Hola Huites
By Larry Bozka

INALOA, MEXICO - The half-ounce Terminator spinnerbait smacks the surface amidst a thick, gnarly tangle of sunken mesquite limbs and begins a steady, wobbling descent. Every quiver of the tandem willowleaf blades, every "tick" of the brush and billowing flutter of the orange-and-green rubber skirt transmits like a short-range radio signal to the tip of the All Star spinnerbait rod.

Then, it stops.

I punch the barb home and a none-too-happy 4-pound largemouth bass erupts through the thorny treetop as if it's been fired from a sub-surface catapult. "Uh-oh. This isn't good, guys. A fish on my first cast. That's usually the kiss of death."

Wade Middleton looks back from the bow of the fiberglass Polar Kraft and smiles. "Don't worry," replies the lanky outfitter and bass pro. "You aren't the first fisherman who ever caught a bass on his first cast into this lake. And," he adds, "you won't be the last, either."

By the time Middleton, yours truly and Texas Fish & Game Publisher Roy Neves are done this beautiful mid-October morning, we have caught and released better than six dozen 2- to 5-pound largemouth bass. It is, Middleton tells me, just another decent day of fishing on Mexico's Lake Huites.