Fishing through December 18th 2011

The fishing picked up from last weekend with some great days up to 35-40 bites per boat, then slowed down some though has picked up again the last few days with a huge body of fish coming in with a strong WSW current pushing hard a little inshore and to the east. All this may bode well for an incredible bite as the fish right now are spread over a large area, if we get some more south to the current the bottom east side of the 'pocket' may well have the fish stacked up thick on the edge in the coming days.....weeks?? Either way a good time to get down here!!!!
We just had 'The Host' Chief Tauzin down here fishing a couple of days with his assistant Allan Adamy and clients Tony Harlan, Michael Wisnienski and Jamie Primeaux.
We had a late start first day out due to some sampling of Guatemala's finest rum, 23yr old Zacapa the previous night at SAILFISH OASIS. General consensus the "best rum ever"......back to the fishing, we started at about 20NM and got into a couple of nice mahi's to ensure fresh mahi taco's for lunch.

Michael and Tony with a couple of beauties.
Soon after a couple of double headers on the sailfish had us thinking we were on them though from here it slowed down. Offshore the fleet was starting to see them consistently so we picked up and made the run. Between 1.30pm and 3.00pm we had great action out to 37NM off-shore finishing the day with 17 releases from the 28 raised with the guys doing a great job on the hook-up ratio missing just 3 fish.

Jamie Primeax with a big female before release..
Knowing where to go we ran to the spot today, as said, the fish were over a very large area, we never worked one particular area more than 30mins and had a great day getting into a couple of triple headers and several doubles, pretty much non-stop action before pulling lines in early just before 2.00pm. the difference being a few more sancochos today!!! The final tally being 41 fish raised, 35 bites and 20 releases.

Jamie and Michael enjoying the ride home in comfort.
All in all a great 2 days on the water and as I mentioned it looks like the fishing will be staying good for a while yet with such a large body of fish out there.
The general consensus was 'incredible' as far as the fishing went, the lodge received rave reviews with great food, fine wine, damn good rum and the best 'asado' or 'parilla' (Argentinian BBQ) on the last night. Jamie and Tony are already planning there next trip down here and we look forward to partying with 'The Host' over the New Year.
Happy Holidays to everyone and come down here to get into the good times yourselves.....
Cheers from Chris, Julio and Enio on ALLURE and Nick, Karina, Marlena and Carlos from SAILFISH OASIS LODGE

December 10-11th

Chris Bean (back left), Brad Lynch, 'ROD' and Frank Oberle (far right) with crew of ALLURE
Chris Bean, aka Snr Frijole usually times his trips well with exceptional bites experienced in the past few years, this year the sailfish bite was a little slower though with 4 blue marlin in the spread and 21 sails over 2 days of fishing he still timed his trip well and brought the luck. We fished him and his group of Rod, and Frank Oberle who have both been down previously and Guatemalan first timer Brad Lynch

Rods, blue marlin from Sunday 11th.
Saturday 10th we fished the east side of the pocket and the first fish of the day in the spread was a blue that crashed the right short teaser, Chris pitched the mackerel on the 50lb stand-up gear and got a great bite resulting in a solid hook-up. The blue put on a show from there on, a feisty fish of about 180lb's with the attitude of a fish twice it's size it tore up the ocean and took Chris a while to get it boat-side for the release.

Mate Enio about to release Chris's blue
There were a few blues in the area 9 released among the fleet for the day though with few sails we pushed out along the edge and got into some sailfish action with Rod and Brad getting into it some bites later in the day releasing 3 from 6 bites.

Brad and Rod with a double header
The following day Frank joined the crew and the guys were keen on getting the bites and hooking 'em. With the current coming in from the east we fished the west side of the pocket and got into some fish mid morning, a few sails missed from a little too much pressure on the drop back though at least we were getting the bites and into some fish. Later in the morning we had a small blue of about 125lb's come in hot on the long teaser, Rod pitched the 30lb gear and got a great bite and did a good job dropping back smoothly and coming tight. Another tough fish and great sport on the 30lb gear. Soon after the release we raised another bigger blue on the left short, the fish stayed deep and got the mackerel out, the fish appeared briefly behind the long rigger bait before peeling off. A couple more sailfish bites and a couple more sancochos and then another blue of about 350lbs crashed the right short, it came back up on the flat and we got the bite though unfortunately missed it. We ended the day improving our averages and getting the technique down releasing 5 from 13 bites on the sails and getting a few big dorado bites as well. A great trip with 21 sails raised and 19 bites, 4 blue marlin raised resulting in 3 bites in the 2 days of fishing.

Franks sail prior to release

Big Rod with his blue caught on 30lb test
The guys had a blast and all commented on the great accommodations and exceptional food down at SAILFISH OASIS and had a great time fishing aboard ALLURE. We had a good time fishing with them as well enjoying the banter and hope to see them back here soon.
There seem to be plenty of smaller blue marlin around right now that are great teaser fish so they'd be ideal for the fly, flyfishers.....treat yourself for Christmas.
Come down and experience it for yourself, fly or conventional fishing, get hold of us to ensure your booking as the dates are filling fast.

Thanksgiving through Dec 4th

We had a great Thanksgiving here in Guatemala, celebrating the holiday with the whole Dishman family flying down from Houston and Beaumont, Texas respectively. ALLURE share owner Hill Dishman bought his parents Annie and Jim III, wife Donelle and son Drake down while brother Jamie bought wife Cindy with kids Jim and Annie. Carol and Rihl Buckley also joined the fun with their kids Anna Louise, George and John. The early arrivals on Tuesday night were the Buckley's and Hill so they got to fish the next day while the others were flying down. And what a day!!! Great weather and the fish were snapping, we found them at around 11am on the east side of the pocket and from there on in it was non-stop with 3 triple headers and several doubles adding to the 25 from 33 bites before 2.30pm.

The Buckley's at it again with Anna Louise, John and George in the far corner on another triple header...

Anna Louise Buckley.

George Buckley.

And John Buckley with a nice bull mahi.
At around 2.30pm we had a beauty blue marlin crash the short right teaser, it turned and teased in while Uncle Hill pitched the mackerel, for long seconds the fish disappeared though returned with a great bite and perfect technique had the fish hooked solid. John took over from here on in and the big fish was tough staying down and dirty till the very end when she came up jumping. A nice one too at a solid 400lbs a great first blue marlin release for John Buckley on the 50lb stand-up gear.
Next day we had on the super sized group who braved it in rougher than the previous days conditions. Hill took out Ann and Jim III and achieved the goal for the day getting Jim who just shy of his 80th birthday released a sail and the crew just missed a 200lb marlin staying in close. On ALLURE despite the conditions we released 13 from 21 bites.

Jamie, Cindy, Annie, Jim, Drake, Donelle, Carol, John, George and Anna Louise.
The staff at SAILFISH OASIS laid on a huge Thanksgiving dinner that night for 18 that was enjoyed by all.
Friday and it was a boys trip with the rest of the crew enjoying the sites of Antigua just an hours drive from the coast and a mile high enjoying a great climate. The weather laid down for us out on the briny as well and we got into the fish once again later in the afternoon finding them on the other side of the pocket to the west. 18 from 31 today and alot of fun learning the techniques of hooking up sails on circle hooks.
Hill and Donelle stayed on for another day of fishing on Saturday 26th while the rest of the crew flew home. Staying in closer today we mixed it up and a fun day releasing 4 on the fly and 4 on the baits before calling it quits early to watch the football

About to remove the fly......
December 29th saw the local Guatemala Club Nautico host the 71st ILTTA with 30 x 3 man teams vying for top team and angler. We fished the first 2 days of the tournament and the bite was going off with 382 sails released on day one for the fleet and 313 releases on day two. There was a layday on Thursday with the tournament resuming Friday and Saturday. the fishing slowed a little the last 2 days though stayed steady with the top boat releasing 56 sails followed by 54 and 53 for second and third respectively.
December 1st-3rd Craig Johnson hosted Henry Wuertz along with Charles Wickman, Fred Herring, Todd Johnson and Steve Goodchild for 3 days of fishing on ALLURE and ADIOS. The blow continued first day out and we returned to the dock early after getting into some sail and mahi action on the morning. ADIOS went out wide the following day in search of tunas, we found the spinners though the only tuna bite for the day pulled off, a couple of nice mahi's though and 6 sails in the spread. Out to the east the last day we experienced cooler green water though on ADIOS Todd got the bite out of a nice 400lb blue and on ALLURE we got into some sail action and big mahi's for both boats.

Fred and a nice bull mahi.

An enjoyable trip all round for Henry Wuertz (far right) James, Fred Herring, Chip and Todd Johnson enjoying cocktails at the end of the day.
The latest Terrafin reports are showing the blue/warmer water coming back in and with it the fishing is sure to be going off. More reports soon.