SPRING BREAK, MARCH '09

Pat and Dan with Clay and Julio

March 16th-17th Dan Wheat took along son Pat and his friend Clay Raven, both 17yr old seniors to start off their last High School Spring Break with 2 days of fishing on ALLURE here in Guatemala. They timed their trip well with great weather, blue water and plenty of billfish action keeping adrenaline levels high for the majority. Neither of the boys had caught billfish before though at the end of day one they were angling like pros with 15 sailfish releases from 25 bites and a nice 30lb mahi mahi.

Dan got in on the action as well and was a true natural at pitching baits to the fish off the teasers and came tight on them all. Things slowed a little for us on day 2, we found the fish further up the ledge and had good action in the morning though it slowed down in the afternoon, still a good day missing few fish with 9 releases from 11 bites and another nice mahi in the 25lb range. The highlight of the trip came in the last 10 minutes when we raised a nice blue on the short teaser, an aggressive bite on the pitched mackeral saw Pat Wheat hooked to a solid 320lb+ blue marlin.


The fish went ballistic and put on a spectacular show before going deep, great work on the rod by Pat had the fish up in 20 mins and released. Great job and congratualtions on first sails and marlin to Pat and Clay. Dan's only regret with the trip was that he booked only 2 days instead of 3......

JOHNSON GROUP SPRING BREAK '09

L-R Kathy Johnson, Denver Harrison, Bailey Crenshaw, Mimi Edge, Lauren Marple, Hastings Cockard (with marlin flag) Heather, Hayley, Madeleine and Audrey Johnson.

17th-19th. El Jefe, Craig Johnson flew into Guatemala with wife Kathy and daughters Heather, Hayley, Audrey and Madeleine. Heather invited a few of her college friends to spend their Spring Break in Guatemala for 3 days of off-shore fishing and every night beer drinking down at the Sailfish Lodge and Casa Vieja. Apart from the partying the group had a great time here catching plenty of....

Mahi mahi

Sailfish.

And the perfect sized blue marlin for Hastings.

Though, it was kinda hard to concentrate on the fishing.........
I think everyone here on the dock hopes they choose Guatemala for Spring Break 2010!

19th March, Hill Dishman and Terrell Meaux came in a day before their group arrived and took the 31' Jupiter down to the west to check out the fishing, they did well with 7 from 9 releases on the sails and beauty 350lb blue marlin on the 30lb tackle for Hill, at over 10 to 1 on the line class that's a helluva a catch.
The next day John Codrington, Todd Mucha and Jim Nance came into town and joined Hill and Terrell aboard ALLURE for the day, we raised 18 sails, got 15 to bite and released 10. On the 21st the group was complete with Mike and Steve Sledge, Tim Witt and Keith Tennison joining the crew. The group were in Guate to celebrate John's last weekend before getting married with a few days of fishing. The group split between ALLURE and Jupiter and on Saturday 21st we went 14 from 19 bites, great numbers from the guys, we also had a blue marlin up that didn't bite, on the Jupiter they did get a blue marlin bite though missed it. On the last day out Sledge was true to his word and didn't miss a fish all day adding to the good numbers 9 from 11 bites. The Jupiter was hot with a 3rd blue marlin bite in as many days though unfortunatley it didn't stick, they also got into the sails with 7 from 12 and several mahi mahi in the mix over the 3 days of fishing.

Steve, Todd, John, Hill, Terrell, Mike and Jim.
The guys finished off their trip going to Antigua for their last night here in Guatemala and dinner at Nokiate followed by a big night out at the legendary Cafe No Se, trying out the assortments of tequilas and mezcals......ouch.

The fishing has been steady with plenty of marlin in the mix and things are looking good for the coming week. There is still availability in April and May and we'd love to get out there, contact Rods and Reels for a customized package, great specials to be had May through November.

Fish Report to March 15th

Matthew Jeter and his first billfish.

5th-6th March had Chief Tuazin back in the Guatemala this time with Matthew Jeter both from Houston. After a 12NM run we put out the spread and inside 15min we had a small blue marlin hot on the small Pakula flat line teaser. Acting on instinct Chief pitched the ballyhoo bait back, he was politely told to remove it as it was a marlin, not a sail, while the mackerel on the 50lb gear was pitched. All a little late though the marlin crushed the ballyhoo with a great bite and all was good as we watched him come tight, it was the perfect size for the 30lb gear at around 150lb’s. We lost use of an engine while on the fish so it took a little longer to get the release though Chief did well on the rod and had the fish boatside after around 35mins. After that it was back to the marina where the guys transferred to the Jupiter for the rest of the day. They raised 3 sails in the afternoon and caught a mahi. The next day on the Jupiter raised 7, and released 3 from 5 bites and boated a couple of mahi mahi.. Mike Jeeter had a great first time down here in Guatemala plans to get back here soon.

D. Scott Wise and son Harry from New York on an early Spring Break hooked up with Steve ‘Doc’ Sanford from Vermont and Townsend Hilliard from Houston for 3 days of fishing on ALLURE from the 9th through 11th for their first trip to Guatemala. For the first day we looked for blue water and found it about 30NM to the west and gave the guys a great introduction to Guatemala raising 11 sails in the first hour and half of fishing! We ended the day with 25 sailfish in the spread and 13 releases from 23 bites.

Harry Wise fighting one of his many saifish...


.....and the results.

Here today gone tomorrow seems to be the theme for most of the season so far and it was today, we trolled back to where we’d had the best action the day before to find the best bite was 15NM back to the east. 7 releases today from 15 bites. With marlin on the mind we concentrated our efforts on the last day on the western edge and bottom of the pocket, it was kind of tough for the whole fleet today with little action though we did get into a couple of nice mahi mahi and released 3 from 5 bites on the sails. The guys finished off their trip in style staying at the El Convento in Antigua for the last two nights and enjoyed a full day visiting the Azotea Coffee Farm and a walking tour of the town.

From Alabama we had Dr’s Lee Franklin, Tom Canthon and Chris Duggar along with Hospital Boss Don Henderson from the 13th through 15th of March. Lee and Tom are Guatemalan veterans though it was Don and Chris’ first offshore experience here. Also our first time east in sometime today and we got called into some action off-shore of where we started late in the morning to find a reasonable sailfish bite. 15 raised and 8 releases from 11 bites had the guys back in the swing of things. With the satellite report showing a nice temperature break way out the west we decided to go that way for day 2. The reports from most of the fleet indicated a slow bite so we trolled our way down the west along the edge. Early in the day a small marlin in the 150lb range came into the spread, it refused the pitched mackerel though dropped back and ate the trolled ballyhoo, we came tight on the fish though unfortunately pulled the hook. Around lunch time further down the edge we raised a nice blue in the 300-350lb range on the short teaser. The fish stayed in the spread for sometime and we got a couple of nice bites on the mackerel though missed it…….ouch. In extra time at the end of the day the 3rd blue marlin for the day was red hot on the same teaser, a great bite resulted in a solid hook-up and Don Henderson’s first blue marlin of around 220lb’s put on a great show before getting the release and heading home.

Don's marlin....

We also released 4 sails from the 5 sails that did bite for the day. The guys started their last day out with 9 mahi’s to about 12lb’s ensuring fresh mahi sandwiches for lunch and sashimi at the end of the day. To the east a bite was found and we ran into it later in the day, plenty of free jumpers indicated a lot of fish in the area though it was tough getting them into the spread, a triple from a quad was the highlight of the 7 releases from 10 bite for the day. Great fishing Dr’s!! See you back here next year…….

Settled weather, blue water, it's all looking good out there. The marlin bite traditionally gets better from late March on and we have some openings so get in touch to get into it. The bite is picking up, today we went 15 from 25 and there were several blues seen......

Fish Report to March 1st '09

As mentioned in the last report things were on the change with blue water moving in from the west, though still a little cooler and off-color out wide. Because of this we ran out to the west most days looking for an incoming bite. This week we started with Edward Barnhill and his good friend Paul Proffitt on the Feb 24th to Feb 26th and after a long run to the west we found some good water, still a little slow with 3 releases from 5 bites and 4 mahi's. The boats fishing out front today had a pretty good marlin bite with 5 raised amongst 4 boats and a couple caught. Still with what we saw to the west we persisted and went back though a little more in-shore. First fish in the spread today was blue of around 200-250lb's, we got the bite on the mackeral though the fish got bill wrapped and pulled off on the first jump.....that hurt. For the rest of the day we raised 8 sails had 7 bites and released 4. Out front here the marlin bite continued with 3 being released, 2 to the Circle Hook and Capt Eddie, nice going as he got the 2 yesterday as well!! He was in the zone for sure, congrats to Eddie and his anglers.
Still things were looking better and better to the west so we stayed out that way and on our last day with Edward and Paul things turned on a little more. In beautifull blue 84'+ water we raised 17 sails today getting 8 from 14 bites. There were some finiky fish out there though most of the boats raised a fair amount of fish and things were looking better every day with lots of bait at around 50ft-75ft on the sounder and a few jumpers around.

Feb 27th to March 1st, owner Hill Dishman hosted good friends Robert Blevins, Bill Fisher and Haig Wright from Alabama.

L-R, Haig Wright, Hill Dishman, Robert Blevins and Bill Fisher, these guys know how to party AND fish and had a blast for the 3 days aboard ALLURE.
Back 30NM to the west we had a slow start to the day with our first fish being released at 1130 with a double of sails, the next fish in the spread was an est 120+lb blue that went from teaser to teaser though refused the pitched mackeral. For the day we released 7 from 11 bites on the sails and had another blue in the 250lb-300lb class bite the trolled rigger bait though unfortunatley pulled off after showing it's size with a greyhounding jump. Add 4 nice sized mahi's to the days total and a great day!
The next day we left the fleet and went solo 40NM down to the west though not more than 20NM off the beach. We had steady action all day covering a large area as we trolled back to the east. 30 sailfish raised today, 26 bites and great averages with 19 releases.
Our last day out with the Alabama boys and after trolling the deep water in the pocket looking for a marlin we headed back to where some sails were being seen just 20NM from the Marina to where the fleet was fishing, we got into them a little late though still had a great day with 17 raised 14 bites and 10 releases.

The good life....Robert, Hill and Haig enjoying Cuba Libres on the way home.

By all accounts it looks as though March could turn on big time as the weather settles and the blue water pushes back in. We are booked fairly solid fishing most days this month though there are a few openings in April and into May, both great months and traditionally more marlin are seen as well. Get in touch with us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing for more info on personalised packages...