FISHING MARCH 19th through APRIL 7th

'A' TEAM 26 RELEASES IN 2 DAYS

L-R: Caleb & Ethan Ocker with Kate and 'Cuatro' Kennedy

March 19th-20th we fished the above crew, they brought their parents Colin & Liet Ocker and Paul and Merritt Kennedy along also for their Spring Break. The kids were keen and fished well over the 2 days releasing between them 21 of the 26 fish for the trip!! They let their mums in on the action and catch a few of them as well. All fish were released on 20lb test and there were some stubborn ones too, it was great to see these kids give it all and not give up....

Brothers Caleb, 9 and Ethan, 11 on a  double header...

First day out was a bit sloppy out there and we went 10 from 14 bites with 21 in the spread, and OK, we gotta give the dad's some credit, they were hooking the fish...

9 yr old Kate Kennedy giving it her all on a tough one!

Our second day out there the conditions were perfect and the fishing picked up as well, we raised 25 sailfish and released 16 from 21 bites. There were some tough ones out there staying down and dirty though the crew were real troopers...

And our youngest angler 6 yr old Paul 'Cuatro' Kennedy with a bit of help from dad.

We had a real good time out there and it was brilliant to see the kids so into it, get 'em started young is the way! Good effort to the 'A' team, an A+ all round on some hefty fish too....

Solid sail...

And the smiles say it all.

Reese/Crutchfeild Father & Son Team 24 Releases

March 20th-21st we fished the above father and son team of Walker, Jordan and David Reese and Matthew, Jordan and Scott Crutchfeild. Fishing the first day on Allure the guys got into the swing of it and released 11 sails, they joined us on Allure II for their second day and the bite was pretty good out there....

They were hooking all their own fish and having a ball, OK, there were more than fair share of sancocho's and a few backlashes though in reality it is the only way to learn. We raised 50 out there today, though a lot of finicky fish coming in on the teasers and fading off, we did get 37 to bite and got stuck on our favorite number 13 releases for the last hour and a half missing the last 8 bites....unlucky for some. Still, they witnessed a great day out there with plenty of billfish in the spread!!

LUTHER GROUP 30 SAILS and TUNAS GALORE!!

David Luther Jnr & David Luther Snr , with Larry Luther and...

His daughter Kim Luther

March 22nd and 23rd it was another family affair with the Luther's as above, brothers David Snr and Larry Luther have both been down to Guatemala before and this time brought son and daughter to experience fishing at its best. First day out the bite had slowed down from the previous day with 7 from 15 bites for the day proving once again they were tough to hook... Our second day on the water was a beauty for them to experience with the sailfish snapping and getting in on a group of spinners holding plenty of good tunas!!

 

Kim with a big sail.

The morning bite was steady and early in the afternoon we ran out to group of spinners, there was huge amounts of bait out there and on our first pass we saw some good sized tunas busting in the 60lb-70lb range. We couldn't get onto them though at the other end of the group we got into some nice tunas of about 30-35lb's. We had a great time catching those before the radio started humming with reports of sails balling baits back inside. We ran back in there and 2 doubles and a triple before heading back to the dock with 23 sailfish released and 8 nice tunas aboard.

Lots of sails balling baits inside of the tuna bite..

And David Jnr with another big girl.

DAN BENDITZ GROUP 97 SAILFISH RELEASES, TUNAS, MAHI'S....

Cody Davis, Dan Benditz, Brad Benditz, Tyler Boss, Jack Herr, Tom Krc and Hayden Krc

March 24-25-26 we fished this group for their first trip down to Guatemala. These guys have fished from Panama to Costa Rica to Mexico, though Guatemala topped the lot as far as they were concerned!! First day out on Allure II we had good steady sailfish action all day and got into the spinner dolphin again with a good tuna bite!

Tyler above and Cody below with a couple of the nicer ones.

We boated 10 tunas with a couple pushing the 50lb mark. We also released 18 sailfish from 34 bites with Allure also getting into the tunas and releasing 13 sailfish from 19 bites. Next day we fished the western side of the pocket once again and Allure had the hum today going 16 from 24 bites and boating a bunch of tunas.

On Allure II a little slower with 13 from 19 bites and enough tuna for lunch. We finished the day at the bottom of the eastern corner of the pocket and fished there with good action the last day out with 20 releases from 29 bites and a couple of mahi's on Allure II and Allure went 17 from 27 bites. A great trip for the crew then with a 3 day total of 97 sailfish released, a bunch of tunas and some nice mahi's. Looking forward to seeing these guys back down in Guatemala next year!!

MUSSELMAN GROUP 20 SAILFISH RELEASES, LOTS OF TUNAS!!

John Musselman and Scott King

March 27 and 28th it was good to see Guatemala regular John Musselman back down here for 2 days of fishing with his good buddy Scott King both from Midlands, Texas. our first day out we chased the fish down to the east and found them about 8NM down from the day before. Some funky fish and some super aggressive ones too. We raised 27 for the day, had 22 bites and released 13. A good first day out for the guys and they were getting into the swing of it baiting their own fish. the next day we headed to the west with the current moving the fish too far to the east. It was steady and we got into the tunas pretty thick as well as raising 17 sails and the guys releasing 7 from 12 bites. 

BROCK WILSON GROUP, 22 SAILFISH & 2 BLUE MARLIN

L-R, Dan Bruyn, Brock Wilson, Anthony Fuzio, Chris Hawa, and Mickey Phelan.

April 3rd and 4th the above group had a large time down here on the water and down at the lodge. First day out fishing the bottom of the pocket here in close then first fish of the day for Brock Wilson was a feisty blue marlin of about 150lb's tagged and released.

First fish of the day for Brock.

From there on in it was a little on the slow side for sails raising 6 for the day and releasing 3 from 5 bites, there was also another blue marlin that crashed the short teaser though never came back....

The next day we ran out wide to the west looking for something better and found some good action out there. Once again the first fish of the day was a blue that crashed the short teaser, we had the mackerel back there thought he fish stayed deep and then disappeared, after long seconds it came up on the rigger bait eating the swimming ballyhoo. A nice fish too of about 275lbs on the 30lb tackle for Dan. This fish was tough, giving Dan a good work out to sweat out the excessive vodka from the night before.....

Nice fish on the 30lb!

He hung in there though getting the tag in after about a 45 min workout. From there on in the crew enjoyed a good steady sailfish bite releasing 19 sails from 23 bites. Awesome way to finish off their trip!!

HOBLIT/CRAWFORD GROUP 22 SAILFISH, 1 BLUE MARLIN

Audrey and Brad Crawford with Carol and Clay Hoblit

April 5-6-7 we welcomed first timers to Guatemala the Hoblit's and the Crawford's. After beautiful conditions the day before we had a stiff and unseasonal ENE'er blow for our first day on the water with this group. Running out wide to where the fish were the day before we found some action off the bat though not as consistent and the wind blew right through the day. We picked up to come home after lunch with 14 sails raised and 6 releases from 12 bites. 

Our next day out we worked the edge hard down to the west, still some wind out there and wind swell to 6ft+ so hard to work any areas. We did raise a few double headers for the day with 11 raised and 4 releases from 8 bites. With the weather conditions looking favorable for our last day on the water we knew it was a matter of finding them off the edge to the west, and we did. We had a great day out there releasing 12 sailfish from 14 bites, a nice blue marlin for Brad, tagged and released on the 50lb standup and 4 YF tunas boated. A great send off and some very happy punters going home with some great memories.....

Audrey Crawford released this big sail

And Carol with hers....

And a nice fat blue marlin for Brad

Clay Hoblit finished off his trip at the Oasis fishing the mangrove canals behind the lodge in the Oasis panga. He got 5 snappers and a snook back there before heading up to Antigua in the early afternoon, a good keen fisherman, nice going Clay!!. This group are in Antigua for the next few nights, touring, mountain biking and enjoying the ambience and all that Antigua has to offer. Something that should not be forgotten about. Guatemala has more to offer than just the best fishing around!!

We are hoping to start booking up May. The fishing at this time of year right through to November is normally a lot more varied with more blue marlin about, tunas, mahi's and of course the sailfish bite keeps punters happy. Get in touch with us, as you can see, here it is more about catching than fishing....

FISHING MARCH 9th through MARCH 18th

Mc Minn Group 37 Releases 2 days

Heather Mc Minn and Fernanda Gaudiano.

March 9th and 10th first timers to Guatemala from Austin, Texas, Jason and Heather Mc Minn with good friends Patricio and Fernanda Gaudiano came down here with no expectations and were blown away by their experience both on and off the water!! First day out a long run to the west proved worth it with not a whole lot of  encounters, though most encounters multiple sailfish in the spread.....the day was made up of 3 x singles, 2 x double headers, 2 x triple headers and a quad released out of a quintuplet hook up!! Plenty of practice at the 'sailfish shuffle' out there. Our fourth encounter for the day was 5 sailfish hooked up with one falling off just before the release, we released the other 4 with Jason getting a big female of well over 150lb's, the other 3 were small males. A great first day introduction for the crew then with 17 released from 21 bites! 

First double header for the Heather and Fernanda...

With only a couple of days here the girls decided to head up to Antigua for the day to check out the sights, sites and shopping. Fishing Jason and Patricio with the current to the west pushing offshore we headed today to the top eastern corner and found fish pretty much from the get go and had good consistent action for the rest of the day. The guys were hooking all their own fish today and did a great job picking it up quickly and only missing a few. Patricio is a keen free diver/spear fisherman so spent a bit of time in the water as well capturing this great shot while at it...

Another very good day out there with 20 releases today from 29 bites. They finished off their trip with a night up at the Santo Domingo in Antigua and are re-booking a trip for November after an excellent time on the boat, at the lodge and in Antigua. Looking forward to catching up with this crew again!!

Dishman Group 43 Releases

Billy Backlash, Scott Cone, Hill Dishman, Kelley Irwin and Chief Tuazin

March 12-13-14, good times fishing the above crew as always!! First day out we covered a large area trying to find the best of it though never really getting on them, and get the rust cleaned off at the same time with the offers we could find them. We raised 18 for the day getting 15 of them to bite and the conversion rate was a little low though at least some practice for the next 2 days! After fishing out wide we concentrated the next 2 days at the bottom of the pocket all 9 to 12NM off the beach, there were some blue marlin around too with plenty seen amongst the fleet though a lot of window shoppers out there..

Second day out we raised a blue right off there bat that made a big hole behind the right teaser though didn't touch it and we never saw it again, for the rest of the day we had 27 sailfish bites releasing 18 of them, at the end of the day we raised another blue that stayed deep on the right teaser though never looked like eating. The fishing picked up by the day and our last day on the water we released 19 from 31 bites, right at the drop off here at 9NM at the end of the day there were some bonitos popping so we caught a couple and put them out as livies near the edge. It wasn't long and we had a nice big blue coming at our long bait hard from left to right, it's tail, dorsal and bill clearly out of the water showing its size.....it missed the bait and never came back......Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!!!?????? That summed up our marlin fishing for the trip. Good times as always with these guys, we'll run over the aggressive ones next time!!

Wallace/Adams Group 73 Releases & big mahi's

Graeme Wallace, Andrew Adams with dads John Wallace and Glen Adams

March 15-16-17 and as mentioned above, the fishing just got better every day, the timing was perfect for the above group on Spring Break with John and Graeme Wallace returning for their second year in a row this time with Glen and Andrew Adams. Our first day out fishing the bottom of the pocket to the west today we got into them pretty good in the afternoon releasing 26 from 36 bites and getting into a couple of small mahi's for lunch. The afternoon was just starting to turn on and the crew opted to head in a couple of hours early to hit the pool back at the lodge.

The next day they were joined by good friends, another father and son team on Spring Break, Mark and Paul Langford for the day...

Mark and Paul Langford timed their one day on the water perfectly!

And the fishing just got better again....we started inshore getting a couple of early releases before finding some flotsam and getting into some mahi's, including a couple of nice ones...

Paul and Geln with the better 2 of the 6 boated.

From there we slowly moved to the bottom eastern side of the pocket with the current and the fish that were concentrated in that corner were biting hard! We raised 59 and released 34 from 55 bites, hitting 60 releases in 2 days we returned to the dock early once again with some burnt out though very happy anglers.

Back with the original crew today we found the fish up on the flats pushed up there with the current and spread out over a larger area and 12NM further to the east than they were the day before. Another good day for the guys with 13 released from 19 bites to make it a total of 73 billfish released for the trip and a bunch of mahi's. Great Spring Break for the guys!

Jay Old Group 12 sailfish and 1 striped marlin Released

Jimmy & Cody Treybig, Matthew & Scott Snyder and Jim & Jay Old

March 18th we fished the above group for one day on Allure II, another father and son Spring Break group in for a short trip. We fished with Jay and his family a few years back and now with the boys all about to hit college they came down for the best trip....With the fish heading further to the east our previous day out we tried the western flats and got into some great fishing in ideal conditions out there. A good steady bite all day out there with 19 sailfish of the 22 raised biting and near the end of the day Matthew Snyder got the release on a small tough stripey caught off the short teaser on the 30lb pitch rod....

Tag shot....

Before release.

Hoping to see these guys back down here before too long for a bit longer next time!

Very good fishing for our Spring Breakers through March 18th, and the fishing held for our groups that fished from here on in.....more reports to follow....