MERRY CHRISTMAS / HAPPY HOLIDAYS / BEST NEW YEAR

SCHNEIDER GROUP 79 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN

L-R: Bo and Kristen Stocks, Lucy Fisher, Eric and Sollie Graham, Ashley Schneider, Busch Thomas, Mitch and Mellissa Dawz

December 11th and 12th the Ashley Schneider organized group of above came in for the weekend, good to see some familiar faces and a few new ones to welcome and show what we have here. They timed their trip well too with some good fishing out wide! Between ALLURE II and INTENSITY they released 79 sailfish from 132 bites and 1 nice blue marlin tagged and released for Kristen Stocks over 2 days of fishing!!! 

 Kristen working hard

And did a great job on the rod to get the tag in....

The girls enjoyed a 'few' campechana's out there and on the ride home.

JOHNSON GROUP 39 SAILFISH, 4 TUNAS

Glen Eckett, Phil Winterton, Craig Johnson and Steve Goodchild

December 14-15th good to see 'El Jefe' Craig Johnson and Steve Goodchild back down here, this time introducing Glen and Phil to this fishery. First day out we split the group with x 2 pilots on ALLURE II and INTENSITY, both boats headed east and between the 2 we released 27 sails out there from 40 bites. also had a nice fat blue marlin on that unfortunately jumped off. To finish off the day we got into some spinner porpoise getting a quadruple hook up of nice tunas on the first pass....

Glen with typical sized tuna

Next day out with just the 4 anglers on Allure II we went out for a half day, this time going west and got into the fish out there as well. 2nd fish for the day in the teasers was a blue marlin that didn't come in all the way. From there on in the sailfish bite was pretty steady and about mid-morning we raised a nice big striped marlin that teased all the way in, we got the bite though the hook didn't find the corner of the jaw and pulled. No marlin luck! We pulled lines in @ 1300 with 12 sailfish released from 21 bites. Great 1/2 day!!

And Phil with a large sailfish

Sñr DISHMAN 49 SAILS & 1 BLUE MARLIN

Dec 18th and 19th el otro 'jefe' Sñr Hill Dishman estaba en Antigua por las ultima semanas en la escuela con su maestra aprendiendo español. Por su ultima fin del semana aquí en guate fuimos a pescar...

And the fishing was good, we went west first morning out where we finished out our last day on the water and the sailfish were snapping. We started the day on a group of spinners and hooked a beauty yellowfin tuna, we were on it for about 20mins and had the big fish with sickles near the gaff when......the hook pulled....arghhh, it was a nice one too. The next fish was a big blue that piled on the teaser, got a mouthful and didn't come back... For the rest of the day the sailfish were biting well and we finished up releasing 36 from 54 bites!

Next day out we couldn't find 'em like the day before though still good fishing with 13 sailfish from 24 bites and the last fish of the day was a hot blue marlin that we got the tag in and released.

So, the good fishing continues!! It has been a great start to the season out there and it looks like it is going to keep on. Right now this is what we have available, in January the 20th and the 21st is open and in February we have a couple of amazing opportunities with Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th open. Also a couple of weeks back we had a large group postpone their trip of February 19-20-21st (a Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!) to 2017 because of El Niño and other commitments. We have other boats reserved for this group so is a great opportunity to get a group together and get in on these prime dates! A few people were expressing their concerns about El Niño and how it would effect the fishing. Right now the sailfish bite has been very consistent, we have seen more striped marlin than usual, the tunas are averaging 40-50lb instead of the normal footballs we catch (and there are some large specimens out there in the mix as well) and the blue marlin have been in the spread very consistently. Water temperatures are varying between 84' and 85' and the water color/clarity has been excellent. All good in Guate so get in touch with us to get in on this amazing action...

Contact:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

Cheers, have a great Christmas and an excellent New Year, see you down here for '16!!

FISHING 24th NOVEMBER through DECEMBER 6th

NOV 24th, COOPER FAMILY

Lucas, Julian and Cal Cooper

The Cooper family were in Antigua for the week of Thanksgiving staying at the stunning Casa Chiltotes (www.casachiltotes.com) and dad Cal brought down sons Lucas and Julian for a day of offshore fishing onboard ALLURE II. A beautiful day out there and the fish were biting steady all day. We ventured wide encountering sailfish, spinner dolphin, tunas and blue marlin. On the sails for the day the guys released 20 from 31 bites and boated a couple of tunas to about 40+lb ...

Lucas with a tough tuna on the 30lb test

At the end of the day we hooked a nice blue marlin of about 300lb that put on a spectacular surface show before charging the boat and throwing the hook....

Chris,

We had an absolutely terrific time fishing with you and your crew.  So many

fish, and topping it off with a blue marlin even if it did get away!  Wow.

Family memories for a lifetime.

  Many Thanks.

Cal Cooper

NOV 26th-28th EHRLICH / HADDAD FAMILY

Mark, Devon and Warren.

And down for Thanksgiving weekend were the above crew from Denver, Colorado for 3 days of fishing and 4 nights down at the Lodge. Our first day out we fished the east side of the pocket and released 16 out of 25 bites on the conventional tackle as well as a couple of good sized mahi's for lunch and dinner. We were back at it on the fly for the next 2 days after a huge Thanksgiving dinner with a good crowd at the Oasis.

Mark is a good keen Colorado flyfisherman so we started the next day on the hunt for aggressive teaser fish. They were a little tough to switch off the teasers on to the fly and from the 12 sails raised they did a great job releasing 2 from 4 bites on the fly and 3 from 7 on the baits with a few caught on the spinning tackle.

Mark Haddad watching the reel unload

And with the results...

The next day we were on them a bit better raising 24 sailfish, 2 blue marlin and a striped marlin into the spread. The end result though was a tough time teasing them into the back of the boat. We released 2 from 9 bites on the fly and a couple more on the spinning tackle. The marlin we enticed halfway to close to casting distance in before they peeled off..

Good times with our new Colorado friends and they had a blast with the fly rod.

Warren Ehrlich with his first sail on the fly.

NOV 29th Sñr DISHMAN

Hill with a nice blue of just under 200lb

We were back in the baits the following day with Hill Dishman and trolled down the western edge picking at fish the whole way down. We raised 19 sails releasing 12 from 18 bites and a tough blue that jumped once and then stayed down pulling hard, a stubborn one before getting it boat side, tagged and released.

DEC 4th-6th PYBURN GROUP

Matt Ashabranner, Kevin Kirkland, Keith Turner and Ryan Pyburn.

The above group from Beaumont, Texas fished 3 days mixing it up between ALLURE II and aboard the A-Fin-Ity the last day. The group had good fishing raising 57 sails into the spread and releasing 23 as well as boating some nice tunas, big mahi's and raising a couple of blue marlin getting one to bite though missing it..

Keith and Matt with typical sized tunas

The crew had a great time and got their sancocho count down on their last day out.

DEC 5th-6th, SURVANT / HARRIS GROUP

Erin and Corey Survant with Christina and David Harris.

Also mixing it up between ALLURE II and A-Fin-Ity were the above group from Corpus Christi, Texas. Regulars down to the Oasis for several years now it's alway good to catch up and fish with these guys. Over the 2 days they fished real well with the few shots they had releasing 14 from 18 bites. We also raised a couple of marlin that didn't do much and boated this nice mahi...

Christina and Erin with a beaut mahi to finish the trip.

Hey Kiwi,

Just wanted to say thanks for the great trip! We all had a blast, fishing was good, food was excellent and the company couldn't have been better! We will be back soon. 

The lodge looks great and the staff was friendly as ever. 

 Hope you guys have a great fishing season. 

Talk to you soon,

Corey

DEC 5th-6th ADAM CARLIS GROUP

Sailfish release aboard the Capt Hook.

Also at the lodge for the weekend from Houston, Texas was the Adam Carlis group of 3 anglers. Fishing aboard the Capt Hook for the weekend the guys had a blast releasing 12 sails from 17 bites over the 2 days and raising a couple of blue marlin jumping one off of about 250lb's....Still, plenty of marlin out there, getting them to bite can be a little tough though. Lots of bait about with birds on bonitos out wide and current lines holding logs and trash and more bait.

Lots of blue water and a strong incoming current means things are looking good for the coming weeks...

We're out there from Friday on through to early next week and looking forward to it!

ALLURE II: 1543 BILLFISH RELEASES NOV 1st, '14 THROUGH OCT 31st, '15

1543 BILLFISH RELEASED

Sailfish about to be released...

Blue marlin, tagged and released...

Allure II between November 1st 2014 and October 31st 2015 released 1543 billfish over 123 days of fishing at an average of around 13 billfish releases per day! What a season it was, eclipsing the previous where we released more with 1636 though fished 146 days to achieve it at an average of close to 11 per day. Also, we fished far more days on the fly this past season than the previous. Just goes to show how good the fishing was and it is continuing on.....

This November has been excellent fishing with boats averaging high teens, and up to 20-30 releases a day as well as consistent blue marlin action, the welcomed presence of stripeys and tunas to about 70lbs. November again proving to be an outstanding month to get down and fish Guatemala!!

NOV 6th, AIS DONOR'S

Terry Atkinson & Kathy Taylor with Bob and Leslie Wilson

November 6th we hosted the above group from San Francisco, California. Here in Guatemala for the official opening of the new Antigua International School, AIS they opted for a short day on the water before the official Founders Day ceremony on Saturday. With a busy schedule for the crew we ended up with only one and half hours of actual fishing time on the water though they all had a blast in that short time. First fish of the day hot on the short left teaser was a blue marlin of about 200lbs, we got the bite on the mackerel, came tight and the fish came greayhounding at the boat, unfortunately throwing the hook. Soon after we released 2 sailfish from 4 bites with Leslie capturing this great shot on her i-phone:

Beautiful colors... 

The whole community here in Antigua thanks all the donors for their generous support and to the founders who with their endless hard work have made made this spectacular new campus a reality here in Antigua.

PFEFFER/WALTERS GROUP 44 SAILS, 3 STRIPEYS, 4 ROOSTERS.

The blackboard at the Lodge after 2 days of offshore action.

Nov 19-21 was a spectacular weekend of fishing down here in Guatemala with guests at the Oasis fishing aboard ALLURE II and CAPT HOOK releasing a total of 75 sailfish, 4 blue marlin, 3 striped marlin, 5 tunas to 50+lb and 4 rooster fish!! That right there is an incredible weekend on the water...

On ALLURE II we hosted Dean and Jennifer Pfeffer and Jay and Amber Walters all from Houston, Texas for 2 days of offshore fishing and a short morning of inshore fishing for rooster fish. Our first day out started with well with steady action through to midday and sailfish releases for all.

Jennifer with her sail

And Amber with hers..

Then right on midday we raised a double header, a sailfish and a small striped marlin of about 75lbs hot on the teaser, Amber got the release on the stripey and Jennifer released the sail. Soon after we had a blue crash the teaser though disappear. It wasn't long though before we had another double header in the spread, another sailfish and a bigger striped marlin of about 110lbs. Jennifer was on stripey getting the tag in on the stubborn fish on the light tackle while Jay got the release on the sail. 

Jennifer's stripey.

The afternoon slowed down some though our second triple header late in the day helped get us to 19 sailfish releases from 29 bites and 2 for 2 on striped marlin topping off an excellent day on the water...

The ride home....

The next day the bite heated up some with consistent action right through the day including 5 double headers plus a triple released along with singles and sancocho's. We raised another blue that didn't stick around for too long and right before midday Jay got the bite off another aggressive striped marlin off the bridge teaser.

 Stripey...

Tagged and released for Jay.

The crew ended the day with 25 sails released from 37 bites and the one striped marlin....helluva day, helluva 2 days!!

For their last day they opted on a half day of inshore fishing targeting rooster fish as none had caught these tough fish before. We finished their trip achieving a rooster for each of them releasing 4 from 8 bites along the beach.

Jennifer and Dean with a typical sized rooster on the light tackle.
Good time with a good crew and we're looking forward to seeing them back here in Guatemala again, this from Jennifer:

Capt. Kiwi, thank you so much for taking us out fishing the last 3 days. We had a blast and are already talking about coming back. Everything from the fishing to the lodge to the food was absolutely amazing!!! I will definitely recommend this place to anyone who may be interested in visiting Guatemala. Thank you again for a trip of a lifetime!!!

Jennifer Pfeffer

MEANWHILE, ON THE CAPT HOOK, 31 SAILS, 4 BLUES & 5 TUNAS

Kevin Kavanaugh, Richard Geriner, Scott 'Dorado Ice' Stropp and Bryan O'Dell

Nov 19-21 the crew above were out there and enjoyed the same excellent fishing aboard Capt Hook. Their first fish of the first day was a stubborn blue marlin which took them the best part of an hour and a half to get the tag in and release, and from there on they were in on the sails releasing 9. Next day they had the hum releasing back to back triple headers on the sails and cruising their way to 16 releases by lunch. The bite slowed, they put out a small bonito skip bait on the 30lb test and got the bite out of a 350lb blue.....

Good sized blue on the 30lb...
What a way to finish the day, another tough fish on the light stuff. So while we were buzzing round looking for blues to complete the slam, the guys on the Hook were buzzing around looking for stripey's to complete their slam.....

They left the bite to the east their last day out running wide to the west after hearing reports of tunas out there and were rewarded with an epic day....Finding spinners and life they released 2 from 2 blue marlin, 6 sailfish and boated 5 yellowfin tunas to 50+lbs.

Bryan with a typical sized tuna...

What a day, and what a trip, releasing 4 blues from 4 bites, 31 sailfish and boating 5 nice tunas over 3 days of offshore fishing. Way to go guys. This from Kevin:

My third time to Sailfish Oasis and as always, the absolute best experience to be had. Many thanks to the staff, Jose, Alex, Freddy, Karina, Daisy and Eddie. We will be back!

Kevin Kavanaugh

We're out there again fishing tomorrow and looking forward to it.....if you want to get amongst this level of quality fishing, contact:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

ALLURE II, BACK IN THE WATER, CATCHING FISH......

SHAKE DOWN TRIP....18 SAILS & 1 BLUE MARLIN

Garrett Gossett, Hill Dishman and Rosie Gossett

October 13th and 14th. It was hectic though we got the boat back in the water late Saturday afternoon and got it rigged and ready to fish Tuesday the 13th with Hill Dishman and Garrett & Rosie Gossett. Friends of Hill, Garrett and Rosie are on a road trip from California to Tierra del Fuego and hooked up with Hill here while passing through Guatemala. It was a great shakedown to get ready for 2 groups coming later in the week and a chance to test out our fully refurbished rods and reels. After a slow morning looking around we got into a pretty good bite later in the afternoon of our first day out all about 14NM from the dock.

Rosie....

And Garrett in on some feisty sails

For the day we raised 18 sails and released 14 from 17 bites. Pretty good since the action didn't really start till more than an hour after lunch.

Next day out we were back in the same area and it wasn't long before we had a blue pushing water behind the rigger bait, though it did not eat. As we worked our way east we raised another blue about an hour later, this fish also came up pushing water on the rigger bait. Hill did a great job teasing it in on the trolled ballyhoo with the fish making greyhounding jumps chasing the bait while the mackerel was pitched. Good teamwork on this one, the ballyhoo was cleared and the marlin switched for an explosive bite on the mackerel and Garrett was hooked up to his first blue marlin.

Nice way to start the day Garrett!

It wasn't a big one, though a beautiful fish of about 120lb's, tagged and released. From there on in another boat was having some luck to the west in greener water so we worked that way releasing 4 from 6 bites on the sails and boating a good lunch sized mahi.

Lunch...

A little slow in the afternoon though all in all an excellent 2 days on the water with a fun crew and a few firsts with first billfish releases for both Rosie and Garrett...

Flat seas, blue sky's and good fishing

On the way home..

FUNDERBURG/McHUGH GROUP 13 SAILS & 3 BLUES

Mark and Diane McHughs with Alan and Debra Funderburg.

Ocotber 15th through 17th we hosted the above group 3 days on the water. good company, good energy and super keen fisho's mean nothing but fun on the water no matter what. While down below doing the briefing we got back into the area to the east and some sail action. Fairly soon after we raised our first blue for the day, another fish pushing water behind the rigger bait, we got the bite though unfortunately missed it. Working the area inshore we had another bigger blue come in hot on the long teaser, a great switch and bite on the pitched mackerel had Diane hooked to solid blue pushing the 400lb mark, a nice fat fish that went crazy once it realized it was hooked....

Mark giving his support to Diane...

After that initial run the fish stayed down and was tough, though after 45mins Diane got the fish up and boat side for the release. Great job on a tough fish Diane! We raised another blue around midday that teased in all the way though it did not switch to the mackerel. For the rest of the day we raised 13 sails and released 6 from 10 bites and boated a good sized mahi.

Kind of hard to leave an area like that, especially seeing it was all 10-12NM from the dock, so we were back the next day. There was a change in the weather with the start of a small tropical depression showing itself though it didn't affect the fishing, first fish of the day a small blue marlin came greyhounding into the spread that did nothing, second fish of the day a blue of about 250lb came in hot on the long right teaser and Alan was hooked up to this one after a great switch and bite.

Alan's blue tearing it up!

After a 30 minute fight we got the tag in and let it go. Back to fishing and we had our spread out for less than a couple of minutes before raising another blue that we got the bite from right behind the transom after coming up on the short teaser though missed it. Wow, 3 blues in the spread in the first hour of fishing. Awesome start to the day! The sailfish bite slowed down a little though we released a couple in the next hour...

Beautiful colors on this one.

And Diane about to release another.

......Before another blue came up on the right long teaser, it disappeared and then came up on the long right rigger bait, we got the bite and now it was Mark up on a good sized blue for the lighter 30lb test of about 175lb. 

Chasing down Mark's fish.

It was another tough one, though good rod work had the fish boat side in about 35mins and released in great condition. 20mins later we raised a nice one in the 300lb class on the short teaser, we got the bite on the mackerel though unfortunately missed this one as well. For the rest of the day we released another sail raising 7 sails and releasing 3 from 4 bites for the day as well as Alan boating this nice mahi.

As we got into the afternoon conditions deteriorated some and they decided to call it quits and head in at about 1400 to spend the afternoon in the pool relaxing and reminiscing a great day on the water with 5 blue's in the spread, 2 released from 4 bites, 3 from 4 bites on the sails and fresh mahi for dinner.

Capt Julio was at the helm for their last day out on the 17th and it seems conditions were worse out there, though in a short half day they raised 3 blues, missing one that did bite the trolled ballyhoo, Diane was on this one for about 5 mins before the hook pulled. They also released 3 sails and were back at the dock for midday. We had a great time with this group and are looking forward to hosting them again. 

Here is an abridged comment from Mark and Diane McHugh taken off Trip Advisor:

We visited Sailfish Oasis Lodge Oct. 14-18 for one of the best trips ever! The lodge was very nice and super clean in a beautiful setting along a canal. We were met at the airport by our very competent driver, Eddie, who speaks great English and proved to be an awesome, dependable guide throughout our stay. Most of the lodge was open-air under some spectacular tiki structures, with comfy lounge area, satellite TV, bar and sweet swimming pool with a bench right at the bar. Service the entire trip was phenomenal and first class. Josie, Alex, and Freddie were super hosts, jumping immediately to fulfill our every request. Carina was the sweetest and most courteous server you can imagine. And Chef Carlos...WOWWWWWW! This guy is absolutely incredible, whipping up the most fantastic dishes from appetizers to unbelievable dinners of vegetables, fish and steaks. Words can't do him justice.

The fishing? FANTASTIC aboard the 40' Allure, an incredibly comfortable fishing boat. Captain Chris (aka Kiwi) is clearly a seasoned captain with great skills both with the boat as well as finding and catching fish. We landed three big blue marlins, with my wife's at an estimated 400 lbs, a whole bunch of sailfish, and a couple of big mahi mahi for dinner. I've been on a lot of charter boats, but our deck hands, Julio and Enio were the best I've ever seen. Quick, efficient, and always ready for anything. I was very impressed, and again, they are absolutely THE BEST!

Chris and Liz, thank you for an unbelievable fishing and resort experience, you folks have done a great job. We will be back.

Mark and Diane

LARRY FAGG & BRENT BREAUX

Brent and Larry.

October 20 and 21st we welcomed back Larry Fagg with his son-in-law Brent Breaux. Larry is a regular down here and this was Brent's second trip. Both flying in from Texas we were just getting over the tropical depression intensifying though by the time they got in the weather had settled nicely. It was a late start due to flight complications and we left the dock at about 1015 our first morning and we were the only boat out there for the next 2 days. A short run and we were fishing by 1045 at the bottom east corner of the pocket, at 1055 we raised a double header of blue marlin with one pushing water and eating the long rigger bait, the other coming up on the left short teaser. We missed the one on the rigger though Brent came tight to a nice blue pushing 350lbs off the short teaser on the pitched mackerel. After 20mins Brent got the release on his first ever blue marlin. Congrats and nice going Brent!

My camera jammed and I missed the shot....sorry Brent. Good splash though!
For the rest of the day we released 2 sailfish from 5 bites....

Brent on one of his sails.

The water quality had changed with a strong current pushing in some off-colored water from the east, we tried to find the good stuff covering a bunch of water the next day though it was kind of tough out there with 2 sailfish releases from 3 bites and a nice mahi for Larry. 

High flying sail.

Always a good time fishing with Larry and Bent and over the last 7 days of fishing then we raised 15 blue marlin releasing 5 from 10 bites and with 54 sails in the spread we released 33 from 47 bites and several good size mahi's boated.

Since then the weather improved and some nice blue water has since pushed in from the east. Boats have been reporting some excellent fishing the past couple of days with up to 30 raises and the odd marlin so it is all on. After that weather last week it looks like it is settling down and we are right on the cusp of the dry season. November and December are some of our favorite months to be on the water. We had a spectacular sailfish bite last November and the marlin bite in December was worth getting out alone for, though the amount of sails in the mix was consistently up there.

We have some great deals available for these 2 months so get in touch with us here to secure your dates, best fishing, best boat, best accommodations.

Contact:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com