Fish Report to 20th Feb

A big body of cooler green water moved into Guatemala and it has been hard work though through it all there has still been some reasonable fishing with plenty of marlin in the mix. Mahi's have been thick and the sails have been finiky though they are still around and as this is written the warmer blue water is moving in and things look as though are on the change.


John Buckley with his first billfish.

On the 14th and 15th we had Dr Rihl Buckley and his son John along with friends and another father and son team Ken and Andrew Ruddy all from Houston Texas. There was a pretty good marlin bite the day before to the east so we concentrated our efforts there. It was hard work with the best water being a clean green and under 81'. Plenty of big mahi-mahi kept the action going through the day with 11 being landed to over 30lb's. We also raised 4 sails getting 3 to bite and releasing 2. One blue charged the short teaser though faded before the bait could be pitched and came back on the rigger bait pushing water though didn't eat. A few blues were caught today and plenty were seen.

Andrew Ruddy and Dr Rihi Buckley with a couple of nice bull mahi's.

The following day proved better for the guys fishing on the 31' Jupiter, they released a nice blue of around 300lb's, 2 sailfish and a couple of mahi's to boot.

15th and 16th we welcomed back on ALLURE Jon Theaukauf, he has been fishing with us here for the past 5 years in Guatemala and this time with friends from Switzerland Christian Machalf and sons Dominic and Yanic. Jon was on form hooking all the fish for his friends and even hooking a triple and passing the rods on which was pretty work. We ended day one with 14 sails raised and releasing 8 from 9 bites, the last fish of the day breaking the line. Plenty of mahi's today as well with 10 to around the 27lb mark. Nice work by Dominic and and Yanic who are 12 and 9 respectively and fished extremely well. 12NM to the east of us today there was reasonable marlin bite going on with Bill O'Keefe and grandsons Matthew and Jay on Fishy Business releasing a small stripey and a nice 350lb black marlin though missed out on the slam by a sail. Unlucky though congrats in a helluva day.
The next day started off with a blue marlin hot on the short teaser that we got to bite though unfortunately missed. We had an early day back at the dock though Jon kept up good form on the sails going 3 from 3 bites and plenty of big mahi's.

17th and 18th, all the way from Utah we welcomed back Andy and Mitch Johnson, Dean and Mary Hope Mortenson and Chris. A long run off-shore looking for good water paid off as it was tough fishing for the majority of the fleet. We got everyone into some fish with 5 from 7 bites on the sails and 4 big mahi-mahi. The next day a long way to the west things were slow, though some whale watching with 4 humpbacks broke up the day. Fishing wise we did OK with mahi's to 25lb's and 2 from 4 bites on the sailfish. Hard work though we had a great time with this very enthusiastic group. Looking forward to seeing you guys back!

20th and 21st Craig and Kathy Johnson were joined by Mike and Julie O'Brien. With the best water being just off-shore, about a 4 mile wide stretch of blue water just a fewmiles off the beach we worked it hard for a couple of bites. The next day on the 31'Jupiter we went off-shore getting into Mikes first sailfish and nice 30lb+ mahi-mahi.
Mike and Alex with Mikes first sailfish...
As mentioned, things are on the up out there with still plenty of marlin bites and the sailfish are moving back in with the warmer, bluer water. More reports next week.....