Butch Cooley Worldwide Hunting and Fishing

About 90 miles east of Hermosillo, Mexico is the largest lake in the State of Sonora.  And it's just full of 3 to 5 lb largemouth bass!!  There is nothing to catching 250 + fish a day.  And the Lake has many fish running between 10 to 14 lb caught daily.  Well, they are hooked daily, not all of them make it to the boat!!

Steve Ward, Ward's Outfitters with a 5lb+ Lake Novillo largemouth.

Airline service to Hermosillo, Mexico is available via  all major airlines from the USA.  Once in Hermosillo, it's an hour and a half drive to the Lake.  Steve Ward, owner and operator of Ward's Outiftters has been offering hunting trips for years into Mexico.  Starting in 2009, he will be offering fishing trips to Sonora, and Lake Novillo is one of those trips avaiable.  You can contact him directly at http://wardsoutfitters.com .

Steve sent me these photos from a recent trip with clients to Lake Novillo and they did really well.  But they did loose a number of larger bass.  They were being "sportsmen" and fishing with 12 lb test mono.  But they lost a number of really nice bass, over 10 lbs and as large are 14 to 15 lbs.  Most were lost on the initial strike to parted line.  I recommend a minimum of 20 lb test line for Mexican largemouths.  

They will be offering 4 day inclusive trips (not including airfare) for $1000 for 4 days with a minimum of 4 fishermen.  Think about it, 250 fish a day, 4 days, that figures out to $1 a hook up!!  There are few places in the world where you can get that kind of action.  

This 22 lb Blue Cat was caught  fishing for largemouth bass. A pretty nice bonus!!!

Steve with a typical Lake Novillo largemouth

2007 Hunting Season

West Kansas Pheasants:

Once again, I had the privilege of hunting with Phil Mann and son, Brack, at Phil’s farm in Quinter, Kansas.  My time was limited to only three days, but those days were very productive.  This trip I was joined by my friends and business partners, Chris Butz and Carol Rathbun.  Carol is a non-hunter, but came along for some rest and relaxation.  Chris is not new to hunting, but definitely new to upland bird hunting.  So we will call this his first pheasant hunt.

 Chris with a few nice roosters taken one morning in Kansas

We were greeted with very unseasonably warm temperatures the first day.  It actually hit 83F by noon.  It just didn’t seem right, hunting quail and pheasants in t-shirts, and certainly it was not fair to the dogs.  So we packed the first day in kind of early.  We did get into a good bunch of chukars, and put a few of those in the meat locker. 

The remainder of the hunt it was more typical Kansas weather.  19F, 30 mph winds, and spitting snow.  That was more like it!!  We hunted labs and Brits and they performed really well.  But when it’s that kind of windy, pheasants just don’t hold well.  So we had a lot of what I will best describe as long shots.  Once these birds turn on the down wind, they are long gone.  So we put a lot of lead in the air that did little more than punch holes in the sky.  But we did get birds up, lots of them.  We headed home just before the serious snows started to fall, and we had 43 roosters, quail and chukars.  Words are cheap, and pictures tell the story. 

 Chris taking his first rooster.  

Chris Butz did really well on his first bird hunt.  He took his first chukar with the first shot, and he kept his averages up high on these birds the rest of the day.  He didn’t fair quite as well with the roosters, but they were really tough, even for the guys who had been shooting them all their lives.  But of course, he made the impossible shots that no one else would even attempt.  Such is the luck of the novice sometimes.  If you are in need of a great place for pheasants and other upland birds, contact Phil Mann at http://fantasyflyers.com  as he can certainly set you up for some good shooting.  The farm is just about a 4 hour drive, east of Denver, easy to get to, and certainly well worth the effort.  He has a most comfortable “bunk house” and rates are more than reasonable.  And Phil has nothing but good dogs.  The hunt Brits and Labs here, and both do equally well, depending on your preference. 

 First morning out, and 3 nice chukars.

 Rough estimate by F&G was 180 for this guy.