not improve by lunch, I would have to talk to José and see if he could find me a priest from the village willing to perform an exorcism! It certainly was not fair to be affecting John with the curse that Dan had clearly manifested around me.
Missed Dia Dos? Catch up here.
Our guide Oscar moved us back up to the main lake and began working us along a woody shoreline. I did not want to abandon the popper until I got a fish or two on top, but I added a twisty fly dropper to see if I could get something going. Moments later, a huge bass exploded on my popper and I missed him. Probably because the dropper leader blocked the hook. I shook it off, made another cast, and was soon into a solid bass that ate the dropper.
Suddenly, John and I began to see individual fish moving bait in shallow water and occasionally boiling in deeper water. If we spotted movement and delivered a fly nearby, we were rewarded with an aggressive eat.
The best thing about having a bit of a dry spell is you really appreciate it when you dial the bite back on. For the remainder of the morning, we steadily hooked fish. I felt that the popper was drawing attention to my subsurface fly and increasing my bites, so I kept flinging the dual set up. I was still getting some explosive eats on the popper, even under a blazing sun. When fish eat the popper during the day, they are generally coming up from deeper water. Their momentum sometimes blows the popper out of the water. Even when I’d miss those eats, I’m thrilled by the strike. John was steadily hooking fish on the black Jawbreaker and I was getting eats on top and bottom. Maybe the curse was finally broken.
The last bank we worked before lunch was money. The fish seemed more aggressive and larger than at any other location I’d yet fished. John said he’d fished the same area the first day with Modesto and done really well. My last cast before lunch yielded my best fish yet and I was really excited to get back on the water later in the day.
Morning Debrief
Dan was fishing solo with Modesto and he crushed them, posting big numbers and landing ten fish that ranged from four to six pounds. Everyone else enjoyed a good morning and a few guys did well on poppers too. The primary flies when the sun got up were the black Jawbreaker and the Rainy’s Jiggy Worm. Everyone was running low on black Jawbreakers.
Looking for Rainy’s jiggy worm and more streamers? Check these out.
After lunch and during my siesta, I pulled out a black sharpie and attacked some of the many white Jawbreakers I’d brought. I also lashed on some fresh black tails to re-twisty some chewed up black ones. In addition to my flies, I brought along a kit containing a black and red sharpie, bobbin with thread, zap-a-gap, extra stick on eyes and several packages of Wapsi Fly Tails. Modification and fly repair are part of my ritual between every fishing session.
Need the best materials for the trip? Order online here.
Session 5
After lunch, we started working up the bank where we’d finished that morning. It was game on right from the start. I had switched to an intermediate line and my double twisty fly rig, while John was throwing a twisty fly on a 12-foot sink tip. We’d each landed several fish when we encountered a big tree blocking our progress. As Oscar moved around the tree, I made a perilous shot and managed to stick a pig between the branches. A few tense moments later, I had what, I assumed, would be the top fish of the trip to the boat. At that point, I really did not care about how many or how big the fish would continue to be. It’s funny what a big fish will do to your attitude. Clearly, the banana curse was finally broken!
Midway through the afternoon, we were approached by another boat. Seems the guide, Freddy, had a crankbait stuck in his pinky, and, word was out that I could remove a hook. I successfully removed the offending hook from Freddy’s pinky, but in so doing, buried another one in his thumb. Sorry, Freddy! I was not used to working with crankbaits and we had some communication issues with the extraction procedure. We managed to remove the lure from the second treble and I got that one out of his thumb on the second try. My assistant failed to hold Freddy’s finger properly on the first removal attempt, but Freddy was tough and after round three, he and his clients were able to get back to fishing.
I don’t know how many fish we ended up catching that afternoon, but it was a lot. Typically, I’m not a fish counter beyond about twenty. Counting too much clouds my brain. Most of the guides usually keep track, but I was perfectly happy that Oscar never let us know. Not only were we getting nice sized fish, but I was also getting some doubles. As the sun lowered, I went back to the popper dropper rig and had several more eats on the popper, including a popper dropper double. John was getting them on a little yellow popper he’d fished the day before with Modesto. It was lethal.
Tarde de Peces Grandes
There was a palpable buzz as everyone gathered for the nightly beverage, appetizer, and debrief. A great morning session had morphed into an epic big fish afternoon. I had not planned to make a big deal of my trophy bass, but I’d already heard that Mark had landed a bigger one. Amazing what can happen when we fish banana free. It turned out that everyone had caught a pile of fish and Steve was rumored to have landed a Grande. I heard of it first from Dan, so I ignored him and waited for Steve’s confirmation.
I shared my story with the crew before I asked Mark to share his triumph. Mark was fishing with Diablo when he hooked up but was unable to keep his bass from the branches of a tree. Apparently, Diablo was forced to submerge his upper half into the lake and prune through branches for the line. (I had an image in my mind of Diablo’s legs waving in the air as Mark held his belt in one hand and his fly rod in the other.) This went on for some time, but the 20-lb. FC held and eventually, Mark’s ten-pound bass was lifted from the water. Way to go guys!
Next, it was Steve’s turn. The best thing about Steve’s story was his account of how excited his guide Modesto was. It seems Modesto is the top dog and Oscar, Diablo, and Jr. are always trying to catch up. When I’d landed my fish, Oscar let the other guys know. When Mark landed his, the guide network lit up again. You can bet Modesto was chaffing. He is always the top boat. So, when Steve hooked up late in the day and Modesto saw what he was fighting, he got pretty excited. “Don’t lose him!” “Don’t lose him!” I guess it was touch and go as it generally is with true hogs, but they got him. Twelve pounds of glorious bass flesh. Turns out, it was the biggest fly caught bass on Modesto’s resume to date. Looks like Oscar, Diablo, and Jr. still have some catching up to do.
2 Sessions to Go...
How do you cap off a great day like this? You relish a fantastic meal followed by dessert if you can fit it in. You converse a bit and wander off to bed. Regardless of what the final day brings, you are enjoying the ride.