Guererro Tales - The $20 Cigars

Chief@ShoalnReef.comwww.ShoalnReef.comFor more than a decade I organized fishing trip toLake Vicente Guerrero in Mexico. The lake is aboutfour hour’s drive south of Brownsville, Texas - which iswhere the group gathered. Our routine was set earlyon. I would collect the fishermen at the Airport andarrange for a van to take us to the Lake. Beforecrossing the border we made three stops. The firstwas at a local liquor store where we laid in a dozencases of beer - we were going to be on the lake foreight days and needed a reliable supply! The secondwas to a cigar store where I bought a couple of boxesof Wolfe Brothers Rum Soaked Crooks - a rather pedestrian smoke thathad one important characteristic. But more on that later. Our final stopwas at KFC to pick up a couple of buckets of fried chicken. The drive south was a great way to get the group settled in. Sure wecould have flown down - but the chicken, beer and stories of past tripsgot all the juices flowing and by the time we arrived at Alta Vista - thelodge that we always stayed at - each fisherman’s mind was full of thepromise of big largemouth bass - and lots of them.We always arrived at the late in the afternoon - just in time for gettingsettled in, have a few drinks and a good dinner and an then early bed. The latter was critical because the day began at Alta Vista around four-thirty AM!A knock on the door got us all out of the rack and headed for breakfast- a particularly hearty meal at Alta Vista. We then ambled down to thedocks and I paired up the fishermen - two to a boat - with the guidesand off we went through the early morning darkness.Guerrero is a 95,000 acre lake that was formed when they damned upa number of rivers. It is one of the very best bass fishing lakes inNorthern Mexico - indeed, one of the best there is. Our little fleet of boats headed out as the sun was just getting around to showing itself. The air was a bit chilly but with every indication that it was going to behot by mid-day.By seven or so we had our lines in the water and the first bass in theboats. By eight thirst started to set in and the first beer of the daytasted so good. Yep, that’s right - first beer by eight in the morning.