GUAT'S BEEN HAPPENING!!

 

MADELINE SUAN BACHOLRETTE WEEKEND 

 McKenzie and Madeline Suan, Mary Amelia Downs, Hayley and Heather Johnson.

Jan10th though 13th Madeline Suan had a Bachelorette weekend with a difference down here in Guatemala at the Lodge, and on Allure II. The girls had a good time here mixing it up with off-shore fishing, partying down at the lodge and a day in Antigua finishing up with a night at Reilly's Irish Pub before heading back down to the coast. Fishing was good with them all getting into plenty of sails releasing 12 from 19 bites, boating over 20 yellowfin tunas and several large mahi's.....

Couple of ugly bastards ruining what would otherwise be a great photo. Way to go girls, they fished and partied hard....

 

103 RELEASES IN 3 DAYS!!

Next we welcomed first timers to Guatemala, the Figari group from Beaumont, Texas and what an introduction to blue water fishing for these guys!!

Shawn Figari Jr, Ronald Killion, Steven Clark and Shawn Figari Sr, hooked up to another quad.

Fishing Jan 16th through 18th the bite went off here with some red-hot action at times, in the last hour of our first day out they released 16 sails to finish the day with 35 releases from 53 bites!

 Day 2 was steady right through the day and another 35 releases, this time from 51 bites. By day 3 the guys were experts at pitching baits to red-hot sailfish off the teasers, the goal for their last day out was 100 billfish releases......

They achieved their goal and we released another triple header, we pretty much quit fishing at just after 1.30PM with 103 releases from 153 bites!!! Incredible action and an excellent 3 day total for them, now they're ruined for life when it comes to billfishing. They'll have to get back here to try and top that total!!

35 sailfish and 5 yellowfin tunas....

Jan 19th-21st we welcomed back to Guatemala, Roy Hefley and Ashley Schnieder along with Casey McDermand this time bringing first timers to Sailfish Oasis Lodge Bruce Gates and Busch Thoma. The bite stayed fairly strong our first day out though dropped off some from there on in. Still we enjoyed some very good fishing with the crew releasing 35 sailfish from 56 bites and boated 5 yellowfin.....

Busch, Ashley and Casey..

Good times all around and everyone is planning return trips enjoying the great accommodations down at the Oasis and Allure II is a hit with all that fish her, a great lay-out and an excellent fishing platform.

Right now out there we are plagued with more than our fair share of green water though things should clear up soon and the bite should turn back on. We are going to be out on the water fairly consistently form here on in though still have a couple of days available in April and are now taking bookings for May and through August. All good months here in Guate. If you haven't already get in touch with us here:

liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com



And a HAPPY NEW YEAR.....

Happy New Year to everyone, we had a blast down here at the OASIS once again with an excellent live performance by the Blue Dawgs, an incredible fireworks display and a full house. A great time was had by all and if you're thinking of ways to spend you next New Year, try it here with us, it's always a good time, guaranteed!!

                        Laura, Doug Zingula, Tanna, Bret, Jillian and Chad Horkan
To the fishing.....on the 26th we welcomed the Zingula family to the Lodge fishing 27th through to the 29th. Doug is a regular to Guatemala and brought the family down for Christmas in the tropics from Nebraska and Colorado respectively. Fishing was a little tough though we still got everyone into billfish and some big mahi's as well. On the first day Tanna was up on the rod when a nice fat blue came up on the short teaser. The big blue took some enticing with a re-tease though we got the bite on the pitched mackerel and Tanna worked hard getting the quick release on the fish after we ran it down before the fish knew she was hooked, Tanna's second blue marlin in as many trips to Guatemala! She then passed the rod over to sister Jillian and that's when the fish started, long runs, grey hounding jumps and down and dirty fighting. Some different angles, excellent angling and 40 mins later both the fish and Jillian were pretty worn out. We got the fish boatside for a healthy release, that 11/0, 2004EL circle hook by Eagle Claw right in the corner of the jaw....

                       Nice fat blue of 350lb + for Tanna and Jillian Zingula
For the rest of the trip the group released 12 sailfish from 19 bites, some nice big mahi's and a great time both on the ALLURE II and down at the Lodge with Nick and the staff. Laura, a big game biologist got into the action as well tagging a couple of sailfish as well as this BIG sail for her...

                       BIG sail to top off a great trip with some BIG billfish and mahi's.
On the 27th we had Hoech group came into Guatemala to fish the 28th and 29th. Steve and Carla Hoech were joined by son Chase with his beautiful wife Kristen. Fishing on ALLURE for 2 days with Capt Julio and crew the team got into some good fishing with 19 releases from 23 bites as well as a few big mahi's. Good times and they fished well!! From the Oasis they left and finished off their trip in Colonial Antigua staying at the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo for two nights including New Years celebrations....

     Steve and Carla with Kristen and Chase Hoech after a couple of great days on the water.
On the 28th we had the O'Dell crew turn up at the lodge. 4 couples from Savannah, Georgia, mixing it up between personalized spa treatments for the ladies, surfing and fishing from the 29th through the 31st on the CAPTAIN HOOK. This crew had an awesome time out there as well, the highlight being Mandy O'Dell's BIG 120lb+ sailfish on 16lb tackle. Awesome catch Mandy!! They enjoyed their time down at the Lodge, including the New Years bash, a fun group. They also finished off their trip in Antigua for the last 2 nights on the 1st and 2nd, enjoying everything that Antigua has to offer.....with their last night a late session sampling the famous Illegal Mezcal, down at Café No Se......

Some happy girls and another very large sailfish, nice one on the 16lb!!

Hill and Donelle Dishman came in to the lodge on the 30th with Donelle's sister Julie Turner for the New Years bash a few days of off-shore fishing. Bryan O'Dell joined us for their first day on the water, the last day of 2013. On ALLURE II we had a bit of a tradition to keep up with.....The past 2 New Year's we had released the last marlin in Guatemala for the year and, trying to keep up with the same, ran out wide off the edge looking for one despite there being a reasonable sailfish bite back inshore. Just off the drop off in the deep water we saw a tailing stripey, made the pass and it came in hot on the teasers. Bryan pitched the ballyhoo, got the bite and passed the rod off to Julie, her first billfish. A tough one on the light stuff it gave her a workout before we got the release...

                              Sister's Julie and Donelle with our makeshift flag.....
So, we managed it for another year, a nice stripey of around 140lb's, add 2 from 4 sailfish bites some YF tunas and mahi's and it was a great last day to the year on the water....
That night the Blue Dawgs put on some great live entertainment, another great NY party with some big hangovers to deal with the next day!!

                                                    Cheers to 2014!!
We left late the next day at around 10.00 and in a state of hungover confusion decided it was a good idea to run to the east.....'looking for a new bite'.....we didn't find it, though boated plenty of big mahi's in a short day.
Hill was out the following day as our solo angler, and with clear heads, we went back to where the fish were and made up for the previous days' fishing. On the fly all day Hill did the job releasing 7 sails from 9 bites, we teased in 14 sailfish, a great day...

                                     Beautiful day and great fishing.....
The next day we were joined by Ben Paschal from Laguna Madre Outfitters for 3 days of flyfishing with Hill. The fishing was tough on the fly with the sails doing a disappearing act on us. We ran wide and looked, and then pounded it out in-shore. Over the 3 days we released 3 big mahi's on the fly including a hot double header which was a lot of fun. We raised a blue marlin of around 250lbs on the short teaser, switched it off and Hill cast the fly, the fish sat under the fly, not interested. We teased it in again, and again, this time with the mackerel, the fish came in a little hotter though was never really aggressive, we cast again for the same results. Each time the boat was knocked out of gear the fly just wasn't good looking enough for it. The next time we got the boat back in gear the fish came up on the long teaser and this time we decided to pitch the mackerel, we got a very lazy bite, though it did eat and Hill came tight. The fish came to life and went ballistic putting on a show, we got the tag into that blue marlin after about a 20 min fight and released it in good condition....

Beautiful jump shot, and the results......

And we raised 8 sailfish releasing 5 from 5 bites, you can't do any better from your opportunities than that! Ben did a great job with his 12wt fly rod releasing 2 from 2, including a nice big girl.
Ben is a fly guide out of South Padre Island and a great photographer, we look forward to working with him in the future guiding some trips down here to Guatemala...

Ben with the smaller of the two he released.

 

The Ford group was also down from Texas for 2 days of fishing on ALLURE for the 3rd and the 4th, a little tough out there though they released 3 from 4 bites, landed plenty of big mahi's and had a blast down here. They left raving about the boats, accommodations, food and of course the 'campechanas'!!

If you want to know what that is you'll need to be here at the bar, it does include some of the finest rum around and it is a favourite on the boat after a day on the water as well.....

Hooked up and back at the dock campechanas in hand....

 

A little bit slow on the fishing front when talking Guatemalan standards though still some excellent fishing by most other standards! It will get better out there, we have had a lot of off-colored, cooler than normal water to deal with, though the current is pushing in hard from the SE and is looking to get back to normal. The bite will too. Contact us to get in on it, good times guaranteed!!

When conventional fishing we are only using the Eagle Claw 2004EL series, the same circle hooks we have been using for the past 10 years down here, the best for hook up ratio and healthy releases.

 



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!

        

FISHING THROUGH DECEMBER 8th

Nice fat blue for Allure II

Both boats were out there fishing December 6th though the 8th and enjoyed good fishing in different areas, always a good thing having different bites to choose from and both producing good numbers! On Friday the 6th we took out Allure with Team Wisconsin while Hill Dishman took the helm of Allure II with anglers Casey McDermand, Ryan Pyburn and Trent Marino. The fishing had been very good offshore so we chased that while Allure II stopped at 25NM on the side of the pocket raising a triple header right off the bat. On Allure we went out wide to the edge looking for the bite from the previous days, the current out there was pushing to the west pretty good and we found the blue water and fish mid-morning about 10NM from where they were the previous day. It was worth it out there with a good steady bite all day long with 24 releases from 36 bites as well as 5 big mahi's. Good times for Team Wisconsin!!

Back in-shore the fishing was also very good with Hill and the team having 25 sailfish bites and releasing 14 of those. The highlight of the day was Trent getting the bite from a good solid 350lb blue marlin on the rigger bait. A real nice fish on 30lb test for Trent and Hill doing a great job on the wheel.

Nice shot and nice fish on the 30lb

 

Mate, Enio on the leader.

Team Wisconsin had such a great day they decided to stay on for an extra day and Julio took them back out on Allure. Back to the days previous bite at the 25NM mark they made the most of their opportunities releasing 20 sails from 25 bites. On Allure II we went wide chasing the bite, the fish had moved 14NM down the edge and were not as concentrated as the day before. It was still steady fishing though quite a bit slower, good averages for Casey, Trent and Ryan missing just 3 fish releasing 13 from 16 bites.

On our last day out we split up the guys between the both boats having a mini tournament with Casey and Trent heading out with Julio on Allure and Hill and Ryan on Allure II. Allure went back to the 25NM fishing hole while we went out to the east looking for a new bite. The fishing dropped off some for the whole fleet with boats spread far and wide looking for the fish. Our first of the day was a great catch though, this nice bull mahi on the fly for Hill.....

Pretty tough going from there on in, we covered some ground and raised a double, teasing one in for Hill on the fly and getting the other on a bait for Ryan. We landed another nice mahi and that was our day. With tournament rules having a sail on the fly worth 3 pts and on conventional 1 pt we came back to the dock with 4pts. Allure had the same, they saw 2 and caught 2, both on the conventional tackle.....(we set them up there). Slow fishing to finish off but fun times out there and a big night down at Café No Se in Antigua to round off an excellent weekend here in Guatemala.

2nd from left, Ryan Pyburn, Hill Dishman, Trent Marino and Casey McDermand

 

The water was a bit cooler and off-colour to the east though things should start cleaning up and getting back to normal here soon. Allure II is back out there in the coming days so more reports to come.

We are counting down to the big annual New Years eve bash here at Sailfish Oasis with the Blue Dawgs confirmed to play once again. Anyone wanting to come down and enjoy the festivities is more than welcome, it is always a blast.

Apart from that we have January 6th through the 9th open as well as some dates at the end of January, prime dates!

 

 

 

 



THANKSGIVING through 30th NOV

Nice big sail at the end of day one

From Thankgiving day on through Saturday the 30th we fished with solo angler Amanda Thompson. A super keen fisho she has spent time this year in Cape Verde, Nova Scotia and on the Reef in Aussie as well as Alaska! This was her second trip this year down to the Oasis fishing on Allure. Our first day out we found some nice water out to the west and worked the drop off out there hard, good conditions though nothing much going on out there. A move back in-shore to 400ft of water and we started to see some fish at the end of the day raising 7 sails and Amanda did a great job missing just one fish going 4 from 5 bites.
Friday 29th, with the current pushing to the east and everything seeming to move that way we started about 10NM to the east of where we had finished off and were soon into a few bites. With the big cold front pushing down from the US through the Gulf we had a stiff ENE wind blowing the whole day. The afternoon doing the opposite of what it normally does here in Guate and picking up even harder and making conditions sporty out there. We worked the area hard and the fish were biting steady through the whole day. Keen to hone her skills pitch-baiting off the teasers she did just that missing just one fish off the teasers and that one threw the hook jumping, the other misses came off the long rigger baits and mostly because of multiple hits. 25 fish up in the spread and 21 bites today with 16 releases, an awesome day and great percentages in trying conditions!!

                               Great shot from day 2
Our last day out we mixed it up as she was keen to give it a try on the fly rod, her first try saltwater flyfishing. We moved further to the east and more to the middle of the pocket today, the current had started to push more off-shore and it wasn't till later in the afternoon that we found the fish. In the morning session we raised a few sails though they were hard to tease all the way in. Our first fish of the day was a 20lb bull mahi. A great catch on the fly!

Nice bull mahi on the fly!!

 

We did release one sail on the fly in the morning session from 2 bites with the other one jumping off just before the release. Later in the afternoon we found some fish further off-shore and enjoyed a great last 2 hours of the day. The fish were still kind of tough to tease in, some coming in hot, the majority slow and not biting, more slashing their bills at the fly. We got some good practice in though and things came together well, we ended up raising 15 sails, 7 bit the fly with 3 jumping off and the other pulling the hooks soon after the bite. 3 billfish releases on the fly from 7 bites on your first attempt is good stuff seeing the fish were not biting aggressively as well. Nice going!

And the results, nice going Amanda.....

All in all, 3 great days on the water. The conditions laid down nicely in the afternoon and weather wise things should get back to normal in the coming days. Water conditions should also improve with a lot of patchy water out there coming right as the winds lay down.

 

We have just received news of a cancelation in January, some prime dates are now open in what was the best month of the year last season. Get in touch with us here at liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com to secure these before they go.

 

Hope to see you down here to experience billfishing at its best!!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We fished both boats this last weekend with ALLURE I having a last minute booking with team Casa Vieja Lodge in the PCCA fished Friday through Sunday. Team CVL consisting of David Salazar, Jim Turner and Albert Castro enjoyed some good fishing with Capt Julio Morales on ALLURE I. At the end of day 2 they were well on-line for a shot at the title in 3rd spot overall with 32 releases. Day 3 proved to be one of those days out there where some of the boats had the hum, and others didn't. Top boat Intensity had a 12 fish lead going into the last day though couldn't get it going and missed out by one fish to travelling boat Tranquilo, Intensity came in 2nd with Capt Hook 3rd, all one fish apart closely followed by Team CVL and ALLURE I. Though they missed out the guys in Team CVL had a blast out there and were raving about the boat, Capt and crew.

On ALLURE II we welcomed back good friends and regulars down here to Guatemala Capt Mick Childs from Hawaii and (Jimmy) James Cambridge residing in Flamingo, Costa Rica. With other commitments they chose not to fish the PCCA this time around concentrating on 'fun' fishing instead....and fun they had. Friends from way back, they had a great time on the water and back at the lodge keeping Nick on his toes and busy behind the bar....
To the fishing, first day out, Thursday 21st we worked our way out to the middle of the pocket about 25NM out finding nice water and at about mid-morning a big pod of spinner dolphin with birds and tunas busting. A request for sashimi resulted in 11 tunas boated, enough for the bin so we moved on looking for the bills after having a blast catching those...

                                   Jimmy and Mick with lunch and dinner.
Looking to the east and off-shore proved fruitless so we ran back to the west to the middle of the pocket and found some sails biting there. The guys got into their grove early on and missed few fish, most of the action coming in the last 2 hours of the day they released 11 from 17 bites and missed a 200lb blue that came in hot. Nice day out there!

                                James Cambridge with a beauty before release.
Friday the guys headed to Guatemala City and Antigua for a break and some business. Back out on the water the following day, Saturday proved a bit of an ask after a big night down at the Lodge with manager Nick.....A few too many tequilas and rums meant a late start for the guys though we made it out to the fleet by about 10.00am and were into the fish soon after. The action stayed steady out there, a few more sancocho's today, though, not all of them attributed to Nick, just some plane bad luck as well. 14 sails from 23 bites and 5 yellowfin tunas, not bad at all seeing we pulled up lines and came in early as well...

                                   Capt Mick and mate, Enio.
As always with Mick and James we had a full on good time with them enjoying the last day of their stay in Antigua.

Happy Thanksgiving to all out there from the team at the Lodge and the crews on the boats. We are fishing Thursday through Saturday, looking forward to some more great fishing off-shore. More reports to come. November has been an awesome month here so far and things are shaping up for the season ahead. We still have a couple of prime dates available in January and February, they'll get snapped up soon so get in touch with:
liz@sailfishoasissportfishing.com
before they go....

FISHING NOV 11th and16th-17th

 

 

KANGIESER GROUP 16th-17th NOVEMBER

 

                                                                          

   Back row: Brad Kangieser, John and John JR D'Angelo, Hunter Lane and Meredith Hoffman
   Front row: David Hoffman, Morgan Kangieser and  Kaitlin Porter.....MIA Michael Lane.

We hosted this father and daughter/son group for a couple of great days here in Guatemala on ALLURE and ALLURE II. Brad and Michael have been down before and introduced our fishery to their sons and daughters as well as Brad's niece Kaitlin. The group had a blast here catching sailfish and mahi mahi, including a couple of triple headers and one quintuplet hook up on the last day. One of the fish 'chewed' through the leader though we landed the other 4 sails. As well as this on ALLURE they had 2 blue marlin bites with a bit of bad luck, one getting bill wrapped and the other pulling the hook. Still an awesome trip for the group form Houston releasing 41 sails form 52 bites and boating several nice mahi's.

                                           Great boat-side shot
The crew had a blast down at the lodge with Nick and the staff and we had some wonderful comments:
Absolutely amazing trip! The food was incredible, drinks were amazing and the fishing even better!!
John D'Angelo

                                       First day double header....

I just wanted to send a quick note to thank you all for the past weekend.  Everyone in the group had a great time and told me that it was well above any of their expectations.  The staff at the lodge were terrific as usual and really helped us out at the pizza party for the local school. Thanks again for a great time. Cheers and tight lines!
Brad Kangieser

                     Father and daughter David and Meredith Hoffman.

                                                         MONDAY 11th NOVEMBER
ALLURE II took out close friends Stephanie Choate and Lizzie ............ for a one day pre-tourney fish. The bite was still on at around the 40NM mark and girls fished well, mixing it up between the fly and conventional they released 18 on the baits and a couple on the fly. Both experienced fishos it was their first time on the fly and they both got into em, releasing one each. Congrats and nice going!!
The fishing remained very good during the week for the Guatemalan International Tournament with over 900 billfish releases over 4 days through Saturday for the 15 boats participating. November proving once again to be a great month here in Guatemala.

We are out again tomorrow, more reports to come. Still openings available in December and even a few prime dates in January and February....