Jack Pitt was aboard with friends Dale and Christine Love for 2 days of fishing on the weekend May 15th and 16th. Plenty of blue water out there though a little slow, before lunch we raised just 2 sails that weren't interested in the baits. After lunch out on the edge we found some bait and an area that looked promising. Soon after we had a double up in the spread, a sailfish on the short teaser and a fiesty blue on the flat line teaser, keeping him off the Hot Breakfast teaser was tough and he switched to the pitched mackeral in no time. Meanwhile on the right short we got a bite out of the sail as well though missed him, Dale Love was on the rod with the blue and after a tough fight got the release on the 50lb stand-up gear. Congratulations Dale on his first ever billfish, a blue marlin of around 250lbs!! In the same area Christine and Jack released their first sailfish later in the afternoon. Congratulations to them both.
The next day Christine spent in Antigua while Jack and Dale were aboard the 31ft Jupiter for the day. It was tough for everyone out there....we raised a sailfish and had a mahi bite though caught neither despite covering a large area. It doesn't happen often, though sometimes it can happen.....The dreaded skunking. Still a great first time had in Guatemala by this group and we are looking forward to their return.
May 10th-11th. Father and son group Hill and Brett Dishman, Chris and Alan King, Clay and Claibourne Morris all joined us for a couple of days aboard ALLURE. For the 2 days of fishing we were the only boat in the fleet out there which can make things tough finding the fish. On the 10th we got into them fairly early and everyone got into the action with some great fishing as well with 7 releases from 9 bites on the sails, we also boated a dozen mahi mahi to about 15lbs and as we were clearing lines at the end of the day a blue marlin in the 200-250lb class came in and ate a couple of baits, unfortunately we missed him both times.
Going back to the same area on the 11th and fishing it hard we came up empty though shortly after lunch about 9NM to the east in the deep water we found some life with free-jumpers and bait marked on the sounder. Soon after we were into them and in the late afternoon released another 7 sailfish from 11 bites, again the last fish of the day was a blue marlin that Brett had solidly hooked up to. Some bad luck saw the line break as we were chasing him down..... Add 7 mahi's to the mix and it was an action filled day with the high energy crew having a great time, back on land as well.....
L-R Alan King, Brett Dishman, Chris King, Hill Dishman, Claiborne and Clay Morris at the end of the day.
May 8th and 9th, The first father and son team of the week, Jamie and Jim Dishman along with good friends Clint and Sam Droody were back in Guatemala. First time for the sons though Jamie is an old hand and it was great to see Clint back in Guate. First day out we were west of all the schooly mahi's trying to find the sails, a bit slow though with 3 releases from 5 bites and 3 mahi-mahi to around 15lbs. The next day out to the east we were in amongst the school sized dorado, for a few parts of the day we were in them thick catching them on the light tackle with top waters, alot of fun and good sport. No marlin in the spread though we raised 5 sails and caught 3 out of 4 bites. On the dorado we boated 47 up to 20lb size, the guys going home with a soft cooler bag full of fillets on ice. Nice going, nothing better than fresh mahi!
Jim and Jamie Dishman, Clint and Sam Droody with a small Pacific sail.
May 3rd and 4th John and Joanne Kolius were down for 2 days of fishing and 4 nights on the coast after winning the highest bid in the Houston Big Game Club fund raising auction. The trip was donated by ALLURE owners Craig Johnson and Hill Dishman for one day aboard ALLURE and all accomodations with the 2nd day of fishing donated by JW 'Bones' on MOJO. Inside the first hour fishing aboard ALLURE we had 2 blues up in the spread, the first a big fish that came up on the flat, and moved through the spread though did not eat the pitched mackeral. The second bit though pulled the hook shortly after showing her size. For the rest of the day we released 2 sails from 5 bites. The next day on MOJO their luck changed with John hooking a nice blue in the 300lb class on the pitched mackeral bait while Joanne did the rod work and scored her first blue marlin release, congratulations Joanne!! They raised another blue that did not bite and released one sail for the rest of the day. On ALLURE we raised 2 blues that didn't bite, released one sail and had some incredible mahi action with around 58 mahi's to 30lbs. There were hundreds of dorados under a floating piece of flexi drainage pipe out there and several times today the surface was alive with hundreds of them greyhounding away from feeding marlin.
On the 2nd we had from Guatemala City Luis Snr, Luis Jnr, Ana Maria and Nicky for one day. With the interest being mainly in taking home food we went looking for mahi-mahi. The first fish in the spread was a blue marlin of around 350lbs, a nice one that came under the rigger bait, switched to the other side and finally refused the pitched maceral bait. Frustrating! For the rest of the day the crew wore themsleves out boating 32 mahi mahi and they were back at the dock by 3PM with a large bag of fillets to take home.
Over this period there were alot of marlin seen and caught by the fleet, they are still out there even though the last few days were on the slow side. Weather is no problem with the majority of the days being clear with the chance of rain early and late. Typically here in Guatemala we have a season called the Canicula in July through August and September of very settled weather and a great opportunity to try for blue marlin, sailfish, at very competitive prices, the waters a alive with mahi-mahi and the tunas are out wide as well, good fishing all round!!! We are out again next week so more reports to follow. Contact Rods and Reels for any info required.
