Mateos in Sinaloa, Mexico For Fishing & Camping

Fish Species

• Largemouth Bass

Lake Mateos is the nineth largest freshwater lake in Mexico at 55,000 acres and up to 230 feet in depth. It is also a lake reborn. At one time it was regarded as one of Mexico’s best bass fishing lakes. The bass fishing there was red hot in the early 1990s. Then in 1994 the lake was almost drained to meet the demands of local agriculture. But that situation has changed and now Lake Mateos is well on its way back to glory. The lake’s bass population has come back strong and fast. It’s not uncommon now for anglers to have 100 fish days at Lake Mateos and some of those Florida strain largemouth may top 10 pounds or more.

Mateos is an hour’s drive from Culiacan in Sinaloa state and about 45 minutes from the Culican airport on paved road. It’s about two hours from renowned Lake El Salto, but anglers will find major differences. Instead of the partially submerged trees abundant at El Salto, Mateos has brush and trees along the shoreline edges. Open areas between these brush clumps provide wondrous bassing opportunities for everything from topwater baits to plastic worms. It’s filled with some of the most aggressive Florida strain bass in the world, stocked by Mexico’s federal freshwater fish hatchery which is situated below the dam and adds “new blood” to the lake regularly.