April 10th-14th, 2010

April 10th through 15th it was great to see our friends Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove make the long haul over the Atlantic from the UK once again for 6 days of fishing for billfish on the fly aboard ALLURE. Expectations were high after raising 3 blues the previous day and we ran about 20NM to the east, setting out the teasers near where we had finished the day before. It wasn’t long before we raised a blue on the bridge teaser, the fish acted finiky blasting from the bridge teaser to the flat line teaser though did not commit so we pitched the mackerel bait without getting the bite. The next blue we raised on the long teaser and teased the fish all the way to the back of the boat, Eric made the cast, though we could not get the marlin to eat the fly. For the rest of the day we worked the area hard trying to get another marlin into the spread without luck. The boats fishing baits did better today with live bonitos and rigger baits, several marlins released today though plenty acting funky, coming up on teasers though not committing to pitch baits. The sailfish played the fly game better for us, from the 17 sails raised we got 6 to bite the fly and released 3. A good start for the guys, taking up from where they’d left off last year.

11th….where did they go? The fleet ran back to the east with very little going on for anyone, a couple of blues raised and the sail action was slow too. On ALLURE Eric wasn’t doing so well with a bug from the UK so we called it quits early, not before Steve released a sail on the fly from his second bite to ensure no skunk.

Steve Massenhove
12th….time to try something different and a run to the ledge out to the west paid off with a very steady morning bite. Not long before putting lines in Eric released the 1st sail of the day and from there on in, right on the drop off, we marked bait and had sails in the spread consistently raising 13 before lunch and getting 9 of those to bite. A combination of poor bites and a bit of bad luck had 3 sails released from the 9 bites. The afternoon shut down with 4 more sails in the teasers and just the one biting the fly.
13th….back to the west, lots of bait being marked on the sounder and lots of sails coming up on the teasers though teasing in half way before fading, the ones that did come in either swiped at the fly with their bills or bit poorly. Very tough and frustrating to be fly fishing with the fish like this. A very high water temp wasn’t helping either with the SST around 88’ in the AM and in the early 90’s in the PM. We did manage to get 5 to bite the fly from 21 raised, just the one released with several jumping off or throwing the hooks after poor bites. We raised a blue today too though couldn’t get to the back of the boat in casting range.
14th…..hard to leave 21 raises, to the same spot we worked hard once again. More of the same today with lethargic fish coming into the spread, some teasing in hot though not at all interested in the fly. From the 13 raised we released 2 from 5 bites and were very happy for it with a lot of the boats having a hard time. A combination of huge wads of bait and hot water made things tough for everyone.

Eric Wright
15th…..we went further down the ledge today looking for better fish for the guys last day on the water and found more of the same. Huge balls of bait, sailfish cutting bait on the surface, bonito schools busting bait everywhere, the ocean was alive though to get the fish to play the fly game was a big ask. Of the 13 sailfish raised today just 2 of the fish bit the fly, Eric and Steve nailed both of them to go home with 100% releasing both sails after some great angling, a nice way to finish the trip after some frustration of seeing poor bites, fish pulling hooks or jumping off in the past few days. Still a great trip had by the guys, challenging fishing, though that is part of trying to catch billfish on a fly-rod.
Steve left us a few images of last year’s blue on the fly that he caught, thanks and looking forward to getting one with you next year…....


A lot of fish out there right now with the guys on baits having the best of it, still some marlin around too and things are looking good for the coming weeks with all that bait out there. Some of the fleet went east today getting into sails and a few marlin seen as well meaning good fishing over a large area. We are looking forward to the coming weeks and expect the marlin and sailfish bite to get better, throw in mahi’s and tunas for the all round trip. Don’t forget that this is a year round fishery and the marlin fishing especially gets better through the summer months.

THOMPSON GROUP APRIL 7th-9th

So if you've been thinking about coming down though were not sure, read on, the fishing is good and expect all of April through May to be the same. The John Thompson organized group from North Carolina did and they had a blast....


The 4 father and son teams were made up of John Snr & Jnr and Will Thompson, Dick and Rich Crutchfield, John and Walter Munroe and Jerry and Jeff Pridgen. The group stayed at the SAILFISH OASIS and fished aboard Allure, Adios and Circle Hook for 3 days.
Just a quick report as we are out again tomorrow and it is late, though, first day out to the east proved good all round though we had a little more luck on Allure going 10 for 15 on the sails and hooking a 30lb mahi for John Thompson and a 220lb blue marlin double for Walter Munroe on 20lb test. Circle Hook went 7 from 10 on the sails and Adios 6 from 8.

Allure mate 'Conejo' gets a wrap on Walters small blue caught on 20lb test.
More of the same on day 2 with Allure releasing 9 from 13 bites and 4 big mahi-mahi and raising a small blue, Circle Hook caught all they saw with 5 sails and 2 mahi's and Adios went out wide looking though came back into the bite and released 3 sails, raised a nice sized blue that did not eat the pitch bait and landed a nice mahi.


(Top) John Thompson and (below) Dick Crutchfield with a couple of typical sized mahi's
The blue marlin bite went off today the 9th with a bunch of blue marlin flags flying at the dock, on Allure our luck changed, not for the better, despite raising 3 blue marlin including one beauty of 500-600lbs we never caught one with an aggressive bite from a 250lb fish throwing the hook, we did release 6 sails and landed another 3 big mahi-mahi, Adios released a nice blue pushing 300lbs on the 30lb test and 7 sails. Top honors went to the Thompson's fishing with Capt Eddie Bairez on Circle Hook, they released 9 sails and in the last hour of the day released 2 blues on the rigger baits and 30lb test, hooking the second fish just minutes after releasing the first to John Jnr in the last minutes if the day.....What a finish and what a day!!

So for the 9 father and son anglers fishing over 3 days on the 3 boats that was 62 sailfish releases, 4 blue marlin released from 9 raises and 11 big mahi-mahi. It does not get much better than that.
We are out the next 6 days on the fly and then through next weekend though there are some openings so if you've been thinking about it.....just get on the phone and do it. SAILFISH OASIS is a wonderful facility with excellent food and service and we'll look after you 2nd to none on the water.......

Fish Report March 31st

The Jim Franklin organized group from Texas joined us for 3 days of fishing from March 29th through the 31st. The group consisted of the big man Jim himself and from his company and clients of Flo-Zone, Gregg Graves, Brandon Cook, Donita and Terry Roe, Randy Myers, Tommy Green and Chad Lenamon. The fishing is starting to turn around here and despite the majority of the group fishing 2 days, they released 46 sailfish and boated several nice dorado for the pan.


Things have been a little slow the past couple of weeks though things are looking up with some good fishing the last few days over Easter with boats releasing 15-20 sails and a few marlin in the mix. On our last day out with Jim, Brendon and Gregg we released 9 sails from 11 bites in the last 2 1/2 hrs of the day, 10NM inshore of us Pelegian raised 11 and on the eastern side of the pocket AND inshore the bite was also good. Good news that over a large area there was good fishing. It is looking like April could be a great month down here for the sails and the blues are making their presence felt as well.
Previous to this Hill Dishman was down for his first visit in a couple of months with friends Robert Blevins, Haig Wright and Tommy Tilotta. Fishing was a little slow though some slammer dorado and several sails kept everyone on their toes.

They finished their trip in Antigua for a few nights and a round of golf on Sunday at the spectacular La Reunion Golf Resort here 20mins before Antigua followed by an evening enjoying some great live music and local brews at the Cafe No Se......

See you down here, I'm predicting April to be a great month for both the sails and blue marlin. We have had a couple of cancellations at the end of the month so there are some openings and into May there are also prime dates available. Get in touch and we'll ensure you have a great trip all round...