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Billy Chapman Jr.
Fisherman
Biographical Information
Billy Chapman Jr.
Few men have had a greater impact on the world of bass fishing than Billy Chapman Jr.
Today tens of thousands of bass fishermen have had the good fortune to sample the tremendous bass fishing now available in Mexico. Most who have, know that Chapman is the owner / operator of Anglers Inn Resorts on Lake El Salto and Lake Mateos.
What many fail to realize is that Chapman is also the man who led the way in providing the wondrous bass fishing now available in these and other Mexican lakes. And the record of this hard working and talented man has established, since he first went south of the border as a youngster years ago, deserves the attention of freshwater anglers all over the world.
It’s impossible to list all of Chapman’s accomplishments since he left the United States at age 12 to be reunited with his father, himself an outfitter and operator of a fishing lodge south of the border. It was Billy’s father---Billy Chapman, Sr.---who first introduced Florida Strain Largemouth bass into Mexican waters. Once he was reunited with his dad it wasn’t long before your Chapman started working as a guide. That was his first step. The second was to begin work as a booking agent when he was only 17. This energetic your man did his guiding in the wintertime and his booking for the following season in the warm months of the summer.
Mexican bass fishing is just one of the doors Chapman opened for the world’s anglers. He was still in his 20’s when he expanded his bookings to include fishing for the fantastic peacock bass and other freshwater species of the Amazon River and its tributaries in Venezuela. Within his first five years in the jungles he designed, engineered and personally constructed, the first two base lodges built in that untamed territory of the Amazon. They were “Campamento Camani” and “Manaka Lodge”.
Today Chapman still serves as an outfitter for anglers wanting to try their hand at Amazon angling. Few are more knowledgeable than he is where fishing in that part of the world is concerned. As good as his record was and is where Amazon fishing is concerned, it is what Chapman has done on the Mexican angling scene that has drawn unparalleled attention.
For starters, Chapman developed the Mobile Suite Concept. These compact and comfortable units made it possible for him to accommodate visiting anglers on a number of Mexican bass lakes. Chapman named his operation Anglers Inn Mobile Suites and if fishing became good on a new lake his whole operation could be moved and set up in a matter of days, complete with a Mobile Kitchen. In past years, he has flown the Anglers Inn banner on well-known Mexican bass lakes like Comedero, Huites, Baccarac, El Salto, Aguamilpa and Mateos.
It was when he began his Anglers Inn operation on Lake El Salto, a bass fishing paradise nestled in the Sierra Madres some 70 miles northeast of Mazatlan that really focused the world’s angling spotlight on Billy Chapman, Jr. Today the cuisine, accommodations and service provided at this beautiful resort have captured headlines and rave notices in countless publications ranging from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to the Robb Report, Bassmaster Magazine and Outdoor Life. If you watch televised fishing programs, you’ve undoubtedly seen shows that have featured one or another of Chapman’s operations. Every major television fishing show including shows from Japan has visited the El Salto Anglers Inn Lodge at one time or another.
Over the past decade, Lake El Salto has been named by many experienced anglers as the best bass lake the world has ever known. This didn’t come about by accident. That the lake can make this claim once again points to Billy Chapman Jr. as the man who made it possible. Working with commercial fishermen from aiding them financially, helping in the developing of fishery programs, introducing conservation measures and implementing programs like “Clothes for Bass” (donating clothes to them in return for taking care of the bass) has endeared Billy to the hearts of the locals and government, as well.
Lake El Salto was still new when Chapman opened his Anglers Inn there in 1989. Prior to the opening of his lodge Billy had arranged for the planting of Florida Strain Largemouth bass in El Salto. Saying that today those bass have grown and prospered doesn’t begin to tell the story. Consider what an expert angler named Les Melton, of West Virginia, did at El Salto a few years ago. In just six days Melton boated 27 bass of 10-pounds or more. Two of those 27 largemouths weighed in at 15-pounds apiece.
I wrote my first fishing column for a daily newspaper way back in 1946. Today, more than a half-century later, I’ve written thousands of newspaper, magazine and Internet fishing columns and features, the majority of them dealing with bass fishing. Never have I heard of a catch of really big bass in six days like that Melton made out of El Salto. And I’ve done enough checking to be completely satisfied that the record is not just another fish story.
Melton fantastic catch is just one of thousands of fishing experiences El Salto anglers have recorded. My friend Bruce Holt, who heads up the G.Loomis rod building operation in Woodland, Washington, has caught hundreds of bass over the years. But, Bruce will tell you he had never caught a largemouth of more than 10-pounds until he visited Lake El Salto. On his first trip there he caught four that topped that mark and the largest was 13-pounds!
Billy Chapman Jr. has every right to claim a sizeable share of credit for these and similar Lake El Salto catches. It was Billy, you see, who had the intelligence foresight and courage to introduce catch-and-release bass fishing in Mexico. Every one of those 27 monsters Les Melton put in his boat went back in the water. The same can be said for those caught by Bruce Holt and countless others who have taken the best bass of their life out of Lake El Salto.
Those fish were released back into the lake provide the fishing opportunities for generations. This is conservation at its highest! It’s just the opposite of what you might have seen had you made your first bass fishing trip to a Mexican lake before Chapman’s introduction of catch-and-release angling. If you visited some of the Mexican lakes as I did a few decades ago, you know what I’m talking about.
What you probably witnessed day after day were beautiful big bass being nailed up on a board to satisfy the egos of the anglers who caught them and the operator of the fishing operator who provided their accommodations. It was enough to turn your stomach. Billy Chapman Jr., knew that adage of not being able “to have your cake and eat it to” applied in spades to bass fishing. He introduced catch-and-release angling to Mexican waters and the rest in history.
Today there’s a second Anglers Inn Lodge, this one north of El Salto on Lake Mateos, that’s the talk of the bass fishing world. Mateos is twice as large as El Salto. It’s not yet producing bass of trophy size as regularly as El Salto, but where the numbers of fish is fantastic. Now he is in the process of doing everything at Lake Mateos that he did at El Salto to create another great fishery.
Chapman opened his brand new Anglers Inn Riverside Resort at Lake Mateos in November of 2007. Already anglers from all over the United States and Japan have been there. You can visit the Anglers Inn website to see what they’re saying about it. One of the first things you’ll note is how many anglers will tell you that Mateos is producing the fines surface fishing they’ve ever seen.
As I’ve endeavored to make clear from the beginning, that anglers are able to enjoy this tremendous fishing hasn’t come about by accident. Billy Chapman Jr. didn’t open his operation at Lake Mateos until he had fully tested its productivity.
Providing access, service, food and accommodations at great fishing location is one thing, and providing quality of all four is something else. I’ve had the good fortune to visit fishing lodges and operations in many locations around the world. The Anglers Inn operations are in a class by themselves. Don’t take my word for it; just ask someone who has been there. That’s undoubtedly why Chapman is justifiably proud of the fact 83 per cent of his customers are repeat Anglers Inn visitors.
And this still doesn’t tell the full story. Chapman has made a substantial contribution to the local Mexican economy because his projects create jobs and cottage industries as well as huge additional tourism revenue.
That’s about the size of it. The National Freshwater Fishing of Fame has inducted a number of lure makers who have done remarkable jobs of producing products that put bass in the boat. Billy Chapman Jr. has done an equally remarkable job of providing a place for anglers to use those products. Today his remarkable resorts do it all. Visiting anglers can, if they choose, enjoy a massage when they come in from a long day on the water. Their female companion might opt for a pedicure or manicure. They can also take advantage of special priced packages Anglers Inn provides for husbands and wives or for father and son combinations.
As I mentioned in my letter, I know you’re going to hear from others who feel as I do, that Chapman ranks at the very top of his profession. Those you hear from will have marveled at the expansive menu that is beyond compare, the beautiful accommodations and the unparalleled service provided by the Anglers Inn staff. Billy Chapman, Jr. has set the bar for the future.
As I said in the beginning, few men have had a greater impact on the world of bass fishing internationally than Billy Chapman Jr. I urge you to give serious consideration to this nomination for his induction into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
Sincerely,
Stan Fagerstrom
Few men have had a greater impact on the world of bass fishing than Billy Chapman Jr.
Today tens of thousands of bass fishermen have had the good fortune to sample the tremendous bass fishing now available in Mexico. Most who have, know that Chapman is the owner / operator of Anglers Inn Resorts on Lake El Salto and Lake Mateos.
What many fail to realize is that Chapman is also the man who led the way in providing the wondrous bass fishing now available in these and other Mexican lakes. And the record of this hard working and talented man has established, since he first went south of the border as a youngster years ago, deserves the attention of freshwater anglers all over the world.
It’s impossible to list all of Chapman’s accomplishments since he left the United States at age 12 to be reunited with his father, himself an outfitter and operator of a fishing lodge south of the border. It was Billy’s father---Billy Chapman, Sr.---who first introduced Florida Strain Largemouth bass into Mexican waters. Once he was reunited with his dad it wasn’t long before your Chapman started working as a guide. That was his first step. The second was to begin work as a booking agent when he was only 17. This energetic your man did his guiding in the wintertime and his booking for the following season in the warm months of the summer.
Mexican bass fishing is just one of the doors Chapman opened for the world’s anglers. He was still in his 20’s when he expanded his bookings to include fishing for the fantastic peacock bass and other freshwater species of the Amazon River and its tributaries in Venezuela. Within his first five years in the jungles he designed, engineered and personally constructed, the first two base lodges built in that untamed territory of the Amazon. They were “Campamento Camani” and “Manaka Lodge”.
Today Chapman still serves as an outfitter for anglers wanting to try their hand at Amazon angling. Few are more knowledgeable than he is where fishing in that part of the world is concerned. As good as his record was and is where Amazon fishing is concerned, it is what Chapman has done on the Mexican angling scene that has drawn unparalleled attention.
For starters, Chapman developed the Mobile Suite Concept. These compact and comfortable units made it possible for him to accommodate visiting anglers on a number of Mexican bass lakes. Chapman named his operation Anglers Inn Mobile Suites and if fishing became good on a new lake his whole operation could be moved and set up in a matter of days, complete with a Mobile Kitchen. In past years, he has flown the Anglers Inn banner on well-known Mexican bass lakes like Comedero, Huites, Baccarac, El Salto, Aguamilpa and Mateos.
It was when he began his Anglers Inn operation on Lake El Salto, a bass fishing paradise nestled in the Sierra Madres some 70 miles northeast of Mazatlan that really focused the world’s angling spotlight on Billy Chapman, Jr. Today the cuisine, accommodations and service provided at this beautiful resort have captured headlines and rave notices in countless publications ranging from the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times to the Robb Report, Bassmaster Magazine and Outdoor Life. If you watch televised fishing programs, you’ve undoubtedly seen shows that have featured one or another of Chapman’s operations. Every major television fishing show including shows from Japan has visited the El Salto Anglers Inn Lodge at one time or another.
Over the past decade, Lake El Salto has been named by many experienced anglers as the best bass lake the world has ever known. This didn’t come about by accident. That the lake can make this claim once again points to Billy Chapman Jr. as the man who made it possible. Working with commercial fishermen from aiding them financially, helping in the developing of fishery programs, introducing conservation measures and implementing programs like “Clothes for Bass” (donating clothes to them in return for taking care of the bass) has endeared Billy to the hearts of the locals and government, as well.
Lake El Salto was still new when Chapman opened his Anglers Inn there in 1989. Prior to the opening of his lodge Billy had arranged for the planting of Florida Strain Largemouth bass in El Salto. Saying that today those bass have grown and prospered doesn’t begin to tell the story. Consider what an expert angler named Les Melton, of West Virginia, did at El Salto a few years ago. In just six days Melton boated 27 bass of 10-pounds or more. Two of those 27 largemouths weighed in at 15-pounds apiece.
I wrote my first fishing column for a daily newspaper way back in 1946. Today, more than a half-century later, I’ve written thousands of newspaper, magazine and Internet fishing columns and features, the majority of them dealing with bass fishing. Never have I heard of a catch of really big bass in six days like that Melton made out of El Salto. And I’ve done enough checking to be completely satisfied that the record is not just another fish story.
Melton fantastic catch is just one of thousands of fishing experiences El Salto anglers have recorded. My friend Bruce Holt, who heads up the G.Loomis rod building operation in Woodland, Washington, has caught hundreds of bass over the years. But, Bruce will tell you he had never caught a largemouth of more than 10-pounds until he visited Lake El Salto. On his first trip there he caught four that topped that mark and the largest was 13-pounds!
Billy Chapman Jr. has every right to claim a sizeable share of credit for these and similar Lake El Salto catches. It was Billy, you see, who had the intelligence foresight and courage to introduce catch-and-release bass fishing in Mexico. Every one of those 27 monsters Les Melton put in his boat went back in the water. The same can be said for those caught by Bruce Holt and countless others who have taken the best bass of their life out of Lake El Salto.
Those fish were released back into the lake provide the fishing opportunities for generations. This is conservation at its highest! It’s just the opposite of what you might have seen had you made your first bass fishing trip to a Mexican lake before Chapman’s introduction of catch-and-release angling. If you visited some of the Mexican lakes as I did a few decades ago, you know what I’m talking about.
What you probably witnessed day after day were beautiful big bass being nailed up on a board to satisfy the egos of the anglers who caught them and the operator of the fishing operator who provided their accommodations. It was enough to turn your stomach. Billy Chapman Jr., knew that adage of not being able “to have your cake and eat it to” applied in spades to bass fishing. He introduced catch-and-release angling to Mexican waters and the rest in history.
Today there’s a second Anglers Inn Lodge, this one north of El Salto on Lake Mateos, that’s the talk of the bass fishing world. Mateos is twice as large as El Salto. It’s not yet producing bass of trophy size as regularly as El Salto, but where the numbers of fish is fantastic. Now he is in the process of doing everything at Lake Mateos that he did at El Salto to create another great fishery.
Chapman opened his brand new Anglers Inn Riverside Resort at Lake Mateos in November of 2007. Already anglers from all over the United States and Japan have been there. You can visit the Anglers Inn website to see what they’re saying about it. One of the first things you’ll note is how many anglers will tell you that Mateos is producing the fines surface fishing they’ve ever seen.
As I’ve endeavored to make clear from the beginning, that anglers are able to enjoy this tremendous fishing hasn’t come about by accident. Billy Chapman Jr. didn’t open his operation at Lake Mateos until he had fully tested its productivity.
Providing access, service, food and accommodations at great fishing location is one thing, and providing quality of all four is something else. I’ve had the good fortune to visit fishing lodges and operations in many locations around the world. The Anglers Inn operations are in a class by themselves. Don’t take my word for it; just ask someone who has been there. That’s undoubtedly why Chapman is justifiably proud of the fact 83 per cent of his customers are repeat Anglers Inn visitors.
And this still doesn’t tell the full story. Chapman has made a substantial contribution to the local Mexican economy because his projects create jobs and cottage industries as well as huge additional tourism revenue.
That’s about the size of it. The National Freshwater Fishing of Fame has inducted a number of lure makers who have done remarkable jobs of producing products that put bass in the boat. Billy Chapman Jr. has done an equally remarkable job of providing a place for anglers to use those products. Today his remarkable resorts do it all. Visiting anglers can, if they choose, enjoy a massage when they come in from a long day on the water. Their female companion might opt for a pedicure or manicure. They can also take advantage of special priced packages Anglers Inn provides for husbands and wives or for father and son combinations.
As I mentioned in my letter, I know you’re going to hear from others who feel as I do, that Chapman ranks at the very top of his profession. Those you hear from will have marveled at the expansive menu that is beyond compare, the beautiful accommodations and the unparalleled service provided by the Anglers Inn staff. Billy Chapman, Jr. has set the bar for the future.
As I said in the beginning, few men have had a greater impact on the world of bass fishing internationally than Billy Chapman Jr. I urge you to give serious consideration to this nomination for his induction into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.
Sincerely,
Stan Fagerstrom