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"Holy Cow!" My brother exclaimed from the back of the boat. I
turned to look back after hearing what sounded like a beaver tail
slapping the water, and saw him frantically reeling against his drag. His
rod was held high as he maneuvered what appeared to be a monstrous
largemouth bass through the clear water. Moments before, we were watching
a frog I was working, bobbing up and down through the flooded timber near
the water's edge. We were anxiously awaiting the anticipated blow up with
every pause or hop over a branch. While watching, my brother Keith had
cast his chug-bug out the back of the boat near an isolated bush. He
turned his attention toward the front of the boat to watch for the next
big bass to hit my frog, and then, BOOM! FISH ON!
A
few days before, I met my younger brother at the Phoenix
airport along with two other fishing buddies. I introduced him to Rodney
Hurst and Powell Rods Pro Roy Hawk. My brother had flown in from
Anchorage,
Alaska and was excited to spend some
time with me in Mexico
and soak up some sun. The destination Lake Comedero Lodge on the shores
of Lake Comedero,
about 90 miles outside of Mazatlan, Mexico.
We were going there to do one thing, catch big largemouth bass. Mexico
is known in the bass fishing world as the ultimate destination for
consistently big, largemouth bass.
The
flight into Mazatlan was stunning,
with the ocean on one side of the plane and the lush, jagged mountains on
the other. The new passport rule allowed us through customs without a
problem and I was excited to use the Spanish I hadn't spoken in years. A
nice gentleman from Ole` Tours
was there to greet us at the airport, and we loaded up our gear into a
new van and headed out. Mazatlan
is a large city with many tourists and resorts along its white, sandy
beaches. The drive out of Mazatlan
reminded us all of the humble way in which many live in Mexico.
We stopped a couple of times along the way in some of the smaller
communities to let the local farm animals move off the road or to buy
bread and candies from children. The driver from Ole' Tours
was very pleasant and the van was stocked with an ice cooler full of
drinks and water to keep us fresh.
As
we approached our destination, the reservoir could occasionally be
seen between the peaks and hills of the lush tropical mountains. The sun
was setting and the water was sparkling like a diamond in a coal
deposit. One of the lodge residents met us at the gate and helped us
unload all our gear from the van. I noticed right away that the
accommodations at the lodge were clean, safe, and tidy with a classic
Sante Fe look to them. You could tell this was a labor of love for the
owners, James and Debbie Luebker. We quickly put our gear in the clean
and spacious rooms, knowing that an exceptional steak dinner was on the
table in the clubhouse. I was so caught up in the image and smell of
dinner I smacked the rim of my hat into the closed sliding glass door
when approaching! Thankfully, it kept me from completely walking into it.
The dinner was so good that it would have been worth the embarrassment!
Morning couldn't come soon enough, and at 5:30 a.m. we answered the chow bell with a
breakfast spread that would rival a Las Vegas
buffet. Debbie had been up since 4 a.m.
to prepare eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, hash browns, pancakes, waffles,
oatmeal, fruit, milk, coffee, juice, etc. As a few of us were eating
breakfast, one of our group approached and was so excited to get going he
walked right into the sliding glass door. We choked back laughter much to
his embarrassment, and I had smiled remembering what had happened to me
the night before. Needless to say, a piece of paper was taped to the
ultra clean glass door to prevent further mishaps.
After breakfast the four of us met our guides, Chapo, and Chayo, who led
us down to our boats. The boats we fished out of were true bass boats,
with a spacious platform and a trolling motor on the front that made a
big difference compared to most guide services in Mexico.
Each boat had a cooler that was stocked twice a day with two kinds of
beer, bottled water and several different types of juice.
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