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Here's the note I received from Dan shortly after we returned from Trophy Bass Lodge and Lake Huites last June:

" For years the late Wild Bill Skinner had advised my fishing partner and I to come fish Huites in May or June. "The big bass school up and you can really catch them", he said.

These words were repeated by David Fields and Head Guide Louis as Gary Clark and I fished early in the last season. Why should an angler who has suffered through a tough Illinois winter and finally now had some good open water fishing go to a place we anticipated would be hot we wondered?

 But Gary, I and our mutual friends set a date to give the lake and Trophy Bass Lodge a shot in late May. As the date approached we heard reports that the lake was down 60 feet and it was difficult to locate quality fish in any numbers. Wow was a trip this late in the season going to be a bust?

 Anticipating the fish would be in a summer pattern recalled an episode on the Ultimate Match Fishing television show. Host Joe Thomas and viewers were blown away as Kelly Jordan would wait till near the end of the contest to pull up on a deep underwater river ledge to cast a large spoon and pull in lunker after lunker on every cast.

 Several of the large Lake Fork spoons Kelly had used were purchased and helped to push the weight of my tackle box up. As owner of the Historical Fishing Display™ and a 'Lureaholic' it wasn't unusual to have to pay the airline extra for over- weight luggage. Time after time though, specific lures have made a big difference on a trip. Anticipation of these journeys and packing for them also add so much to the actual experiences, so I paid the extra without a second thought.

 Arriving at Trophy Bass Lodge I was pleased to find the evening temperatures very tolerable. The new loose fit Under Armor long sleeved shirts were a help but donning rain gear for warmth on early morning take offs made them briskly comfortable. My fishing partner was a late cancel due to his mother's illness so the first day I was partnered with a man on his first trip to this lake. That morning we caught a great number of fish on top water lures and my partner was ecstatic with more bass action than he had ever enjoyed.

However I was after "lunkers" and numbers didn't mean much to me. David Fields saw us late in the morning and waved us over to an underwater island where we did catch some nice fish.

After lunch guide Chalo and I went out and I said it's time to go deep for the big-un's. As Buck Perry, the father of structure fishing used to say. "When they're biting where are they caught? Then go out and find the deep structure where they live."

 Chalo and I proceeded from the underwater island out to the main river channel and the locator lit up with fish from 20 to 60 feet. Many were suspended but a number of them were near the bottom positioned as biters.

I cast the spoon, let it fall to the ledge, lifted it sharply and let it flutter down like a dying shad. Bam...it was game on… Big bass after Big bass! The afternoon winds blew us off the ledge and we had nothing to mark it with but we were high as a kite that we were on a winning pattern. The next day we were equipped with homemade markers from water bottles, old braided line and small sections of conduit for weights.

 Each morning our group switched guides and it was a pleasure to go with each one to his different favorite areas then to expand by finding the ledges. The spoon was the best way to find the fish, but a 5/8 ounce jig with a Zoom Ultra Vibe trailer would mop them up to as would a hard bodied swim jig with the Tsunami's leading the charge there. There were bass up to 25 inches in big numbers with fish after fish on consecutive casts. It doesn't get any better than this.

 Talking with Kelly Jordan, following this trip, I asked if he had a video on spoon fishing. He directed me to Bass Pro Shops' Classic Patterns Collectors' Edition Series 2 titled: Kelly Jordan CLASSIC PATTERNS for deep bass. The primary lure he used is a swim bait but the spoon works as well or better he said. I can't recommend this DVD highly enough. Too often we anglers concentrate on the equipment when knowledge is the key.  

Watching this DVD brings back May memories as the multiple hits on so many casts and huge sizes of fish… finding, marking and staying on structure is exactly the way it was for us on this trip. The only difference, we caught a lot more big bass on the fabulous Lake Huites!"

This truly was a "Text Book Perfect" trip for those of us that enjoy the challenge deep water structure fishing. A set of marker buoys; a good depth finder; a Lake Fork casting/jigging spoon, a Tsunami swim bait or a 12" YUM PaddleTail worm along with a couple gallons of cold bottled water and as Dan says, "It was game on!"

I know most folks make their trek "South of the Border" to catch the giants of these Mexican waters. But I must say that when everything lines up just right and the 5 - 9 pounders start schooling on structure in May and June each year, there is just something incredibly awesome about spending a few hours catching fish after fish of this size.

Maybe you like to pull the trigger in the States during the fall…perhaps April - June fits your schedule better but you've worried that it's "too hot" in Mexico or that the fishing is "tough". I've consistently said, " the hotter the weather…the hotter the fishing." It proves true year after year…post spawn equals Big Bass on structure and it can be "Text Book Perfect."

- David Fields, Outfitter