QUICK UP-DATE THROUGH APRIL 24th.....

SHINKLE/LONSDALE, 38 SAILFISH & 2 BLUE MARLIN

Brian Shinkle and Tim Lonsdale

April 16-19 great to catch up with Tim and Brian again for their second trip down here this season and had a blast with them. For their trip we raised 88 sailfish, some funky fish in the mix once again with 68 of them biting, some soft bites as had been the norm from these fish.... they did well releasing 38 of them.

Running out on the 3rd morning we saw a marlin tailing at the edge of the drop at 10NM so started there. Couldn't get that one to bite though a mile offshore Brian got the first bite of the day a nice tough blue in the 300lb class tagged and released!

Nice one Brian! 

Working back toward the drop off we got the bite from another blue that unfortunately threw the hook. Worked the inside area for another hour before pushing out off-shore to the sailfish bite...

Next morning we tried 4NM toward the east of the previous day to the steepest part of the drop at 9NM off the breakwall, we didn't even have our full spread out when here she came hot on the teaser. Tim got the bite on the pitched mackerel and an hour later we got the tag in and released a nice blue of over 400lb.

Tearing it up!

And just before getting the tag in.

Good effort Tim!

Worked the inside area for another hour or more with no luck before heading offshore to release 7 sails from 15 bites for the day. 

GODWIN, KOZAK, EASUM, PRICE, 34 SAILFISH RELEASED

Bill Easum, J Godwin, John Price and Scott Kozak with their 500th billfish of the season!

April 14-15-16 nice to see these guys back down at the Lodge this time with John Price fishing with Capt Eddie Bairez on Capt Hook. Their first day out the fish were biting and they did well with some soft bites in the mix releasing 21 from 30 bites, the next 2 days things slowed down some though their averages remained right up there with 11 from 16 and for their last day out 11 from 14. The last fish of the day brought up an great milestone for their season down here with a total of 504 sailfish and 2 blue marlin for Team USA and Team Maverick since December between CR and Guatemala. The majority coming out of Guatemala, helluva season there fellas!

Scott Kozak with #550!

Also a big congratulations to Scott Kozak who released a personal milestone billfish #550......150 of which he tagged. 

Congrats once again to these hard core fishes and good luck for the up-coming tournaments they're going to fish this summer in Nicaragua and then later on in El Salvador....

RICHTER/MEYER 40 SAILFISH RELEASED

2nd from left: Jonathan Meyer, Matt Richter, Gabe Meyer with Bobby and Brian Richter

April 21-24 we welcomed Bobby Richter back for his 3rd trip down to Guatemala since February!!! Never a dull moment when he is down here and a good fun group to boot with his 2 sons Mateo and Brian and good to see Jonathan back down here with his brother Gabe.

First day we pounded the inside of the pocket looking for a blue that didn't materialize and after making the run offshore to the east we raised 25 sailfish, getting 24 to bite and released 16, also missed a striped marlin that came in hot and bit a couple of baits..

Double header for Brian and Bobby...

For the next few days we raised 55 sails, getting 43 to bite and released 24, we spent some time on the inside looking for a blue marlin over the odd morning though no luck....and the morning we didn't look they were biting....seemed to be the way it was for me!

Lit up!

A bit tough for us though still a good time had, impossible not to with these guys! We also got into a bunch of small dorado out there and one nice bull of about 25lbs

Ceviche, tacos and mahi fillets...

Jonathan and Gabe.

Gabe was on it, for a first time effort offshore fishing pitching to sailfish he picked it up and was hooking 'em like a pro....

We've had the last couple of days in and it sounds like the blue marlin at the bottom of the pocket here in close have started biting again with boats raising up to 4 a piece. The sailfish bite has been a bit slow inshore though they are bound to turn on in the coming days with plenty of bait and deep blue water to check out. We are out there again tomorrow 28th April onwards and looking forward to it.

Still some openings in May and it is looking like we are going to have a great summer blue marlin bite going on from here on through August. We'll be here so get in touch to get into it!

Contact:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com

FISHING THROUGH APRIL 14th

CODRINGTON, EDWARDS GROUP

Chilling out at the bar down at the Lodge.

We fished the above group March 31st, April 1 & 2 with John Codrington, Josh Starnes and Hill fishing the first day out before Capt Hill took over helm duties with the added crew of Tommy and son Thomas Edwards and Chad Schroeder for the next 2 days. The 3 day total was 34 sails raised with 16 releases from 27 bites. There were also 5 blue marlin in the spread with 4 raised the last day alone! They tagged and released a nice blue in the 200lb class from 2 bites that last day out. 

Look out.

A hot fish that charged the boat after a 2 second U turn.......The 4 blues were all raised in the last 3 hours of the day, great way to finish off their trip!! They also got into the tunas......

ROY GROUP 

L-R Gary with son's Taylor, Garrett and Jordan Roy and friend 'Tiburon' Scharck

April 3rd and 4th we welcomed the above father and son crew with good friend 'El Tiburon' for 2 days of fishing. First time in Guatemala for this lot all from Houston.....The fish have been out there though acting funky, coming in on teasers than disappearing, whacking baits and dropping them. We raised 33 over the 2 days releasing 9 sails from 25 bites, tough ratio through no fault of the anglers!! 

Gary with a large sail

Last day we went out wide after a request for yellowfin tunas and found some late in the day boating 4 tunas in the 20-25lb class. 

DISHMAN, WHEAT & KLEIN

Brad Klein, Hill Dishman and Dan Wheat

April 6-7th great to see these old buddies fishing together and to catch up with Brad and Dan again. More of the same on the fishing front, we went east first day out to see find fish with attitude.....the sails were as finicky as ever, we raised 24 sailfish first day out and released 8 from 18 very soft bites. We were fortunate enough to raise a blue in the 200lb class on the bridge teaser that sat under the pitch bait forever till it committed to eat. Hill did a great job hooking up from a finicky bite and we got the tag and release on a very stubborn, tough fish.

Nice blue!

We went looking the next day.....exploring, headed way out wide and to the east, looking for Guate'buena', not Guate'mala'......Raised 10 sails, half of them did bite, though lady luck was not on our side...

A tough pill to swallow......

DONALSON & DISHMAN

L-R Jamie and Cindy Dishman with Alyson and Drew Donalson and a nice striped marlin

April 8-9th Always nice to catch up with familiar faces and fish this group for a couple of days. Started in close, abandoning the east after the previous days results, looking for a blue. It wasn't long before we had a hot, hot fish on the teaser and Jamie got the bite on the pitched mackerel, not a blue, but a nice sized striped marlin that put on a great show for the crew. Jamie did the job and we tagged and released that stripey...

Hot stripey, Jamies first, nice job!

For the rest of the trip we raised 31 sailfish, more of the same, tough fish on the teasers and tough to convert bites to releases though at least we saw fish releasing 6 over their 2 days from 13 bites. Late in the last afternoon we found active spinners working with birds and tunas busting, nice way to finish the trip with 5 tunas boated.

Alyson and Drew

And Cindy with hers...

TIM & WILL PEAT

Father and son....Will with dad Tim.

April 10th-12th. Nice to catch up with Tim Peat again, all the way from England, this time bringing son 17 yr old Will. Cool father and son trip to take! These guys are strictly fly fisherman and with the way the fish had been behaving on the teasers we knew it was going to be tough to tease them all the way in....let alone switch to the fly. Over their 3 days here we did raise 35 sailfish into the spread, from the 35 raises we got 8 of them to bite the fly, 2 of the bites were coming at the fly bill whacks, not good bites and nearly impossible to convert to a hook-up. So, 6 good bites, 6 hook-ups and 6 sailfish released on the fly. That there is impressive fishing, talk about making the most of your shots....and they were some quality sails on the fly, all tough, hard fighting fish...

Big sail in the 120lb class for Tim

On the second day we raised a sail that was coming in half hearted when another fish appeared on the teaser behind it coming in hot, we concentrated on that fish and Will cast, got the bite and was hooked to a perfect sized stripey for the fly.

Working to lift the fish that stayed down and tough for most of the fight....

Stripey on the fly....

Tagged and released, nice going Will!!

As mentioned, good, quality flyfishing for these guys. Maybe not the numbers that we had been in experiencing in previous weeks, though still an awesome trip for them and congrats on their ratio with 7 releases from 7 hook-ups!

McSHAN GROUP

Aimee and Chad Burgess with Dawn and Ryan McMinn....absent, Scott McShan

April 13-14th we welcomed the above group for 2 days on Allure II and down the lodge. Over 2 days with these guys we raised 41 sails and got 35 to bite releasing 13 sailfish, tough ratio though as mentioned previously, no fault of the anglers, the way these fish were biting it was hard to convert.....2nd fish of our first day out there was a nice blue pushing the 300lb mark, hot on the short teaser we got a good bite on the pitched mackerel and Ryan did the job, tagging and releasing this fat fish...

Ryan with his blue...

Next day we raised a large blue that stayed behind the boat for literally minutes, tried hard, though couldn't get the bite out of her. Later in the afternoon we hooked another smaller marlin that put on a show before throwing the hook. The afternoon sail bite today was steady.....in bites at least.

Last fish of the trip for Aimee in the last minute of the day....

Good crew, good times and looking forward to seeing them back here.

It has still been good fishing right through, though some tough bites from some finicky billfish. We are definitely starting to see more numbers and I think they are going to start biting here more aggressively in the next few days. Onwards and upwards, the marlin bite has been steady and should get better as the year progresses as well as tuna and the mahi bite should improve as well....We have a few openings in May, come down and get into some of this incredible fishery.

Contact: liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com