June 10th-12th ALLURE part owner Hill Dishman was back down for his first trip in a couple of months, once again with son Drake, and this time brother Jamie Dishman and good friend Chris Bean. First day out looking, not many boats fishing so time to cover some ground, we got into a sailfish right off the bat though carried on out the eastern edge of the pocket and then across. We raised 4 sails got 3 bites and released 2 on the eastern edge of the pocket before running a couple of miles into some spinner dolphin, a small group loaded with birds and for the last part of the day we slammed the yellow-fin tunas. With triple and quad hook-ups every pass within an hour and half we had boated 26 tunas with the first passes giving up some nice ones in the 30lb+ class.
Another triple hook-up on the tunas
We spent the last hour cleaning fish and live baiting around the spinners, surprisingly with little luck. We were hoping for a marlin bite around such great bird/bait/tuna activity and get Jamie Dishman into his fist marlin. Jamie has been coming down to Guatemala for about the last 10yrs and has experienced some incredible fishing with a few 50+ sailfish release days, plenty of mahi's and tunas and even though we had had a couple fo shots at blues in the past with him it was the big one that had eluded him. On Saturday we started on the inside this time working our way up the west side of the pocket, conditions were once again great with flat seas and beautiful blue water about 85'. Little going on inside so we pushed off-shore finding another group of spinners to the west. Once again, plenty of bait and YF tunas and also plenty of skipjack's, we bridled a couple up and fished around the group for a couple of hours hoping for the bite. Nothing going on so we did some tuna fishing boating 13 YF's, a bit smaller off this group though still some reasonable ones like this one for Drake....
We started trolling back in-shore as the tunas were taking us well off the western edge. At about 9NM off the edge we ran back to the drop-off and on the second tack raised the fish we were after. Jamie was the only one of the fishing crew on deck and the fish came in hot on the flat-line teaser, it was text-book stuff, Julio teased the fish in, Jamie dropped the mackerel into position, teaser cleared and a great bite followed. Jamie did everything right, smooth drop back and locked up to come tight to a feisty 150lb blue marlin. The fish had plenty of attitude and pulled hard everytime it got near the boat giving Jamie a good scrap and a sore back to boot on the 50lb stand-up....
On the leader
And boat-side.
Way to go Jamie, the first of many more I'm sure. About 15mins after the release we continued working the edge when a bonito tuna jumped behind our right bridge teaser about 7 feet in the air landing in front of the teaser, seconds later a huge hole and a blue of about 400lbs who had been hot on his tail. The fish dropped back on to our flat line teaser, came in hot and was in the perfect position to switch to the mackerel that Chris Bean had pitched. The teaser cleared though the fish ignored the bait and went straight for the left bridge teaser, we kept the teaser away and again had the bait in the perfect spot for the switch, though that was the end of that. Plenty of adrenaline flowing on deck after that display though as hot as the fish was it did not bite the bait.....
Enjoying cocktails on the ride in...
Sunday 12th hopes were high on getting into some marlin action after the end of day activity we had seen. Further to the west today, more spinners, plenty of logs and bait, we released 3 sails boated 9 mahi's to 20lbs and another 7 YF tunas without even really trying though no luck on the blues....Still an excellent trip for the guys with soft bags full of yellow-fin tuna and mahi-mahi to take home, great fishing and great weather all 3 days...
May 20th and 21st Alex Donalson threw his Bachelor Party with us at SAILFISH OASIS and 2 days of fishing with friends and uncle Drew Donalson, Bobby Woodard, Dr Joe Kenneson, Scott Asher, Patrick O'Fiel, Chris Mc Afee and Jason Rea
Alex Donalson with his first sail of the trip..
The fishing was good for the 2 days out there with plenty of mahi's boated and 43 sails released between the 2 boat as well as a blue that came up on the short teaser though did not bite. The guys had a blast here with great fishing and a great time at the SAILFISH OASIS to boot.
Enjoying drinks on the dock after another great day on the water...
May 13th and 14th Craig Johnson, Chief Tauzin, and Carl Oliver from Stallion Oilfield Services hosted Paul Dore, Brett Pennigton, Ken Broussaro, Dan Matthews, Clint Yeager and Andy West from Murphy Oil to 2 days of fishing on ALLURE and ADIOS and 3 nights at SAILFISH OASIS.
The guys had a great first up trip to Guatemala, we started the trip on ALLURE with a blue marlin sailfish double!! The group released 22 sailfish and boated plenty of mahi-mahi to take back home as well. It was good action with the last day out seeing good numbers of sails and some big mahi's.
This is what they had to say about their trip down to Guatemala:
Craig,
I wanted to again take the opportunity to thank you for this past weekend's trip down to Guatemala. It was enjoyed by all and I am pleased to have been party to it.
The hospitality afforded to us by yourself, Chief, Carl, Nick, Kiwi, and the entire staff down there made this trip one to remember!
I look forward to our future encounters as the comradery doesn't get much better!
With kindest personal regards,
Paul
PAUL A. DORE
General Manager, U.S. Onshore Subsurface
JR&Blaire, David&Christina, Erin&Corey
May 6th and 7th We welcomed Corey Survant back down here on his second trip back to Guatemala this season again with his wife Erin and this time good friends David and Christina Harris and JR and Blaire Turnbull. The sailfish bite was a little slow though we had a great teaser bite of a nice blue in the 400lb+ range the fish came back on the flat though did not switch to the pitch bait....soon after we raised another blue on the flat that did not stick around for long, on the sails we released 2 from 3 bites and late in the afternoon got on to a log that was absolutely loaded with as many mahi's as I have seen here. The crew had a blast breaking out the 12lb and 8lb tackle, we ended up with 56 mahi's to 25lbs in a catching frenzy for the last couple of hours of the day. Plenty of fillets to take home!! The next day out we raised 5 sails releasing 3 from 4 bites as well as Christina hooking into a blue of about 200lbs before it threw the hook.
From aft-fwd, Corey, David and JR with one of the sails....
Previous to this Anthony Blair and Billy Herbert were down with Todd Mucha and Chief Tauzin, kind of slow though the guys got into their first Pacific sails while down here and got into some good mahi action. While on the mahi´s we watched in awe as a 500lb blue chased and ate a 10lb mahi attached to Billy´s 20lb outfit...they enjoyed every bit of their stay here at the OASIS and aboard ALLURE.
Also way back in mid-April the Phillip Evans/ Will Cravens group was in
The father and son group got into some sails and plenty of mahi action, we also raised a couple of nice blues including one of around 450lbs plus
And some first up sails for the boys.
Right now we are still having for the most part settled weather during the days with some rain in the evenings to cool things off, still plenty of blue water out there and as with this time off year plenty of tunas, mahi's along with a good shot at a blue or 2 or 3 and sailfish are here year round. ALLURE is in the water till mid-late August before we pull her for yearly maintenance. If anyone is interested in coming down we normally have settled weather and good sail bite from early-mid July though August so get in touch and we can put it all together with some good deals available.
Sabrina and Steve Goodchild
March 25th-26th Steve Goodchild took the whole family down to Guatemala for his 55th birthday party. They spent a few days in Antigua before heading down to the coast and fishing with us on Allure
The Goodchild group with Steve and Sabrina, John G, Rahey Myers, Steven Labua, Chelsea and Pascal Spengeman, Amberly G and Schroder Baker and Philip Barker.
First day out we released 5 from 7 bites on the sails and ran into the beach early to try for rooster fish, we released one before heading back to the dock.
26th we started the day on the beach and released 2 roosters including this one for Steve that put up a good scrap pulling hard on the light stuff...
Rahey also got into one of about 15lbs before we headed off shore, a bit slow today with just 2 sailfish releases though a good time had by all.
March 28th-30th we welcomed new-comers to Guatemala George Papas, Bob Ryan, Joe Meyer and Paul De Ridder. Fishing out wide on the edge the guys fished well releasing 7 sails from 10 bites. 29th the request from the crew was for some meat to take hime to we looked off the edge for the spinner dolphin, we found them late in the morning and had a great time boating 17 yellowfin tunas. With enough tuna to take home for everyone we ran back to the edge and released 3 sails from 5 bites and raised a nice blue that crashed the short right teaser though we could not get the bite on the pitched mackerel. 30th we finished the trip as we started with 7 sails released from 10 bites including this big one for the last of the trip, one of a double header...
Paul De Ridder, Bob Ryan, George Papas and Joe Meyer all had a great time down here and are looking forward to returning next year.
April 1st-3rd Hill Dishman was back down with son Drake and good friends Drew Donalson and Dan Wheat. We fished an overnighter in a quest for a swordy. After running out to the edge we came upon the first of several groups of spinner dolphin for the day. We worked them catching small yellowfins...
Drew with a typical sized tuna.
Some big sailfish...
And a nice cow mahi for Drake Dishman...
We ended up trolling down to the west to get in some good water for a night time troll and drift attempt for swordies. The day ended with 20 tunas boated 6 sails from 8 bites and Drakes mahi and another finiky blue marlin that came up around a bunch of spinners though didn't do anything. Not much luck with the swords either with no bites for the night after this sunset..
The next day started slow though we got into some good action on the 3030W corner raising 21 sails and releasing 10 from 16 bites, we also missed the biggest bull mahi so far for the year getting the bite from a big 50lb+++er around another group of spinners. Sunday the 3rd went looking to the east with not too much going on out there coming in with 2 sails from 4 bites.
April 4th-5th for their first trip to Guatemala from Beaumont, Texas we fished father and son team Mark and Zachary Smith, Kenny Locke, Joe Louoi and Harold Bodeaux. You gotta tell it how it is and today was tough, we raised a blue marlin that sat under the pitched mackerel for a long time before swipping the bait with it's bill and then leaving. Soon after we raised a sailfish that did the same thing and that was our day, we headed in early. 5th we left out early heading out wide looking for the guys first sailfish, in the afternoon we got into some reasonable action and there were 5 firsts with everyone catching their first sailfish, 5 from 8 bites for the team....
April 8th and 9th Jack and Martin Pitts came in with Roy and Patti Hefley. Craig Johnson also came in with Steve Goodchild going out wide on ADIOS looking for tunas. A bit slow though we did get into some sail and mahi action with Martin trying his hand on the light stuff pitching 12lb test with success...
Roy went out on ADIOS with Craig and Steve the last day out in great conditions they went wide and found the spinners boating 9 tunas, releasing a couple of sails and getting a couple of marlin up in the spread as well.
They are already planning their next trip back here which pretty much says it all.....Great times in Guatemala!!
So far we have had a very good start to March '11 with some big bodies of fish moving through and good action for most of our clients. We have had our slowish days in between though that's fishing and for the most part the bite has been great. It is the busy time of year and they say a picture tells a thousand words so here is the last couple of weeks with few words and plenty of pictures.....
Cindy and Jamie Dishman, Joe and Jonni Broussard, Harvey (with Wilson) and Monique Steinhagen, Brenda and Burnice Wilson.
March 4th and 5th we fished the 4 couple group, a couple of Guatemalan old hands in Jamie and Harvey were showing the rest how it was done. Fishing was great, first day out we rasied 40 and had 34 bites!!
Brenda and Burnice Wilson.
Second day out started with a blue marlin crashing the right short teaser, we got the bite on the pitched mackerel though the hook did not find the spot. Further out we got in to the sails again and another great day with 42 sails in the spread, once again 34 bites for the day and 20 releases, add a few mahis and all was good.
March 9th had the Don Suderman group come through, a little slower today, we worked the middle of the pocket and released 6 out of 10 bites.
Claude Seago, Bobby Dean, Chief Tauzin, Mark Rogers and Judd Hansen.
THE HOST Chief Tauzin was back down with the above group this year for 11th and 12th of March. Day one started out with a tsunami warning going out to the Pacific Rim countries....Guatemela included. A late start then after monitoring what happened in Hawaii. Forget the tsunami, it was rough out there with a strong ENE wind making conditions a little tough. Sailfish for everyone though and plenty of mahi's too up to 25lbs.
March 14th and 15th we hosted the Thomas family from Orange Beach County for 2 days of fishing aboard ALLURE. It was their first time in Guatemala and they timed their trip well, flat seas for the most part and the bite was great...
Merrill, Pratt, Web, Carolyn and Dan Thomas with one of the 37 sailfish released for their trip. Their second day out was non-stop with 50 sails raised and 43 bites!! Throw in a few mahi's like this one for Web and all in all a great introduction to the fishery we have here.
They finished their trip with a day in the Spanish colonial city of Antigua and a day trip to Lake Atitlan and had this to say about their stay at SAILFISH OASIS and fishing aboard ALLURE...."Great people, food, accomodations and fishing, 37 sails in 2 days!"
If anyone is planning a trip down here in the future call and try to plan your trip around any dates that Chris Bean may have booked, you'll hit a good bite for sure....Chris was down for his third trip down here since early December and has struck it good now for his last 6 trips over the past couple of years. Chris came down this time with girlfriend Lori Preston for the 16th and 17th, they were joined by friends Kevin and Beth for their last day out. First day out and it wasn't long before Lori was fighting her first sailfish...
Chris got into a few sail releases before boating this nice mahi out of a triple hook-up, 2 sails and the mahi...
They both fished well with Chris' ratio being pretty darn good releasing 21 sails from 30 bites before switching to the fly, the afternoon bite slowed some though we did get 5 bites on the fly releasing 2. 51 sails raised today, incredible bite!!
On the 17th joined by Kevin Hanratty and Beth Tyler despite a slower day we released 10 on the bait before changing to the fly again in the afternoon, 2 on the fly including one for Lori, a great effort!
March 18th and 19th After a couple of days prior to fishing spent golfing at the incredible course La Reunion and checking out Antigua the next big couples group to come through were owners Hill and Donelle Dishman with good friends.......
Stefanie and Todd Mucha, Donelle and Hill Dishman, Melissa and Brad Kangieser, Becky and Tracy Stevens
A bit rough the first day out though we did some whale watching and caught a sailfish and a few mahi's before heading in early, the next day out after a leisurely 1030 start we fished across the pocket and released 5 from 7 bites, including a big girl of about 120lbs. A great trip had by all. "Great crew and hospitality, food is incredible, awesome lodge and boat" Todd Mucha.
March 20th through 22nd all the way from Nebraska we welcomed back old friends Doug Zingula and Hollis Perkins along with Doug's daughter Tanna Danch for her first trip to Guatemala. It has been a few years since we have fished Doug and Hollis though the guys picked up from where they left off missing few fish. The fishing got slow the last couple of days out though we made the most of our opportunities and Tanna got into a few firsts.....
Sailfish....
Big bull mahi...
And a 200+lb blue marlin release from the 2 we raised.
Good fishing Tanna and an enjoyable trip for the Nebraska crew. We look forward to seeing more of you in the years to come!!
Hollis, Tanna and Doug..
"My first trip deep sea fishing, absolutely amazing!! I can't wait to come back and do it again" Tanna Danch.
We are booked pretty solid through April though there is the odd opening and May dates are starting to sell. Get down to experience bill fishing at its best!!
Mark Langford with mate Marvin, Rihl Buckley and Gary Brooks with one of the sails for the trip.
February 11th and 12th we welcomed back Rihl Buckley, this time down with friends Mark Langford, Gary Brooks, David Gardner, Gill Cheesman and Ben Cravens. The sailfish bite was steady to good for the 2 days releasing 13 sailfish with plenty of big dorado in the mix as well as a 250lb+ blue marlin for Ben Cravens.
Feb 13th-14th the "Host" Chief Tauzin was back down with a super sized party group fishing on Allure and Cirlcle Hook, in 2 days of fishing the team of the leader himself, Chief Tauzin along with Clark Jordan, Brad Sawyer, Andre Fuecth, Brent Kirkham, Ashley Shneider, Elissa Kirkam and Bryson Goeres released 31 sailfish with both boats having blue marlin encounters, though no luck this time. Still a great time as always with again plenty of mahi's in the mix too.
February 19th-20th John Lindley was back in Guatemala this time with his wife Cherie, Tom Preston was also back and also with his wife Leslie, along with new-comers to Guatemala Curtis and Sandy Tegeler. Beautiful conditions first day out, though a long run to the fish of about 40nm to the western edge, worth it though with a good bite to sweat the guys hangover out from them....From the 33 sailfish raised the guys did well releasing 19 from 29 bites....Good effort! The ladies decided to spend the second day back at the lodge enjoying a lazy day around the pool, the guys had more hangovers to deal with after celebrating Curtis' 40th birthday and today a cold front came through making conditions a little tougher with 3-4ft seas.....ouch. The bite slowed some and the fish were far more finiky, coming into the spread though not switching to the baits as well, from the 17 sails raised they got 10 bites and released 4.
Tom amd Leslie Preston, Cherie and John Lindley, Curtis and Sandy Tegeler enjoying a few drinks around the poolside bar at SAILFISH OASIS.
TEAM BRAZIL....
February 23rd through 27th SAILFISH OASIS hosted the 16 strong group from Brazil, consisting of, from Rio de Janeiro father and sons Helio and Mateus Marques, Sandro and Joao Lahman, Ciba and Matheus Assad, Paulo and Guilherme Campos along with Antonio Piasi, Elaton Vasconelos, Renato and Michele Simone and Elias Auasis and from Sao Paulo Berel Zata, Marcelo Guerreiro and Thiago Pessoa. The guys were fishing the 4th Brazilian International Billfish Tournament organized by Henry Riggs Miller with 3 anglers per team fishing on 5 boats over 3 days. Fishing started out slowish on day one with most teams running out wide 40+NM. Team 2 of Paulo and Guilherme Campos and Elias Auasis took out the day with 7 releases. On day 2 we found the fish in close at about 15NM in the middle of the pocket, the bite was far better today with Team 1 of Berel Zata, Marcelo Guerreiro and Thiago Pessoa taking out the day with 15 sailfish released and 1 blue marlin. The last day the sails were thick out there, balling up baits along with the mahis there were also whales feeding on the huge bait balls. The last day out belonged to Sandro and Joao Lahman and Renato Simone releasing 18 sails to take out the tournament with 3800 pts, or 38 sailfish, the top individual honors went to Elton Vasconcelos with 1400pts, 11 sailfish and one blue marlin (300pts). A great tournament all round with a record number of releases since it's inception 3 years ago with 136 sailfish released and 4 blue marlin, throw in plenty of big mahi's to 35lb and it was a great tournament. They are planning 2 groups next year one from Sao Paulo and the originals from Rio to do seperate tournaments. All commented on the beautiful surroundings, nice rooms and great food here at the OASIS.
The fleet leaves out on day 2 of the tourny....
The fishing has continued to be great here in Guatemala, we have one weekend date available April 23rd and 24th with bookings pretty solid through March and April. May still has some weekends available as well, tradtionally a good month for the blues and sailfish so secure some dates before they go.
Feb 5th-7th.....On the 4th we hosted on ALLURE from Guatemala City Alejandro Matheu, Charles Palehol, Stefan Olivero and Christian Truist. With the local Club Nautico tournament series going on there were no shortage of boats fishing a pretty good bite about 17NM to the SW of the marina. Our crew were keen to mix it up and look at getting some fillets to take home so we went to the SE. Near the eastern edge of the pocket we raised a small blue marlin that did not stick around long enough to see our pitch bait. Soon after we fished a small group of spinner dolphin (porpoise) and caught a good sized yellow fin tuna from 2 bites. We worked back to the bottom east corner of the pocket and had a few sailfish bites before Christian got into a blue on the + side of 250lb's that put on a show and was good sport on the 30lb tackle....
Click on the photo.
From here on in we fished a log that was loaded with bait and the guys had a blast catching plenty of slammer mahi's. They boated 6 between 25lb-40lb and several in the 15-20lb bracket, they also released 6 from 8 bites on the sailfish. Along with the tuna and marlin a great day with plenty of meat to take home! The boats to the west of us had great sailfish action releasing up to 20 sails...ADIOS fished today also with Nicholas Dorian, Jean Louie Trombetta and Greg Baldwin of 3 Amigos fame from the Atlantic side and their South African guests, they also had a great day releasing plenty of sailfish and boating a couple of nice mahi.
Feb 6th and 7th. ALLURE co-owner Craig Johnson came down for a couple of days fishing with son Nicholas and good friend Steve Goodchild from Houston, Texas. The crew were keen for more of the same of the previous day so we went to the east once again despite the good sailfish bite for the fleet. We did get into some sail action early on and the guys were fishing pretty well not missing a beat, further to the east we did find alot of bird and bait activity and got into some mahi's to 15lb, we also raised a small blue though then things slowed down. The radio chatter was going off with the sailfish bite just 9NM away, it got to us (me) in the end and we ran a few miles before trolling into the area. A couple of double headers out of multiple raises made it worth the while and we ran back in to watch the Super Bowl with 14 sailfish releases from 16 bites (19 raised) and a few mahi's....
Feb 7th we were out on ADIOS, Craig's 38ft Jupiter and today we were determined to check out the east for marlin/mahi action and not let the radio influence our decision no matter how good the sailfish bite. It paid off as a call from Jason on Makaira in the afternoon had us on a small log loaded with bonito, mahi and the odd billfish on the inside eastern edge of the pocket in the deep water. We got into a couple of bonito in the 3-4lb range and put them out as livies and it wasn't long before Nick got into a nice blue of a solid 300lb, his first marlin release...
He did a great job on the rod and the fish put on a show for the video though I missed the best shots with my camera....After the release we were back in the hunt for bonito and back to slow trolling the birds/bait and it didn't take long before another great marlin bite though this time the hook didn't stick. From here on in we live baited the small bullet bonito boating 6 big mahi's to 35lbs+, add 5 sailfish from 7 bites from the morning session and it was another great day in Guatemala. Back to the west the sails were still snapping for the fleet with boats raising up to 31 sails, good fishing for everyone!
Craig, Nick and Steve enjoying cocktails at the end of a successful day in Guate.
Jan 28th-29th we fished Steve Lipari, Ron Gann, Brian Chaka, Joe Sgujlia, Alan Adami and Chif Tauzin aboard ALLURE. The sailfish bite was just a few of miles off the breakwall and pretty damn good! We put lines out at just 2.5NM out and had steady action with a pretty good afternoon bite. With a few novice blue water anglers on board they were keen to learn and were thrown in the deep end..... It's a bit of a technique and very different from inshore fishing which Steve, Brian, Joe and Ron were used to, getting aggressive bites just feet from the transom can be exciting stuff though it can sometimes be difficult to control the spool while dropping back.... backlashes and/or burnt thumbs/fingers, 'setting' the hook, can all result in missed shots. Either way this is the best place to learn with all the bites and opportunities you can get despite having 6 anglers on board!! A great day was had by the crew and they did learn a bunch, from the 38 sailfish raised we got 36 bites and released 17, not the best averages though it was a learning experience that showed through the next day...
One that didn't get away....Don Gann got it right on this one and plenty more.
29th the bite slowed somewhat for everyone out there, it was still all 3-4NM from the breakwall and today the guys took the lessons they'd learned from the previous day and fished really well, from 22 sails raised we got 12 releases from 19 bites. Good stuff, nice going and we hope to see you back here fishing like pros soon...
Host's Alan Adami and Chief Tauzin with Ron Gann, Steve Lipari, Joe Segujlia and Brian Chaka.
Jan 25th and 26th it was good to see another couples trip down here to Guatemala with Ali and Jay Survant, Erin and Corey Survant and Neely and Curt Besetny. After spending a great couple of nights in the Spanish Colonial city of Antigua just an hour from the coast the crew got in for 3 nights at SAILFISH OASIS and a couple of days fishing aboard ALLURE. It was a little slow with patchy water out wide and the sails scattered though we had the good time crew on board and that's what we all had.....
Neely with a nice mahi....
Erin with a BIG sail before release...
The good time crew with the last sail if the trip, L-R:Jay and Ali Survant, Neely and Curt Besetny, Erin and Corey Survant.....
.....and a sight for sore eyes on the ride home.....
2011 is shaping up to be a great year, plenty of slammer mahi's in the mix and the blues are hot on their tail, throw in great sailfish bites and this is the place to come. We have had and have coming a few big groups and the SAILFISH OASIS has had nothing but high praises from all, great food and great accommodations in a beautiful setting, what more could you want after a big day on the water....
Fishing has continued to be all in all very good here off the Pacific coast of Guatemala, we've had our slow days though that has lead to the fleet looking and ultimately finding new bodies of fish moving in. Things slowed down a little in the middle of the month though a run out to the west where some better water moved in uncovered large areas of birds, signaling sailfish balling up very small baits/minnows. Plenty of sailfish though very tough to get them to break off what they were feeding on and when they did, you had to have a bait back quickly and have a good touch at the 'drop back' to get a good hook-up. The fish turned on as the bait dried up though and the last week produced an excellent bite.....
Jan 7th-8th we fished from Houston, Texas, Mace Meeks along with his son 13 yr old Mason Meeks, his friend 12 yr old Michael Case and 3 generations of the Strake family, George Snr, George Jnr and George III. Our first morning out was a little 'sporty' with 4-5ft seas after a cold front blew through the Gulf, it didn't affect the fishing though. First fish of the day was an aggressive blue marlin of about 180-190lbs for Mace Meeks, a red hot teaser fish that crushed the pitch bait and proved tough especially in the conditions. Soon after releasing that fish we had another red-hot blue marlin on the other bridge teaser, we pitched the mackerel on the 50lb rod though pulled it in and pitched the ballyhoo on the 30lb after getting a good look at the fish. In the 120-130lb class it was great sport for George III on the 30lb tackle. 2 blue marlin releases before we'd even seen a sailfish....
Mace's blue of about 180lb.
We did get into some sailfish action as the day wore on though releasing 8 from 10 bites. The boys, Mason and Michael got into the action releasing sailfish and boating some big mahi-mahi.
Mace Meeks, George Strake, Mason and Michael.
Near the end of the day we live-baited small 'bullet' bonitos around a log getting into some XOS mahi's to near 40lbs, we also raised another big blue marlin that we didn't get a bite out of.
Father and son "Trey" and "G" Strake.
George Snr got into the action as well with both sailfish and big mahi mahi, a great first day on the water with 2 blues, 8 sailfish and 15 big mahi's!
8th proved better weather wise though a slower start to the day, we did find the same log we finished on the day before and spent the morning catching more big mahis to 35lb for the guys to take back to Houston. We did release one sail from 4 billfish bites before pulling lines in and heading back to the dock early.
Jan 14th-16th we welcomed for the first time to Guatemala the Musselman group of brother and sister John and Marian Mussleman, Scott King, Grady Moran and George Harvick II. First day proved a little slow till we found some activity out wide and got into some good fishing in the afternoon, they all could not put a foot wrong when we got into them as well releasing 7 sailfish from 7 bites and 2 from 3 mahis, big they were as well in the 30lb class.
Grady with a big bull.
15th we tried in the middle of the pocket, nice water though little activity. A few birds here and there and a couple of mahi's though not much else going on. We pushed out further and finally got into some sailfish, though all in all it was one of those days in Guatemala that happen occasionally, 2 from 3 bites.
16th we went looking out to the west and found reasonable water, as the day wore on we got into the sails balling up baits, we saw a bunch of fish today on the surface, cutting bait and tailing, below the picking shearwater birds you could spot sailfish balling up tiny baits. Great to see after yesterday all the life, it was hard to get the fish to come into the spread though we had good anglers on board and they made the most of their opportunities releasing 11 from 12 bites and boating a few good sized mahi's.
Marian, Grady, John, George and Scott with the last sail of the trip. They all had a great time here in Guatemala, enjoyed great fishing aboard ALLURE and were well taken care of at SAILFISH OASIS. They topped off the trip with a night at the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo in Antigua and we hope to see them back soon here in Guatemala.
Jan 17th-18th we welcomed back Bill Gouldin, this time with good friends and Guatemalan first timers Paul Engles, brothers Alan and Dale Campbell and Paul Reelmon. A little bit of a late start so they fished a little closer in where we finished the day before. A great start to the trip with 10 sails from 15 bites, also 2 blue marlin raised one of about 300lb they got a bite out of, though the fish got bill-wrapped, the other didn't bite, 6 small mahi's added to the days haul for lunch and dinner. The next day we pushed out a little wider and back into the fish balling baits, it was great action right through the day with 42 sailfish in the spread, 35 bites though some finiky fish saw the averages slip a little with 18 releases. 82 yr old Paul Engles has fished from the Virgin Islands to Panama to Hawaii and beyond and he said without a doubt it was the best fishing he had ever experienced! That says it all...
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Paul Reelmon, Paul Engles, Alan and Dale Campbell with Bill Gouldin and ALLURE mates.
We had a few days in here and the fishing stayed pretty good and got better with boats releasing up to 50 sails before the arrival of our next group....
Jan 21st-23rd we welcomed back friends with a couple of Guatemalan first timers, the old school of Brad Klein, Chris Bean, Mark Fertitta, Cheif Tauzin, John Lindley, Todd Mucha and ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman were joined by Casey McDermand and Robin ....... for their first billfish experience in Guate. The group fished aboard Adios, Allure and Circle Hook in teams of 3 rotating boats everyday. The day before had seen some pretty incredible action so our first day out started with great expectations. It wasn't as hot n heavy as the previous day though we all experienced great fishing with 40+ bites per boat. Circle Hook took the day out with some great action releasing 32 from 47 bites. From here on in the bite dropped off a little though all the boats had great fishing with 144 sailfish released by the 3 boats over 3 days of fishing .
L-R. Mark Fertitta, Brad Klein, Hill Dishman, Todd Mucha, Robin ......,Casey Mc Dermand, John Lindley, Chief Tauzin and Chris Bean toast to an awesome trip.
Incredible numbers with a fair amount of "sancochos" thrown in!! There were plenty of big dorado in the mix as well and the group enjoyed cocktails, great food and great times at Sailfish Oasis.
ALL GOOD IN GUATEMALA!!!
See you down here.
Donelle and Hill Dishman with Alicia and Capt Kevin Deerman watch the sun go down on another great day in Guatemala......
Everyone who came down had a great Holiday season here in Guatemala with good fishing, food and festivities all around. We hosted a HUGE New Year party at the SAILFISH OASIS which featured world famous (in Antigua) blues band the Blue Dawgs who kept things going by playing right through to the wee hours of the 1st day of 2011. Everyone had a great time. On ALLURE we fished every day from the 27th through to the 3rd, we started with the Relyea group from Houston, Texas:
Dec 27th & 28th Tim Relyea brought down daughters and keen fishermen all 'round Brooke and Morgan. A small cold front had passed through making conditions a little sloppy and the water temperature had also stayed low as from the last time we had fished before Christmas. We started to the east though with SST's a chilly (for Guatemala) 80.6' it was a little tough, Team Relyea made the most of their opportunities though, of the 4 sailfish raised they released 3 from 3 bites and caught several good mahi mahi. At the end of the day Tim did a great job on the 50lb stand-up gear releasing an aggressive blue marlin in the 300lb class that put up a great fight and went ballistic on the surface several times showing why these fish are considered the ultimate in sportfishing.
Brooke Relyea with one of many good sized mahi's for the trip
Morgan with her first Guatemalan sailfish.
Tim with Morgan and Brooke on the way in after releasing 300lb blue marlin.
A little slower today the 28th, we fished the bottom of the pocket where a few marlin were seen in better conditions, we worked hard and both Morgan and Brooke fished well releasing a sailfish each and boating several good mahi mahi. A great trip thoroughly enjoyed by the Relyea's who are looking forward to being back next year...
Dec 29th we ventured to the west with a local charter, the Castanada family joining us for the day aboard ALLURE. With blue and warmer water found to the west, it also showed an improvement in the fishing. The Castanada's fished well releasing 7 sails from 9 bites, 3 big 30lb+ mahi's from the 6 boated and a big blue marlin in the 400lb+ class raised the pulse levels for all on board. The big fish came up on the flat line teaser, we got a good bite on the mackerel pitch bait though unfortunately failed to come tight.....
Dec 30th Chief Tauzin and Amber Crockett flew down from Houston, Texas for a couple days of fishing and to enjoy the New Year festivities at the SAILFISH OASIS. We started back to the west with little success though we did find a good log which gave up 4 big 30lb+ mahi mahi from the 7 boated. We scouted a little too far to the west in the morning encountering green water, though after a move a little off-shore and to the east, we finally got into some blue water and billfish action releasing our first sailfish of the day at 1245. From there on in we had great action raising 14 sails, Chief and Amber fished well releasing 8 from 12 bites and this tough 250lb blue marlin all in the last 2 1/2 hours of the day....
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Hill and Donelle Dishman joined Chief and Amber today the last day of 2010 aboard ALLURE. Again, it was a little slow in the morning though we found the fish about 9NM east of the previous day and had some great action in the afternoon once again. 25 sailfish raised today with 14 releases from 22 bites, the majority of the sails being in the 100lb class. A great way to send off 2010 with ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman releasing the last billfish of the year....
Hill, Donelle, Amber and Chief pose with the last fish of 2010.
Jan 1st-3rd....What does a sportfishing captain do when he has time off?....He goes fishing.....Capt Kevin Deerman and wife Alicia joined Hill and Donelle for the first 3 days of 2011. It was a late start after the big party for the New Year, everyone was more than a little foggy though they did get on the water about mid-morning. The sailfish seemed a little hung-over as well with the bite slowing down from the previous days, still plenty of big mahi's around to keep the action steady and 4 sails from 8 bites in the short day.
Jan 2nd we started the day with a nice blue marlin in the 400lb range crashing the left bridge teaser, the fish teased in though did not bite the pitched mackerel well, it switched to the right teaser and then peeled off, a smaller blue marlin in the 200lb range came in and acted all finiky under the mackerel before committing to the bite, the circle hook did not find the corner of the jaw unfortunately this time. From here on in Kevin and Hill did not miss a fish going 5 for 5 on the sailfish and at the end of the day Hill had his first shot at a blue marlin for 2011, a great bite on the pitched mackerel ended with the first blue for ALLURE for the year, a feisty fish of around 200+lb's...
On the 3rd a small cold front pushed through making for a slight chop and the water quality had changed drastically over-night as well. The water was patchy at best with clean green to poor, dirty green in some areas. We started the day well though, a nice 400lb blue marlin came up on the left bridge teaser, the mackerel bait was pitched and after teasing the fish in we got a good bite. After coming tight the fish went for it tearing up the ocean with a series of incredible greyhounding jumps. Alicia was strapped into the 50lb stand-up gear and did a great job on this big fish....
The fish really did put on a show and Alicia showed some great skills releasing the big fish after a tough scrap. The rest of the day proved a little slow, though a move to the west found better water quality, catching several big mahis...
Alicia with one of the bigger mahi's
And we did get into some sailfish action with 7 bites although a little bit bad luck on the hook-up ratio had us scratching our heads until it was discovered someone had brought banana bread aboard...... All in all good fishing despite the tougher conditions with the patchy water out there. Things look to be coming together again out there right now with some better water coming in from the west and we are expecting the fishing to pick-up.
There are still a few openings on the ALLURE calendar although we are getting a few more inquiries coming through now that the Holiday season is over, secure a trip now to experience the finest bill-fishing in the world before it is too late. Remember the fishing is great here year round with the marlin bite normally heating up from April through October. We're looking forward to a great year here in Guatemala 2011 and hope you can join us to experience it!!
P.S....click on photos to see full shots.
The great fishing has continued here in Guatemala with everyone coming to fish with us here on ALLURE and ADIOS enjoying great sailfish action, plenty of dorado/mahi-mahi to keep the grill busy and a few marlin in the mix as well.....
Dec 12th Hill Dishman came down a day earlier than the rest of his group for a day on the fly, we got into the sails early though for the most part the sails were very difficult to tease in to the back of the boat, we raised 23 and managed to release 3 for the day. We managed 6 good bites on the fly and put a bait out later in the day which got a couple of bites.
Dec 13th and the rest of the crew came to join Hill for the next 3 days on the water. Celebrating successful finals from Alabama University were Brett Dishman, Doug Centeno, Matthew Ballard, Jeff Bissell, Chas Duvell, Ben Cravens, Allen King and Claiborne Morris Jnr along with his dad Claiborne Morris Snr. The group had a LARGE time down here at the SAILFISH OASIS LODGE and great action over the 3 days of fishing as well with 105 sails released!! As well as good billfish action the boats also got into some good sized mahi's including this beauty for Claiborne Morris....
There were a couple of marlin raised over the 3 days with the group and one missed on the first morning out on Circle Hook. This crew knew how to party both on the boat and back at the lodge with the bar at SAILFISH OASIS getting its first real workout for the season, they all had a great time and were looked after 1st class by manager Nick Poole back at the lodge....
Dec 17th Chris Bean and work mate Frank Oberle came down to celebrate a successful business year with a one day charter on ALLURE and 2 nights at SAILFISH OASIS. From Beaumont, Texas it's an easy jump down to Guatemala and Chris Bean brings the luck with him. He came last year for a one day trip having a great day with 22 releases and this year topped even that. We put lines out at 25NM SW from the marina and had great action from the outset, Frank released his first ever billfish just 4mins after putting lines in the water and action went on from there, great fishing in perfect conditions on the water the guys released 26 sails from 38 bites with a total of 49 sails raised for the day.....By early afternoon the guys decided to hit the poolside bar back at the lodge and we were back at the dock by 3.30.....incredible fishing which also included a nice sized mahi for fresh fillets for dinner.
Frank and Chris on the ride home.
Dec 19th and 20th from Houston, Texas we welcomed for their first trip down to Guatemala Denman Heard and his sons 16yr old Moody, fishing fanatic 14yr old Preston and Moody's good mate Cole Miller. The great bite a couple of days earlier had dropped off for the boats fishing the previous day so we rolled the dice to check out the eastern edge of the pocket. The decision proved to be a good one and we had some great action in the morning with several double headers as well as a sail/mahi double for Cole and Preston with Preston working hard on a tough bull mahi with excellent results....
At the end of the day we had a marlin come up on the bridge teaser slowly that got hot as we teased it in and resulted in a great bite on the pitched mackerel. Moody got himself strapped in the stand-up gear and released a nice blue in the 250lb range
Moody with about to release his first blue marlin.
A great introduction to Guatemala for the guys with 23 sailfish raised for the day and 11 releases from 16 bites throw in a few big mahi's and a blue marlin and to top it off.
The next day out there the water temperature dropped and so did the fishing, we worked the inside of the pocket today where the SST's were a little warmer and had good action releasing 8 sails from 12 bites and some big mahi's. A couple of big fish today with Cole Miller getting this nice one on board for a group shot of the boys.
Good fishing and good times in Guatemala. We have a few days in for Christmas before being back out there on the 27th. Dates are starting to fill up so secure your spot before it's too late...
We hope everyone out there has a great and safe Christmas, from the crew on ALLURE, Chris, Julio and Alex.
The good fishing has continued here in Guatemala this past week with good numbers of sails in the spread, as well as blue marlin and mahi's. On Monday 29th we welcomed back fishing with us on the fly Carl Lehner, this year he came with his daughter Jessica for 3 days on the long wand.
29th proved a little slow in the morning as we scouted out to the west on the flats looking for the fish, we did find a huge log loaded with bait and mahi mahi so had some fun catching enough for lunch and dinner, with all the bait on the log we tried a little live baiting for about 20mins with little luck. Pushing further off shore we got into some sail action in the afternoon, we raised 11 for the day teasing in 4 to the back of the boat and released 2 from 3 good bites late in the day. At least we knew where to start the next day......
Carl with his first of the trip
30th, with the current pushing east and offshore we ran about 8NM to the east of where we finished off, pushing off-shore we found a nice honey hole that gave us steady action through the day. As with the day before the fish were a little tough to tease all the way in, though the ones that did came in like freight trains and produced great bites on the fly. Jessica got in on the action today after a short lesson by Carl, she did well releasing 2 from 2 bites, the last fish of the day a nice one of around 100lbs+. All in all we raised 23 sails and released 3 from 6 good bites, there were a couple of bill swipes/poor bites as well. Mid afternoon we raised a nice blue of more than 400lbs, the fish teased all the way to the back of the boat and Carl cast the fly, a big fish to attempt on the fly though with fly fishing especially, it's all about the bite.....unfortunately we didn't get the bite on the fly though it did inhale the pitched mackerel. Soon after we raised another blue that came up on the long teaser though did not tease in. All in all a great day.
Dec 1st we stopped on a wad of birds working bonitos, just off the bait we raised a nice blue that pushed up on the long teaser though did not stick around. Trolling off-shore we soon raised another blue on the short bridge teaser, the fish stayed deep though and with Carl ready with the marlin fly we tried to tease it up, no luck, it stayed deep all lighten up, tail and pecks a neon blue, we pitched the mackerel and got a good bite, Carl got strapped into the stand-up gear and released the blue of around 250lbs.
A little slower on the sails today, though we did get some incredible fly and teaser bites from some super aggressive sails, we had a couple of shots at double headers and Jessica again fished well just missing one fish all day, Carl was 100%, from 10 sails raised we released 4 from 5 bites, Jessica again got into another great fish, this one even bigger than the previous day of around 120lbs.
Jessica's big fish takes to the air...
And after a tough scrap we got the big sail in for a photo before releasing it. Nice job Jessica, a helluva fish on the fly!!
At the end of the day we raised a hot 200lb blue marlin, the fish teased in well and Carl cast the marlin fly, the fish stayed under the fly circling it, though not committing and we could not get the bite despite our efforts, after long seconds we decided to pitch the mackerel bait and as soon as the mackerel hit the water we got an aggressive bite just feet off the transom, what a sight. A great way to finish off the trip for Carl and Jessica and we look forward to fishing them again in the near future!
Dec 2nd we hosted a wedding party from Canada and the US down from Antigua for the day. Chris Warus the groom had 5 of his buddies along, Tim Frederides, Howard Heppleman, Mike Conrad, David April and Andrew Kipfer for a morning of fishing before having to be back in Antigua for the wedding rehearsal in the afternoon. We had a great time, albeit short, the guys all got into fish releasing a handful of sails and boating a couple of nice mahi's
The team.
We also raised a blue marlin today, another fat one that swiped its bill at the bait though didn't eat.....
We got Chris back to Antigua in time for his rehearsal and met with them all after Chris and Terry's big day on the 3rd. Antigua did not fail to impress and they all raved about their off-shore experience as well...Guatemala is a great destination without a doubt.
Previous to this we had Chief and Johnny Tauzin and Jay Survant, Jay got some great images on his new camera including this beauty, a big mahi bull, lighten up in full flight...
Jay Survant with the results.....
The fishing is great out there with plenty of sails and a good mix of blues as well, the season is shaping up to be a cracker and we want to make the most of it....you should to. Get in touch with us to secure some dates and be there with us to experience billfishing at its best.
Things have got off to a great start here in Guatemala, the Joan Vernon organized Presidential Challenge series just rolled through with the 12 boat fleet releasing a record for the PCCA series, 676 sailfish, 7 blue marlin and 1 striped marlin in the 3 days of fishing. That there is incredible numbers and incredible fishing! The bite continued on since the tournament and by all accounts it is looking like a classic Guatemala season is underway. Here is the breakdown of the last 10 days...
Nov 22nd through 25th we fished from Houston, Texas Susan Hunt and Kosta Giannitsopoulus. On the 22nd we ran straight to an area marked the previous day on the run home where huge amounts of birds, shearwaters, had been seen working bait. We found them eventually, birds and bait balls everywhere out there though it was a frustrating start with fish not interested in breaking off the bait and the ones that did not switching to the baits. Things changed for the better in the afternoon with the fish turning on to the teasers and switching over to the pitched ballyhoo baits with aggressive bites. We finished the day with 36 sails raised, 29 bites and 17 releases, throw in 7 mahi-mahi to 25lbs and a great start for Kosta and Susan.
23rd we stopped about 10NM short of the previous day and soon found some bird activity after trying for some grouper first up. The fish turned on again in the afternoon, it was more of the same with large areas of birds working small bait balls, sails were cutting bait on every wad of birds/bait, the action covered a large area, it was an incredible sight....
Wherever the birds were working indicated sails balling and feeding on bait, a drive by marked huge wads of bait deeper down...
When working the birds more often than not we'd get covered up with doubles, triples and quads of sailfish tearing into the spread resulting in plenty of these.....
ANOTHER double for Kosta and Susan....
All in all and incredible day on the water with 63 sails raised, from over 50 bites Kosta and Susan released 28 and boated several good sized mahi. The averages were a little low though the fish were biting and dropping whenever pressure was felt so it was a little tough, though good practice.
Weds 24th while trolling into the area we had our first sail for the day hooked up on our right long trolled ballyhoo, while making the turn a nice blue showed up on the inside bridge teaser being cleared, we got the mackerel back though the fish wnet back and ate the left long on the 30lb test. Kosta got locked into the blue while Susan took care of the sail. The marlin peeled off a bunch of line and stayed deep, never jumping though pulling us steadily offshore. Hooking up at around 9.40 we released the big fish of around 400lbs++ at just after midday. A great effort by Kosta as this was one tough fish, pulling hard and staying deep despite pulling angles and putting as much heat as we could on the 30lb test.
No time to rest, after the release we were straight back in to the sail action, not the same as the day before though still a good steady afternoon with 25 sails raised, and 9 releases from 17 bites.
Thursday the 25th Susan stayed behind and enjoyed the pool and great facilities at Sailfish Oasis while Kosta came out for more catching. The day started identical to the previous, while making the turn on a sail hooked on the right long a blue marlin teased in all the way on the right bridge teaser, we got the mackerel back and got the bite though unfortunately missed the fish. A bit slower today though Kosta on fine form released 10 sails from 13 bites. 19 sailfish raised today and several good mahi-mahi boated. A great trip for susan and Kosta finished off with a couple of nights at the Casa Santa Domingo. While were out to the west pretty much by ourselves a few of the other boats went out to the east, checking out the area out there they came in with reports of large amounts of sails, 3 marlin bites between the 2 boats and large dorado to boot. It's looking good out there and we are looking forward to the next few days....
Nov 24th-28th we fished Hill and Jamie Dishman along with Chief Tauzin for a practice day and then the PCCA. First day of the tournament we were a few miles off the best action though still were well placed with 14 releases from 18 bites. Great fishing by the team missing very few fish, we raised a blue at the end of the day that crashed the teaser though didn't get the bite.
Second day out the guys released 18 from 30 bites, another blue came up in the flat line teaser and teased in though did not switch to the bait....frustrating stuff!!
3rd day of the tourny the guys fished well releasing 27 sails from 37 bites, good averages and a great tournament all round. Congratulations to Capt Haole, Chris Shedder and team Casa Vieja for there back to back PCCA victories.
Previous to the tournament we fished father and son team Chief and his dad Johnny Tauzin along with Jay Survant. We raised a couple of blue marlin, had one chew through the leader, released a few sailfish and caught a bunch of nice big mahi's...
The fishing is still good out there and we have the next few days on the fly, it is looking to be a great season and we are getting steady inquiries so be in quick, contact us now to secure your dates. The SAILFISH OASIS is newly refurbished and is the perfect place to enjoy your time off the water.
October has seen us come out of what they are calling the wettest rainy season in over 60 years, the last few weeks have been typical dry season days though so the change is finally upon us. Down working in the marina on ALLURE today and the radio was alive with marlin bites for the few boats that were fishing, by mid-day one boat had 5 blue marlin bites. So, with the fine weather boats are getting out and by all accounts we are looking forward to a great few months ahead of us on the back side of El Nino. We are still a week or so from getting ALLURE back in the water after some maintenance and chomping at the bit to get her back out and fishing!
We did fish ADIOS, the 38ft Jupiter a few times over the last month or so and with all the rain there were some excellent current lines to fish, holding bait, mahi-mahi, sailfish and marlin.....
Craig Kelly pitched ballyhoo into the current line on ultra light tackle with some greast results....
Craig Kelly came out all the way from New Zealand to Guatemala for a couple of days and managed to squeeze in a day of fishing right after a couple of days of heavy rain, we found a current line about 25NM out and the mahi bite was pretty much non-stop from there on in. Craig pulled out the light stuff and hooked into a couple of reasonable sized fish on weighted ballyhoo pitched below the current line, also pulling the hook the best mahi of the day of over 30lbs right next to the boat. We ended the day with over 20 mahi mahi boated from a bunch of bites, a small blue crashed the bridge teaser though refused the pitched mackerel and we missed a sail....a bit of bad luck with the bills though a load of fresh fillets for everyone.
Also joining us in September were father and son team Augosto and Rafael Coelho from Argentina. We found a current line a little less distinctive than the previous week though it held fish all the same, after finding an area with mahi's it wasn't long before the rigger bait got pulled out and Augosto was hooked into a nice blue marlin of around 200lbs on 30lb line....
Augosto puts the heat on his fish.
We stuck to the same area getting into a few more mahi mahi......
Augosto and Rafa with their future menu for the BBQ.
It wasn't too long after that another blue bigger then the first of around 250lbs+ crashed the bridge teaser, we got a great bite on the pitched mackerel right up on the first wave though failed to come tight. A sail at the end of the day for Augosto really put the icing on the cake and show his son Rafa a lesson or two in fishing.
Another half day later in the month with Thor Sheffield and Jeremy Scott produced plenty of mahi fillets for all on board just 12NM from the beach and another good day.
As mentioned we are looking forward to a good season that comes at the end of El Nino, traditionally producing big days on the sails and plenty of marlin action as well. We received this report from Nick Smith and Chip Shafer on Old Reliable based here in Guatemala that are right now fishing up in Mag Bay, Mexico for the stripe marlin bite that they fish for on the fly.....
Our first trip to Mag Bay turned out well. We took the 65 foot Bayliss to Baja and Chip set out searching with teasers on Oct 1 and 2. Only raised a few, covering several of the traditional areas. Saturday night he got a report from our fuel source at Puerto Magdalena that a boat saw a lot of stripes off Punta Tosca, the farthest South of the Mag area. He went there the next day and raised 23, so it was enough for me to head west.
I got into Cabo Monday afternoon and a driver took me to Puerto San Carlos, 5 ½ hours away. Got there at eleven pm and arrived at our anchorage after midnight. Next morning ran the thirty some miles to Tosca. Only 3 or 4 “lookers” until about 2 pm when we moved a few miles east. From 2 pm until 6 pm we raised 40 stripes and caught seven. It was looking good.
Next day, 10/6/10, we set a new fly record. Raised 63, had 21 bites, and released 16. Unreal! The rest of the trip stayed real good in that area. Totals for 5 days: 231 raised, 74 bites, 52 releases. That’s our best ever trip with the stripes.
No bait balls, only a little bird action, so it was hard to find and stay on the fish. Also, there were no other boats fishing so no coverage to help out. The fish were more aggressive than past years, giving us bites out of about 1/3 of our raises. That’s double our historical number.
All in all, a really great trip. Hopefully, it bodes well for an excellent season up there after a near wash out in 2009.
Nick"
We are starting to get more bookings and are looking forward to our first trip post ALLURE maintenance Nov 4th. SAILFISH OASIS LODGE is going through a minor refit and will be in top shape for groups of up to 20. Just 5 mins from the Marina Pez Vela it will be hard to beat in all aspects, coupled with ALLURE and ADIOS we are offering the best package in Guatemala. November and December fish well for sails and marlin with December being consistently consistent for big release days, secure some dates before it is too late and we look forward to fishing with you this coming season!
The SAILFISH OASIS, a great spot to unwind after a big day on the water...
After a small break it was great to get back on the water with a few regulars and a couple of new faces in the group of 8 down for 3 nights and 2 days of fishing aboard ALLURE and ADIOS. We welcomed back for their 4th visit to Guatemala John Codrington, Mike Sledge and Todd Mucha, they brought friends Jeff Jeffers and brothers John and Jim Catalano and then Guatemalan regular Chief Tauzin introduced client Tadd Busch to the fishery here.
Jim and John Catalano
The guys had a small side bet going so it was anglers hooking fish only with no mate assistance. Seeing it was first time for a few of the guys a bit of time was spent going over the finer details of bait and switch and the 'drop back' needed to hook these fish using circle hooks.....Day 1 on ALLURE we had the Catalano brothers fishing with John Codrington and Mike Sledge, about 25NM up the western side of the 'pocket' we started getting into a few fish, the water was clean green though it didn't seem to mind the fish, we raised 14 sails of which 12 bit the baits and they released 6, not too bad averages for the first day out. A big hole behind the right bridge teaser indicated a marlin, though the fish never touched or came back to the teaser... On ADIOS Jeff Jeffers and Tadd Busch were joined by the experienced Chief and Mucha, a back-lash here, a sancocho there and a bit of plane bad luck saw the team release 3 from 10 bites. A few dorado boated between the boats as well today.
The next day the teams switched boats, on ALLURE we went out wide looking for blue water and a good bite. Despite covering some area we never did get into blue water on the west side, we still managed to release 5 sails from 6 bites and boated 15 dorados. The guys on ADIOS also missed very few fish releasing 4 sailfish and boating 7 dorado.
One of the sails takes to the air....
A great weekend for the guys with some pretty good fishing and a great time at the SAILFISH OASIS. Previous to this the blue water had been right in and there were some great days on the sailfish and blue marlin, with a couple of blues raised a day and up to 30 sailfish raises it just proves that this is truly a year round fishery. On our last day out there was a strong SE current and indications are of some nice blue water being pushed in from the SE, and with it I'm sure a new batch of sails and marlin. We are hoping to get out there a few more times this month, the weather has been great on the water with a bit of cloud cover and flat seas. A bit of rain in the evenings cools things down and the days are dry so it is a perfect combination. We can offer some great deals right now so get in touch with us for a mid-summer get away fishing trip.....
The Thompson boys arrived in Guatemala May 25th for a couple of days fishing Guatemalan style, they ended up with more on their plates than just the fishing to think about though with Volcan Pacaya erupting and sending enough ash toward Guatemala City to close down the Airport, and then came Tropical Storm Agatha.........
Still it was all good for the crew from Beaumont, Texas. Skylar Thompson came down with son's David, Neil and Heath for a planned 2 day fishing excursion that turned into 3 days due to the unexpected eruption of Pacaya.
On the 26th we started fishing about 16NM from the Marina Pez Vela on the western side of the pocket and felt pretty lonely out there with just one other boat out that day. The day was overcast though no rain and a wind-swell over the top of a SW ground-swell making for a slightly confused sea though nothing too bad so fairly ideal conditions, not too hot and beautiful blue water. Working our way up the side of the pocket we found some fish about 21NM out and fished the area hard all day getting into a good steady bite. The guys did well for first time blue water fisherman and from the 17 sails raised that day they released 10 from 15 bites. A helluva start! Next day had the same sea conditions though there was a lot of rain off-shore, especially to the west where we fished the previous day. Seeing that we started to the east a little at the bottom of the pocket just 9NM off the break wall and after a short time we got into the mahimahi's pretty good, the bite lasted over an hour and the guys boated 25 mahimahi/dorado for the day. After the mahi fest we jumped a blue marlin of around 200+lbs, released 4 sails and then finished the day with a few more mahimahi.
On the way in that afternoon the Volcanoes were clear apart from Pacaya which had a huge dark, bulbous cloud hanging over it, we thought it was a thunder head......little did we know. After dinner that night we found out that Pacaya had blown big time and the Airport had been closed. With a couple of days good fishing under the belt the guys decided to make the most of ill-fortune and fish another day.
We'd been watching a system brewing off the Southern coast of Mexico for the past few days and before leaving that morning we checked again to see that it was slowly moving our way and had a 60% chance of turning into a tropical storm.....
All good out there though as the system was still off-shore, more wind chop over ground swell made seas sloppy with intermittent showers. We started out late and worked the bottom of the pocket hard hoping for another marlin bite, it didn't come and the sailfish bite was slow as well with 2 released form 3 bites, we finished the day with another mahimahi flurry ensuring the guys went home with a soft cooler bag full of fillets on ice.
Tropical Storm Agatha was born out of the system that day and the rain set in hard that Friday evening after fishing. The Thompson boys got out to El Salvador OK the next morning though and made their flight home, albeit a couple of days overdue. Luckily for them as the storm hit hard, dumping as much as 3-4ft of rain in some areas over just a 32 hour period. Thankfully for us here the storm banked west and the rain stopped on Sunday morning, though in that short time the storm caused a huge amount of damage, washing away over 14 bridges, many roads and hundreds of houses in the highlands were swamped in mud. Many lost everything and as of yesterday more than 170 deaths have been confirmed. Everyone is pitching in and helping though it will take some time to recover for many highland towns. We came through it all unscathed at the Sailfish Oasis and are helping where we can, especially in some of the pueblos near Antigua where it sorely needed.
As for the fishing, with reasonably settled weather since the storm some big current lines with logs and trash have developed, meaning plenty of mahi's congregating on them and there the food chain carries on......
We are starting to get inquiries for July and August so contact us for these traditionally drier months and good fishing.
May 13th through the 15th we fished the Brad Sears, Chief Tauzin group of Frank Merendino, Blaise Herbert, and Craig Wieland from Denver, Colorado and Sean Horigan, Joe Guedry, Brent Kirkham, Chief Tuazin and Brad Sears all from Houston, Texas.
The group split between the two boats ALLURE and ADIOS over the 3 days, on ALLURE for the 1st day we had Frank, Blaise, Sean and Craig while Brent, Joe, Brad and Chief went with Capt Julio aboard ADIOS. A short run to the east a little had us in the blue water and into a slow though steady bite for the day..
L-R Frank Merendino, Blaise Herbert, Sean Horigan and Craig Wieland
We ended the day with 11 sails in the spread and 5 released from 10 bites. ADIOS had a little bit of bad luck with a few fish jumping off though still a good day on the water.
14th the crews swapped it around though the action was more or less the same, the only difference being a better hook-up ratio, we released 8 sails from 10 bites today and got inventive with Joe's water-proof camera..
L-R Brent Kirkham, Chief Tauzin, Brad Sears and Joe Guedry with mate "Conejo" just before releasing one of today's sails.
Things were a little tougher the last day out for everyone out there, ADIOS raised a blue of about 200lb on the short teaser that refused the pitch bait, on ALLURE we raised a blue of about 350lb's that came up the middle to the bridge teaser then started jumping through the spread long enough for Blaise to get out the video camera and video the fish jumping through the teasers and around the boat. Getting the fish to eat the pitched mackerel was another story....Both boats ended up releasing 1 from 2 bites to ensure no skunking and a nice dorado for the end of day sushimi...
Capt Julio with Joe Guedry and Brent Kirkham with another great shot before release.
The guys had a great time down here staying at the SAILFISH OASIS being looked after with great food and enjoying the ambiance. We're looking forward to fishing with the crew next year...
The weekend before, May 7th and 8th we welcomed Jamie Dishman back to Guatemala, this time bringing his wife Cindy, daughter Annie and her boyfriend Adam Wheless all here for the first time.
Annie, Adam, Jamie and Cindy enjoying a cocktail at the end of the day.
First day out we followed reports from the previous day of a fairly good marlin bite to the west. We worked the area hard and did raise a blue of around 300lbs on the short left, though it refused the pitch bait. Continuing in the area we managed to release a sail and raised another that teased in hot though missed the bait. The bite from the previous day had all but disappeared, a few boats worked the area hard with little success. With not much going on to the west the following day we headed to the eastern side of the pocket and in deep-water had steady action through the day, including a couple of double headers, one for the girls...
Mother and daughter pose with a couple of nice sails before release.
The guys were not to be outdone and got onto a double of their own, we had 10 bites from the 11 raised and released 5 of them and landed a couple of nice sized dorado. The group had a great time here and finished up their last night in Antigua staying at the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo.
L-R Chris Badge, Caleb Wray, Phil Shildts, Alan Rothrock and Jeff Graham.
The Jeff Graham organized group of above came to Guatemala from April 28th through May 1st to celebrate Phil Shildts' bachelor weekend. It included a couple of days fishing aboard ALLURE on the 29th and 30th and finished off climbing Volcan Pacaya checking out the lava flows and a couple of nights in Antigua hitting a few local bars.
To the fishing, the first day out started well releasing a couple of sails fairly early on in the day including Phil's first sail.
Soon after the weather changed as an off-shore squall approached and we ran around the worst of it. Setting out lines in the middle of the pocket it wasn't long before Alan Rothrock was hooked into a nice marlin on the plus side of 350lbs on 20lb test.
Every fish is different and this was one tough SOB, Alan fought the fish hard putting the heat on and we pulled angles on the fish trying to get it up. Conditions weren't the easiest either in rain and a steady 5ft with the odd 6-7ft rolling through making it all a little more interesting. We did get it up jumping on 3 separate occasions, the last time just on 3 hrs into the fight we got close to the fish though she took off down sea and on the last series of jumps got the big tail wrapped in the line. From there on the fight changed and nothing we did could hurt the fish, so with extra drag and angles the line eventually broke after 3 3/4 hrs of hard work. Tough luck Al....We finished the day heading back to where we'd had some action in the morning and released another 2 sails late in the afternoon.
April 30th had far better conditions out there, with a clear day and the wind dropping down from the previous day as well. A slow start though we found an area holding fish further off-shore than the previous day and ended up releasing 6 sails from 11 bites and boating a nice mahimahi for fresh fish tacos and sashimi.
We had a blast fishing with them and the guys were amped with all of them releasing billfish and keen to get back down here.
APRIL 23rd, 24th and 25th
Enjoying the SAILFISH OASIS...
The 'Steve Goodchild Group' consisting of 3 generations of Goodchild's including Steve his dad Leslie and Steve's son John were down along with Jason and Mike Lowrey, Jonny Nobs, Tim Bucanan, Cliff Mountain, Tim Leonard and John Russel for 2 days of fishing and 3 nights at the SAILFISH OASIS. The group split up the first day between ALLURE and ADIOS. Kind of tough for some boats out there today though on ALLURE we got into some action getting 20 sailfish bites and raising a big blue that did not bite. ADIOS didn't do so well on the sails though did raise 2 blue marlin, getting a big fish in the 400lb range to bite though missed it.
John Goodchild
On the second day Hill and Donelle Dishman and Chief Tauzin and girlfriend Amber came to the Lodge to join the group, they fished ADIOS today while the Goodchild group split with half fishing on Circle Hook and half on ALLURE. The fishing slowed a little though on ALLURE we picked up on the bite ratio releasing 10 sails and getting the bite from a nice blue in the 400lb + range, she pulled the hook unfortunately. the guys on Circle Hook released 7 sails and Hill and Chief fishing ADIOS saved best for last with Chief hooking into a nice blue of around 500lb's right at the end of the day. The big fish pulled hard though they got the release after an hour plus fight, add 3 sails and nice day had by all.
On the 25th Hill and Chief were out again and released 5 from 7 bites before heading back to the dock soon after lunch.
All in all the fishing is holding, we are fishing weekends from here on in and expect the marlin bite to stay steady along with good sail-fishing and traditionally the mahi bite picks up as well. The weather the last few days has settled down and we are looking forward to getting out this weekend. Come on down, some great specials to be had in May....
April 10th through 15th it was great to see our friends Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove make the long haul over the Atlantic from the UK once again for 6 days of fishing for billfish on the fly aboard ALLURE. Expectations were high after raising 3 blues the previous day and we ran about 20NM to the east, setting out the teasers near where we had finished the day before. It wasn’t long before we raised a blue on the bridge teaser, the fish acted finiky blasting from the bridge teaser to the flat line teaser though did not commit so we pitched the mackerel bait without getting the bite. The next blue we raised on the long teaser and teased the fish all the way to the back of the boat, Eric made the cast, though we could not get the marlin to eat the fly. For the rest of the day we worked the area hard trying to get another marlin into the spread without luck. The boats fishing baits did better today with live bonitos and rigger baits, several marlins released today though plenty acting funky, coming up on teasers though not committing to pitch baits. The sailfish played the fly game better for us, from the 17 sails raised we got 6 to bite the fly and released 3. A good start for the guys, taking up from where they’d left off last year.
11th….where did they go? The fleet ran back to the east with very little going on for anyone, a couple of blues raised and the sail action was slow too. On ALLURE Eric wasn’t doing so well with a bug from the UK so we called it quits early, not before Steve released a sail on the fly from his second bite to ensure no skunk.
Steve Massenhove
12th….time to try something different and a run to the ledge out to the west paid off with a very steady morning bite. Not long before putting lines in Eric released the 1st sail of the day and from there on in, right on the drop off, we marked bait and had sails in the spread consistently raising 13 before lunch and getting 9 of those to bite. A combination of poor bites and a bit of bad luck had 3 sails released from the 9 bites. The afternoon shut down with 4 more sails in the teasers and just the one biting the fly.
13th….back to the west, lots of bait being marked on the sounder and lots of sails coming up on the teasers though teasing in half way before fading, the ones that did come in either swiped at the fly with their bills or bit poorly. Very tough and frustrating to be fly fishing with the fish like this. A very high water temp wasn’t helping either with the SST around 88’ in the AM and in the early 90’s in the PM. We did manage to get 5 to bite the fly from 21 raised, just the one released with several jumping off or throwing the hooks after poor bites. We raised a blue today too though couldn’t get to the back of the boat in casting range.
14th…..hard to leave 21 raises, to the same spot we worked hard once again. More of the same today with lethargic fish coming into the spread, some teasing in hot though not at all interested in the fly. From the 13 raised we released 2 from 5 bites and were very happy for it with a lot of the boats having a hard time. A combination of huge wads of bait and hot water made things tough for everyone.
Eric Wright
15th…..we went further down the ledge today looking for better fish for the guys last day on the water and found more of the same. Huge balls of bait, sailfish cutting bait on the surface, bonito schools busting bait everywhere, the ocean was alive though to get the fish to play the fly game was a big ask. Of the 13 sailfish raised today just 2 of the fish bit the fly, Eric and Steve nailed both of them to go home with 100% releasing both sails after some great angling, a nice way to finish the trip after some frustration of seeing poor bites, fish pulling hooks or jumping off in the past few days. Still a great trip had by the guys, challenging fishing, though that is part of trying to catch billfish on a fly-rod.
Steve left us a few images of last year’s blue on the fly that he caught, thanks and looking forward to getting one with you next year…....
A lot of fish out there right now with the guys on baits having the best of it, still some marlin around too and things are looking good for the coming weeks with all that bait out there. Some of the fleet went east today getting into sails and a few marlin seen as well meaning good fishing over a large area. We are looking forward to the coming weeks and expect the marlin and sailfish bite to get better, throw in mahi’s and tunas for the all round trip. Don’t forget that this is a year round fishery and the marlin fishing especially gets better through the summer months.
So if you've been thinking about coming down though were not sure, read on, the fishing is good and expect all of April through May to be the same. The John Thompson organized group from North Carolina did and they had a blast....
The 4 father and son teams were made up of John Snr & Jnr and Will Thompson, Dick and Rich Crutchfield, John and Walter Munroe and Jerry and Jeff Pridgen. The group stayed at the SAILFISH OASIS and fished aboard Allure, Adios and Circle Hook for 3 days.
Just a quick report as we are out again tomorrow and it is late, though, first day out to the east proved good all round though we had a little more luck on Allure going 10 for 15 on the sails and hooking a 30lb mahi for John Thompson and a 220lb blue marlin double for Walter Munroe on 20lb test. Circle Hook went 7 from 10 on the sails and Adios 6 from 8.
Allure mate 'Conejo' gets a wrap on Walters small blue caught on 20lb test.
More of the same on day 2 with Allure releasing 9 from 13 bites and 4 big mahi-mahi and raising a small blue, Circle Hook caught all they saw with 5 sails and 2 mahi's and Adios went out wide looking though came back into the bite and released 3 sails, raised a nice sized blue that did not eat the pitch bait and landed a nice mahi.
(Top) John Thompson and (below) Dick Crutchfield with a couple of typical sized mahi's
The blue marlin bite went off today the 9th with a bunch of blue marlin flags flying at the dock, on Allure our luck changed, not for the better, despite raising 3 blue marlin including one beauty of 500-600lbs we never caught one with an aggressive bite from a 250lb fish throwing the hook, we did release 6 sails and landed another 3 big mahi-mahi, Adios released a nice blue pushing 300lbs on the 30lb test and 7 sails. Top honors went to the Thompson's fishing with Capt Eddie Bairez on Circle Hook, they released 9 sails and in the last hour of the day released 2 blues on the rigger baits and 30lb test, hooking the second fish just minutes after releasing the first to John Jnr in the last minutes if the day.....What a finish and what a day!!
So for the 9 father and son anglers fishing over 3 days on the 3 boats that was 62 sailfish releases, 4 blue marlin released from 9 raises and 11 big mahi-mahi. It does not get much better than that.
We are out the next 6 days on the fly and then through next weekend though there are some openings so if you've been thinking about it.....just get on the phone and do it. SAILFISH OASIS is a wonderful facility with excellent food and service and we'll look after you 2nd to none on the water.......
The Jim Franklin organized group from Texas joined us for 3 days of fishing from March 29th through the 31st. The group consisted of the big man Jim himself and from his company and clients of Flo-Zone, Gregg Graves, Brandon Cook, Donita and Terry Roe, Randy Myers, Tommy Green and Chad Lenamon. The fishing is starting to turn around here and despite the majority of the group fishing 2 days, they released 46 sailfish and boated several nice dorado for the pan.
Things have been a little slow the past couple of weeks though things are looking up with some good fishing the last few days over Easter with boats releasing 15-20 sails and a few marlin in the mix. On our last day out with Jim, Brendon and Gregg we released 9 sails from 11 bites in the last 2 1/2 hrs of the day, 10NM inshore of us Pelegian raised 11 and on the eastern side of the pocket AND inshore the bite was also good. Good news that over a large area there was good fishing. It is looking like April could be a great month down here for the sails and the blues are making their presence felt as well.
Previous to this Hill Dishman was down for his first visit in a couple of months with friends Robert Blevins, Haig Wright and Tommy Tilotta. Fishing was a little slow though some slammer dorado and several sails kept everyone on their toes.
They finished their trip in Antigua for a few nights and a round of golf on Sunday at the spectacular La Reunion Golf Resort here 20mins before Antigua followed by an evening enjoying some great live music and local brews at the Cafe No Se......
See you down here, I'm predicting April to be a great month for both the sails and blue marlin. We have had a couple of cancellations at the end of the month so there are some openings and into May there are also prime dates available. Get in touch and we'll ensure you have a great trip all round...
Tom Preston's small blue on 30lb test
March 12th-13th John Lindley came back for his second visit this year, this time with son's Joseph and Justin and good fishing buddy Tom Preston. Fishing was still a little tough by Guatemalan standards though they all got into a bit of action releasing 4 sailfish, a feisty little blue of around 140lbs for Tom and boating 3 nice mahi-mahi. A good effort and a good time had by the Lindley group.
Justin Lindley with his sail...
March 14th we welcomed back Martin Harrison, this time with his family, wife Carolyn and son Arron. They were down for a Spring Break excursion which included a day's fishing, some time in Antigua, a couple of nights at Lake Atitlan and visiting the Mayan ruins in Tikal. To the fishing and and from 8 sailfish raised they caught 2 from 4 bites, raised a blue that did not bite and caught 2 nice sized mahi.
Martin and Arron, great mahi and sails..
Monday the 15th we welcomed the Johnson clan for their Spring Break vacations here at the Sailfish Oasis and a couple of days fishing aboard both boats. Todd Johnson and family did well releasing 8 sails from 13 bites, boating a nice mahi and raised a nice marlin in excess of 400lbs that pushed alot of water although swiping at the bait a couple of times the big fish did not eat the pitched mackerel. Craig and crew released 6 sails, caught a couple of nice mahi's and got into some good tuna action boating 5 yellowfin for fresh sushimi and and sushi rolls back at the lodge.
Todd and son's also enjoyed a round of golf at the beautiful La Reunion Golf Course on the side of Volcan Fuego and a few days in Antigua with the whole family.
March 19th and 20th another return visitor Chris King who last year came with his eldest son Alan came back this time with twin sons Wilson and Lee for a short Spring Break visit. They got into some good action here catching mahi's and releasing a total of 9 sailfish from 12 bites....
AS previously mentioned the bite is not what it had been up till a couple of weeks ago, not what we are used to here in Guatemala, the El Nino is perhaps leaving it's effects felt. We had good fishing up till early/mid March so we expect things to turn around again. What we consider slow is still good bill-fishing comparatively so we are looking forward to the next month. Right now there is some reasonable action out there and the marlin are starting to show up more as we slide into April, more reports to follow with both boats fishing the next few days before a short Easter break.
Team 'Senior Citizens' Tom Bender, Tom Hudson, David Johnson and Earl Long.
March 1st we welcomed to Guatemala for their first visit Tom and Dina Bender and Tom and Mimi Hudson who were down visiting with the Johnson's and the Long's......Team Long Johnson consisted of the Seniors Mr David and Sally Johnson and Mr Earl and Betty Ann Long, along with sons (owner) Craig and Clayton Johnson and Forrest and Bennett Long. The Seniors fished with us aboard ALLURE while the Juniors fished ADIOS with Capt Julio. The wives enjoyed their stay visiting Antigua, shopping, seeing the sights and enjoying great lunches at Casa Santa Domingo while returning each night to the Sailfish Oasis.
First day out it was a matter of finding them, and it didn't take long for the crew on ADIOS to get into the action with a sailfish and then a strike on the rigger bait for Craig Johnson which turned out to be a nice blue marlin of around 200lbs. On the 20lb tackle it was quite a battle though Craig got the release in a little under an hour. It was a slow start for us in ALLURE though after working to the east we found some reasonable action and Tom Bender and Tom Hudson were into it and had the technique down in a short matter of time missing only a few fish, we ended the day with 7 releases from 10 bites and a nice mahi-mahi for Earl Long while on ADIOS the guys had the marlin and 3 from 5 bites on the sailfish.
Earl Long with his beauty mahi.
The next day in flat seas we knew where to run and started getting into the fish right off the bat. A steady morning saw the Snr's dropping back and hooking up like pro's, things slowed down some in the middle of the day though we got into some good action in the afternoon with a few multiples coming into the spread. A great day for the guys to finish their trip with 16 releases from 24 bites and a couple of nice mahi's. On ADIOS the action was hot in the middle of the day though slowed down in the afternoon and released 8 from the 16 bites from the 20 sailfish raised. A good day all 'round. The next day the Snr's left to Antigua for a couple of days while the ADIOS went out for another day. They kept their red-hot marlin streak up raising another blue that didn't bite and released another 8 sailfish and landed a nice mahi of around 35lbs.
On the 5th we welcomed Bruce Aikens and good friend Scott Adams from Michigan to Guatemala for 4 days of fly-fishing. You got to tell it how it is and the fishing turned off unfortunately for their stay here, we tried like hell and covered alot of water for little action. On their first day we worked up the eastern edge though could not get a fish to tease in, late in the afternoon we ran to where the guys on baits found a little late in the day bite and decided to change to conventional fishing with the baits to get a little action. In the last hour and half we released 5 sails on the baits to make something from the day.
Scott Adams with one of the many sails......
The sailfish were lethargic and not even coming up on the teasers so the next day we went wide to the west and trolled the whole way down the edge looking for better action and aggressive fish. Beautiful blue water, birds, bonitos, and lots of blue runners were busting though we only raised one sail that did not tease in. The guys fishing baits back to the east had a little action going though it was very slow fishing all round. Back on the baits the next day we raised 4 sails and released 2. For the final day it was back in the fly and we worked hard to raise 4 sails, 2 teased all the way to the back of the boat and we got one to bite the fly. It is what it is and sometimes it turns like that. We still had a great time with Bruce and Scott even though the fishing was tough and the guys humor helped to ease the pain. It was hard work for the whole fleet out there though there were a few marlin seen so it looks like the marlin bite maybe on the turn as it traditionally gets better through the spring and into summer. Right now there is plenty of great water and the current is pushing in so we are expecting things to turn around soon. No worries!!
The Jimmy Thompson organized group out of Lafayette, Louisiana has just come through Guatemala fishing 2 days February 26th and 27th on both ALLURE and ADIOS and enjoying a few nights and the SAILFISH OASIS. The group had a great time here, with a steady sailfish bite and even a couple of blue marlin seen in the spread....
George Jordan, Bernard Habetz, Mac Moore, Alex, Albert Habetz and Chad Habetz. MIA Jimmy Thompson and Seb Patout.
A long run to the fish the first day out which was no problem for the crew on ADIOS for the day cruising at 30+knts for a bit more fishing time in the day. Flat seas and blue water meant great fishing conditions and the bite in the afternoon was pretty good. ADIOS with Capt Julio Morales found some spinner dolphin with no tunas though they did catch a nice mahi-mahi of the group and raised a nice blue of around 400lbs, pushing alot of water on the teaser though not eating the pitched mackerel. The rest of the day they had steady action releasing 11 sailfish from 16 bites. On ALLURE we had steady action right through the day though our catch to bite ratio was a bit tough with the fish not seeming to bite aggressively, still the guys on the rods did their job well and released 12 out of 23 bites.
On Saturday 27th ADIOS got off to a flyer, after another long run on flat seas they started east of the fleet and raised 3 sailfish and a blue marlin soon after putting lines in. A great bite on the pitched mackerel saw them hooked to a nice blue of around 300lbs and a sailfish for the double header. They released the sail first and Seb Patout concentrated on the marlin releasing the fish after an hour on the 50lb stand-up. Nice job Seb!! For the rest of the day they caught a few sails releasing 5 from 8 in total.
On ALLURE it was slow to steady though picked up nicely in the afternoon with a couple of triple headers adding to the 15 releases from 21 bites. We changed to the fly for the last hour of the day and raised 4 fish, though getting them to tease was tough and the one that did tease all the way in refused the fly. Worth a try though with all the bait out there it was hard to keep them on the teasers for any amount of time. A great introduction to Guatemala for the group all the same and we hope to see them back here soon!!
From back Stefan Boden, Christian Machate, Jon Theuerkauf and Dominik and Yannick Machate.
Snr Jon 'No Sancocho' Theuaerkauf came down for his 7th annual Guatemalan excursion from Feb 12th through the 14th. Christian Machate and sons Dominik and Yannick came back for their second trip all the way from Switzerland and brought with them good friend Stefan Boden from Hamburg, Germany. It is always good to fish with regulars and they started off well, even though it took us a while to get on to the fish when we finally did the afternoon bite more than made up for the very slow morning. Jon kept up to his form from last year, when he didn't miss a fish, and showed the mates up today as well not missing a fish all day. Great job seeing he is only down once a year! For the day we raised 24 sails and released 14 from 20 bites.
Yannick with his first fish of the trip.
Things kind of slowed down for us the next day. It blew from the east and made the run and first couple of hours fishing hard work, we got into a couple of fish early though with a few blue marlin being seen out wide we went out looking and got off the sail bite. 3 from 7 bites for the day and a nice sized mahi meant going out wide and to the west the next searching for the new 'bite'. Beautiful water and bait meant high expectations, near the end of the day we finally got on to an area and raised 10 sails releasing 3 from 8 bites before having to return early to meet the guys return chopper ride to the City. Christian and Dominick got into the action on the last day trying their hand at bait and switching, they had it down and are ready for next years trip for sure.....
10th of February we welcomed long time local 'Antiguans' Korey and Linnitt Peterson along with Korey's brother Kary and friend Pete Wood, both from Washington State and down for a few weeks R&R in Guatemala. A trip to Guatemala cannot be complete without sampling whats on offer in the "Sailfish Capital of the World"......an often and deservedly repeated quote from Kary during the day. The crew had an awesome time with pretty much consistent action through the day and heating up in the afternoon to finish with a triple hook-up, two in the baits and one on the fly.....We started the day on conventional tackle and just after lunch with 14 releases under the belt we changed to the fly. the afternoon bite heated up and we teased in some red-hot sails that resulted in some incredible bites right behind the boat. The day ended with 18 from 25 bites on the bait and 4 from 7 bites on the fly. A truly memorable day for all on board.....
Korey and Linnett hooked up to a double header...
Pete Wood and his first Pacific sail.....
Kary and a billfish on the fly!!
Korey and one of the bigger fish of the day caught with his first cast of a fly rod to a sailfish....
I'll be featuring some great shots taken from Stefan Boden that the has kindly left with us in the coming weeks. Appreciate the shots Stefan!
The bite out to the west we found looked promising for the short amount of time that we were out there so we are looking forward to the next few days on the fly with Guatemala regular Jim Williams and his crew. There is still some availability in the coming months so get in touch to experience the "Sailfish Capital of the World"!!
Last weekend January 29th through 31st saw the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout roll through Guatemala. The event was a great success and the fishing kept up right through the moon phase resulting in 525 sailfish releases from the 10 teams over 3 days of fishing. Great fishing and a great tourny though it was overheard from a few of the mates on the dock that the tournament should be renamed the "Si Sancocho".
Read on for the official tournament breakdown below our last few days report....
Straight after the No Sancocho we welcomed back Butch Barnhill and father and son team Bruce and Robert Shaw to Guatemala from the 1st through 3rd of February.
L-R, Robert and Bruce Shaw, Butch Barnhill.
The fishing kept on after the tournament and we had steady action through the day resulting in 15 releases from 24 bites, a nice "reintroduction" to Guatemala for the guys. Their second day out got off to a great start with steady sailfish action and a few big mahi's bursting into the spread as well, Bruce got himself this beauty and we had a bit of bad luck pulling hooks a few near the boat.
The sailfish were biting funky today resulting in a few more 'sancochos' than normal, still 21 releases from 34 bites meant an action packed day.
With so much sail action over the last couple of days the guys opted to work the edges looking for a blue marlin, we worked up the western edge of the pocket and out wide hunting with no success, inevitably we ended up back with the fleet just 18NM offshore where the sailfish bite was going off. Despite getting into the action late in the day we still managed 12 releases from 18 bites. A great trip for the guys and we look forward to seeing you back here soon!!
On Friday the 5th we spent the day with Mike Callahan, Chris Seabald and Jose Steadman, the bite had slowed a little so we worked the eastern edge looking for the 'bite'. It looked great out there with birds, small bonitos and dolphin everywhere, we had flurries of action including a great blue marlin bite for Jose that we had on for a while before the bad luck struck and the hook pulled. We raised 14 sails for the day and released 7 from 11 bites.
All in all the fishing this year has been great and continues to be right now, we have a couple of days in and are back out again and steady through the month. There are still some openings scattered through the coming months so get in touch for more details. Read on for the official tournament report....
Here is the recap of the 2010 No Sancocho:
Day one started out with high expectations………some heads hurting for the Opening Ceremonies party at Casa Vieja the night before, and those expectations were met with a total of 213 sailfish released on Day One. The seas were calm, the water was blue, and the sailfish were snapping. All day long the radio was abuzz with releases being radioed in to the Committee Boat. It was a dogfight all day between Decisive, Rum Line, and Yo No Cuido but when the dust settled it was Rum Line taking the Day Money with 32 releases, followed by Decisive with 31 releases, and Yo No Cuido (aboard Circle Hook) with 30 releases. Rum Line pocketed $5,800 in day money, Decisive knocked down $1,500, and the Circle Hookers aboard the Allure where able to spot the first whale of the tourney, so they took the $400 whale pot. Chris Sheeder put $400 in his pocket for Top Captain on Day 1, and Brad Philipps won $200 for second place. Here is how it looked after Day 1:
Rum Line 320
Decisive 310
Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300
Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200
Circle Hookers (Allure) 190
Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180
Los Menirosos (Canaso) 170
Club No Minor (Release) 150
Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150
Tenacious (Adios) 130
Day 2 the bite slowed down just a little for everyone. Teams were allowed to fish baits only, which awarded 10 points for a released sailfish until 12:00 noon. At that time, the fly became optional and a sail released on the fly was worth 20 points, with an additional 5 point bonus if the fish was billed and the fly successfully retrieved. It was as close as it could get for Day 2 pot money, however the Circle Hookers made a charge late in the day releasing 4 sails on the fly. When the lines out call came at 3:30 the Circle Hookers had held off Team Decisive and Team Rum Line to take $4,200 worth of day money with a total of 240 points edging Decisive who had 230 points, and Rum Line who had 225 points. Chris “Kiwi” van Leeuwen took home the Top Captain pot, and Philipps took home the second place Top Captain’s money. Team Decisive’s second place finish on Day 2 was worth $2,700. The overall lead saw Team Rum Line holding the top spot, but with a very, very slim 5 point lead over Team Decisive. Yo No Cuido was in 3rd, and Circle Hookers moved up one spot to 4th. Perhaps the biggest shock of the day was at the Gringo vs Guatemalan soccer game at the local school. We handed out clothes and toys to the local kids, and then had a heated soccer match that saw the Gringos tie the Guatemalans 2-2. The first time the Gringos have ever come close in this match. The standings looked like this after Day 2.
Day 1 Day 2 TOTAL
Team Rum Line 320 225 545
Team Decisive 310 230 540
Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300 140 440
Circle Hookers (Allure) 190 240 430
Club No Minor (Release) 150 185 335
Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200 120 320
Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180 120 300
Los Menirosos (Canaso) 170 110 280
Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150 100 250
Tenacious (Adios) 130 30 160
Day 3 many it boiled down to a two team race for the top spot and a two team race for third place. The boats headed out a little further than the previous two days. There was a $600 consolation pot on line today for the bottom 5 teams after Day 2 results. Day 3 teams had the option of fishing the fly, the baits, or a combination of the two. The fishing started out hot and Decisive and Rum Line were constantly calling in releases. It was a see-saw battle between these boats all day. At the 1:30 pm update given by the Committee Boat, amazingly both teams were exactly tied with 805 points. With two hours left, it was anyone’s guess who would win the top prize. Rum Line quickly called in a release to take the lead, but Decisive answered right back with a double…..one released on the baits and one released on the fly. It was a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the tourney. Decisive went on to capture the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout, and also picked up some hefty day money. They ended up with 370 points on Day 3, followed by Rum Line with 320 points. Their victory earned them $15,400 for first place in the Calcutta pot, and also an additional $5,800 in day money on Day 3. Rum Line took home $6,600 in Calcutta winnings, and also $1,500 in day money on Day 3. Canaso and Team Los Menirosos finished strong on Day 3 and took the Consolation Pot for $600. Yo No Cuido and the Circle Hookers finished in a dead heat for third. Philipps took home $400 for top captain on Day 3, and Haole pocketed $200 for second place captain on Day 3. For the tournament the ten teams released 525 sailfish on the baits, and 34 on the fly in the three day tourney. Decisive and Rum Line tied for the most releases on the baits with 73. Circle Hookers and Allure had the most releases on the fly with 9. At the award ceremony Sunday night at Casa Vieja….the cherished Rich Smith Memorial “No Sancocho” Game ball was awarded to my friend Antonio Valdez. What a deserving recipient. Also, each team had to contribute $20 per missed bite (sancocho) to the Sancocho Pot, and we were able to raise $5,800 for the local school to help pay for books and supplies to these kids, who would otherwise be left without. Congratulations to Team Rum Line for their second place finish….Jim Turner, Rick Murphy, and Juan Cruz Anon, and also to Captain Chris Sheeder. Congratulations to Team Decisive…..Steve Cothron, Scott Lund, and Harvey Steinhagen and also to the Captain of the Decisive Brad Philipps….Champions of the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout.
Final Standings looked like this:
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 TOTAL
Team Decisive 310 230 370 910
Team Rum Line 320 225 320 865
Circle Hookers (Allure) 190 240 230 660
Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300 140 220 660
Los Mentirosos (Canaso) 170 110 305 585
Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180 120 260 560
Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200 120 210 530
Club No Minor (Release) 150 185 165 500
Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150 100 140 390
Tenacious (Adios) 130 30 40 200
Morris Jones, Bill Gouldin, John Hantak, Chris Boeker and Brad Miller
Friday 22nd welcomed back to Guatemala Brad Miller bringing in first timers to Guate, Bill Gouldin, Morris Jones, John Hantak and for his first ever billfishing experience Chris Boeker. Two days of fishing and 3 nights at the Sailfish Oasis were on the cards and the trip got off to a great start when during 'briefing' we released 4 sails in 20 mins. From there on in we had a great morning bite which included a couple of triple headers and doubles before things slowed down to a steady bite late in the morning. A great day out and an incredible introduction to billfishing for Chris and Guatemala for the rest of the crew, by the days end we had raised 53 sailfish had 47 bites and released 36 and a couple of nice mahi-mahi including this one for John Hantak.....
Saturday 23rd and we had a slow start to the day, it took most of the morning to get on to an area that was worth working. After fresh mahi burgers the fishing got better for us and a steady afternoon bite had guys release 18 from 26 bites and another good sized mahi-mahi. 54 releases in 2 days of fishing, looking forward to seeing you guys back here to try to better it!!
The fishing has remained good with an average of 15 releases a day up till yesterday the 25th. We are back out again tomorrow and counting down to the start of the biggest tournament of the year, 2010's NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT which gets underway this Friday 29th.
We still have some availability in March, April and through into May there are some weekend dates to choose from. The season is shaping up to be a good one so get in touch with us to secure your booking.......
Just about the perfect end to Tim's first day out, he was attached to this nice blue putting on a great series of jumps and pulling hard...
Wives and girlfriends take note!! Tim Hood's wife Christine knows how to lay on the perfect surprise birthday present, she woke him on Friday morning, early, to tell him his buddies were waiting at the door to take him to Guatemala for a 3 day fishing adventure onboard ALLURE staying at the Sailfish Oasis. She organized and paid for the whole trip as a 40th birthday present for Tim who was joined by good friends Doug Shotweld, John Speights, James Barborak and Mark Ruggles. What a gift!!
First day out with the crew we went wide looking as the bite from the previous day had disappeared, a good sized mahi-mahi and only a single sail to show till around 1pm, then we got into some good action releasing 6 from 10 bites in the last 2 hours of the day to end with 7 from 11, as we trolled in up to the edge just before pulling lines in we had a nice blue pushing alot of water on a lure in the stinger position, a great bite ended in a solid hook-up to this big fish....
Tim was locked into this very tough fish for about an hour when bad luck struck and the line broke.....the fish won this time. Still it put on a great display for us and fought hard.
Day 2 proved to be pretty good and steady with 13 releases from 17 bites and the last day out ended with some great activity, a couple of singles, a triple from a quad and a double before pulling lines in with 11 from 14 bites.
Jan 15th and 16th had Tim Goudeau joined by his son Steve and friends Mike Gilbert, Howard Kemp and Jimmy Tindal. This was the guys first trip to Guatemala and their first time billfishing. They are spoiled for life now and any other bill fishing trip won't be the same unless it is back here again..... first day out ended with 10 releases from 15 bites the second turned on even more with 3 double headers adding to the 14 releases from 18 bites. Steve Goudeau also got himself this reasonable mahi...
JAN 12th & 13th HANGING ON IN GUATEMALA...
Chief Tauzin, Jim Braniff, Johnny Braniff, Tommy Fatjo and Philip Evans holding on...
Jan 12-13th the Braniff group joined us for a couple of days aboard ALLURE. The severe cold front that swept through the States hit us in the form of a very stiff ENE'er and 6-8ft very step short period waves making life tough for all on board, excluding Alex the mate/chef who can flip burgers without touching the spatula or the pan in these conditions and loves being turned in a beam sea while cooking......The rest if us had a bit of tough time in these unusual for Guatemala seas. First day out proved tough going, not with just the conditions though slow fishing as well. We worked hard to get 3 from 5 bites on the baits. The next day out we went further to the east into rougher seas though we did find a reasonable bite out there, the guys fished well and even got into bait and switching their own fish while hanging on. Good stuff guys, and great fishing with 17 from 25 bites including a quad released in the afternoon.
Also out was ADIOS with the Ed Stein group for 4 days, unlucky with the weather though what can you do except try. Any try they did with several sails released and to top things off a nice strip marlin of around 150lbs for Ed being the last fish of the trip. Congratulations Ed on a beauty stripy.
The fishing has been good and still is out there right now. In the coming week everyone here is getting ready for the main event, 3 rounds of heavyweight fishing with 11 teams shooting it out in the NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT. It is going to be huge so keep a lookout for the results of this IGFA Rolex WS Qualifying Event being held here 29th-31st of January.....
First up Happy New Year, 2010 got off to a good start here at the Sailfish Oasis with local Antigua blues maestro's Tom and Willie coming down to the coast with the full entourage to see the New Year in. A great evening was had by all with the Lodge filled to capacity enjoying good food, good company and of course great music.
Before this we hosted Brett Johnson's big group who came down for his bachelor weekend, or, "BJ's Despedida de Soltero" fiesta. Another great time here at the Lodge and good fishing all round.
Here is the breakdown.....
Jan 4th-5th. Regular to Guatemala Rob Derrick was joined by first timers, his son Robby, brother in-law (out-law) Louis Courtin and his son Caleb along with friend Ron Gagnon. The weather had cut up a little with a ENE'er blowing through to make it a little tough in the morning session's though generally flatten out in the afternoon. Steady action both days saw them release 21 sailfish and boat a nice sized mahi-mahi, caught by Caleb and enjoyed by all. The guys finished of their trip in Antigua staying at the Casa Santa Domingo and promised to be back soon.....looking forward to it!
Ron, Rob, Louis, Robby and Caleb.
Dec 31st-Jan 3rd we were joined by the Dishman group of 11 over the New Year, first day out on the 31st we had a super sized group of 8 anglers on board, the fishing was great out there, we released 20 from 29 bites before heading back to the dock early in preparation for the big night. Adios also fished today releasing 12 sails. After a huge night we left the dock after 10am the next morning and encountered sailfish who seemed to be hung-over as well, just 4 from 6 bites from a short day relaxing day. Feeling better on the 2nd we had good steady action through the day releasing 21 sailfish from 25 bites before pulling lines early to run to Monterrico and pull up in front of 'Johnny's Place' where the crew jumped over-board, swum to the beach to enjoy cocktails and the later on the sunset before being met by our driver and heading back to Sailfish Oasis. Our last day out Hill Dishman joined us solo to have a crack at some sails on the fly. Another late start today saying farewell to the rest of the group we left the dock at 10am...Once out there alot of fish were difficult to tease in all the way with several fish coming in most of the way before peeling off and never seeing them again, or refusing the fly once teased in. Still, Hill made the moat of few opportunities releasing 3 from 4 on the fly and 1 on the conventional tackle.
Hill and Donelle Dishman.
30th Dec. Chief Tauzin introduced his girlfriend Amber Crockett to Guatemala, staying in Antigua and then heading to the coast for a day of fishing with us on ALLURE and later spending New Year eve with us at Sailfish Oasis. A great introduction to this fishery for Amber with good action right through the day, we raised 40 sails and released 23 from 35 bites.
Chief and Amber...
Dec 27th-29th BJ's DESPEDIDA DE SOLTERO, group of 14 hit the Sailfish Oasis for 3 days of fishing and a bit of sightseeing in Antigua. Fishing aboard ALLURE and ADIOS we also chartered Capt Eddie aboard CIRCLE HOOK for a couple of days while some of the group opted to head toward the sights of Antigua on day 2 and enjoy a wonderful lunch at the spectacular Casa Santa Domingo. The rest of the guys enjoyed great fishing with over 60 sails being released over the 3 days and several slammer mahi-mahi boated and enjoyed as dinner at the Sailfish Oasis and hot lunches aboard the boats. A great time was had by all and congratulations to Brett Johnson who is making it formal tomorrow the 9th, good luck and best wishes to you both!!
Craig Johnson showing how it's done with a nice mahi.
The fishing is still good out there so look out for more reports next week. We still have openings on ADIOS and a few on ALLURE so get in touch with us to secure bill-fishing at its finest......
Jean Mark "Giallo" as the sun sets on a great day off-shore fishing aboard "ADIOS"
December 16th and we had the UN aboard ADIOS with Jean Mark "Giallo" representing Europe/Guatemala, Javier Burga from Peru and Craig Jull from New Zealand joining us on an off-shore excursion in the hunt for yellow-fin tunas. Things looked promising from the get go when we found a small group of white belly dolphin working bait. Tunas were busting on the bait though not the size we were hoping and we caught a 25lb tuna and about a 30lb mahi-mahi off them. From there we covered area and near the end of the day had good action raising 11 sailfish, releasing 6 from 7 bites, we also missed a stripped marlin, raised a good sized blue that didn't bite and caught 6 yellow-fin tunas off a small group of spinner dolphin. A great day on the water on the go fast ADIOS, a 38' Jupiter with triple 250HP 4 stroke Yamaha's. The perfect boat to get out to the deep water fast and enjoy more fishing time in the day.
December 13th-15th. Welcome back to Guatemala Carl Lehner, this time joined by his lovely wife Sandra for 3 days of fly-fishing aboard ALLURE. The fishing was kind of slow, especially for December which has been traditionally one of the better months of the year. Carl continued on his good form from his last trips down though, missing very few fish on the fly, day one we raised 12 sails got 5 of them to tease in and bite the fly and Carl released 4. With 2 of these fish being on the + side of a 100lb's it was a good start to the trip.
Carl Lehner with the smaller of the 2 big girls for the day.
On the 14th we returned to the same area about 35NM off-shore though it was tough today, we raised 6 sails and teasing them in was hard work, we did manage to get 2 bites and released 1 on the fly. Hard work for the whole fleet today with beautiful water though not much going on anywhere.
15th we ran to the middle of the pocket and covered as much area as we could. It paid off and in the latter part of the day we raised a couple of doubles, some red hot fish that you love to see while on the fly and Carl had another great day with the averages going 2 from 3 out of the 7 sails raised. Sandra got into the action today releasing her first sailfish on the fly as well. Kind of slow, though still better than most destinations in the world with 25 sails raised and 7 released from 10 bites. Carl and Sandra had a great stay here in Guatemala, enjoying the first class facilities and a wonderful last night at Antigua's El Convento and we hope to see them back in the near future. Thanks for the e-mail Carl:
Dear Chris and Liz
Sandra and I had a great time. The new Lodge was great, it was a delightful, private, quiet tropical retreat. The food was wonderful, probably the best I've ever had one of these trips. The fishing was a bit slow but Chris managed to find the fish nonetheless, and I believe we were the top boat at least two out of the three days we fished. Chris has a great crew, they do all the real work. All I had to do was throw out the flies and then hang on for the ride. BTW Sailfish are wonderful, they are the only fish I know it will throw a fly and then go back and take it again while you reel it in.
Thanks again for a great trip,
best regards,
Carl and Sandra
December 11th and 12th welcomed back regular Chief Tauzin with guests Andre Fuetch and for his second visit to Guatemala Josh Fink. Our first day with them could only be described as a day of two halves, before lunch we raised 8 sails and released 0 from 6 bites. You'd hope that things could only get better, and after a great fresh mahi mahi burger for lunch, things did with the guys releasing 6 from 7 bites in the afternoon session to save the day. Nice comeback!!
On the 12th we went out wide and after a slow morning came across one of the biggest groups of spinner dolphin that I have seen out here, there were spinners from horizon to horizon and we soon came to an area where the group tightened and the birds working. From there on in was pretty much non-stop yellow-fin tuna action and with 14 tunas aboard we decided enough, rigging the last 2 as live-baits we tried for a marlin for sometime as to the west of us on another group of spinners Capt "Haole" Chris Sheeder witnessed a blue marlin tossing around a small yellow-fin before engulfing it. No luck for us though and we went back to trying to catch out first sail for the day. We ended up raising 6 sails, releasing 1 from 5 bites and plenty of fresh sashimi aboard.
Andre Fuetch and Josh Fink.
The last day out there on ADIOS was promising with plenty of life seen at the end of the day, most boats headed where we were on Thursday and encountered marlin and had better action on the sails as well. Things are on the turn here and we are looking forward to fishing straight after Christmas and through into the New Year. Happy Holidays to everyone, and get in touch with us if you have any queries at all.
Kiwi
Flat seas and great fishing has been the theme here in Guatemala the past few days, both Adios and Allure were out there. On Allure we hosted Dave Valtierra's fishing show 'Inshore Fishing with Super Dave', who broke away from the inshore fishing to experience some great offshore action for 3 days.
First up on the 7th we fished with part of a group traveling Central America who stopped in Guatemala for a few days, Scott Emery, Dallas Davidson, Nick Wright and Chris King joined us for one day of fishing. Chris King organizes the big money tournaments Sailfish Cup and World Championship out of the Miami Beach and the Key West every year. It was a late start for the group who flew in late the night before, we left the dock at 0900 and after running 24NM to the SE put lines in at 1000. It wasn't long before the action started with the fish mostly coming up in multiples, only 4 singles out of the 17 releases from 21 bites, the rest in doubles, a triple and a quad. We also boated 3 nice mahi-mahi before pulling lines in early a little after 2pm and heading back to the dock. A great day out for the guys and congratulations to Nick who not only caught his first ever sailfish, though 2nd through 5th as well....
Dec 4th-6th we had a group of 9 staying down at the Sailfish Oasis enjoying the great setting and food along with awesome fishing. Both boats were out, on Adios owner Craig Johnson was joined by friends Don Milner, Steve Goodchild and Chris Collins, on Allure, as previously mentioned we fished with Dave Valtierra and his camera crew and co host Leroy Gonzales and Tony De Hoyos III along with Allure co-owner Hill Dishman.
First day out Adios ran out wide finding green water before heading back in and to the east, they eventually found a great bite about 33NM from the marina and had steady action for the rest of the day releasing 18 from 22 bites from the 26 raises and a nice 30lb mahi. On Allure we found a few fish to the east though 14NM out and although hearing the better action out wide elected to stay with the pick that we were on and it paid off, a few misses has to be expected with the sharp learning curve though the crew got some great footage, both above and below the water with 11 releases from 21 bites and a nice mahi.
With all the great conventional action from the previous day we changed to the fly and returned to the same area, after a quick briefing on how it is done on the fly we raised a red hot double, Dave hooked the first and mate Alex the second, both on the fly.....a great start! From there on in the fish were a little finiky and we tried on the fly though pitched baits back to the ones that wouldn't tease. Still a great day with 24 raised and 4 from 7 on the fly and 7 from 10 on the baits. There were a lot of fish around today on the surface tailing in pairs and groups though very hard to get them into the spread. Adios made the most of the ones that came in releasing 8 from 15 bites.
Things slowed some the last day, a small front pushed through making a chop on the water and the boats spread out looking as the fish seemed to have gone down. Adios went west and off-shore and ended with 4 from 5 bites, on Allure we stuck with the fly and east, though heading off-shore more than the previous days, it was a slow start for us though the afternoon picked up, we raised 12 sails, though getting them to tease and bite the fly was hard work, we did release 1 from 3 on the fly and 3 from 4 on the bait as we pitched back again to the lazy ones. A great trip was had by all and the camera crew were excited by all the footage accumulated over the 3 days, all commented on the outstanding facilities and food at Sailfish Oasis and we are all looking forward to the up-coming season. The fishing picked up again on Monday as previously mentioned and is good out there right now.
We still have openings so get in touch for the trip of a lifetime on either of our boats and a great stay at Sailfish Oasis....
BIG Rod Cohen with his first sail on the fly.
The fishing here has been red hot this past week. On Thursday Chris Bean and friend Rod Cohen of Texas came down for Thanksgiving dinner and a day of fishing on Friday 27th. We had a great day out and by 11.00am we had released 16 sailfish from 24 bites. With 16 under the belt the guys were keen to mix it up and try the fly, things slowed down somewhat though they both managed to release their first bills on the fly from several cover-ups and double hook-ups on the long wand. We raised 42 sails for the day.
This past week boats were releasing up to 50 sails and there were a few blue marlin around as well. Guatemala fishing as we love it!!
We fished Jim Turner and friend Juan from Argentina prior to the Presidential Challenge the week previous and the fishing was tough at best, lots of green water and few fish, first day out on the 18th we raised 8 sails though most were tough to tease in to the fly, we did manage to get Juan his first sail on the fly though, getting 1 from 2 bites. The next day was even slower raising just 3 sails and releasing 1 from 2 bites again, Juan boated a nice sized dorado also. This was the day prior to the Presidential Challenge and things were looking tough, though things can change here in a day like that, and the Presidential turned on. We were unable to fish the tournament this year though here is the report of another successful tourny here in Guatemala, the fish seem to turn on as soon as Joan Vernon comes to town......
THE PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGE OF GUATEMALA
PRESENTED BY
INGUAT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Team Casa Vieja Tops Event; A-Fin-Ity Holds on to win Costa Del Mar Grand Champion Team With Angler Davis Clapp Winning the Eagle Claw Grand Champion Angler Honors.
The final leg of the 2009 Presidential Challenge Conservation Series officially wrapped up in Guatemala Nov. 19-22, 2009; the last tournament of the season proved to be one of the most exciting in PCCA history.
After an exceptional kickoff party sponsored by La Reunion and INGUAT, the country's national tourism agency, the Presidential Challenge of Guatemala Presented by INGUAT kicked off to typically warm and seasonal Guatemalan conditions. The fleet spread out in search of productive fishing grounds well beyond VHF radio range, so it wasn't until the boats returned to the dock were the Day One results determined. The tournament staff was pleasantly surprised with the results, which included 44 sailfish and two blue marlin.
Team Decisive took off at 8:52 a.m. when Craig Johnson released a sailfish aboard Capt. Brad Phillips' Decisive; a short while later, Dell Dembosky pulled a blue marlin out of the hat and the team never looked back. Team captain Mike Viveiros is fresh off a second place finish in the IGFA Offshore Championship representing the 2008 PCCA of Guatemala.
Team Ol Salt, fishing on the Finest Kind with Capt. Ron Hamlin, added a blue marlin for angler Sammy Castellano to the team score to put them into second. The Casa Vieja team had a steady day, releasing 10 sails to move them into third place.
Day Two of the Presidential Challenge of Guatemala Presented by INGUAT began at 8:30am. It was another day of radio silence as the fleet returned to the area where the fish were yesterday, some 50 miles offshore.
By the end of the day, Team Decisive had maintained the lead by adding 14 more sailfish to their score. Davis Clapp and Team A-Fin-Ity made their move also accumulating 14 releases but it was not enough to get them into the top three. Jim Turner led his Casa Vieja team fishing aboard the Rum Line up into second place by releasing a nice blue marlin. Ol Salt kept in the top three with anglers adding four sails to their total.
Jim Turner's blue marlin put him at the top of the angler leader board on time over Dell Dembosky. Dell's teammate, Craig Johnson, held a firm grip on third place angler.
But the final day of the PCCA Guatemala always has surprises-no doubt it will be a challenging day for all anglers, especially with the appearance of marlin in the area.
The PCCA Guatemala is famous for exciting finishes. This year was no exception. The bite started off early and teams called in several doubles and triples. At 1:30 p.m, Team Casa Vieja pulled ahead of Decisive for the lead. When the dust settled and scorecards collected, Team Casa Vieja had pulled off the victory. Ol Salt, fishing on Finest Kind, had a great day and held on to third place in the Costa Del Mar Team Division.
The winner of the Baptist Health International Angler Division was Jim Turner, fishing for Team Casa Vieja. His blue marlin on Day One put him on his way to the win. In a hard-fought battle, Dell Dembosky finished in second place fishing for Team Decisive. The Third Place angler position went down to the wire. In the end, Dell's teammate Craig Johnson slid into the third place angler slot.
For the third year in a row Team A-Fin-Ity won the coveted COSTA DEL MAR GRAND CHAMPION TEAM by the narrowest of margins over Team USA, as only one fish separated these two very competitive teams. Ol Salt fished all of the PCCA events to take third place overall. Again, it was a narrow one fish victory over team Decisive/OBX.
The EAGLE CLAW GRAND CHAMPION ANGLER for 2009 is Davis Clapp. Mike Viveiros was the second place champion, while Dan Pimental squeeked into third place with a scant 50 point victory over Mike Topp.
On behalf of the staff from all four PCCA 2009 events the tournament organizers would like to thank everyone for their support this year. The PCCA series events have raised thousands of dollars for conservation through angler and sponsor participation, even in a difficult economy. The Billfish Foundation is forging ahead in their efforts to unify billfish management in Central America-the tournament strongly urges all participants to become members and support these conservation measures around the world. On behalf of the PCCA Guatemala participants, the series will donate $5,000 to support TBF's vital conservation measures in Guatemala and throughout Central America.
A big congratulations to team Rum Line on a helluva comeback in this year's Presidential.
NEW 38ft JUPITER 'ADIOS' IN GUATEMALA.
The new season has started here in Guatemala and late October and the first 10 days of November proved to be pretty hot with some great fishing had by the few boats that were out. Most days resulted in 20+ sailfish releases, and the odd day boats released up to 40. We worked hard and now have both boats ALLURE and ADIOS ready for the up-coming season. Both boats are in great shape and the new 38ft Jupiter, ADIOS has proved itself to be a fish raising machine in its first days on the water.
We started the season on ALLURE with Chief Tauzin hosting Brent Kirkham, Cory Parrot and Alan Adami, ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman was also aboard for the first trip since the recent maintenance. News off the dock following Thursdays fishing was not that great after the hot start to the month, green water and slow fishing were what most boats experienced. With that news on the mind we went out wide to the west around 40NM and found beautiful blue water off the edge. Despite being in the best water the action was a little disappointing with 2 releases from 6 bites of the 8 fish we raised. Meanwhile a couple of the other boats had stopped in about 20NM from the marina in green water and had a reasonable day with around 10 releases per boat. With that in mind the next day we stopped in short the following day with Chief and the crew, Hill Dishman was on board ADIOS with Julio Morales and guest angler Clay. Despite the water quality being poor, at best a cleanish green, the fish were there in numbers, with several groups of fish seen tailing on the surface around trash and logs from the recent rains that were holding bait. Steady action through the day saw both boats doing well with the crew on ALLURE releasing 12 out of 21 bites and the crew on ADIOS having the better hook-up ratio with 15 from 21 bites. Both boats raised 26 sails and caught several mahi-mahi to 25lbs.
A nice sized mahi takes to the air.
Sunday the 15th we were back out on ADIOS in the same area and the day started with a quad of sails in the spread and a triple hook-up from 3 bites, a bit slower today overall though still good action with 16 sailfish raised, 12 bites and 8 releases. Some of the boats fishing further out experienced some great yellow-fin tuna action and all boats caught a few mahi-mahi.
Looking at the charts the blue water is pushing in from both sides and it looks like the fishing will get better as the green water gets squeezed out. It is also a great time of year to try for tunas and with the ADIOS now taking charters there isn't a better boat to target these fish. ALLURE is in great shape, running and fishing better than ever. We can offer the complete package, contact us now.
Alan Adami, Chief Tauzin, Hill Dishman, Brent Kirkham and Cory Parrot
ALLURE in all her glory.
IT's maintenance time of year and we have ALLURE pulled up and on the hard here at Marina Pez Vela in Guatemala. The next few weeks we have a busy schedule ahead of us making sure she is in absolute top shape and ready for the new '09-'10 season soon to get underway. As well as maintenance on ALLURE we are also giving SAILFISH OASIS LODGE a good going over including a lick of paint, brand new mini-split AC's in every room and up-grades in the kitchen and dining areas. Both Lodge and ALLURE will be in top shape and ready to give first class service to both regular and new clients here to Guatemala. Only the best gauranteed!!!
As well as this we are looking forward to the arrival of the new 38' Jupiter 'ADIOS' to the fleet. She is due in Guatemala around the 17th-18th of September and old ALLURE mate and experienced skipper Julio Morales will take the helm. ADIOS will be without doubt the fastest sportfishing boat in the Guatemalan fleet, boasting triple 250HP 4 strike Yamahas she is silent and swift!! A great platform to fish out of and rigged for billfishing she will also be available and rigged for off-shore tuna charters as well as in-shore marine tours.
Guatemala's newest charter boat ADIOS.
We are looking forward to the start of the season here and are expecting the fishing to be at its usual high standards that only Guatemala can deliver. Booking enquiries are starting to pick so don't hesitate to contact us to secure your trip.....
Sometimes a week can take a long time in Guatemala......
August 8th through 10th we welcomed back Hill Dishman this time with friends Dan Wheat and father and son team Drew and Heath Donaldson. Just a couple of weeks before the fishing had been outstanding and everything looked good now too. The blue water was still in close and plenty of doardo signified bait in the area though it turned out to be tough going for the sails, they just didn't seem to be on the bite. WE saw free-jumping sails, a big blue marlin crashing small dorados on the surface in an area that held as many mahi's as I have seen since being here, it was incredible. In the same area we saw a huge fin-back whale, the ocean was alive with life. With all the dorado out there we did end up with plenty of fillets for the guys to take back home though as hard as we tried we never saw a marlin in the spread and ended the trip raising 15 sails, getting 12 bites and releasing 5. Still a good trip despite the sails not being very aggressive.
Straight after this we welcomed back Theresa La Fuze to Guatemala for the first time in a couple of years, this time with son William for 2 days of fishing on the 11th and 12th. It was more of the same, a little tough though we still got into some fish with 5 sailfish releases and plenty of dorado fillets to take back to the US. On the second morning out we raised a nice blue that left a hole behind the lure we were pulling in the 'stinger' position, though she didn't eat despite our best efforts.....A great trip and we hope to see them back this coming season.
William La Fuze and his first Pacific sailfish.
Get your face in the picture and contact us now for the trip of a lifetime!
JASON MARTIN WITH FIRST BILLFISH, MINUTES INTO HIS TRIP...
July 23rd ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman arrived on the midday flight from Houston with Guatemalan regular Chief Tauzin and first time customer Jason Martin. Straight from the airport on to the boat and we left the dock around 1pmish for a couple of hours fishing, trying to get a feel for what was going on out there for the next couple of days . At around 6NM of the breakwall we came across the color change to deep blue water and lots of debris on the current line. A couple of nice mahi's were first on the menu before trolling outside the current line and there she came, Jason Martin's first billfish after soaking the baits for mere minutes. We worked the area before being 'allured' to deeper water at the bottom of the pocket and to the west with blue marlin in mind. Working further off-shore to around 12NM proved a little slow with just mahi bites. Trolling back into the 6-7NM range we had another 3 bites at the end of the day to finish 3 from 4 on the sails and an idea of where to concentrate efforts for the coming days.
July 24th-25th Capt Hill Dishman took the helm and Chief and Jason were joined for the next couple of days by more Guatemalan regulars Todd Mucha aka Billy Backlash and John Codrington. Not many details though Capt Hill put the boys on to 'em at the 6NM-8NM mark off the breakwall, I called them before midday and they were already into double figures released and had raised a bunch more. When all was said and done they raised 33, had 24 bites and released 16 sails as well as boating a dozen or more mahi's, missing a good sized wahoo and also raising a small blue on the bridge teaser that didn't stick around in time for a bait to be pitched. Outstanding fishing!! Looks like Billy Backlash didn't live up to his name so that may have to be dropped. Nice going all round.
The 25th was more of the same with Capt Hill back on the ball, a little less raised though the boys were on their game and the averages were as good as it gets with, from the 20 sails raised, 17 bites and 14 releases.....30 releases in 2 days, congrats all round...
It was more of the same for the other boats out there with great numbers being posted by each of the few boats out, though I beleive Hill took top honours both days...
The fishing has been steady when there have been boats out to get into them these last couple of weeks, it's a slow time of year, though not for fishing, just for clientele which is unfortunate as the weather has been (and normally is) great this past July and now into August. Last Weds 29th, Thurs 30th Haole had the Intensity out for a 2 day charter and found them the second day raising 35, and releasing 18 from 24 bites.
Guatemala is not just famous for its incredible billfishing, but also a great summer getaway/adventure holiday destination. We recently had the Koper family all the way from Holland for a short action packed tour of Guatemala organized by Rods and Reels Sportfishing Adventures. Michael and Lucy were joined by sons Jeremy and Tim for a trip which included........
LEARNING TO SURF ON FUN WAVES IN THE PACIFIC for a couple of days....
CLIMBING VOLCAN PACAYA at dusk to enhance the incredible lava flows with Volcans Agua, Fuego and Acatenago as a backdrop. What a veiw, what an experience....HOT!!
CATCHING BIG PACIFIC SAILFISH, Jeremy Koper with a nice Guatemalan sail, July 17th and 18th we had a couple of short days out, leaving late and returning early. They released 7 sails from 13 bites, raised a blue marlin that went from teaser to teaser though didn't eat the pitched mackeral bait and caught countless mahi mahi all within a few miles off the beach. Plenty for fresh fish dinners and lunches.....
TIKAL, a couple of days exploring the Mayan ruins of Tikal in the jungles of north Guatemala....
LAKE ATITLAN, Jeremy, Tim, Michael and Lucy resting on the steps of the church in San Antonio overlooking the beautful Lake Atitlan.....
A FEW DAYS STAYING IN SAN MARCOS including a full day tour of the lake visiting the villages of Santa Catalina, San Antonio, San Lucas and Santiago de Atitlan, kayaking and swimming....
They finished up their trip spending a few leisurely days wandering around the unique city of Antigua. Including spending time at the wonderful Museum of Cafe Azotea and enjoying the highly recommended Elizabeth Bell walking tour of Antigua amongst other things.
What a trip!! As mentioned Guatemala is famous for it's amazing billfishing though it has alot more than just great fishing to offer to the adventure minded tourist. If anyone is interested contact Rods and Reels Sportfishing Adventures for more info on fully customized tours.
ALLURE will be fishing through Thursday August 13th though will be available for charter till the end of the month before being pulled for yearly maintenance. There are some great deals to be had right now and now is as good a time as any, it's all looking good.
More reports next week....
George Haddock's first blue marlin of around 300lb's.
June 26th-28th and Pacific Fins hosted a father and son group from North Carolina consisting of 8 dads and 12 boys who had just graduated from high school. An end of an era, and what a way to celebrate it than a billfishing trip to Guatemala and 3 days of friendly 'competitive' fishing. With 5 boats going out with the group it meant that at least we could get a bit of coverage and find a reasonable bite amongst the boats. On ALLURE day one we hosted father and son John and Darren Ash along with Ladd Hamrick and Matt Houchins. We fished a little away from the fleet today getting some bites inshore and to the west of the other guys and sticking to it, 16 sails raised today and 14 good bites, we had some problems getting the hooks to stick though and released 5 out of the 14 bites and boated 20 mahi mahi to 15lbs. Good light tackle fun. The other boats fishing together were on to a bit better action though a fairly similar number of bites accross the fleet with a Perla Del Mar getting the best ratio and bites releasing 16 from 18 bites, congratulations on a great day!
Day 2 Matt Houchins stuck with us and was joined by George Haddock and father and son team Jack and Jim Carrol. The blue water had moved a good 10NM to the west and it took a little time ot find it though we were the first in it and had a sail bite soon after. Working the area hard produced steady action through the day with 6 sails released from 9 bites and 14 mahi mahi. Perla Del Mar again headed out the day with 7 releases.
Day 3 Matt Houchins and George Haddock stuck with the team on ALLURE and were joined by friends Michael Watterson and Andrew Leggett. The blue water had moved today 12NM further to the west and we were 41NM from the marina when the water was good enough to put the teasers in the water. Close to the edge we headed offshore working 500 through to 1200ft of water trolling to the west, we released a sail soon after lines in and the second fish of the day was the one we were lookng for, a nice fat blue in the 300lb class came up hot on the Joe Yee Super Plunger and switched to the pitched mackeral perfectly. Solidly hooked the blue jumped more than any seen this year and didn't stop, pulling hard as well. George Haddock did a great job on the 50lb stand-up gear though and got the release after a hard workout. The guys ended up top of the comp with 3 sails released today, 1 blue and 10 mahi mahi. Good fishing all round for the group with over 60 sails released and 2 blue marlin along with plenty of mahi's.
May 4th-6th Brad Sears hosted customers Jeromiah Jones, Miller Vaughan, Sean Harigan and Craig Wieland for 3 days of offshore fishing aboard ALLURE. Finding the blue water just 10NM offshore we put them out at the bottom of the 'pocket' and trolled east along the eatern edge working the edge hard trying to find bait and bills. After lunch we'd raised 2 sails that would not switch to the baits and things were looking grim. With just and hour and half left we found some sailfish up the edge and had good action raising 9 sails and releasing 4 from 6 bites to save the day including this double:
L-R Craig Wieland, Jeromiah Jones, Brad Sears, Sean Harigan and Miller Vughan.
Small mahi's were everywhere and we boated 14 today.
A late start on the 5th and we concentrated our efforts at the bottom of the pocket and up the west side hoping for a marlin, again, plenty of small mahi's around and a fairly steady bite through the day with 5 from 7 bites though no marlin seen.
June 6th the blue water was pushing in closer everyday and with it the bite seemed to get better, we only fished a half day today with the guys opting to see Antigua in the afternoon. We had a good morning working the bottom of the pocket 10NM out releasing 6 sails from 8 bites and boating 5 mahis' to boot. A great trip with good fishing and excellent weather with the only issue being a bit of wind on the last morning. We hope to see more of this crew down here next season!
June 8th we hosted Jean Louis Trombetta from Antigua and Bob Stevenson of 'El Pescador' Fishing Lodge fame in Belize. The guys are planning flats fishing expeditions out of the Rio Dulce, Guatemala for bonefish, permitt and tarpon aboard a mothership fishing the untouched keys toward Honduras and plan to offer the incredible billfishing we have here on the Pacific side to clients as well. We left the dock at 1000 and returned at 1400 fishing the deep water out front and to the west, the water colour was good and in this short time of fishing we raised 3 sails on the teasers getting 2 bites and Bob released his Pacific sailfish on the fly.
We can offer some very good summer specials and the fishing here is Guatemala is great year round so make the most of the deals and check it out. Contact us here at Rods and Reels for more info.
Between May 2nd till now the fishing has been up and down with the sails biting one day and tough to find the next. There has been a huge body of school sized mahi's move in though and with them blue marlin hot on their tails. We have seen some incredible sights with hundreds of small mahi's fleeing feeding blues, the surface alive with jumping mahi-mahi. As a result there have been plenty of blue marlin seen in the spread out there though some finiky fish with all the bait around. If it was fillet's you were after it was like a supermarket out there and boats could load up with mahi-mahi without scatching the surface of what was available...
Jack Pitt was aboard with friends Dale and Christine Love for 2 days of fishing on the weekend May 15th and 16th. Plenty of blue water out there though a little slow, before lunch we raised just 2 sails that weren't interested in the baits. After lunch out on the edge we found some bait and an area that looked promising. Soon after we had a double up in the spread, a sailfish on the short teaser and a fiesty blue on the flat line teaser, keeping him off the Hot Breakfast teaser was tough and he switched to the pitched mackeral in no time. Meanwhile on the right short we got a bite out of the sail as well though missed him, Dale Love was on the rod with the blue and after a tough fight got the release on the 50lb stand-up gear. Congratulations Dale on his first ever billfish, a blue marlin of around 250lbs!! In the same area Christine and Jack released their first sailfish later in the afternoon. Congratulations to them both.
The next day Christine spent in Antigua while Jack and Dale were aboard the 31ft Jupiter for the day. It was tough for everyone out there....we raised a sailfish and had a mahi bite though caught neither despite covering a large area. It doesn't happen often, though sometimes it can happen.....The dreaded skunking. Still a great first time had in Guatemala by this group and we are looking forward to their return.
May 10th-11th. Father and son group Hill and Brett Dishman, Chris and Alan King, Clay and Claibourne Morris all joined us for a couple of days aboard ALLURE. For the 2 days of fishing we were the only boat in the fleet out there which can make things tough finding the fish. On the 10th we got into them fairly early and everyone got into the action with some great fishing as well with 7 releases from 9 bites on the sails, we also boated a dozen mahi mahi to about 15lbs and as we were clearing lines at the end of the day a blue marlin in the 200-250lb class came in and ate a couple of baits, unfortunately we missed him both times.
Going back to the same area on the 11th and fishing it hard we came up empty though shortly after lunch about 9NM to the east in the deep water we found some life with free-jumpers and bait marked on the sounder. Soon after we were into them and in the late afternoon released another 7 sailfish from 11 bites, again the last fish of the day was a blue marlin that Brett had solidly hooked up to. Some bad luck saw the line break as we were chasing him down..... Add 7 mahi's to the mix and it was an action filled day with the high energy crew having a great time, back on land as well.....
L-R Alan King, Brett Dishman, Chris King, Hill Dishman, Claiborne and Clay Morris at the end of the day.
May 8th and 9th, The first father and son team of the week, Jamie and Jim Dishman along with good friends Clint and Sam Droody were back in Guatemala. First time for the sons though Jamie is an old hand and it was great to see Clint back in Guate. First day out we were west of all the schooly mahi's trying to find the sails, a bit slow though with 3 releases from 5 bites and 3 mahi-mahi to around 15lbs. The next day out to the east we were in amongst the school sized dorado, for a few parts of the day we were in them thick catching them on the light tackle with top waters, alot of fun and good sport. No marlin in the spread though we raised 5 sails and caught 3 out of 4 bites. On the dorado we boated 47 up to 20lb size, the guys going home with a soft cooler bag full of fillets on ice. Nice going, nothing better than fresh mahi!
Jim and Jamie Dishman, Clint and Sam Droody with a small Pacific sail.
May 3rd and 4th John and Joanne Kolius were down for 2 days of fishing and 4 nights on the coast after winning the highest bid in the Houston Big Game Club fund raising auction. The trip was donated by ALLURE owners Craig Johnson and Hill Dishman for one day aboard ALLURE and all accomodations with the 2nd day of fishing donated by JW 'Bones' on MOJO. Inside the first hour fishing aboard ALLURE we had 2 blues up in the spread, the first a big fish that came up on the flat, and moved through the spread though did not eat the pitched mackeral. The second bit though pulled the hook shortly after showing her size. For the rest of the day we released 2 sails from 5 bites. The next day on MOJO their luck changed with John hooking a nice blue in the 300lb class on the pitched mackeral bait while Joanne did the rod work and scored her first blue marlin release, congratulations Joanne!! They raised another blue that did not bite and released one sail for the rest of the day. On ALLURE we raised 2 blues that didn't bite, released one sail and had some incredible mahi action with around 58 mahi's to 30lbs. There were hundreds of dorados under a floating piece of flexi drainage pipe out there and several times today the surface was alive with hundreds of them greyhounding away from feeding marlin.
On the 2nd we had from Guatemala City Luis Snr, Luis Jnr, Ana Maria and Nicky for one day. With the interest being mainly in taking home food we went looking for mahi-mahi. The first fish in the spread was a blue marlin of around 350lbs, a nice one that came under the rigger bait, switched to the other side and finally refused the pitched maceral bait. Frustrating! For the rest of the day the crew wore themsleves out boating 32 mahi mahi and they were back at the dock by 3PM with a large bag of fillets to take home.
Over this period there were alot of marlin seen and caught by the fleet, they are still out there even though the last few days were on the slow side. Weather is no problem with the majority of the days being clear with the chance of rain early and late. Typically here in Guatemala we have a season called the Canicula in July through August and September of very settled weather and a great opportunity to try for blue marlin, sailfish, at very competitive prices, the waters a alive with mahi-mahi and the tunas are out wide as well, good fishing all round!!! We are out again next week so more reports to follow. Contact Rods and Reels for any info required.
El Jefe Craig Johnson flew in on the 15th and met us in the afternoon for a late departure on ALLURE with Richard Bowman. With the fishing out on the edge we didn't get lines in till after 4PM though made the most of the last 2 hours of the day releasing 4 out of 7 sailfish and boating a nice mahi-mahi. We tried some night time trolling for swordies with no luck though it was good to get the lines in on the change of light 40NM out. Dissapointingly the morning bite was slow with just a handful of releases, though we found some fish further up the edge at around 1100 and released 15 sails in the last 2 hours of fishing before heading back to the dock. Craig was on great form missing just one fish all day helping the great numbers of 21 sails released from 27 bites and a definite hot-spot to return to the following day.
Hill Dishman joined Craig the next day for another great day on the water. There were sails cutting the surface and feeding on bait everywhere, with all the bait around it actually made things a little tougher getting the fish to bite agressively though we still did well releasing 17 from 32 bites.
17th-18th Shawn Steffen, Mike Linden, Dave Ramage, Sam Linden, Greg Heller and Brad Sears joined us on ALLURE and the Jupiter for a couple of days of fishing. Things changed out there today with the fish pushing off-shore with the current and going off the bite. We made the most of what was on offer working away from the fleet to the east and releasing 9 from 12 bites. The Jupiter had a good day as well going 3 from 6 bites.
With the current pushing off and the bite slowing we headed east on the 18th looking for a new bite. Today was tough for us on ALLURE releasing 3 from 5 bites and boating a couple of nice mahi's. Hill Dishman on the Jupiter fishing with Mike and Sam Linden were the top boat of the fleet today finding some fish on the side of the pocket and making the most of their day releasing 11 from 15 bites, great day!!
More reports in the next few days with all the weekends in May booked we are hoping to get into some good fishing. The rainy season typically produces good marlin fishing, sailfish are here year round and the yellow fin tuna and mahi-mahi bite normally picks up as well. If you have nay questions get in touch with us, we have some great special rates and the rainy season here in Guatemala is not bad with most days clear. If you have any goals, marlin on the fly or light tackle??? We'll do our best to get you on 'em!!!
Thanks for the great shots Dan Wheat, taken aboard ALLURE.
The bite mid March through early April has been great here in Guatemala with the boats fishing baits late in the month and the first few days of April having big days releasing up to 50+ sails in a day and averaging around 30. The boats fishing the fly were having some good days too though the fish were very tough to tease all the way to the back of the boat, with the amount of bait out there the fish were just not as aggressive as you’d like to see them when casting the fly. Still, it has been good fishing all ‘round since the last report and this looks likely to continue through the rest of April.
Mike and Mona, Melba and Ronnie.
On ALLURE from April 7th-9th we had a great time fishing with Mike and Mona Blake from New Orleans and Melba and Ronnie Murphy from Houston, the bite was steady and the drinks were cold equaling 3 great days on the water with plenty of laughs. The 7th was our first day out for a couple of days and it took a little while to get a feel of what was going on out there. Meaning……: we had a slow morning. By 2 PM we had 5 sailfish releases on the board from 7 bites, then, getting into the bite where the majority of the fleet was we started getting into them releasing 13 sails in the last hour and a half of fishing time making up the days total of 18 from 25 bites. Mona and Melba caught 4 double headers in the last hour of fishing today really getting into it with plenty of enthusiasm. The next day blew stiff from the ENE making conditions a little tough for all on board, though we still got into double figures releasing 10 from 19 bites on the sails, Mike boated a nice 35lb yellowfin tuna and Ronnie got into the action boating a nice mahi from the same group of spinner dolphin that we got the tuna off.
The next day the weather settled making perfect conditions for the last day out. Mona and Melba moved up another gear today releasing all 17 sails from 26 bites while Mike and Ronnie yelled instructions from various (seated) positions while supping freshly blended lime margaritas. Another flurry in the afternoon helped the girls release a total of 8 double headers of the 9 we had in 3 days of fishing with Mona’s personal total hitting 23, and 18 to Melba…..nice going girls!!
Melba and Mona with one of the 8 double headers....
Hill Dishman fished the 31’ Jupiter for two days, 7th and 8th releasing 17 sails the first day out and 11 on the 8th, he also raised another blue marlin making it the 4th blue marlin in as many days fishing on Jupiter, the fish teased in close to the boat though didn’t switch to the pitched mackerel.
April 3rd and 4th Steve Goodchild introduced Guatemala’s fishery to Tim Leonard, Greg Lusk, Gerald Lusk, Tom Harfield and Robert Dame, all from Houston. Steve has fished down here several times now and hoped he hadn’t talked it up too much with the guys expecting more than could be delivered……No worries though, on their first day out they fished with Capt Tyson aboard Strike Zone and had a good introduction releasing 6 sails from 8 bites. Aboard ALLURE the next day we went solo out to the west, the moved seemed to pay off as we got into steady action including a quadruple hook up, 3 sailfish and a nice 45lb mahi mahi. We released the sails and then concentrated on getting ‘lunch’ boated.
Gerald Lusk and lunch..
We ended the day with 16 releases from 32 bites. 10-15NM to the east of us the fleet saw some good action also with the boats releasing up to 30 sails, we got into where they were at the end of the day though the bite seemed to have slowed down, the move not paying off for us.
MARCH 29th-APRIL 3rd ON THE FLY
Eric Wright and a big fly caught sail.
Cor blimey…..All the way from London, England, Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove joined us on ALLURE for 6 days of fly fishing. The guys were experienced freshwater fly fishermen though absolute first timers at billfishing, they came out specifically to learn what it took to catch big blue-water fish on the fly. The crew aboard ALLURE had been looking forward to this trip for a while as we hadn’t done many fly charters this year and there is nothing like the thrill and team work involved in getting the bite out of well teased billfish on the fly. Also with a 6 day charter we knew the chances of getting into some good fishing for the guys were better. Cammy Sigler sorted Eric out with a Cam Sigler 14wt fly rod coupled with a Tibor Pacific reel before the trip while Steve used our top quality gear on board, a Cam Sigler 14wt rod coupled with a Billy Pate Bluefin reel. After a briefing on the morning of day one we got off to a flyer with first Eric, then soon after Steve releasing their first sailfish on the fly from their first bites, a perfect start! The day slowed down from there on in with the fish raised very lethargic till later in the afternoon when they turned on again. We ended up with 13 sails raised into the spread, 5 of those biting the fly and releasing 3. Day two we ran further off-shore where the Sheeder brothers had found some good action the previous day to the west, we had steady action all day raising 20 sails, and Eric and Steve continued on their good form, doing everything right and releasing 5 sails from 8 bites. There were some big fish tough fish in the mix today including these two fatties pictured.
We ran back out to the same area for day 3 though it seemed even more difficult for those of us on the fly today, the sails were very tough to tease in. The guys on baits were doing well though most of the fish we saw would peel off half way in or come up and whack the teaser once and disappear. Near the end of the day we had only 1 release so we tried to the west trolling down the edge, with just 20 mins left in the day before having to run in we raised a hot fish for Eric and got a great bite out of it, after getting the fish boatside and removing the fly the teasers were out again, soon after another hot fish came into the spread and this time Steve laid out a good cast, got the bite and struck well for a good hook-set. We released his fish and in extra time had a double of hot fish in the spread, Eric cast and set perfectly against the bite, fish on, meanwhile mate Julio was keeping the second fish hot on the teaser with the boat out of gear while Steve cast the second fly for an instantaneous aggressive bite. With both fish running in different directions it took a while though we ended the day with a double release on the fly. 19 raises 8 bites and 5 releases with 4 of those coming in the last 20 mins of the day.
Day 4 in the hope of finding some good aggressive fish on the teasers we went further to the west, we started the day breaking out the 12 wt fly rod and catching 6 mahi mahi off some flotsam, good fun and good eating. When we got into the sails later in the morning the fish we saw did tease in a little better though the bites were not great and hard to convert into solid hook-ups. 21 sails raised today 11 bites and 4 releases as well as another double for the guys who were becoming more familiar, aware and better as the trip went on. With just a couple of days left we kept up the talk of a couple of goals set at the start of the trip, 10 releases in a day and a blue marlin on the fly. The previous day the guys on baits had an excellent day with some big numbers further to east off the edge, we worked this area hard trying for 10 releases, we raised 31 had 11 bites and the guys did everything right releasing 7. Unfortunately we jumped off one of a double and had some bad luck on another. Either way, a great day on the fly. On our last day out Eric started the day perfectly, with a release from our first bite, we raised another 2 fish missing one on the bite. Later in the morning the fish we had been waiting for came up on our long flat teaser, the blue marlin teased in aggressively and in no time mate Julio had the teased the fish in, the boat was knocked out of gear and Steve cast the fly. The fish turned and came up for a perfect bite from left to right, Steve struck against the bite and it was on. After the initial fireworks and the 20lb tippet still holding together we knew we were in for a chance, Steve had learnt enough and when the fish peeled off deep into the spectra backing the drag was backed off. When things settled down he put the heat on palming the reel and with short pumps unsettling the fish. Still this was one tough customer, we pulled different angles on the fish and it came up 8 times during the fight, 6 of these times jumping and head shaking, amazingly the hooks held and the tippet remained intact, every time we got near the fish on the surface it just pulled away diving deep and into the backing again. With the fish hooked at about 1110 and Steve hitting different stages of exhaustion during the heat of the day he held tough and pumped the fish up for the last time at around 1450 to get it boatside. 3 ½ hours on the end of the rod with a big tough fish is something else and Steve was elated when he finally beat the blue of a good 250++lbs. From a novice to achieving one of (if not the) the pinnacles in blue water flyfishing it was a great way to finish the trip. Eric’s only regret was that he didn’t book 10 days instead of the 6……With 25 sails released from 45 bites on the fly, 1 blue marlin and a few mahi mahi it was a helluva introduction to blue water flyfishing, great job to the guys and we hope to see them back next year.
Eric and Steve with blue marlin release flag on the fly.
27th-28th March Hal Boggs organized a 2 day trip for Glen Mericle and Joe Barnwell, in 2 days of fishing we released 14 sailfish from 24 bites. By the end of the trip they were hooking their own fish and this helped contribute to a few doubles and a triple hook up at the end of the second day. Nice job and a good introduction to pitch baiting to billfish!
23rd-25th March, first day out Heather Rose, and father and daughter team Bill and Rachel Long joined us on ALLURE, it was a bit testing today with another stiff ENE wind making conditions a little tough on everyone in the morning, the girls fished well with 8 from 14 bites and 3 mahi’s. The big disappointment was early in the day with a sailfish hot on the short teaser and another sail coming up on the rigger bait then seeing a nice sized blue marlin crash the flat teaser, with all hands on deck trying to bait sailfish the marlin got a hold of the teaser and disappeared before we could get to the teaser rod…..On day 2 Nate McAllistar and Ashley Erekson joined us, they did everything right releasing 12 sails from 15 bites, we also missed a blue of about 250lbs and landed a nice mahi. On the groups last day out we live baited for a few hours trying for a blue, while pulling a live bonito around a school of spinner dolphin the spinners suddenly panicked and speed off in the opposite direction to where they were coming from. We soon saw why when a group of about 8 false killer whales chased the back corner trying to split the group. We looked on though flipper got away…….this time, still, it was sight to see! We got back to trolling later in the day and released 7 sails from 10 bites, and ironically soon after quitting the live baiting raised a blue on the Joe Yee Super Plunger and got the bite on the pitched mackerel though our bad blue marlin luck continued for this group with the hook pulling……
As April moves on the blue marlin bite should get better and the sails as always consitently biting well. If anyone wants to target blue marlin on conventoinal light or heavy tackle we have all the gear on board. The rainy season starts late May and can mean some off-shore squalls though nothing too bad with most of the rain falling in the late afternoon and evening. Get in touch for further info with Rods and Reels.
Pat and Dan with Clay and Julio
March 16th-17th Dan Wheat took along son Pat and his friend Clay Raven, both 17yr old seniors to start off their last High School Spring Break with 2 days of fishing on ALLURE here in Guatemala. They timed their trip well with great weather, blue water and plenty of billfish action keeping adrenaline levels high for the majority. Neither of the boys had caught billfish before though at the end of day one they were angling like pros with 15 sailfish releases from 25 bites and a nice 30lb mahi mahi.
Dan got in on the action as well and was a true natural at pitching baits to the fish off the teasers and came tight on them all. Things slowed a little for us on day 2, we found the fish further up the ledge and had good action in the morning though it slowed down in the afternoon, still a good day missing few fish with 9 releases from 11 bites and another nice mahi in the 25lb range. The highlight of the trip came in the last 10 minutes when we raised a nice blue on the short teaser, an aggressive bite on the pitched mackeral saw Pat Wheat hooked to a solid 320lb+ blue marlin.
The fish went ballistic and put on a spectacular show before going deep, great work on the rod by Pat had the fish up in 20 mins and released. Great job and congratualtions on first sails and marlin to Pat and Clay. Dan's only regret with the trip was that he booked only 2 days instead of 3......
JOHNSON GROUP SPRING BREAK '09
L-R Kathy Johnson, Denver Harrison, Bailey Crenshaw, Mimi Edge, Lauren Marple, Hastings Cockard (with marlin flag) Heather, Hayley, Madeleine and Audrey Johnson.
17th-19th. El Jefe, Craig Johnson flew into Guatemala with wife Kathy and daughters Heather, Hayley, Audrey and Madeleine. Heather invited a few of her college friends to spend their Spring Break in Guatemala for 3 days of off-shore fishing and every night beer drinking down at the Sailfish Lodge and Casa Vieja. Apart from the partying the group had a great time here catching plenty of....
Mahi mahi
Sailfish.
And the perfect sized blue marlin for Hastings.
Though, it was kinda hard to concentrate on the fishing.........
I think everyone here on the dock hopes they choose Guatemala for Spring Break 2010!
19th March, Hill Dishman and Terrell Meaux came in a day before their group arrived and took the 31' Jupiter down to the west to check out the fishing, they did well with 7 from 9 releases on the sails and beauty 350lb blue marlin on the 30lb tackle for Hill, at over 10 to 1 on the line class that's a helluva a catch.
The next day John Codrington, Todd Mucha and Jim Nance came into town and joined Hill and Terrell aboard ALLURE for the day, we raised 18 sails, got 15 to bite and released 10. On the 21st the group was complete with Mike and Steve Sledge, Tim Witt and Keith Tennison joining the crew. The group were in Guate to celebrate John's last weekend before getting married with a few days of fishing. The group split between ALLURE and Jupiter and on Saturday 21st we went 14 from 19 bites, great numbers from the guys, we also had a blue marlin up that didn't bite, on the Jupiter they did get a blue marlin bite though missed it. On the last day out Sledge was true to his word and didn't miss a fish all day adding to the good numbers 9 from 11 bites. The Jupiter was hot with a 3rd blue marlin bite in as many days though unfortunatley it didn't stick, they also got into the sails with 7 from 12 and several mahi mahi in the mix over the 3 days of fishing.
Steve, Todd, John, Hill, Terrell, Mike and Jim.
The guys finished off their trip going to Antigua for their last night here in Guatemala and dinner at Nokiate followed by a big night out at the legendary Cafe No Se, trying out the assortments of tequilas and mezcals......ouch.
The fishing has been steady with plenty of marlin in the mix and things are looking good for the coming week. There is still availability in April and May and we'd love to get out there, contact Rods and Reels for a customized package, great specials to be had May through November.
Matthew Jeter and his first billfish.
5th-6th March had Chief Tuazin back in the Guatemala this time with Matthew Jeter both from Houston. After a 12NM run we put out the spread and inside 15min we had a small blue marlin hot on the small Pakula flat line teaser. Acting on instinct Chief pitched the ballyhoo bait back, he was politely told to remove it as it was a marlin, not a sail, while the mackerel on the 50lb gear was pitched. All a little late though the marlin crushed the ballyhoo with a great bite and all was good as we watched him come tight, it was the perfect size for the 30lb gear at around 150lb’s. We lost use of an engine while on the fish so it took a little longer to get the release though Chief did well on the rod and had the fish boatside after around 35mins. After that it was back to the marina where the guys transferred to the Jupiter for the rest of the day. They raised 3 sails in the afternoon and caught a mahi. The next day on the Jupiter raised 7, and released 3 from 5 bites and boated a couple of mahi mahi.. Mike Jeeter had a great first time down here in Guatemala plans to get back here soon.
D. Scott Wise and son Harry from New York on an early Spring Break hooked up with Steve ‘Doc’ Sanford from Vermont and Townsend Hilliard from Houston for 3 days of fishing on ALLURE from the 9th through 11th for their first trip to Guatemala. For the first day we looked for blue water and found it about 30NM to the west and gave the guys a great introduction to Guatemala raising 11 sails in the first hour and half of fishing! We ended the day with 25 sailfish in the spread and 13 releases from 23 bites.
Harry Wise fighting one of his many saifish...
.....and the results.
Here today gone tomorrow seems to be the theme for most of the season so far and it was today, we trolled back to where we’d had the best action the day before to find the best bite was 15NM back to the east. 7 releases today from 15 bites. With marlin on the mind we concentrated our efforts on the last day on the western edge and bottom of the pocket, it was kind of tough for the whole fleet today with little action though we did get into a couple of nice mahi mahi and released 3 from 5 bites on the sails. The guys finished off their trip in style staying at the El Convento in Antigua for the last two nights and enjoyed a full day visiting the Azotea Coffee Farm and a walking tour of the town.
From Alabama we had Dr’s Lee Franklin, Tom Canthon and Chris Duggar along with Hospital Boss Don Henderson from the 13th through 15th of March. Lee and Tom are Guatemalan veterans though it was Don and Chris’ first offshore experience here. Also our first time east in sometime today and we got called into some action off-shore of where we started late in the morning to find a reasonable sailfish bite. 15 raised and 8 releases from 11 bites had the guys back in the swing of things. With the satellite report showing a nice temperature break way out the west we decided to go that way for day 2. The reports from most of the fleet indicated a slow bite so we trolled our way down the west along the edge. Early in the day a small marlin in the 150lb range came into the spread, it refused the pitched mackerel though dropped back and ate the trolled ballyhoo, we came tight on the fish though unfortunately pulled the hook. Around lunch time further down the edge we raised a nice blue in the 300-350lb range on the short teaser. The fish stayed in the spread for sometime and we got a couple of nice bites on the mackerel though missed it…….ouch. In extra time at the end of the day the 3rd blue marlin for the day was red hot on the same teaser, a great bite resulted in a solid hook-up and Don Henderson’s first blue marlin of around 220lb’s put on a great show before getting the release and heading home.
Don's marlin....
We also released 4 sails from the 5 sails that did bite for the day. The guys started their last day out with 9 mahi’s to about 12lb’s ensuring fresh mahi sandwiches for lunch and sashimi at the end of the day. To the east a bite was found and we ran into it later in the day, plenty of free jumpers indicated a lot of fish in the area though it was tough getting them into the spread, a triple from a quad was the highlight of the 7 releases from 10 bite for the day. Great fishing Dr’s!! See you back here next year…….
Settled weather, blue water, it's all looking good out there. The marlin bite traditionally gets better from late March on and we have some openings so get in touch to get into it. The bite is picking up, today we went 15 from 25 and there were several blues seen......
As mentioned in the last report things were on the change with blue water moving in from the west, though still a little cooler and off-color out wide. Because of this we ran out to the west most days looking for an incoming bite. This week we started with Edward Barnhill and his good friend Paul Proffitt on the Feb 24th to Feb 26th and after a long run to the west we found some good water, still a little slow with 3 releases from 5 bites and 4 mahi's. The boats fishing out front today had a pretty good marlin bite with 5 raised amongst 4 boats and a couple caught. Still with what we saw to the west we persisted and went back though a little more in-shore. First fish in the spread today was blue of around 200-250lb's, we got the bite on the mackeral though the fish got bill wrapped and pulled off on the first jump.....that hurt. For the rest of the day we raised 8 sails had 7 bites and released 4. Out front here the marlin bite continued with 3 being released, 2 to the Circle Hook and Capt Eddie, nice going as he got the 2 yesterday as well!! He was in the zone for sure, congrats to Eddie and his anglers.
Still things were looking better and better to the west so we stayed out that way and on our last day with Edward and Paul things turned on a little more. In beautifull blue 84'+ water we raised 17 sails today getting 8 from 14 bites. There were some finiky fish out there though most of the boats raised a fair amount of fish and things were looking better every day with lots of bait at around 50ft-75ft on the sounder and a few jumpers around.
Feb 27th to March 1st, owner Hill Dishman hosted good friends Robert Blevins, Bill Fisher and Haig Wright from Alabama.
L-R, Haig Wright, Hill Dishman, Robert Blevins and Bill Fisher, these guys know how to party AND fish and had a blast for the 3 days aboard ALLURE.
Back 30NM to the west we had a slow start to the day with our first fish being released at 1130 with a double of sails, the next fish in the spread was an est 120+lb blue that went from teaser to teaser though refused the pitched mackeral. For the day we released 7 from 11 bites on the sails and had another blue in the 250lb-300lb class bite the trolled rigger bait though unfortunatley pulled off after showing it's size with a greyhounding jump. Add 4 nice sized mahi's to the days total and a great day!
The next day we left the fleet and went solo 40NM down to the west though not more than 20NM off the beach. We had steady action all day covering a large area as we trolled back to the east. 30 sailfish raised today, 26 bites and great averages with 19 releases.
Our last day out with the Alabama boys and after trolling the deep water in the pocket looking for a marlin we headed back to where some sails were being seen just 20NM from the Marina to where the fleet was fishing, we got into them a little late though still had a great day with 17 raised 14 bites and 10 releases.
The good life....Robert, Hill and Haig enjoying Cuba Libres on the way home.
By all accounts it looks as though March could turn on big time as the weather settles and the blue water pushes back in. We are booked fairly solid fishing most days this month though there are a few openings in April and into May, both great months and traditionally more marlin are seen as well. Get in touch with us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing for more info on personalised packages...
A big body of cooler green water moved into Guatemala and it has been hard work though through it all there has still been some reasonable fishing with plenty of marlin in the mix. Mahi's have been thick and the sails have been finiky though they are still around and as this is written the warmer blue water is moving in and things look as though are on the change.
John Buckley with his first billfish.
On the 14th and 15th we had Dr Rihl Buckley and his son John along with friends and another father and son team Ken and Andrew Ruddy all from Houston Texas. There was a pretty good marlin bite the day before to the east so we concentrated our efforts there. It was hard work with the best water being a clean green and under 81'. Plenty of big mahi-mahi kept the action going through the day with 11 being landed to over 30lb's. We also raised 4 sails getting 3 to bite and releasing 2. One blue charged the short teaser though faded before the bait could be pitched and came back on the rigger bait pushing water though didn't eat. A few blues were caught today and plenty were seen.
Andrew Ruddy and Dr Rihi Buckley with a couple of nice bull mahi's.
The following day proved better for the guys fishing on the 31' Jupiter, they released a nice blue of around 300lb's, 2 sailfish and a couple of mahi's to boot.
15th and 16th we welcomed back on ALLURE Jon Theaukauf, he has been fishing with us here for the past 5 years in Guatemala and this time with friends from Switzerland Christian Machalf and sons Dominic and Yanic. Jon was on form hooking all the fish for his friends and even hooking a triple and passing the rods on which was pretty work. We ended day one with 14 sails raised and releasing 8 from 9 bites, the last fish of the day breaking the line. Plenty of mahi's today as well with 10 to around the 27lb mark. Nice work by Dominic and and Yanic who are 12 and 9 respectively and fished extremely well. 12NM to the east of us today there was reasonable marlin bite going on with Bill O'Keefe and grandsons Matthew and Jay on Fishy Business releasing a small stripey and a nice 350lb black marlin though missed out on the slam by a sail. Unlucky though congrats in a helluva day.
The next day started off with a blue marlin hot on the short teaser that we got to bite though unfortunately missed. We had an early day back at the dock though Jon kept up good form on the sails going 3 from 3 bites and plenty of big mahi's.
17th and 18th, all the way from Utah we welcomed back Andy and Mitch Johnson, Dean and Mary Hope Mortenson and Chris. A long run off-shore looking for good water paid off as it was tough fishing for the majority of the fleet. We got everyone into some fish with 5 from 7 bites on the sails and 4 big mahi-mahi. The next day a long way to the west things were slow, though some whale watching with 4 humpbacks broke up the day. Fishing wise we did OK with mahi's to 25lb's and 2 from 4 bites on the sailfish. Hard work though we had a great time with this very enthusiastic group. Looking forward to seeing you guys back!
20th and 21st Craig and Kathy Johnson were joined by Mike and Julie O'Brien. With the best water being just off-shore, about a 4 mile wide stretch of blue water just a fewmiles off the beach we worked it hard for a couple of bites. The next day on the 31'Jupiter we went off-shore getting into Mikes first sailfish and nice 30lb+ mahi-mahi.
Mike and Alex with Mikes first sailfish...
As mentioned, things are on the up out there with still plenty of marlin bites and the sailfish are moving back in with the warmer, bluer water. More reports next week.....
During the 'No Sancocho' no marlin were released though several were raised during the tournament none did bite. This changed the day after with marlin releases in amongst a very good sailfish bite in a nice blue band of water from just 5NM to 15NM off the beach.
On ALLURE we started back out on the water on Feb 3rd with the Jim Williams organized group consisting of Jim himself, and Don Smith from Wisconsin along with their good friend Ron Hauck from NJ. We were on the long wand for the next 3 days which is always an adrenaline blast teasing in fish to the back of the boat to cast the fly and watch the action just feet from the transom. Jim and crew are Guatemalan regulars and this was their 3rd year with us here on ALLURE.
On day one we got into a good bite just 10NM off the breakwall and raised 31 fish into the spread, of the 31 raised 14 did bite the fly though some of the bites were not very aggressive, still it was a great way to start the trip with 6 releases. The following day it took a little while to get onto the fish though the ones we did see were excellent for the fly, we raised 14 had 7 bites and returned with excellent averages and 5 releases.
On our last day out a stiff NE'ster kicked in and made conditions tough on the fly, we looked off-shore without much luck before heading into a bite we found to the west of the fleet just 11NM from the Marina Pez Vela. In this area we raised 30 sailfish though teasing them in was difficult, and getting them to bite was tough as well. We did get 5 releases for the day from 15 bites. A great time was had as it always is with these guys. The boats out there fishing baits over these past few days did well with averages of 25 and up to 30 a piece. Sometimes that can be the difference though just seeing the bite on the fly makes up for that!!
7th and 8th we were back on the baits with now a real regular down here in Guatemala Chief Tauzin back down after the competing in the 'No Sancocho' and Whitt Broussard who also can't get enough of what we have on offer here with his second trip to Guatemala this season.
The previous 4 days had blown quite hard from the NNE and stirred things up with the cooler water being lifted to the surface as the winds never let up. On our first day out the winds had died down though there had been big changes in the water quality and temperature. The best water on offer was just 6-10NM off the beach so we worked it hard all day and ended with 7 raises, 5 bites and 4 releases. It was tough going for the whole fleet with much of the same and the boats that did venture out experiencing cooler, greener water.
On the 8th we invited Cam Sigler Jnr aboard for the day and ran far to the west looking for better water and ended up 50NM from home, the move was worth it though with the first hook-up of the day being a feisty blue marlin of about 120lbs. The fish was hot and all over the flat line teaser, Chief pitched the ballyhoo on the 30lb gear and got a tremendous going away bite. He's learnt alot here in the last few trips to Guatemala and it showed as he controlled the spool well and the bite resulted in a solid hook-up. The fish was a tough one and it took some time to get the release as the last series of jumps got him tail wrapped. We got him boatside quick enough to revive him though and he swam away strong which was a relief to see.
Chief and Mate Alex reviving the small blue before release.
The rest of the day saw great action with mostly multiples coming into the spread, we raised 12 sails and released 7 from 10 bites before changing to the fly for the last hour of the day. Cammy Sigler gave Chief some quick instructions and a practice cast couldn't even be attempted before we had a double of sails on the teasers. Chief's first cast of a fly rod ended up with a great hook set and release, thanks for the expert help Cam!. We raised another 3 sails and got 2 more bites, pulling the hooks one one while attempting the double on the fly.
The one man show.....Chief Tuazin with a nice sail on the fly.
January 31st-February 1st Casa Vieja hosted what is fast becoming Guatemala's premier tournament, the 'NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT', organized by Tournament Director Hill Dishman and Craig Johnson. This year we had a record 11 teams in the event and there was some big money on the line as the Calcutta pot reached $21,300 after bidding on the opening night. Daily money pots totalled $17,600 including $3000 for top daily team, $1400 to second placed team and other pots like the 'whale pot' $400 to the first team to spot a whale (won at 0715 on the first day). Biggest dorado, the consolation pot which went to the winner of the bottom placed 5 teams on the last day and various other payouts. The best rule of the tournament is $20 paid for every sancocho (bites missed) by anglers which is then donated to a local school here in Puerto San Jose. Despite this being the 'No Sancocho' there were in fact 262 'Sancochos' resulting in $5240 raised for this great cause. That's 262 misses from the 434 sailfish released on baits/conventional tackle and 34 on the fly in the 3 day tournament.
With the breakdown being 10pts for every sail released on bait, 25pts on fly (optional at midday on day 2) 50pts for a marlin on 50lb, 75pts for marlin on 20lb and 100pts for a marlin on fly it can really throw the tournament wide open to the teams sober enough to actually fish well.
To the fishing, and overall it was good with bodies of fish scattered from far and wide to right in close 6-9NM off the beach as well. The fleet was spread out and on day one Team Four Fat Boys were hot with Lance Stanfill, Mike Fox, Cliff Price and John Gallio fishing aboard Fishy Business doing little wrong taking out the daily with 21 releases. 3 teams tied for 2nd, Circle Hookers, Reel Nasty and Team Penguino all with 16 releases.
Hill Dishman presents a target at the end of the day.
On day 2 the fleet was spread between where Four Fat Boys had there luck inshore and 27NM to the east which proved the better bite. The deciding factor today was mixing it up on the fly for the extra points which is what Team Decisive cosisting of Steve Cothron, Scott Lund and Harvey Steinhagen III did most effectively with 16 releases on the bait and 5 on fly. This gave them 285 pts and the overall lead with 375 pts, closely followed by Reel Nasty's Brad Kline, Jamie Dishman, Chris Bean and Mark Feritta fishing aboard Intensity with 20 releases and 360pts overall. Four Fat Boys on Fishy Business had 14 releases for the day giving them 3rd spot overall with 350pts and Hill Dishmans Circle Hookers team of Brad Cargieser, Houston Jouhnson and Drew Donaldson were still in the hunt on Allure with 18 releases for the day and 4th spot overall with 340pts. 2nd day money was split between Reel Nasty and Yo No Cuido aboard Finest Kind with 20 releases a piece.
Team Tenacious keep their eyes peeled for the next billfish to come into the spread...and another sancocho?
Day 3 and Team Decisive really had it to themselves, with the fishing spotty to hard for most of the fleet Decisive was by far the hot boat with 375pts closely followed by Club No Minors Todd Johnson, Fred Herring, Brad Miller and Scott McShane on board Release who ended the day with 325pts. They were in the running for the consolation pot being near the bottom of the leader board to storm into second overall with the calcutta and second day money from their 9 releases on the fly (from 10 bites!!!) and 10 on the bait. As was mentioned Team Decisive had the hot hand with 25 releases on the bait and 5 on fly to take it with 750pts overall and taking home over $22,000 in winnings from the calcutta and dailies. Reel Nasty finished in 3rd and Circle Hookers followed with 4th spot.
The big emphasis in this tournament is to have a great time, enjoy good company and great fishing. This was definitely the case with probably too good a time adding to the ever growing total of sancochos, the school thanks you guys for that extra shot of tequila, one more rum and one more backlash........
There is big interest in next years tournament and with more teams involved the prize money is going to get bigger. The facilities at Casa Vieja are second to none here in Guatemala, all the boats are first class and the billfishing is the best in the world. If anyone has interest in getting a team together for next years event please contact us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing and we'll organize the rest.
No Sancocho Winners, Team Decisive, L-R Scott Lund, Harvey Steinhagen, Cpt Brad Phillips and Steve Cothron
MARLIN START BITING!!
Rick Leeth, Mike Bromles, Benjamin and Ricardo Soler with two blue marlin flags flying.
It was predicted that the marlin would start biting with the amount raised in the past few weeks and it seems they have started. On our last day out we released 2 blues on ALLURE with another 3 blues released amongst the fleet. Ronnie Hamlin on FINEST KIND got a black early in the day and missed the slam with a blue at the end of the day 'chewing' through the leader on the 30lb gear. Yesterday we had the day in though the marlin bite continued with visiting private boat 'Mojo' releasing 2 out of 4 bites all around a log loaded with bait. There were a few more flags flying on the dock as well.
Here is how our week was on ALLURE with the Rick Leeth group joining together from Florida, Louisiana and Seattle consisting of Rick Leeth, Mike Bromles and father and son Ricardo and Benjamin Soler.
On the 23rd it was a matter of looking for the fish as the bite inshore had died off, we trolled the deep water to the east and offshore for a slowish start to the day, we did raise a marlin that hit our short teaser and dissapeared just as quickly and released one sail and boated a 20lb mahi before lunch. In the afternoon we got into some nice looking water and into the sailfish as well, with the last 2 hours of the day being steady action and producing 12 bites, at the end of the day we had released 10 from 15 bites.
The following day we saw more fish though we had a tough time hooking them! We rasied 26 sails today, got 21 of them to bite and released 9 of those, not the best averages though that's the way it is sometimes. There were plenty of big mahi-mahi around today and we boated 4 nice ones up to 30lb.
On the group's last day out the wind picked up from the north east making conditions a little sloppy. We ran to the bottom eastern corner of the pocket and within seconds of putting the baits out a mahi-mahi ate the right long, we missed it and immediatley had a big fish bite the left long, Mike Bromles came tight and he was into a nice 220lb blue marlin that went ballistic on the first run tearing up the ocean down sea. Mike did a helluva job on the 30lb outfit and in testing conditions we released the fish after a hard 25min fight. What a way to start the day!! Hearing of some more marlin action in the area from a few other boats we concentrated our efforts here despite the majority of the fleet being in a pretty good sailfish bite 12NM off-shore of us. It paid off later in the morning with another blue all over the short teaser that switched to the pitched mackeral perfectly and birthday boy Benjamin Soler was into a solid 250lb blue!! Later in the day we eventually got into the sailfish bite and had steady action in the afternoon releasing 11 sails from 18 bites and 5 big mahi-mahi adding to the 2 blue marlin. What a great way to finish off a great trip here in Guatemala! The guy's are already planning their trip back here next year and we are looking forward to it.
The boats that were into the sailfish bite early offshore of us had a great day with up to 33 releases, though the boats that put the effort in on the inside eastern corner of the pocket were rewarded with marlin. Great fishing all round!
This week we have the infamous "NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT" coming to town, there are a record 12 teams in the event this year so be sure to check out the reports next week.
January continues to be a great month here in Guatemala with boats releasing 15-35 sails a day fairly consistently from the last report through to the 19th. There have been marlin and plenty of big mahi-mahi in the mix too making for action filled days here off the Guatemalan coast.
On ALLURE we had a couple of days in before getting back out into the action on January the 16th with Stallion Oilfield Services client Greg Mitschke along with SOFS COO Hill Dishman and from Sales Chief Tauzin. With reports of 2 bodies of fish offshore, one at just 12NM and the other at 30NM we opted to head straight out to around 25NM before putting them out. It turned out to be the right decision as the bite through out the day out-wide was very steady, the fish were biting a little funky though we released 3 out of a possible 4 triple headers to add to the 25 releases from 46 bites. Just after midday we had a very aggressive 200lb+ blue marlin all over the short teaser which resulted in a great bite on the pitched mackeral and Greg Mitschke got the release on this tough fish strapped into the 50lb stand-up gear. It was Greg's first day off-shore billfishing and what an introduction, landing a couple of big mahi's a bunch of sailfish and the blue marlin!
The following day the group headed out on the 31ft Jupiter with Capt Hill Dishman at the helm, a bit of a stiff ENE wind made conditions a little sloppy and he opted on staying in close for the first half of the day getting 9 releases before 1030. Conditions let up as the day got on so it was decided to push off-shore with the fleet. Another great day on the water returning at the end of the day with better averages and 16 releases from 21 bites as well as a couple more big mahi-mahi. Greg had the pitch-baiting techniques down by the end of his trip here which is what Guatemala is all about, getting enough shots at fish to be able to learn a bunch in a short time!
Greg Mitschke with a BIG sailfish aboard the Jupiter.
The 18th we had the Bowman family aboard ALLURE with Bill and Brenda Bowman fishing with brother Richard. Staying in Antigua the previous night we had a late start leaving the dock at around 1000, with the blue water pushing right in we put them out early hoping for a marlin in the deep water along the western edge of the pocket. It was slow going though and it wasn't till we got out near the fleet about 22NM off the breakwall that we started getting into the action. Releasing our first sail just before midday it was a very steady afternoon bite getting 19 releases from 27 bites and one big bull mahi-mahi. Great fishing by the trio esp Brenda who really handed it to them!
We were back out the following day on the 19th for a full day on the water, the bite really slowed down so we trolled down to the west looking for the main body of fish, it turned up empty though and we headed back to where the fleet was 'picking' at them. We ended with 9 releases from 17 bites and a big marlin on the short bridge teaser that had the adrenaline levels pumped, though the big fish refused the pitched mackeral bait. It seemed to be happening a bit over the last couple of days with plenty of marlin raised amongst the fleet on the teasers though few fish switching to the bait, or fading back before a bait could even be pitched! Still there are definitely a few around and we are waiting for them to turn on. The water is beautiful blue and there is a bunch of bait out there so we are expecting the fishing to remain good. More reports next week.....
ALLURE in the action on typical Guatemalan seas.....flat calm. Thanks for the shot Chris Starrs
We just finished an incredible week of fishing here in Guatemala with anglers on ALLURE releasing 198 billfish in the past 6 days, taking the total for 2009 to 250 releases in the first 10 days of the year!
All the boats out there got into the bite with the guys on fly releasing up to 29 in a single day early on in the bite before the fish started to get finiky on the teasers later on in the week.
It all started on Monday 5th with Team Wyoming coming into town consisting of Thomas Stephenson, John Kennedy and Dan Scott along with his grandson Jeremy Scott. These guys are marlin fisherman from way back with Tom, John and Dan competing in the past 16 Bisbee Black and Blue Tournaments. Things are a little different when it comes to sailfishing however, especially the way we fish here with teasers, pitch baits and trolled baits all rigged with circle hooks. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks but these guys picked up the technique of 'dropping back' in no time. Hooking all their own fish they returned some great numbers with 30 releases from 48 bites the first day out and a couple of nice dorado. Knowing where the bite was the following day we were straight into it and the guys did a great job with doubles, triples, quads and general mayhem adding to the 51 sailfish releases from 74 bites. On the 7th they had a lay day staying in Antigua for the day checking out the sites and resting up. They were back on the 8th for their last day aboard ALLURE and back into the bite, we started off a little rusty as things learnt in the first couple of days seemed to be forgotten though the averages swung around later in the day with 41 releases from 67 bites. What a great 3 days of fishing with 122 releases!! Nice going Team Wyoming, the crew on ALLURE had a blast fishing with you guys and we hope to see you again soon.
TEAM WYOMING, L-R, DAN SCOTT, JEREMY SCOTT, (Mate JULIO), TOM STEPHENSON, JOHN KENNEDY, Capt KIWI and Mate ALEX.
HBO's TEAM 'BIG LOVE' COMES TO GUATEMALA
On the 7th we hosted the team from HBO's hit show 'BIG LOVE' on ALLURE consisting of the shows writers Mark Olsen and Will Sheffer with the production team of Peter Friedlander, Bernie Caulfeild and David Knoller. The crew were in Guatemala celebrating the completion of filming the 3rd season of HBO's biggest show on TV. In the country for a week they finished up their trip with a day of offshore fishing with us aboard ALLURE. Because of the busy schedule and staying in Antigua we left the dock a little later than normal at 9AM though it wasn't long before we were into the fish. They all got into multiple sailfish releases and were amazed at the non-stop action here.
Equipo 'Amor Grande'From L-R: David, Peter, Bernie, Mark and Will with ALLURE mates and a big Guatemalan sailfish before release.
Before lunch and getting into the thick of the bite while making the turn on a hooked sailfish we got the bite out of a 200lb black marlin on the rigger bait on the 30lb tackle. A sailfish, marlin double!! Mark Olsen was hooked up to the sailfish and Peter Friedlander was into the black, we released the sailfish and then concentrated on the black marlin which put up a great series of jumps and fought hard on the light tackle. Peter did an excellent job on the rod, as these fish can be tough customers when they go down, and got the release in about 20 mins. Congratulations on a great fish Peter!
Mate Julio gets ready to take a wrap on Peter Friedlanders est 200lb black marlin.
We left the sailfish bite early in the afternoon a ran to the drop off at the bottom of the pocket and along the western edge looking for a blue marlin to complete the slam, unfortunately without any luck. Worth a try though and we ended the day with 21 sailfish releases and a black marlin. Nice going 'EQUIPO AMOR GRANDE'! We hope to see you all back here in Guatemala soon.
Jan 9th and 10th we hosted Jamie Dishman and Steve Fischer from Houston for the last couple of days of the week. The fishing started off hot in the morning as the ENE wind kicked up and stayed on till midday when things got a bit slower. This was Steve's introduction to off-shore fishing and I think he is now spoilt for life with some amazing action witnessed. You can learn alot in a short time when the bites are coming thick and fast and Steve picked up the technique of how to use circle hooks quickly. Jamie is a Guatemalan veteran and the guys retruned the great numbers of 48 releases from 70 bites on their first day out!
A typically big sail takes to the air. Thanks for the shot Steve!
On their last day out we changed to the fly and had a hard time teasing the fish to the back of the boat as the bite slowed and moved offshore and to the west. Still we raised 29 sails into the spread and one marlin which we pitched the mackeral to and unfortunately missed. Of the 29 sails we raised for the day 11 did bite the fly and we released 6 of those.
Steve Fischer with another big Guatemalan sailfish
On the way home we encountered this small whale shark as well as seeing a couple of whales breaching. The amount of life out there this past week has been amazing, we also witnessed an est 500lb marlin chasing down a big 30lb bull mah-mahi to exhaustion before engulfing it....what a sight!
We have some openings in February, a couple of days in March and through into April. To come and get into the action get in touch with the team at Rods and Reels Sportfishing Adventures for a personalised package.
We had the week off from the 20th of December though the fishing was great right up to 24th and the 26th with the boats that did fish releasing 20-30+ sailfish and a few marlin seen as well. Since the 27th we have been fishing and the action has been steady with good fishing all round and some great days as well. Today we were called in from the west to the bottom eastern corner of the pocket by some of the fleet who had found some pretty good action. Guatemala is great like that, there are no secrets and everybody shares information, we trolled over the bottom of the pocket and sure enough there was bait and birds working the east side, mahi's were feeding on the surface and sails free jumping with regularity. On ALLURE we saw about a 30lb bull mahi mahi jumping with exhaustion as a 500lb+ marlin chased it down and after several attempts engulfed the worn out mahi. What a sight! We rigged up a 15lb mahi as live bait soon after with no luck though crushed the sails in the afternoon as we got into the bite. After lunch, just before 1300 we had just 5 sailfish releases and by lines out at before 1600 we had released 30 sails from 48 bites and boated a couple of nice mahi mahi with the Thomas Stephenson group from Wyoming. The other boats working the same area raised a few blues though none were released, let's hope they are a bit more aggresive in the spread tomorrow. The boats that ended up way out to the west experienced some reasonable blue marlin fishing though less sailfish action. This has how things have panned out the last week or so:
Mike Marshall into a blue on ALLURE.
January 2nd through 4th we hosted the Pacific Fins based 'Chesapeak' group with 3 rotating anglers for the 3 days. This group normally fish Cabo San Lucas, though with the great accomodations and hospitality, not to forget the incredible fishing, have decided to re-book Guatemala as their annual fishing trip. On ALLURE alone 35 sails from 51 bites were released along with some big mahi's to 30lbs boated. The action was about the same accross the board for the other boats with the exception of a 250lb blue released by the Captain Hook.
Photo by Mike Shores of Toby Solis' live-bait caught marlin.
December 30th-Jan 1st ALLURE shareowner Hill Dishman was joined by his wife Donelle and their friends. The fishing was great with 14 releases out of 21 bites on day one. The group started on the Jupiter on the 31st getting a couple of sails and finished the day on ALLURE, we left the dock at 1330 and fished just 5NM off the beach releasing 4 sails and boating a nice mahi. On our last day out the fishing picked up off-shore with 17 out of 21 bites. After spending New Years Eve on the coast enjoying an incredible firework dispaly the group finished up in Antigua for a great dinner at Panza Verde and the beautiful accomodations of Vista Real. Antigua has to be experienced while on any fishing trip to Guatemala!
January 2nd and 3rd, Hill Dishman, after deciding to stay on a couple more days, fished solo with Capt/Mate Richard Bowan on the 31ft Jupiter had a great time releasing 5 from 7 in close and out wide on the edge 12 sailfish from 14 bites respectively....good numbers.
December 27th and 28th ALLURE co-owner Craig Johnson introduced his family to Guatemala for a couple of days of great fishing. On day one after a late start the group enjoyed typical Guatemalan conditions, flat seas and plenty of billfish action! 13 sails released from 20 bites and some mahi's to boot. The next day on ALLURE we stayed in a bit closer as the bite from the previous day moved further off-shore. There were a bunch of big mahi's caught today with 8 from 12 bites, all the fish were in the 20lb to 30lb weight range! They also released 9 from 12 sailfish bites before hitting the dock early.
The fishing has really picked up in the second half of December with some great days on the water with marlin, sailfish and plenty of mahi mahi's and the odd yellowfin tuna for the table.
On the 18th we welcomed back on ALLURE the Fred Herring group from Houston, Texas. Fred Snr and Jnr were here with great memories of last years December trip and wondering if it could be matched. They obviously have some great mojo about them because the fishing went off, again! This time they brought with them Fred Jnr's partner Mel and friends John and Nancy Keely also out of Houston for their first trip to Guatemala. Things got off to a slowish start on their first day out though picked up after Fred hooked and landed the first sail of the trip. Next up was John Keely, and what an introduction to billfishing for him as the next fish in the spread was a blue marlin pushing the 200lb mark on the short left teaser. He did an excellent job on the rod and we got the release after a short tough fight on the 50lb stand-up gear. The fishing got hot in the middle of the day with doubles, triples and a quad adding to the total of 27 sailfish releases from 38 bites and a couple of mahi mahi to 20lbs. Great job crew!!
Their last day out on the 19th was more of a challenge with a cold front moving in and making conditions a bit sloppy out there. Still they hung in with a couple of triples keeping everyone on their toes with 24 releases from 35 bites and two big mahi mahi for fresh sashimi at the end of the day. The group are finishing their trip to Guatemala in Antigua for a couple of nights enjoying the sights with a couple of organized tours around this beautiul little town. We had a good time fishing with you guys and gals and we look forward to seeing you all back next year.
Dec 15th-16th had Mike Shores with Toby Solis and Gene Roberts on ALLURE for two days of fishing. Toby and Gene were both billfish virgins and they were blown away by the quality of the fishing with 28 sails in the spread and 17 releases from 25 bites. They also got 3 nice big mahi mahi to 32lbs. The next day they figured they'd caught enough sails and wanted to try for tunas and a marlin......so we left the sailfish bite looking for spinner dolphin and the yellowfin tunas. We found two big groups of spinners through the day though the tuna weren't on the bite unfortunately. At the end of the day we found lots of bait including big blue runners and bonitos busting around a log so we tried live baiting a couple of bonito tunas on the birds working the area and got Toby on to a nice blue marlin pushing the 250lb mark. The fish put on a great display and he got the release on the 50lb stand-up tackle. A great way to end the trip! We also caught 4 out of 8 sailfish and another 3 mahi's for the day. We hope to see Mike and the crew back down here for April.
Dec 12-13th Chief Tauzin brought down clients Whitt Broussard and Joe Pappenfort for a couple of days aboard ALLURE. The fishing previous to this trip had been good though a cold front that pushed in a 20knt ENE wind changed things and the fish were not biting all that good. We did get 6 sail releases from 8 bites and caught a bunch of good sized dodado/mahi-mahi to keep the action going. All in all they guys had a blast down here and Chief is due to come back down in January with Whitt also planning a return trip early in the next year.
Dec 8th-11th. The Mike Marshall organized group consisting of himself and 3 generations of the Bockmon family with Alan and his sons Greg, Steve and Jeff and Jeff's son 13 year Ryan. The group split between the two boats ALLURE and super panga QUE VELA with Capt Tom Boice for the 4 fishing days. They came down to Guatemala with 3 coolers planning to take home as much mahi-mahi and tuna fillets that they could and they weren't let down. The mahi's were biting good with well over 20 doarado landed, all in the 15 to 25lb+ weight range. We also got into some small yellowfin tuna and of course the billfishing was good especially the last two days. Alot of goals were achieved on this trip with everyone of the group catching their first sailfish with Greg Bockmon getting a horse of a 150lb sail on the first day out with Tom on QUE VELA. They all caught multiple sails on the baits and keen fly-fisherman Alan really only wanted one on the flyrod, on his last day on ALLURE we got him a beauty that tested his indurance though after a hard 20min workout he landed the big fish. On the previous day Alan also landed a 20lb mahi-mahi on the fly while fishing with Tom on QUE VELA. Young Ryan as well as releasing the first sail of the trip after just 10mins of fishing on ALLURE, achieved his goal in landing a 20lb rooster fish while fishing inshore on QUE VELA. Mike Marshall's goal was to beat his previous biggest fish, a 320lb yellowfin tuna, on day 3 while fishing aboard ALLURE he got his wish with a solid 350lb blue marlin. It was a spectacular bite on the pitched mackeral off the short right teaser that left everyone on board open mouthed in awe of the speed and power of the fat blue. Mike did well with the Black Magic stand-up gear and we got the fish boat-side after a hard 45min fight. We raised 3 blues in the 4 days getting the one release from 2 bites with the other spitting the hook as it came jumping toward the boat. QUE VELA also raised 2 blues though did not get the bite out of either of the fish. Congratulations all round, it was a fantastic trip for the group from California with lots of billfish action and 3 coolers full of fresh iced down fish to take home!
Previous to this ALLURE owners Craig Johnson and Hill Dishman showed their skill going 11 from 12 bites while here on a short trip. Also the Jupiter took out a local group for a half day of fishing and released an est 250lb blue, a couple of sails and landed 4 dorado.....not bad for a half day with the boat being back at the dock for 12.30!! The Jupiter and ALLURE have availability through January and into April and May. Contact Rods and Reels for more info on how to charter either of these proven fish catching boats.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGE OF GUATEMALA
PRESENTED BY INGUAT
THREE IS A CHARM FOR A-FIN-ITY
DECISIVE SWEEPS FINAL TWO ’08 PCCA EVENTS
WHERE: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
WHEN: November 21-22-23, 2008
TEAMS: 10 teams/30 anglers
CATCH: 210 sailfish/1 black marlin/1 blue marlin
The Presidential Challenge of Guatemala Presented by INGUAT historically provides red hot action which produces a close finish. This year we were not to be denied a final day of nail biting lead changes. Daniel Espinosa fishing aboard the Super Fly got the tournament started by releasing a sailfish at 8:44am on Day One. Unbeknownst to our anglers, an 5.9 earthquake hit off the coast of Guatemala which sent the billfish out of the area and made fishing very slow. Team A-Fin-Ity with anglers Davis Clapp, Henry Riggs-Miller and Gerber Chavez got off to a good start on the first day releasing a black marlin and some sails to top the daily leader board. A-Fin-Ity and Capt. Juanga Lopez earned top boat honors for the day.
Anglers arrived at Marina Pez Vela on the second day ready to get out to the fishing grounds and find the large schools of sails that make Guatemala famous. Team Decisive and anglers Bill Easum, Jimmy Taylor and Mike Vivieros made their move up the ladder by releasing thirteen sails by the 3pm lines out call. Capt. Brad Philipps led his team to the top spot for the day and claimed the tournament lead. Boats traveled far to find the fish and the long trip paid off for the Casa Vieja team fishing with Capt. Chris Sheeder on the Buddy Boy. Anglers Jim Turner, Roy Cronicher and Mike Wnek found the fish and started their upward climb. The IWFA team, Gwen Hahn, Diane Locke and Martha McNab made a move led by Diane’s blue marlin release.
At stake in the PCCA Guatemala was the prize for the Bertram/Evermarine Grand Champion Team and the Eagle Claw Grand Champion Angler Awards. Going into this event A-Fin-Ity had a sizeable lead due to an incredible catch in the Caribbean Cup tournament in Venezuela. Team Decisive was coming off a win in the PCCA –El Salvador and the luck was carrying over to Guatemala. On the final day of fishing, Decisive, was red hot. They added 2100 points to their total which gave them the win making them back to back PCCA champions. Decisive angler Bill Easum won the top angler honors with his 1300 points. Casa Vieja made it back to Marina Pez Vela just under the wire for scores to count. Their long run paid off and they claimed second place. Jim Turner accumulated 1200 points and took third place behind Henry Riggs- Miller from A-Fin-Ity on time. Not to be denied a top three team finish, A-Fin-Ity scored enough points to give them third place.
When the scored were tallied and recorded, scorekeeper Joan Vernon had to call in chief judge, Bill Boyce, to verifiy the results. Only one sailfish made the difference for the 2008 Grand Champion Team. After careful review, it was official – A-Fin-Ity won the Bertram/Evermarine Grand Champion Team award for the third consecutive year with a record 15,300 points. Decisive gave them a good run and was awarded second place with 15,200 points! The Costa Rica team, Maverick Sport Fishing with anglers Larry Drivon, Bim Lebo and Daniel Espinosa slid into the third place Grand Champion slot.
Anglers fish all year for points toward the Eagle Claw Grand Champion Angler honors. This year Henry Riggs-Miller won this prestigious award by accumulating 5300 points fishing in all four PCCA events. Jimmy Taylor also fished all of the PCCA tournaments and claimed second place angler with 3900 points. Right behind him as his teammate, Mike Vivieros, who fished three PCCA tournaments for a total score of 3750 points.
It was an exciting conclusion to an action packed Presidential Challenge Season. We conquered foreign governments, illnesses, earthquakes and weather but the Series Teams stuck it out to make this a successful year. The four tournaments raised $50,000 for various conservation projects. We thank our sponsors, anglers and observers for their loyal support of our Presidential Challenge Conservation Series events.
FINAL RESULTS
210 Sailfish / 1 Blue Marlin/1 Black Marlin
ALL ON CIRCLE HOOKS!
CONTENDER BOATS TEAM DIVISION
Trophies Sponsored by Marina Pez Vela, Quepos, Costa Rica
1ST PLACE TEAM: DECISIVE 3400 PTS – IGFA Offshore World Championship Invitation
2ND PLACE TEAM: CASA VIEJA 3100 PTS
3RD PLACE TEAM: A-FIN-ITY 2600 PTS
BAPTIST HEALTH INTERNATIONAL ANGLER DIVISION
1ST PLACE ANGLER: BILL EASUM 1300 PTS World Billfish Series Championship Invitation
2ND PLACE ANGLER: HENRY RIGGS MILLER 1200 PTS
3RD PLACE ANGLER: JIM TURNER 1200 PTS
KING SAILFISH MOUNTS BOAT DIVISION
TOP BOAT: DECISIVE 3400 PTS
2ND BOAT: BUDDY BOY 3100 PTS
3RD BOAT: A-FIN-ITY A-FIN-ITY 2600 PTS
BERTRAM EVERMARINE GRAND CHAMPION TEAM
1ST PLACE: A-FIN-ITY 15,300 POINTS
2ND PLACE: DECISIVE 15,200 POINTS
3RD PLACE: MAVERICK 6450 POINTS
EAGLE CLAW GRAND CHAMPION ANGLER
1ST PLACE: HENRY RIGGS-MILLER 5300 POINTS
2ND PLACE: JIMMY TAYLOR 3900 POINTS
3RD PLACE: MIKE VIVIEROS 3750 POINTS
THE 2009 PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGE CONSERVATION SERIES KICKS OFF
MARCH 20-21-22, 2009
IN CARRILLO, COSTA RICA
The 2008-2009 season is in full swing here in Guatemala and from here on in we will have regular up-dates about what has been happening on and off-shore starting with fishing today Nov 19th:
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The 31ft go fast Jupiter went out this morning for a half day charter with local coffee dealer Jaun Duran taking out his boss Marco Sharf from Austria. A great 4 hours fishing it was too with 8 sailfish raised in the spread, 6 bites, 4 releases and a big 40lb dorado topping the morning off.
The 31ft Jupiter is a great option for single anglers and small groups, being able to get to the action fast it has a great crew and top-notch gear as Grant Estman from South Africa found out. In Guatemala for the successful Club Nautico International Fishing Tournament Grant decided to stay on for the week following before heading off to fish another tournament in Mexico. He fished with us Nov 12th and 13th, the first day the fish were out at about 37NM though it was worth the run with 8 sailfish releases from 12 bites, 5 yellowfin tuna, a couple of big dorado and a 300lb blue marlin that unfortunately spat the hook on the 3rd jump. Day two and the sailfish action picked up with 12 releases from 18 bites and today a 500lb blue that was all over the short teaser though snubbed the pitched mackeral. Still an awesome sight and great fishing Grant!!
Nov 7th through 9th ALLURE hosted party group Rick Val from Chicago, Geoffrey Hopkins and Corey Survant from Corpus Christi and Brad Knape and Jay Survant from Houston. Down here to celebrate Corey last days on earth............as a single man, the guys had 3 days of great fishing. The first day saw them return to the dock with rums in hand and tales of 12 releases from 21 bites. They wanted dorado the next day so we got them on to 4 big mahi's and 8 out of 14 sailfish. A late start on the last day still saw good action with 4 releases from 8 bites and 5 big dorado with the fresh fillets packed on ice in a cooler bag to be brought home. Great fishing and great times had in Guatemala, we're looking forward to seeing you guys back down here in the New Year, that's if Corey is allowed........only joking buddy, congratulations and thanks for the photos Jay!
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The Jay Survant group from L-R Geoffrey Hopkins, Corey and Jay Survant, Rick Val and Brad Knape with one of the first releases of the day.
All the way from Holland for a fishing and sightseeing adventure for two weeks in total and 5 days of fishing Rods and Reels hosted Arjian Leget and Michiel den Hollander. The guys had a great trip with a few days in Antigua, also Lake Atitlan where they experienced the culinary delights of Chalet Meyers amongst incredible scenery and finished off their trip with a few days in the Mayan ruins of Tikal. Fishing with Tom Boyce aboard 'Que Vela'! they got into it all with sailfish, dorado, plenty of yellowfin tuna and adreneline levels went through the roof when a est 400lb+ blue marlin ripped through the spread and up on the short teaser though the big fish would not switch to the pitched bait. They had such a good time that they are already planning a return trip with a bigger group.
October 25th-26th and the Joe Cerrone group from Miami came down for their first trip to Guatemala. The fishing was good with sailfish and plenty of big dorado to 30lbs ensuring the guys had a good work out and plenty of fresh fillets for lunch and dinner. There was enough action for them to call in quits early on the second day and head up to Antigua for their last night at the beautiful Hotel Panza Verde.
In the local scene we have the 12th annual Presidential Challenge coming up this weekend and things start to get busy from here on in. We still have a few openings through the season though so beat the financial bullshit blues with an action packed Guatemalan fishing adventure aboard ALLURE, we'll make it your best trip yet! See you down here, contact info@rodsandreelssportfishing.com for a customized fishing package.
