I ask, and fortunately the guys speak and write English, much better than I can do Spanish. Sure enough, it was Lake Vicente Guerrero, Mexico…. Back in the 1970's, it was the Bucket List lake that every bass fisherman had to visit.
Tommy (Tom) Green, from Sulphur Springs even wrote a book: "The Complete Guide to Vicente Guerrero". $3.95.
Which I can't seem to lay my hands on my copy at the moment. It told you everything you ever wanted to know about how to trailer your bass boat down into Mexico and catch 50, 75, even 100 largemouth bass a day.
Tom lived right across the road, now Houston St., from us. Our Dads were fishing and hunting buddies from as far back as I can remember. I think it was in 1974 that Mr. Green mentioned that he and Buddy Funderburk, and another guy were driving down to Mexico to fish Lake Guerrero. He ask If I wanted to follow along.
We left Sulphur Springs at 10:30 PM. Driving all night, we reached the border at McAllen around 9:00 AM. They switched drivers every time we filled up with gas. Two of them sleeping in the motor home and one driving. My wife and I, in a VW with a canoe on top, also took turns driving and sleeping… as much as you can sleep in a VW Bug… but we were much younger back then. It's a long way from North East Texas to Mexico.
Here we are getting ice in some little Mexican town on the way to the lake. That's Buddy Funderburk on the left, Mr. Green (Toms Dad) with his back to the camera. Remember when those jump suits were all in fashion? See my VW across the dusty street?
The lake was so new there weren't any "fishing camps" or marinas where you could stay. You just followed the old highway to where it ended when the lake filled with water. Launch your bass boat by backing down the highway into the lake and then parking your motor home or pitching beside the road.
In 4 days we never ventured more than a 1/4 mile from our "camp". You didn't have to, there were huge numbers of big bass stacked up in every submerged mesquite tree. You could just wade out a little on the old highway and cast to the trees and into the ditch. Buddy gave my wife a white spinnerbait... she caught so many fish it wore all the paint off the lure and I had to change the plastic skirt on it 3 times. You never just sat in the boat and let the lure dangle in the water... a bass would grab it. Yes, you could catch 100 bass a day.
Here is a picture of one mornings catch… Mr. Green, Buddy Funderburk, and I don't know the gentleman in the middle.
