|
 Although
Terry Hollan is now considered to be one of the foremost authorities
regarding bass fishing in Mexico, his intense passion for
bass fishing was not spawned during his youth.
"Bass fishing was not an activity I was exposed to at
an early age," says the Amarillo, Texas resident and
founder of Reel Mexican Adventures, a company providing bass
fishing adventures to Mexico. "In fact, I was not introduced
to bass fishing until the late seventies or early eighties.
However, from the time I made my first cast, I knew I would
enjoy the challenge of the sport. The idea of enticing a predator
to want to attack something that is lifeless, something that
I had to make appear real, was very appealing to me. During
the first few trips, bass fishing seemed easy enough, almost
too easy, as I was primarily fishing out of the private stock
tanks around the Texas Panhandle. Since my personality requires
that I pursue everything at 100%, I soon lost focus of my
fishing pastime due to commitments with school, work and my
real estate endeavors. Obsessed with body building and physical
fitness, the idea of sitting in a float tube drinking beer
and waiting for the fish to bite lead to a diminishment in
my desire to continue the activity, at least as I was practicing
it."
"It was not until several years later, after a real
estate depression and a severe back injury that I felt the
need to test my angling skills again. This time, however,
the ease of stock tank fishing was no longer available. The
landowners had leased most all of the good ones out to hunting
or fishing clubs. So, off to the local boat dealer I went.
I figured, 'what the heck,' a bass boat with horsepower had
got to be the way to go. I tested my skills in every area
lake, sometimes traveling 150 miles one-way, three times a
week to fish the most productive waters I could find. My friends
and relatives insisted that I was a good angler. I often reflected
on those early days of bass fishing for me, a time when fishing
the private stock tanks yielded 40-50 quality bass without
breaking a sweat. Now relegated to fishing public waters,
a great day was 10 bass with three being keepers."
Not satisfied with facing the possibility of repeated 10
fish days and small bass, Hollan knew there had to be large
bodies of water that would yield results similar to those
stock tank lakes. His bass fishing career would change forever,
after good friend Mark Gill and his father recanted stories
of their bass fishing exploits in remote Mexican lakes for
more than 25 years.
"Mark's dad, Ed, was truly one of the first pioneers
to travel throughout Mexico before pavement was even a thought,"
says Hollan, President of X-TREME ANGLING, LLC, a Texas-based
company, managing international angling travel companies,
angling internet sites and a bass fishing enterprise in Mexico.
"Mark began telling me of the trips and catches that
he and his dad were experiencing in Mexico. Wow! Photos of
guys holding up 13 and 14-pound bass!"
Two weeks later, Hollan and Gill were on the road to Mexico,
towing high performance bass boats at breakneck speed in search
of this so-called bass fishing paradise. Two days later, they
arrived at Lake Baccarac.
"I must admit, I did have some doubt about the phenomenal
catches that Mark and Ed reported after each trip," reports
a skeptical Hollan. "However, after my first cast of
the day, while standing on a point, yielded an 8 pound 9 oz.
bass, I knew that their tales weren't exaggerated. By lunch
that day, a fellow angler caught two fish over 11 pounds.
My fishing partner a 9 pound 8 oz. fish."
From that point on, Hollan was enamored with Mexico, its
people and, of course, the bass fishing. He spent every waking
hour planning out his upcoming schedule to Mexico. Would it
be Guerrero? Maybe Baccarac? What about Novello or Mateos?
In several months, Hollan tested the waters at them all.
Hollan's passion for bass fishing in Mexico became contagious,
as many friends and acquaintances wanted to experience what
Hollan had found on his numerous angling forays "South
of the Border." In 1993, Hollan launched an angling travel
company - Reel Mexican Adventures. In the beginning, it served
only to pool funds together to make sure the expenses of his
many personal trips were split equally. Then he began booking
a few trips to Baccarac and those bookings allowed him to
fish for free.
"As my fledgling Mexico bass fishing booking agency
had started, I kept hearing tales of a new Mexican lake that
was being secretly stocked with Florida Strain bass,"
he points out. "So every time we passed by El Fuerte,
Mexico on our way to fish a lake, we stopped to check on progress
of this new lake, Huites, named after the town that was flooded
when the dam was closed. I told Mark Gill at that point that
it was time to think big. Let's get a concession on the new
lake, build a room or two and have a place for some of our
very best friends to come catch bass.
"The first thing I did was contact Mexico City's tourism
department. After several conversations through, an interpreter,
I picked up a few bits of useful information. But my most
productive conversation was when I called Ron Speed. Ron had
been doing business in Mexico for years at Guerrero, El Salto
and Commedero. Ron was very courteous and provided me with
all the information I needed to establish a lodge. Within
a week after our conversation, I was second only to Speed
himself to have a concession on the lake."
During his pre-lodge preparation in the town of El Fuerte,
Hollan befriended Jose "Pepe" Castello, who helped
him search for the right location on Lake Huites. The most
important thing he did was introduce Hollan to his future
partner - Rene Salazar - a talented young man, who was a guide
working for his parents who maintained a bass fishing operation
on a nearby lake.
"At the time of our first meeting, Rene was helping
another operator build a camp named Campo Buena Vista,"
Hollan reflected. "We received the plans for Camp Buena
Vista and it seemed adequate enough for such a remote location.
However, it wasn't until we entered into a business relationship
and starting sending customers to the camp that it became
apparent it was of inferior quality and mismanaged. The customers
that we worked so hard to get interested in this new Lake
Huites started to become a little testy with the facility.
That was about the time Ernest Walker, a friend and client,
came along and said, "This is a first-class lake and
it needs a first-class lodge."
Since Huites had been only open to American anglers for a
few months, Hollan knew he could establish a new lodge and
still be in the relative infancy of the boom that was to come
to Huites. He and Ernest Walker, another self-proclaimed bass
fanatic, knew that Huites had the potential to be perhaps
the best bass lake they had ever fished. They decided to build
their own lodge and named it Lake Huites Lodge.
Today, Lake Huites Lodge, is considered the "gold standard"
by which the other lodges are judged. And Terry Hollan has
continued his enthusiasm for bass fishing in Mexico.
|
