Fishing has continued to be all in all very good here off the Pacific coast of Guatemala, we've had our slow days though that has lead to the fleet looking and ultimately finding new bodies of fish moving in. Things slowed down a little in the middle of the month though a run out to the west where some better water moved in uncovered large areas of birds, signaling sailfish balling up very small baits/minnows. Plenty of sailfish though very tough to get them to break off what they were feeding on and when they did, you had to have a bait back quickly and have a good touch at the 'drop back' to get a good hook-up. The fish turned on as the bait dried up though and the last week produced an excellent bite.....
Jan 7th-8th we fished from Houston, Texas, Mace Meeks along with his son 13 yr old Mason Meeks, his friend 12 yr old Michael Case and 3 generations of the Strake family, George Snr, George Jnr and George III. Our first morning out was a little 'sporty' with 4-5ft seas after a cold front blew through the Gulf, it didn't affect the fishing though. First fish of the day was an aggressive blue marlin of about 180-190lbs for Mace Meeks, a red hot teaser fish that crushed the pitch bait and proved tough especially in the conditions. Soon after releasing that fish we had another red-hot blue marlin on the other bridge teaser, we pitched the mackerel on the 50lb rod though pulled it in and pitched the ballyhoo on the 30lb after getting a good look at the fish. In the 120-130lb class it was great sport for George III on the 30lb tackle. 2 blue marlin releases before we'd even seen a sailfish....
Mace's blue of about 180lb.
We did get into some sailfish action as the day wore on though releasing 8 from 10 bites. The boys, Mason and Michael got into the action releasing sailfish and boating some big mahi-mahi.
Mace Meeks, George Strake, Mason and Michael.
Near the end of the day we live-baited small 'bullet' bonitos around a log getting into some XOS mahi's to near 40lbs, we also raised another big blue marlin that we didn't get a bite out of.
Father and son "Trey" and "G" Strake.
George Snr got into the action as well with both sailfish and big mahi mahi, a great first day on the water with 2 blues, 8 sailfish and 15 big mahi's!
8th proved better weather wise though a slower start to the day, we did find the same log we finished on the day before and spent the morning catching more big mahis to 35lb for the guys to take back to Houston. We did release one sail from 4 billfish bites before pulling lines in and heading back to the dock early.
Jan 14th-16th we welcomed for the first time to Guatemala the Musselman group of brother and sister John and Marian Mussleman, Scott King, Grady Moran and George Harvick II. First day proved a little slow till we found some activity out wide and got into some good fishing in the afternoon, they all could not put a foot wrong when we got into them as well releasing 7 sailfish from 7 bites and 2 from 3 mahis, big they were as well in the 30lb class.
Grady with a big bull.
15th we tried in the middle of the pocket, nice water though little activity. A few birds here and there and a couple of mahi's though not much else going on. We pushed out further and finally got into some sailfish, though all in all it was one of those days in Guatemala that happen occasionally, 2 from 3 bites.
16th we went looking out to the west and found reasonable water, as the day wore on we got into the sails balling up baits, we saw a bunch of fish today on the surface, cutting bait and tailing, below the picking shearwater birds you could spot sailfish balling up tiny baits. Great to see after yesterday all the life, it was hard to get the fish to come into the spread though we had good anglers on board and they made the most of their opportunities releasing 11 from 12 bites and boating a few good sized mahi's.
Marian, Grady, John, George and Scott with the last sail of the trip. They all had a great time here in Guatemala, enjoyed great fishing aboard ALLURE and were well taken care of at SAILFISH OASIS. They topped off the trip with a night at the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo in Antigua and we hope to see them back soon here in Guatemala.
Jan 17th-18th we welcomed back Bill Gouldin, this time with good friends and Guatemalan first timers Paul Engles, brothers Alan and Dale Campbell and Paul Reelmon. A little bit of a late start so they fished a little closer in where we finished the day before. A great start to the trip with 10 sails from 15 bites, also 2 blue marlin raised one of about 300lb they got a bite out of, though the fish got bill-wrapped, the other didn't bite, 6 small mahi's added to the days haul for lunch and dinner. The next day we pushed out a little wider and back into the fish balling baits, it was great action right through the day with 42 sailfish in the spread, 35 bites though some finiky fish saw the averages slip a little with 18 releases. 82 yr old Paul Engles has fished from the Virgin Islands to Panama to Hawaii and beyond and he said without a doubt it was the best fishing he had ever experienced! That says it all...
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565964517311745042" />Paul Reelmon, Paul Engles, Alan and Dale Campbell with Bill Gouldin and ALLURE mates.
We had a few days in here and the fishing stayed pretty good and got better with boats releasing up to 50 sails before the arrival of our next group....
Jan 21st-23rd we welcomed back friends with a couple of Guatemalan first timers, the old school of Brad Klein, Chris Bean, Mark Fertitta, Cheif Tauzin, John Lindley, Todd Mucha and ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman were joined by Casey McDermand and Robin ....... for their first billfish experience in Guate. The group fished aboard Adios, Allure and Circle Hook in teams of 3 rotating boats everyday. The day before had seen some pretty incredible action so our first day out started with great expectations. It wasn't as hot n heavy as the previous day though we all experienced great fishing with 40+ bites per boat. Circle Hook took the day out with some great action releasing 32 from 47 bites. From here on in the bite dropped off a little though all the boats had great fishing with 144 sailfish released by the 3 boats over 3 days of fishing .
L-R. Mark Fertitta, Brad Klein, Hill Dishman, Todd Mucha, Robin ......,Casey Mc Dermand, John Lindley, Chief Tauzin and Chris Bean toast to an awesome trip.
Incredible numbers with a fair amount of "sancochos" thrown in!! There were plenty of big dorado in the mix as well and the group enjoyed cocktails, great food and great times at Sailfish Oasis.
ALL GOOD IN GUATEMALA!!!
See you down here.
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