FISHING THROUGH JAN 26th 2013

L-R: Kelley Erwin, Wes Jordan, Paul Kennedy, Colin Ocker, Mark Thibault, Robert Mills, Cody Jordan, Ken Culbreth, Mike Griffith and Randy Wendel
January 18-20 we hosted the Mark Thibault and Colin Ocker organized group as above for 3 days of billfishing here in Guatemala. These guys had a great trip last year and this year didn't fail to impress either! Over the 3 days between 3 boats, A-FIN-ITY, ALLURE and CAPT HOOK the group raised 171 sailfish had 159 bites and released 125. Those are some great averages, the group hooked all their own fish, good anglers using ballyhoo with circle hooks showing just how effective they are when used correctly. The fishing started just 3NM off the breakwall the first day, moved down the beach 10NM to the west the second day which ended with a great afternoon bite. The last day things slowed down some inshore, on ALLURE we went out wide with 4 of the group who were keen on a marlin, we raised one right off the bat, the fish came up twice though didn't eat the bait. We had a reasonable sailfish bite out there as well as a yellowfin tuna for sushimi back at the lodge. A good trip all round for these guys with a few mahi mahi in the mix as well, we look forward to fishing them next year!!

Great photo from Wes Jordan

L-R: Andy and Cathy, Dave and Larry
January 23rd and 24th we welcomed first timers to Guatemala the Luther brothers Dave and Larry with their wives Cathy and Andy from Houston and Miami. Starting their trip with 2 nights in the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo in Antigua the group then came down to the coast for 2 days of fishing. This was their first billfishing adventure and they hit some good activity, for first timers they fished well with 21 sailfish raised 20 bites and 15 releases, as well as a 275lb blue marlin on the 30lb tackle for Larry and a nice mahi mahi of about 25lbs to boot.

Cathy Luther with her first sailfish

And Dave Luther with a particularly large specimen.

January 25th and 26th we had a bit of a strong cold front hitting down here, with snow even hitting the highlands of Guatemala, bit of a rarity that. With the cold fronts we get a bit of a stiff ENE wind and those were the conditions that welcomed Hill Dishman, Dean Land and Trey Strake. A bit lumpy the first day and we went out wide to the east looking for the good water and the current hitting that east side of the pocket. Fairly slow pickings with the guys making the most of their few opportunities going 5 from 6 bites. The next morning we decided to fish that incoming current out wide to the west, on the way out we came across a pod of humpbacks and Dean Lane captured this great shot of one breaching with the volcanoes in the background...

Awesome shot Dean!!
To the fishing, well, we covered alot of area, off the edge the water quality was OK though the temperature was a bit cool and we went 8NM off the edge and fished the current back up against it in the afternoon. A bit slow though we released 2 from 3 bites and were happy for it. Things will change here shortly with some warmer water pushing in from the west. We are out again tomorrow and for the rest of the week up to Super Bowl Sunday....

Dean Lane and Hill Dishman with another fat one.

GOOD FISHING CONTINUES THROUGH JAN 14th.

The Lucy Fisher organized group of Brooke Burge, Ashley Schneider, Sollie Thames, John and Barbara Richards, Mandy Trahan and Brian Yager, Brady Cluiss, Taylor Sullivan and of course Lucy Fisher herself came down to Guatemala fishing January 11th and 12th on board ALLURE and CAPT HOOK. The group had a great time down here and the fishing did not fail to impress either with quadruples, triples and double headers adding to the 91 sailfish raised, 87 bites and 66 releases as well as several big mahi's. The group fished well with outstanding averages as well as releasing several sailfish jumping in with mask and fins.

Brooke and Sollie with Ashley and Lucy and one of many double headers.

Barbara and John Richards with another.

Hearing of the great bite ALLURE co-owner Craig Johnson flew down on a whim with Steve Goodchild and Chris Collins. The fishing remained steady with 47 raises, 43 bites and 31 sailfish releases in 2 days of fishing as well as a few nice mahi's including a big 35lb+er for Steve Goodchild that took some work to get in the boat.

L-R, Brad Klein, Kyle Speyrer, Terry Vidrine, Marvin Macip, Tad Collier and winning team Capt Christopher Bean

January 14-15th we welcomed back Chris Bean, aka Snr Frijole and Brad Klein to the Oasis and 2 days of fishing on ALLURE, this time with new-comers to Guatemala the teams as above with 'Los Directores' team Capt Chris and his team mates Tad Collier and Marvin Macip. Brad Klein captained team 'Pork Bellies' with Kyle Speyrer and Terry Vidrine. With both Chris and Brad having plenty of experience down here they coached their respective team members and had a tournament with a difference. The left side of the boat vs the right side of the boat, changing sides for the second day. 3 pts for a release, -1 for a 'sancocho' (missed fish) and double pts for a double header (same team only). With team Pork Bellies choosing the right side day one there was a definite list to port......and strbd the following day! We had a great 2 days of fishing and a bunch of laughs with the guys, and in the end it all came down to the last 3 mins of fishing. With lines out at 1600 in the last 3 mins we hooked a triple with 'Los Directores' scoring the double pts and winning 57 to 45 (The Pork Bellies sancocho'd 2 in the last minutes). Good times! In their 2 days of fishing they raised 60 sailfish had 56 bites and released 34 sails. Considering none of their team members had ever been offshore fishing this style they all did pretty damn well.

Winning team Chris, Marvin and Tad with a large sailfish......

The fishing has been good with a big body of fish out there anywhere from 3NM off the beach to 20NM to the west. Our last day out with Chris and Brad and crew we started fishing at just 3NM off the beach and released 11 in this area from 21 bites, then pushed offshore to where we fished the previous day and got into some multiples. On the ride back to the dock there were free jumping sailfish all the way in. Things are looking good!! We have a couple of openings in February, prime dates 4th-6th and 19th-20th, contact us to get into some incredible fishing

A few photos from some underwater releases......The crew had a blast fishing with the Fisher group.....

The girls kicked some butt out there fishing, had no fear jumping in with the fish and then proceeded to drink the boat dry of rum.......!!

THE BITE GOES ON.....THROUGH JAN 10th.....

January the 4th we fished Hill Dishman alone on the fly, the bite had pushed quite a ways down to the west and we never really got on to them, though some boats did and got on to 'em pretty good we never quite found our 'hole'. Still we raised 25 sails, had 13 tease in well, bite the fly and released 7, a couple of them got wrapped up and broke the tippet. Still a great day on the water fly fishing by any standards!!

Right at the boat....
January 5th we welcomed Hill's good friends the Cone family down with Scott and son's Cullen and Carson keen on getting into some bait and switch action. With the bite to the west going further offshore we ran to the east to find a new body of fish. By 0930 we found them on the edge about 28NM to the east and had a great day raising over 50 sails, plenty of multiples coming in though alot not biting, we did get 40 bites and released 24, a few 'sancochos' today though it's all about learning and from here on in the averages just got better and better. 25NM to the west of us the fleet also got into a good bite with 40+ raises per boat, and even further some of the boats that chased the bite from the previous day caught up with them and did well. Good fishing everywhere on the 5th!! The bite slowed a little to the east though in 3 days 84 sails in the spread, 69 bites and 44 releases as well as a couple of nice mahi's. Good fishing, good times and some good football results with the Cones and the Dishmans.
Check out some of the action at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4SNN3c1114

Cullen with a big sail

Cullen with girlfriend Elizabeth Herndon and brother Carson.

January 8th and 9th we fished with the Schmitz brothers, Joe, John and Steve with their brother in-laws Doug Gossett and Brad. The bite was just 10NM from the breakwall and still very good fishing, in 2 days they raised 49 sails had 43 bites and released 34 sailfish, as well as 2 mahi's for fish taco's both days. We also raised a blue that crashed the bridge teaser though never bit the pitched mackerel....A great 2 days of fishing!!

Oldest brother Joe with another big girl..

And Steve with another nice one...


The fishing is still great out there, Guatemala as we know it, come down and experience some of the best billfishing in the world!!

GUATEMALA IS GOING OFF!!!

This was the first time in years that we did not fish between the 27th and 29th of December and were we regretting it!!!! The bite down here in Guatemala was going off, it started on the 26th then a big body of fish moved into the bottom of the pocket just 10-20NM off-shore and from there on in boats had anywhere up to 114 bites on the baits. Hearing about the bite ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman changed his flight to arrive a day earlier and fish from the 30th on.

Hill with a nice sail about to be released on the fly
We fished the fly all day and by 0945 we had released 5 from 5 bites, it was looking like a big day ahead. From there on in the sails were not as aggressive, we raised a bunch though teasing them in proved a task, we still had a great day on the water with Hill releasing 9 from 9 bites, 8 of these fish were on the same fly, the mates missed a couple of fish when the doubles came in on the fly. We raised 26 for the day and the guys fishing then baits saw the better of it.
On the 31st Hill's son Drake joined us so we put out a ballyhoo with a circle hook on the rigger behind the long teaser with the idea of getting a few on the bait while concentrating on the fly again. Drake got into a nice one early....

Drake with the first sail of the day, a big girl, just 5NM of the beach
From there we aimed for the 100 fathom drop just 8-9NM off the beach and just over the drop off there she came. A big fish that we raised on that small ballyhoo behind the teasers, quick action had the mackerel pitched and despite the big fish eating the ballyhoo (and thankfully we missed it on the light stuff) we still got a great bite on the mackerel. Hill came tight and Drake took over. She was a big one at 600 odd pounds and as tough as they come, she came up jumping on 4 separate occasions and for the rest stayed down and fought hard despite pulling angles on her, this photo was taken from a way off, she was a fat one!!!

Big blue and the last marlin to be released in Guatemala for 2012

A little under gunned on the 50lb...after pulling angles getting parallel trying to plane her up
Drake got the release on her, though we spent three and a half hours on the stand-up!! This fish topped off a pretty good year for us with 18 blue marlin releases in the calendar year, one black and one stripey.
We finally got back to fishing after lunch and raised 30 sails for the rest of the day, on that one ballyhoo behind the teasers we released 13 from 19 bites and also released 3 from 6 bites on the fly in a short afternoon.
That night we had a big night seeing off 2012 at the OASIS with the Blue Dawgs providing live entertainment and a huge firework display at midnight.
On the 1st we had a late start and got into some fish late in the day with Donelle, Hill and Drake Dishman. We raised over 20 and a big marlin that left a huge hole behind the long rigger teaser though we never saw it again. We ended up with 4 on the fly and 5 on the bait in a short day, as well as Drakes first sailfish on the fly....

Drakes first on the fly with Capt Hill

Donelle's first sail for 2013
2nd through 3rd we welcomed the Lombardo family for a couple of days of conventional fishing, we started near we finished the day before and got into the fish fairly early. Fishing conventional we were into them pretty good, the afternoon proved hot with very consistent action. Despite leaving the dock at 0830 and returning early we still raised 62 sails and released 45 from 58 bites. What an introduction to sailfishing in Guatemala for the Lombardo's!!!

Sally Lombardo with a big sail
With the family beat we fished just dad, Randy Lombardo and son Nathanial for a short day before they headed up to Antigua, in just a couple of hours of fishing we raised 18, had 14 bites and released 8. Still very good fishing out there with some big sails in the mix. Things are looking good and we out every day for a while now so looking forward to more great fishing here in Guatemala!!!

Father and son enjoying a great day on the water

Still some openings! Come down and enjoy the best billfishing in the world......

Nice sail on the fly, some big females out there normally with a few males hanging around.....