Blast from the past

Every once in a while I thought I would share some memories from my fishing in Mexico over the last 32 years..

These are some shots of me and a few friends (Ricardo Hopkins and Bill Ogelslauger) bass fishing the lake Cajon De Pena in the mid 80s.  Ricardo bought the bass and paid to have the fish transported from the Mexico City hatchery and then stocked in Cajon De Pena... We started fishing it a few years later.  Those were the best of times.. Tons of bass and no one but a few locals on the lake. Top water, plastic, flies, it was a super fishing lake, and it wasnt uncommon to have bass on the lines all day long.  These fish werent the monster Florida bass, but were nice fish up to 8 to 10 lbs..and were they great eating, not like the fish up north...  Thats Esmerelda with Bill... She adopted us and she and her husband  Domingo took care of camp while we fished.. We even left the boat and motor with them.  In The mid 90s Cajon de Pena changed forever, the bass club in Guadalajara found out about it and also the sport fisherman from Puerta Vallarta, so it got it crowded and the bass have thinned out.. It was something else to fish it in its glory days...Same goes with Commerdero, El Salto, Fuerte, and Bacarat.  It used to be a bit o the wild side back then, and roadside stickups were common, wonder what its like now?. The river flows into the ocean a few miles down from the dam and the snook fishing was incredible.. Huge snook in the river mouth up to 70 plus pounds.. Also Huge Caiman lurking up to 4 and 5 meters long.  What a life!  Loved every minute of it..  Ricardo is now gone as well as Esmeralda and Domingo..  Bill and I still stay in touch and hopefully we will hook up together for another fish someday...

IMG_1132