MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS from GUATEMALA

Jason Harlow, Reid Fleming and John Musselman.

Over the past weekend we welcomed John Musselman from Midlands, Texas, back for his third year in a row here to Guatemala this time bringing good friends Jason Harlow and Reid Fleming as pictured above. John still has the touch and Jason and Reid were keen to learn pitch baiting techniques to billfish off the teasers. We were lucky our first day out with some hot teaser fish providing plenty of practice! The runs were long though we had some beautiful weather out there and one of the first fish into the spread was a blue of around 300lb that slashed at the short teaser, sat under it and refused the pitched mackerel. We worked that area hard before running down the edge to a good afternoon bite. The guys fished real well picking up the 'touch', dropping back nicely converting a good hook up ratio to bites off the teasers. 25 bites with the majority in a 2 hour period after lunch as well as 4 big mahi's in the 30-35lb range.

Flat seas, beautiful temp and big aggressive sailfish, perfect combo!!

Our second morning out we encountered a large group of spinner dolphins, birds were working them and tunas busting up ahead of the pod. It looked good and we worked the area for a good, fun way to start the day. As usual the first few passes were the most productive with the fish becoming a bit finiky after that and we pulled a few off after some 'soft' bites. Still we boated 5 nice school sized yellow-fins before pushing off looking for the bite. Radio chatter was low down to the west where the previous days action was concentrated so we looked to the east and found fairly steady activity down that way with 18 sailfish bites for the day. Some more great teaser fish with a few rigger bites as well to mix it up and another great weekend of fishing here in Guatemala with 27 sailfish released from 43 bites and 50 raised, add 4 big mahi's and 5 yellow-fins for the table and life is good!! A great learning experience was had and the guys picked it up quickly fishing well and having a fun time while at it. That's what it's about and what makes Guatemala the number one destination, the amount of shots your going to get and how much you are going to learn in a short amount of time.....

We have a few days off before Christmas with both boats getting back out there soon after, fishing fairly steadily from the 27th on. There are still some dates open in January, the hot month of the year last season and few in February as well, things are moving so make sure you do!!

Happy Holidays to everyone out there, be safe and if you want to enjoy some of the best billfishing on the planet get hold of us:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

Cheers!