BILLFISH MECCA......FISHING THROUGH MARCH 29th '16

CONE, SMITH, ERWIN & DISHMAN, 88 SAILS & 1 BLUE MARLIN

L-R: Mike Smith, Hill, Kelley and Gina Erwin, Donelle Dishman, Scott Cone and Lyn Smith

March 14th fished solo angler Hill Dishman, started in close and raised a blue that didn't bite. Ran further offshore and released 46 sailfish from 67 bites! Joined by the above crew for the next 2 days and stuck to the same plan, worked the deep water in close for marlin first thing, raised 2 over the two mornings and Hill released one of about 150lb.

Blue on the 50lb stand-up

Ran offshore looking for tunas and ended up on the sailfish bite later in the afternoon both days releasing 42 from 79 bites for the 2 days! Great time...

Hill, Gina and Kelley 

FANTA & FORET 99 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN

L-R David Fanta, Christine Foret, Diane Fanta and James Foret

March 17-19, Great to see these guys back in Guatemala! The fishing was red hot 30nm to the east for sailfish, though every morning we sacrificed a few hours working the deep water in close for blues. First morning nothing, over the next 2 morning's we raised 4, one big fish in the 600lb+ class that was pushing water and whacking at the mackerel though didn't eat...that one cleaned out the arteries! Another teased though didn't switch and we pulled the hook on one of about 300lb before James tagged and released his first blue marlin of about 400lb.

Nice one James!!

The afternoon sail bite was red hot all 3 days with the crew doing an excellent job releasing 99 sailfish from 169 bites! We're not seeing many of these this year, though Diane boated this beauty mahi which fed us for a couple of lunches and dinner...

 30lb bull

Dave and Diane 

EASUM & CREW 153 SAILFISH RELEASED.

Bill Easum, Jimmy Taylor, Jim O'Donell and George with the Capt Hook crew

Over the same time period March 17-19 the above crew fished the Capt Hook, chasing the numbers every day they were on the bite out to the east and released an incredible 153 sails from 190 bites!! Some great averages there from some hard core fishos, nice going fellas on a great trip.

NELSON & HINES 30 SAILFISH ON FLY!

Tim Nelson 

Fred Hines

From Oregon we welcomed first timers to the lodge Tim Nelson and Fred Hines. Fishing aboard Makina for 3 days on the fly they had a blast raising 144 sails and releasing 30 from 59 bites. More incredible fishing with 17 releases on their last day! 

KOZAK GROUP, 65 SAILFISH, 1 BLUE & 1 STRIPED MARLIN

L-R: Pete Marruquin, Ken Grodi, Scott Kozak and Scott Maher

March 21 & 22 Scott Kozak was back, this time fishing with us on Allure II bringing his work crew from Michigan. Early on in the morning Scott hooked and released one of these on 20lb test off the right teaser...

Striped marlin.....plus

One of these.....plus

One of these......equals

A slam for Scott Kozak, all off the teasers, all on 20lb test, congrats Scott...

Nice first day on the water!! The sails were biting steady and his crew had a blast pitching to some hot sails off the teasers! They ended with 65 releases from 99 bites on the sails, 1 from 2 bites on blues and 1 from 1 on striped marlin over their 2 days here.

Scott Maher 

And Pilo Marruquin

NEWELL GROUP 68 SAILFISH RELEASES

Darrell Barber, Billy Newell, Gretchen and Chad Childers

March 23-25th we welcomed the above group for their first time to Guatemala and had a great time with them here during 'Semana Santa', or Easter week, one of the biggest weeks of the year in Guate. They fished well, and by day 3 were baiting 'em like pro's with a total of 68 releases from 113 bites. Chad runs his 48ft Sportfish so had him up there for a couple of hours on the last day....

Good times with good people and we're looking forward to seeing them back here again soon!

ZINGULA GROUP 56 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN RELEASED

Pat Snyder, Doug Zingula, Hollis Perkins and Matt Snyder

March 27-29 It was great to catch up with Doug and Hollis, I first fished with these guys back in '04! This time they were with Pat and son Matt Snyder all from Sydney, Nebraska. Fishing was on the first day out with 67 sails in the spread and 33 releases from 58 bites...

The bite slowed down some the next 2 days and on the last morning on the way out the water quality was back to blue in close so we stopped short looking for a marlin. Within 10mins we had one hot on the teaser and 25 mins later Matt released a nice fat fish in the 325lb class..

Beautiful blue, tagged and released...

Within 20 mins of releasing this fish we had huge bite on the short teaser, another blue in the 300lb class whacked the mackerel around, acted very spooky, darting around the bait and disappeared. Definitely some good blue marlin action in the deep water just 12NM off the breakwall......Keen to beat their PB on sails we picked up after that and ran offshore for 20 sailfish bites and a total of 56 releases from 103 bites. Great trip and a PB on billfish!

It's been an incredible season here in Guatemala. The fishing has been solid since October-November and it looks like it'll stay that way right through the summer. The blue marlin are about and if you target them, chances are you'll get into 'em. As the summer moves on the blue bite normally gets better, the sails are here year round and the tuna bite picks up as well. We have opening's available in May, June is starting to fill up and we're looking forward to the fishing from here onwards, I'm picking a great blue marlin bite this summer.... 

Contact: liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

INCREDIBLE FISHING GOES ON......AND ON!

 FISHERMAN'S CENTER, 119 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN

L-R: Mike Buckland, J.L Leffler, Sue and Bill Buckland.

March 7-9 we welcomed back Bill and Mike Buckland, this time introducing to the Lodge and Allure II, Bill's wife, Sue and J.L. Leffler. From Fisherman's Center fame in Palm Beach Florida the crew hit an awesome spell of fishing here with their best day going 51 from 81 bites!!

Over their 3 days the crew released 119 sailfish!! Amazing trip, with the last 3 sailfish on the last day  released on the fly. To top it off we teased in a nice 275lb blue marlin for Mike who got an amazing bite on the pitched mackerel and tagged and released the blue on the 50lb stand-up gear. 

Awesome bite and great angling Mike!

Tagged and released....

And Sue with her first sail on the fly.

This from Bill: 

Hi Chris,We had an absolute Great time. Fishing couldn’t have been better! Everything was perfect the lodge,food, staff was excellent.

J.R. WAITS GROUP 110 SAILFISH RELEASES

L-R: J.R. Waits, William Harkey, Trey Harkey, Jason Harkey and Terry from the Carolinas

Over the same time period, March 7-9 the above group were at the Oasis fishing on the Captain Hook. Hosted by J.R. the crew also got into this amazing fishing with 110 sailfish released over 3 days and 4 of them on the fly!

This from J.R. 

We landed 50 sailfish on our first day!! In 3 days fishing, we raised over 170 sailfish, had 144 eat, and landed 110 including 4 sails on the fly! By far the best offshore fishing that I have ever experienced. Sailfish Oasis lodge was impeccable and food out of this world. I hope to see y'all again next year. Thank you very much.Cheers,Capt. J.R. Waits • www.fishcall.com

RICHTER GROUP, 60 SAILFISH & 3 BLUE MARLIN

Mateo and Bobby Richter with Ryan Maspero

March 10-13 great to see Bobby back here this time with his son Mateo and his girlfriend, fellow Kiwi, Ryan Maspero. The sailfish were biting and we got into them the first day before changing to fly late on the 2nd day. 

Fishing Bobby style, rod in holder, couple of cranks of the handle while supping a beer...

With a blue marlin bite at 8nm to 12nm in the middle of the deep water in the pocket we sacrificed a hot sailfish bite 30nm offshore to target blues. It paid off over the next 2 days we raised 6 blues releasing 3 from 4 bites including this beast for Ryan, her first blue ever which she hooked herself, fought and released on 30lb test.....!

Awesome shot of Ryan's fish, thanks to mate Enio for the skills on the camera!

Next Mateo got an incredible hot bite on the pitch bait from a 325lb blue right on the second wave, never get tired of that! Bobby also got in on the blue action releasing a 200lber

Nice fat blue for Bobby....

After targeting the marlin we ran offshore and got into the sail bite and tried them on the fly, in the afternoon we released 7 from 11 bites as well as a few the previous day.

Mateo and Bobby

And Ryan with her first sail on the fly, she went 6 from 9 bites the last afternoon!

Sail on the fly.

GODWIN, KOZAK, EVANS & BROBST, 105 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN

Pat Brobst, J Godwin, Bill Evans and Scott Kozak with crew on the Hook

March 11-13 great to see these regulars back down here and fishing aboard the Capt Hook. 3 days of spectacular fishing for them as well. These guys are good, they do the tournament series through Central America and practice hard!! 105 sails released in 3 days as well as a 200lb blue for Scott Kozak. Great fishing!!

We were back out there today and the fish have moved inside the eastern edge and were biting well, we raised 76 sailfish and released 46 from 67 bites today with solo angler Hill Dishman. We worked the bottom of the pocket trying for a blue in the morning, we did raise a big fish on the teaser though could not get the bite on the pitched mackerel .....At mid/late morning we ran to the sail bite and it was on. This season is really proving to be something else!! We have plenty of openings in May so get in on this incredible season we are having....Contact:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

GREAT BITE GOES ON.....FISHING THROUGH 2nd MARCH

RICHTER GROUP-26 FLY-17 CONVENTIONAL

Bobby Richter with Woodrow Thompson in the background

February 22-25 we welcomed back Bobby Richter and his crew of James Preis and Jonathan Meyer who this time introduced Woodrow Thompson to Guatemala, Sailfish Oasis and Allure II. Always a fun group to fish with these guys, never short of a laugh. Got into the fishing pretty good as well, first day out we released 11 before 1100 and switched it up to a mix of fly and conventional. From the next day on it was all fly with 26 sails released on fly and 17 on the conventional for their trip. Good fishing!

James Preis with one of many on the fly

And Woody with his first ever on the fly.

Sweet shot, thanks @artandangling!!

And Jonathan.....

RIATA GROUP 120 SAILFISH & 1 BLUE MARLIN

Feb 26th & 27th we welcomed back for their 2nd time to the Oasis, Riata Hunting and Fishing's, Mike Gardner and his crew from Austin, Texas for 2 days fishing here in Guatemala. Fishing aboard Allure II, Capt Hook and Makina the guys experienced an awesome bite with 120 sailfish released.

 Great averages of 20 per boat per day and last day out we went 1 for 2 on blue marlin as well...!!

Mike guides hunting and fishing trips all round the world and is already looking at bringing in more groups for next year which says it all. 'A+ experience!!'

McDERMAND / MARINO - 33 RELEASES

Trent and Morgan Marino with Casey McDermand

Feb 28-29, great to catch up with Casey and Trent again, this time introducing Guatemala to Becky and Morgan Marino.

And Casey with Becky

First day out we worked the bottom of the pocket hard in search for a blue marlin, then moved to the west of the pocket where the fish had been the previous days. Kind of tough, we did get the bite from a nice blue though unfortunately broke it off, we raised another that did not bite and released 2 from 4 sails for the day. Next day we went out wide looking and got into them pretty good, more or less found them straight away. An awesome day with a couple of cover-ups in the 63 sailfish raised, we got 56 bites and the girls did an awesome job baiting their own fish off the teasers with Morgan claiming rights to the largest fish of the trip...

The boys are claiming it, though Morgan baited and caught it...

We released 31 today. Glad we got into them, a great way to finish off their trip. From here on in they climbed Volcan Pacaya, hiked to Lake Atitlan and enjoyed some time in Antigua. There is more to Guatemala than just the best bill fishing around....

O'BRIEN GROUP 39 RELEASES & TUNAS

L-R (standing) Todd Reppert, Robert O' Brien, Wayne Gross and Carlos De Aldecoa with Mariachis.

March 1 & 2 we welcomed the above group for their first Guatemalan experience.....at least offshore....that coincided with Wayne Gross' 50th birthday, celebrated at the end of the day with mariachi's, Zacapa rum and Ilegal mezcal margaritas. We got into some good fishing both days finishing the first day on a huge bait ball with spinners and a couple of finbacks feeding which we managed to land 5 yellowfin tunas off. Next day took a while to find the fish though got into them good from 1130 on. Some big fish in the mix!!!

Wayne with a large specimen

We had a great afternoon out there, some of these sails were marlinesque in their size and their attitude!! Some hard, tough fighting fish in the 25 released from 34 bites.

And Robert with another....

Good times with these guys and looking forward to seeing them back down here again soon.

We had a couple of days in so managed to get over to Ascension Bay and meet up with Patrick Duke from Art and Angling after fishing him here in Guatemala a couple of weeks back. He got me into some of the great flats fishing they have over there while hosting a trip to the Palometa club.

A couple of bones on the fly 

And testing the local tequila

Last Wednesday his group released 11 permit on the fly. Awesome spot over there.

We are back out there offshore in Guatemala this week. There are a couple of days open end of March and then in May the marlin bite normally heats up and we have some great weekend dates available. The summer months we plan on targeting blue marlin on the fly. Get in touch if you want to get into it!!

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com