Fishing11th through 24th January 2012

Stu Brandes, Ed Stein Dick Tron and Jim Lampe

A quick report from Guatemala.....

January 11th through 14th we hosted the Ed Stein organized group of the man himself Ed Stein, Jim Lampe, Stu Brandes and Dick Tron, the self named 'Team Old Geezers' had a combined age of 280 years between them. Mixing it up between the fly and the baits on ALLURE and CIRCLE HOOK the fishing was a bit tough the first few days though turned on at the end of their trip and they ended up releasing 35 on conventional tackle and 5 on the fly. We also raised a nice 200lb blue that we teased in 3 times for Ed to cast the fly to though each time the fly was snubbed......we ended up pitching the mackerel and got the bite and got a quicky on it before the fish threw the hook on the first jump. The Old Man and the Sea award went to Stu Brandes who despite suffering from MS managed to release 2 sails on the fly and a few on the baits, good on you Stu, looking forward to fishing all you guys again!!

Stu Brandes

Ed Stein
Next group to come into SAILFISH OASIS were for the second time this season Rihl and son George Buckley this time bringing friends Lake Lappert and father and son team Doug and Hobbs Renolds. The guys timed their trip well and the fish were snapping, they had two great dasy of fishing here raising 52 and releasing 30 sails from 44 bites in 2 days including several on the 20lb spinning tackle and a few nice mahi's to boot...

Lake Lappert with the smaller of his 2 nice mahi's

Next up from 17th-20th we had the Jory and Leigh Anne Bernard organized group consisting of 7 other couples:

From L-R Jory & Leigh Anne Bernard, Corey & Rachel Vincent, Brad & Nicole Bergeron, Richard & Tereza Grant, Steve & Lynn Cherbonneau, David & Pauline Ardoin, Terry & Cindy Morse, and Randy & Norma Morse
Mostly from Lousianna, partly Houston and Oklohoma the group were great fun and mixed it up with fishing between the 5 boats on standby, lazing around the pool at SAILFISH OASIS, golfing at the wonderful La Reunion Golf Resort on the side of Volcan Fuego and for some a walking tour and shopping in the Spanish Colonial city of Antigua just an hour away. Despite mixing it up for the 3 days the group still released 81 sails with the hard-core fishermen in the group Richard Grant and Brad Bergeron releasing 50 between the 2 of them in just 2 days of fishing!!! For alot of the group their first billfish releases were racked up....and 2nd.....and 3rd.....On the last day with the main bite slowly diminishing and pushing further off-shore after a late start on ALLURE we decided to try inshore to the east. We found plenty of this:


Sailfish under birds balling up small baits, wads of bait and sails over a large area which resulted in a couple of these:

Leigh Anne, Jory, Lynn and Steve with another release
Though for the amount of fish out there it ended up being very frustrating as getting them to stay on the teaser or even eat the swimming baits was very tough, still always a great sight to see and somewhere to go the following day. We enjoyed our days with this group and they had some great comments including:
"Dear Kiwi, Liz, Nick and Staff, What a wonderful 4 days in Guatemala! Nick and his crew were outstanding! Fishing-Food-Friends and Memories couldn't have been better! Liz and Kiwi, we'll be back! Thanks for the hospitality! Jory and LeighAnne Bernard.
And this one from Richard and Tereza Grant:
"I've spent 25 years chasing billfish all over the Gulf of Mexico, South Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean and have NEVER had a trip like the one to SAILFISH OASIS- 26 sails in 2 days on 20lb tackle. Great boat. Great spot. Great fishing!!"

21st and 22nd we had from Beaumont and Dallas respectively Larry Fagg and Wayne Beason, great characters and seasoned travellers having fished all through the Americas on their first jaunt to Guatemala.... We went back to the east with the majority of the fleet and found more of the same the next day, sails balling baits though hard to get them interested in coming into the spread no matter what we tried. We did release 6 for the day and a nice mahi though as it was frustrating we headed far down the west corner the next day looking for more aggressive fish. Late in the afternoon we found some good activity raising a marlin that stayed deep on the teaser and raised 12 sails releasing 6 from 9 bites, a great afternoon!!

Larry and Wayne with the last sail for the trip

Today the 24th we started a trip with JR Turnbull for his second trip back to SAILFISH OASIS and Carter Drummond for his first. They fish a couple of days before the rest of their group get in on Wednesday night for another 3 days. We started inshore to the east again and experienced more sails that would at least come in aggressively on the teasers though still hard to get to switch to the baits, from the 12 sails raised the guys released 3 from 6 bites and a nice mahi boated. We saw plenty cutting bait and finning on the surface though no attitude. Early in the afternoon JR did a great job hooking, fighting and releasing his first black marlin of around 250lbs+ on 30lb tackle.....


Still plenty of sails inshore and it will only be a matter of time before they start snapping. We are booked fairly solid though there are some openings in March, more in April and May. I'm picking the late season to be a cracker here in Guatemala, come down and check it out, there is no place like it.....

27th Dec '11 through 7th Jan '12

The New Year bash at the SAILFISH OASIS just gets bigger and better, Hill and Donelle Dishman in party mode with Willie from the Blue Dawgs....This year's was the best yet with a huge asado (BBQ), big firework display and great party atmosphere for the capacity filled lodge.
To the fishing....

As predicted the bite went off before Christmas with boats releasing 30-40 sails a piece and some blues in the mix as well. Straight after Christmas we had the Denman Heard group down fishing 27th-28th. The fishing had slowed some and with a cold front pushing through though we still got all the guys into a few sailfish releases as well as a couple of tunas for the boys.

In between on our days off the bite picked up big time with a great blue marlin bite on the 29th, there were over 30 blues raised among the small fleet out with boats releasing up to 3, it slowed the next day for the marlin though the sailfish bite picked up in its place.
On the 31st we welcomed back Capt Kevin and Alicia Deerman who were fishing with us the same time last year on ALLURE to be joined by Hill and Donelle Dishman the following day. Also at the lodge were the Bryan O'Dell group of 6 fishing aboard the Circle Hook over the same period. Both boats experienced great fishing with the sails biting and blue marlin making their presence felt as well....
With Capt Kevin and Alicia on the 31st we fished up the west side of the pocket and the first fish of the day a marlin pushing water and knocking down the rigger bait though not eating. From here on in we got into a pretty good sailfish bite with 22 sails raised and 10 releases from 16 bites, Alicia was on form releasing ALL the fish and late in the day we had a nice blue of a solid 350lb's pushing up on the flat line teaser. The mackerel was pitched and after long seconds we got a good bite and Alicia did a great job on the rod releasing the last blue marlin to be caught in Guatemala for 2011.

The fish put on a helluva show and topped off a great day on the water.
That night the lodge was filled to capacity plus and we saw in 2012 with a party to be remembered........at least by those who can remember it....
1st day of 2012 Hill and Donelle joined Kevin and Alisia, nursing some hangover's it was a late start leaving the dock sometime after 10 . Back to the area we were the previous day the fish had done a bit of a disappearing act, still for a short day we raised 8 sails and released 4 from 7 bites.
On the 2nd with Hill and Kevin we decided to look for the fish a bit more to the west, finding blue water and birds working we got into some pretty good action early on raising 9 sails by 1030 and releasing 4 from 7 bites. It was looking good though with bigger things on our minds we ran another 10NM out to the edge. On our second pass over the drop off we got the bite we were looking for and Kevin got himself onto a nice blue pushing the 300lb mark on 30lb test....

This fish was a brute and Capt Kevin put as much heat on the 30lb line as was possible, we tried different angles though it stayed deep and dirty on us for over an hour, coming up occasionally to show us it's girth.....

Before getting it boat side for the release and the first blue for ALLURE in 2012.
Another late start on the 3rd due to a cold front pushing through and creating a short sharp chop had us check the inside area and the bottom of the pocket just 7NM out. It was the right move with an afternoon bite turning on, 18 sails raised and 8 released from 14 bites as well as 4 nice mahi's boated.
The weather laid down for us on the 4th and the blue water had pushed in, we put lines in the water just 5NM off the breakwall and were pretty much straight into some good action which held right through the day. Mixing it up on the fly and on the baits we had some hot fish tease in and some great fly bites with a couple of shots at doubles on the fly.

Hill Dishman with the first sail on the fly for 2012.
It was a great day on the water and just after lunch we raised a BIG blue on the long rigger teaser, the fish teased in hot and Hill was ready on the fly, though with the fish pushing as much water as it was I made the call to pitch the bait, we got the bite though unfortunately missed it. Still a great fish to see just 8NM out! We finished the day raising 27 sails, releasing 5 from 12 bites on the fly and 6 from 10 bites on the baits

Capt Kevin Deerman with his first sail on the fly.
The following day the bite inshore was just as good with boats releasing up to 24 on conventional tackle and up to 8 for boats on the fly.
January 6th and 7th we fished with the Jack Pitts group consisting of....

Marleta Pitts, Billy, Trent, Grant and Trey Goodwin with Jack Pitts.
The fish had done another move and were hard to find though we did get everyone into some sails and mahi's including these...

Marleta's first sail..

And a nice mahi for Trey.

The blue water is pushing in from the west and it looks like things are going to get good here in the next few days. We are booked fairly solid through January though there are some openings in February, these are prime dates and the fishing has usually been good with some red-hot bites in the past. March and April are also great months to fish here and with the marlin bite picking up later in the year and the tunas turning on as well. SAILFISH OASIS has been getting rave reviews from everyone who has been down with the service, food and settings second to none. We'll make sure your trip is a first class experience all round. See you down here.....

IN SAYING THAT, WE HAVE JUST HAD AN OPENING FROM JANUARY 21 -23rd, THESE ARE WEEKEND DATES THAT HAVE JUST OPENED UP. WE CAN GIVE A SPECIAL LAST MINUTE DEAL ON THESE PRIME DATES