Fish Report to May 31st

30th-31st May saw the return of John Gallio and Lance Stanfill this time with Mike Fox and Cliff Price all from Texas. It was our first day out for a few days and the blue water had pushed in to just a couple of miles off the beach so we started at 5NM out where a few yellowfin tunas were busting. We put out the baits and had a nice small yellowfin of just under 30lbs almost immediately, after gaffing the fish we noticed a fresh graze right down the side of the fish from a marlin bill. The next yellowfin caught was rigged up as a livey on the short and a skipping bonito rigged for the long rigger, we tried for over an hour in the area to get that marlin up without luck. It took until after midday to get onto the sailfish though we found a small area which produced 7 releases from 11 bites and a small dorado in the afternoon. Good averages from the guys seeing it had been 6 months since they were last here and it was Cliff's first time at this style of fishing. The next day we just about tagged them 'Team No Sancocho', and for one small mistake near the end of the day they would have earned the title going 11 releases from 12 bites from the 19 sailfish raised for the day. Great fishing and nice job Cliff for not missing a fish all day and catching a nice 35lb dorado on top of that........

25th May ALLURE hosted the Edgar Castillo group consisting of Nick Vidal, Christian, Rolie Snr and Rolie Jnr. We found some fish on the west side of the pocket and had good steady action in the morning with things slowing down in the afternoon, still it was a great day on the water getting 21 sailfish into the spread and 10 releases from 17 bites. With the sailfish bite slowing down in the afternoon we covered some area looking for a blue marlin and had a small one of about 140-150lbs up near the end of the day.

Mate Julio with Christain, Edgar Castillo, Nick Vidal, Rolie and Rolie Jnr with one for the sails for the day.

The fishing has continued to be good with plenty of tunas and big dorado in the mix, there has been good sailfish action and we have also had a steady blue marlin bite which we are expecting to continue through the summer months. ALLURE will be back in action early July fishing the moon with Rob and Bess Wilson and we have a couple of tentative bookings late July and into August. If last August is anything to go by we will be looking forward to some great blue marlin action. We will be open for business right through the summer (excluding this month, June) and have some great deals available so enquire now for prices. We want to make the most of this summer as we can and will do our best to put you onto some of the best billfishing in the world.............See you down here!

Fish Report 12th-18th May

Fishing up till now had been very slow, though it had been mentioned that things can change overnight, they did, and luckily for us we started fishing the very next day with Greg Miner and Josh Thomas from New Orleans on the 12th. The highlight of the day was Josh hooking up to a nice black marlin that came up on the flat-line teaser and engulfed the pitched mackeral bait with an incredible bite. The fish stayed down and dirty and Josh did a great job with the Black Magic gimbal and harness stand-up gear we use on-board getting the fish to come up and releasing it after a hard 25min fight.


Josh Thomas' black, pushing 350lbs.
We finished the day with the black marlin, 3 releases from 9 bites on the sailfish, and this nice dorado of around 30lbs+ for Josh Thomas as well

The following day Josh Cummings, also from New Orleans joined us while Greg went on Circle Hook for the day. The water quality had improved alot and with it the bite got better, steady action through the day saw us release 10 from 14 sails on bait and one on the fly. A late in the day double on the fly and bait saw Josh Thomas' goal of catching a sail on the fly achieved. We also caught 16 dorado to 25lbs and released a nice blue marlin for Josh Cummings that was pushing the 300lb mark on 30lb tackle that put on a spectacular series of greyhounding jumps:


Great fishing guys and congratulations on first marlin for both Josh's!!

14th May, Mickey Hines, Ricky Hammonds, Johnny Lopez and Bill Bowman from Louisiana and Elden Sorsby from Houston joined us for a day. The sailfish bite intensified although it took till after midday for us to get on to them. With just one release by midday we ended with 16 releases from 22 bites and a 25lb bull dorado. Nice job Johnny Lopez who is recovering from chemo on getting in on the mix and releasing a single and one out of a triple. On the 31ft Jupiter, Craig Johnson, Nicky Bailes and Scott McShane went out looking for grouper and snapper though the fish were there thay weren't biting. The guys ended the afternoon trolling and caught 10 dorado and a couple of sailfish
15th May and Scott McShane, Nicky Bailes and Craig Johnson joined us at the expense of Bill, Johnny and Elden who visited Antigua for the day. The sailfish bite was looking steady till a call from Ronnie Hamlin on the Capt Hook had us running to a school of spinner dolphin he had found 15NM away. 14 nice yellow-fin tuna to 40lbs was the result......thanks Ronnie. Throw in 8 from 16 sailfish bites and another awesome day on the water!

May 16th-18th. Hill, Drake and Jamie Dishman along with Drew Donalson and Clint Droody were on ALLURE for the next 3 days. The dorado were thick out there and at times tough to get away from. The sailfish bite started well though died in the afternoon with just a couple raised in the last 3 hours of the day. Still, the dorado kept the action up with 17 dorado to 50lbs and 12 sailfish from 21 bites.

Drake Dishman with a nice sailfish.

Clint Droody with one of the many big dorado caught on this trip.
The following day we only fished till just after midday, releasing 5 from 6 sails and 19 dorado to 35lb's. On our last day out we had a small blue marlin up on the bridge teaser almost immediately after putting them out, the fish did not switch to the pitched mackeral. The rest of the day was fairly slow for us with just 2 sailfish releases from 4 bites, though plenty of great light tackle action with 23 dorado to 30lbs.
More reports in a couple of weeks.......


Thanks for the marlin photo's, Josh Thomas.

Fish Report May 2nd & 3rd

Brett Johnson and Chief Tauzin were back in town this time with Josh Fink and Shanon Richard, all from Houston TX. On May 2nd there was a big body of green water that had pushed in, the best water we could find was a clean green and we had slow fishing as a result. We covered some area looking for the bite though all we caught was a 15lb dorado and we raised a sail on the bridge teaser that didn't stick around long enough to pitch a bait to. Some of the other boats inside of us worked an area very hard and released up to 4 sails a piece. Slow fishing all round.
On the 3rd we worked the inside area with no luck and decided to push out wide, the blue water was getting pushed in by a strong current from the south east and we covered alot of area hoping to find a bite. We saw more than half a dozen jumpers though nothing came up in the spread.

Chief Tauzin with a small yellowfin tuna
Late in the afternoon we found a small school of spinner dolphin that was loaded with yellowfin tunas, we spent a little more than an hour fishing the tunas and ended up with 15 yellowfin in the 20-30lb range with several pulling the hooks near the boat. We left them and got into some sails inside the eastern corner of the pocket at 37NM out. In the last 40 minutes of the day we had some good billfish action raising 8 sails, getting 7 bites and releasing 4.

Chief, Josh and Brett with plenty of sashimi and tuna steaks.....
Since the 3rd we have not been out, though catching up with boat and tackle maintenance. The reports were that the blue water had pushed in and the few boats that were fishing were getting up to 25+ bites a day for the days immediately after the 3rd, things have slowed down again with more green water pushing in though this can change overnight.
We are out again on the 11th and fish 8 days straight so expect more reports in the coming weeks. Allure will not be fishing the month of June though we will be back in business for July through the summer months and are excited about the prospects with more marlin and tunas showing up, along with sailfish and dorados.

When targeted you can catch some nice rooster fish here in the summer months as well, Allure mate Julio and angler Marcel van Leeuwen with a nice rooster in the 50lb+ range

Great Fishing through April 28th

April 26th and 28th. The Steve Schmidt group fishing out of Pacific Fins had a great time down here in Guatemala, they booked all the Pacific Fins fleet and ALLURE for 2 fishing days. We had the pleasure of fishing Steve and his friends for both days, fishing was great on Saturday 26th, we released 15 sailfish from 25 bites and a nice blue pushing 400lbs on the 50lb stand-up tackle. On the 28th fishing slowed and we worked the west side of the pocket hard looking for another blue. The guys fished well going 6 from 8 bites on the sails and we had a blue up at the end of the day that did not tease in.

April 24th, 25th. For his second trip down to Guatemala this year Dan White introduced this amazing fishery to Lonnie Lee and Robert LeBlanc. His talking up of the fishing we have here didn't put the 'kiss of death' on the bite either. The guys had a great day raising 41 sails, getting 34 bites and releasing 25, we took an hour out of the day live-baiting bonitos around a school of fish that was working bait and had a marlin come in on the short livey that didn't eat. At the end of the day we raised another small blue marlin on the bridge teaser that didn't switch to the pitched mackeral, frustrating!! Robert also caught a tagged sailfish, only the second that I have seen here in over 5 years . We cut off the tag and have returned it to the Billfish Foundation, it'll be interesting to find out the results....
(CLICK ON THE IMAGES FOR A BLOWN UP VIEW OF SHOTS)

Chris and ALLURE mate Julio with one of the first days fish.
April 20th-22nd, Allure hosted father and son team Forrest and Chris Bayer from San Jose, California for their first fishing trip to Guatemala. The pair normally fish Cabo San Lucas and were blown away by the quality of fishing they had here. On their first day the fishing was still a way out at 37NM though worth the run, the guys released 29 sailfish from 45 bites. The next day we opted to fish at the bottom of the pocket here in the deep water just 9NM off the beach as the blue water had pushed in and we hoped to get Chris his first blue marlin. The move paid off with Chris releasing a solid 400lb blue along with 14 sails and boating a 25lb dorado.

Chris Bayers first blue marlin prior to release.
The last day was a half day as the pair wanted to see the sights of Antigua Guatemala, so it was back to the bottom of the pocket where we got the bite out of a 200lb blue that unfortunately spat the hook and released 5 sailfish. Chris was into the swing of things by the second day and had the technique of bait n switch with the circle hooks we use here down to a tee missing just a couple of fish, nice job on 49 billfish releases for the trip!!

April 16th-19th. Another father and son team, this time from the East Coast and Guatemalan regulars Bob and John Merrick joined us for some very consistent fishing. It was great to fish with them again since the last time during a Father and Son Tournament a few years back. These guys are great fisherman and even though we had some testing weather conditions in the first couple of mornings they had good averages throughout releasing 76 sails. On the second morning in rough seas we got close to a 250lb blue that ate Bobs ballyhoo on the rigger, though on the resulting blistering run down sea 'chewed' through the 100lb leader that we use for sailfish on the rigger baits.....unlucky Bob.

April 13th-15th. A very 'un-seasonal for April' cold front blew through and as a result shortened the trip for the Dishman, Derrick, Roberts, Lane group. 11 sails released in the short time we did fish as the group decided to try their hand at the abundant dove hunting instead........

April 12th, the Lonsdale group started their 3 day trip with us and had a great morning missing just a few fish and being 5 from 8 inside the first 35 mins of fishing. The bite slowed down to being steady through the rest of the day with the guys releasing 16 sailfish from 30 bites.

The blue marlin bite here is starting to get very consistent and we are expecting it to continue with some multiple shot days in the mix. The sailfish bite has been very steady and May should be a great month. We have some openings in May and are taking bookings for July right through the year to capatalize on the summer blue marlin bite and of course sailfish, dorado and tunas. This is an incredible year round fishery that peaks for marlin in these summer months. We have some summer specials so enquire now at Rods and Reels Sportfishing for all the info.

Fish report, 9th April......

Allure mate, Julio, gets a wrap on a fiesty blue of around 150lbs caught on 20lb test....

April 7th-9th. Bill Nelson and Richard Weaver were back this year from Houston Tx to pick up from where they left off last year. They didn't miss a beat either, hooking all their own fish they caught 26 sailfish and a nice 30lb dorado for the trip. We strayed from a pretty good sailfish bite on the second day looking for blue marlin and went 1 from 3 over the last 2 days of fishing on blues as well as adding a few sails to the total. A bit of bad luck saw a 500lb blue breaking off and a 300lb fish pulling the hook, though on the plus side Richard caught a nice 275lb blue, his first ever. Congratulations!

April 3rd-4th. Martin Harrison and Bill Black returned with memories of an outstanding trip from last year. The fishing this year was unfortunately slow for them....still we had 14 sailfish bites and missed a blue of around 400lbs that mouthed the mackeral bait though didn't eat, too much bait in the area saw an un-aggressive bite.

March 31st-April 2nd, Bess Wilson with her Guatemalan sail:

New comers to Guatemala Rob and Bess Wilson from Houston came specifically to catch a blue marlin. We left the sailfish bite on their second day in search of one and Rob was rewarded with a blue of around 200lb's, we also raised a big blue that got hold of the teaser and would not switch to the pitched mackeral. Throw in 8 caught saifish from 14 bites and 3 dorado in their quest for marlin in 2 and half days of fishing and it was a great trip with Robert re-booking in July for the summer-time blue marlin bite......

Robs Marlin boatside....

March 30th. Andrew and Sophie Paterson with their young children Will and Jacko from Australia had a memorable day of fishing in the waters off Guatemala. Here for business they took a day out with Guatemalans Miguel and Maria Gonzalez and had a blast releasing 13 sailfish from 25 bites, pulling in lines at 2.30pm for an early return to the dock. "You don't see too many days like that in Aussie mate!!".....nice going and we hope to see them back on Allure in the near future.

March 26th-28th had Dave Gerdel, Roger Sperry, Max Weisglass and Steve Duke return to Guatemala from Florida for their best trip yet catching 58 sailfish, 6 yellow-fin tuna and 2 nice dorado in the 40lb class. The big dissapointment was Dave missing out on his blue marlin that pulled the hook just a couple of feet from the wind-on-leader touching the rod tip and mate Julio's gloved hand. Hard to take after a solid 25 minute work-out for Dave but that's fishing.....

Fishing has been generally good with the marlin showing up as they typically do in better numbers this time of year. We have opening's in May on Allure with the boat being down for the month of June. We will be back and ready for fishing in early July looking forward to what has been outstanding marlin fishing and (as usual) good sailfishing in the past. Throw in doarado and tunas and Guatemala is the premier sport-fishing location for a quick, thrilling summer-time getaway. We already have bookings for July and August and hope to make the most of these excellent blue marlin fishing months with more trips. This isn't just for conventional fishing, we are set up for the fly as well and if your goal is to get a blue on fly we'll go all out to achieve it! Don't hesitate to get in touch with the team at Rods and Reels to book the fishing experience of a life time....

FISH-REPORT MARCH 7th-20th

March 17th-20th we fished from South Carolina and Key West Boats;L-R, Fred Holseburg, Jimmy Houser,Hutch Holseburg, Roberto Garcia, Rick Driver and Scott Morehouse with Roberto's son Andre Garcia absent in this photo, though along for 3 days of fishing. On our first day out we stayed in-shore and to the west of the fleet getting into some nice water and steady action till the afternoon when things slowed down some. The guys have been down to Guatemala for 6 years now so were into it and went 9 from 15 bites, raising another 5 that teased though wouldn't switch to the bait. We also got a couple of nice 30+lb dorado.
With the bite dying out to the west we went staight out in search of spinner dolphin and yellow-fin tuna. As luck would have it we found a fair sized school just 25NM off-shore and got into some great tuna fishing for the first hour and half of the day getting 11 from 13 bites on the tunas, and a nice 28lb dorado off the spinners. Good fun and great sushimi!! On the sails the action was a little slow for us though they caught most of what we saw getting 5 from 8 bites.
Today the guys were very keen on getting into some rooster fish action so we loaded up with live-baits first thing in the morning before running just a few miles off-shore and fishing the bottom of the pocket while waiting for a better tide for the roosters. Just a couple of miles before the deep water we had a rigger bait knocked down and a nice 200+lb blue marlin for Scott Morehouse, the fish put on some great boat-side jumps and runs for the video.

Nice job Scott on his first blue marlin. The rest of the day we searched for roosters without much luck so headed off-shore in the afternoon coming accross a log holding triple tails and dorado. We dusted off the boat spear-gun, fins and mask and Scott did some spear-fishing while we live-baited around the log. He did well getting 7 nice tripletails and a shot at a dorado that peirced, though didn't hold. We went back into the beach late in the afternoon and had a rooster bite on a live-bait that unfortunately broke off....
Last day out it was back looking for sails, the bite was 34NM off-shore and a little slow, though the guys fished very well getting 7 from 9 bites and a beauty of a 50lb+ dorado for Rick Driver. We pulled lines early to try the beach again for roosters with little luck. Still a good trip with plenty of different species on the board....unfortunately minus the elusive rooster fish. We had a good time fishing with the South Carolina boys and promise a rooster fish next time round...........

Rick Driver with his big dorado/ mahi mahi
14th-17th Todd and Steph Muca, John and Tracey Cod, Mike and Leanne Sledge joined Hill and Donelle Dishman for 3 days of Guatemala fishing and sight-seeing. The girls stayed in Antigua the first day shopping and sight-seeing in the pre-Easter bustle of Antigua while the guys honed their skills on the water. As always, the first day is all learning so a few sailfish losses is expected, though losing a rod overboard attached to a sailfish isn't.......enough said.......19 raised, 15 bites and 6 released (unattached).
15th. We had the whole group onboard for the second day, looking for better action a little further off-shore. The morning started fairly slow with just 4 releases until just before 1.00PM when we found some fish up the western side of the pocket. Between 1.00 and 3.00PM we had good steady action including 4 doubles in the 14 releases for the two hours of fishing. The guys new to it picked it up very well, missing just a few fish today with 18 from 26 bites from the 35 raises and a nice dorado of around 25lb's.
16th. Today there were a few fuzzy heads on board due to a stiff HD Rum Punch Special from the previous night, and it took the blame as the percentages slipped away from them a little. The day started and finished in a flurry with a triple to start and several doubles at the end to help to the total. Though without the girls onboard and the fuzzy heads there were a few misses and we slipped below the 50% ratio, it was still a great day to finish the trip with 43 sails raised, 36 bites and 17 releases and a couple of nice dorado.
Previous to this we had the Johnson/Long group of David (Mr Johnson), Craig, Clayton, Brett and Daniel Johnson with Earle (Mr Long), Forrest and Bennett Long mixing it up and fishing both the 31ft Jupiter and Allure. Day one on Allure we went 17 from 28 bites while the Jupiter got on to a late afternoon bite getting 20 from 29 bites and missing a blue of around 200lbs. Day 2 the bite moved to the west a little and further off-shore, we had steady action all through the day, though it took the Long brothers a little time getting used to the circle hooks we use here and the importance of a smooth, drag free drop back and NOT setting the hook. Plenty of practice helps it all come together in the end though and we had plenty of practice today going 12 from 31 bites from the 36 sailfish raised, on the Jupiter the crew fishing with Capt Marvin went 10 from 18 bites. A small front moved through on our last day out with the group and we went east today, making for an uncomfortable ride out it paid off as the bite to the west died. The weather laid down to nice conditions by midday and a call from Cpt Haole on Finest Kind 10NM to the east of use got us into the fish. Today it all came together for the crew on Allure getting 14 from 22 bites and 2 very nice 30lb dorado. the Long brothers fished well and Mr Johnson Snr and Mr Long Snr showed the boys how it's done going 100% for the day. The Jupiter had about the same action getting 12 releases from 20 bites to finish with good averages every day out. A great 3 days of fishing for the group and plenty learnt on how to use circle hooks effectively.

Exceptional fishing through March 2nd

Since the last fish report (14th Feb) through to the 25th the bait stuck around. We pretty much fished it from the west all the way accross the bottom of the pocket and inshore to the east, it was moving a couple of miles to the east every day and the current picked up 25th and with it the bait moved out. It was an incredible bite, and wherever the shearwaters were picking and diving there would be wads of bait and sails cutting though feeding and balling the bait up. The mornings were a bit slow though late afternoon with the breeze chopping up the water the fish turned on and bit very aggressively. On the 23rd there was an exceptional late afternoon bite which we were a few miles off-shore of and missed out on, though the 31ft Jupiter released 22 sails in the last 2 hours of the day including a quad and three triples. We were releasing 20 to 30+ sails daily and getting into some nice dorado as well for the whole time we fished that body of fish and bait.
On the 27th we fished all the way from Old Blighty (England) Tim and Catherine Peat from Hampshire and Ted and Muffy Maltby from Bath. The couples are very keen flyfisher's having travelled some of the worlds hot-spots for salmon, bonefish, permit etc. They had been skunked on a previous attempt at billfish on the fly in another sailfish 'hotspot' so decided on Guatemala to fulfill their goal. On the first day out the fish were out wide to the west at 40NM, we had heard reports of lazy fish that were hard to tease so we trolled to the east where we found a good bite with every other fish seeming to tease well. The group fished well and if it wasn't for 3 popped tippets while going for doubles the ratio would have been alot better. Still it was a good introduction with 36 sails being raised and releasing 6 from 12 bites all on the fly.

Tim Peat with one of the first days fly caught sailfish.
On the second day out, the 28th, we had a cold front push through with a stiff east nor easter blowing up to 20+knts and 4-6 ft seas. We ran up the beach to the east and then straight out where we could troll in relative comfort down-sea. It was the right move and we had good steady action all day with the afternoon really heating up and the fish biting the fly very aggressively. In the morning it was a little tough in the conditions and Muffy spent just under an hour on a big stubborn sail with-out giving up before getting the release. Good work Muffy...It was a great day with 44 sails raised, 19 bites and 10 releases. They all fished well and a double late in the day really had the adrenaline levels up with Teds fish going beserk jumping accross Tims, quick thinking saw the lines uncrossed and the release of both.

On the groups last day out we started where we had finished the day before to find colder, green water. After spending most of the morning searching we ended with the fleet 40NM out again and into some very funky fish that would tease most of the way in before fading, or all the way in only to eye-ball the fly. It was frustrating stuff raising 36 sails of which only 7 bit the fly and a bit of bad luck saw us releasing just 2 of those. The highlight of the day was Muffy Maltby getting on to a horse of a sail, a nice one of around 120+lbs, excellent work. We had alot of fun fishing with Peat/Maltby group and hope to see them back here in the not-too-distant future....

Muffy Maltby with her big fly caught fish.

On the 1st March we saw the return of Guatemala regulars John Theuerkauf and Zac Brice, this time bringing along billfish newcomer Steve Glanell. We ran to where we had seen alot of fish the previous day, and now fishing the baits had high expectations. The fish however did a disappearing act on us and on top of that I couldn't seem to run over the ones that were left. We didn't see alot so it was tough to shake the rust off seeing it had been a year since the guys had baited billfish. Still we raised 16 getting 4 from 10 bites and a nice dorado. The next day we were on to them and had good action right through the day at around 25NM off the breakwall. It took till the afternoon for the averages to start swinging around, though by the days end they were all back into it and fishing well releasing 16 from 33 bites and getting 47 fish into the spread. We're looking forward to seeing you guys back down here next year......

To the 14th...Fish Report

Gerald and Mark Micho, Gary Miserlian and Michael Coe with a nice sail.
The fishing here has continued to be good with an incredible amount of bait over a big area of water. The bait looks like small butterfish and it is being balled up by sails all over the place. The last few days the bonito have arrived and there have been some big 'foamers' where the bonito are pushing the bait to the surface in a feeding frenzy. It wont be long before the marlin show up with all the bonito out there. For now it is bonito and ALOT of sailfish that are feeding on the small baits. With all the bait around it has been hard to pull the sails off the balls though generally the late afternoon bite has been very good.
We just had through the Gary Miserlian group consisting of 4 father and son teams John and David Wojciechowski, Glen and Norman Korpi, Jim and Kent Daehling and Jerry and Mark Micho along with Bob Minster, Bill Whitney and Mike Coe. The group stayed at the brand new Quinta Pez Vela and fished aboard Allure, Intensity and Spindrift from the 12th through to the 14th. They released 36 billfish the first day and a nice 54 inch dorado was boated on Allure for sashimi in the evening. The same again for the group on day 2 releasing 36 sails with Intensity seeing the majority of the action today. On Allure we went out wide and came accross several large foamers, bonitos gorging themselves on the bait. With the bonito holding we live-baited a couple around the outsides and raised a marlin on the long bait that dissapointingly did not eat. Today, the 14th we fished more to the east and there were birds working the baits all over, the action was steady and very good in the afternoon with 52 sails released for the group. A grand total of 124 SAILFISH RELEASES for the group in 3 days of fishing and several slammer dorado as well. Awesome stuff!!

THE INFAMOUS WALKER GROUP

Marshal Reid, Matt Mabry, Chris Walker, Rob Bailey, Tommy Walker, Burke Lane, Frank Marquez, Ray Duerer, Keenon Raynor and Gerald King from Houston.
The guys fished aboard Allure, Intensity and Canaso for a couple of days. The first day out the action was great just 12NM from the Marina Pez Vela. The bite was good right through the day with triples and doubles for all the boats, the group ended with 54 sailfish released. There were also several big dorado boated and plenty of fresh sashimi and fish sandwiches enjoyed.

Ray Duerer took this great shot of a sail charging the boat (and himself)
The action slowed a little the second day out with 23 sails released between the boats, still a great day on the water and 77 releases in 2 days of fishing. These guys know how to have a great time and were great fun to fish with. We're looking forward to seeing them all back next year. Ray also captured this breaching humpback whale on the way back in from fishing. We have been seeing them regularly the last week or so just a few miles off the beach.


With all the bait around out there and the incredible amount of sails we are expecting the bite to continue to be outstanding. The water is a deep blue and with the amount of bonito out there as well the marlin should start to make their presence felt. There is also plenty of big dorado to mix things up, all in all great fishing. We still have some openings through to May and the later in the season traditionally the marlin bite heats up.............
Previous to this we had Jim Williams along with Don Smith and Ron Hauck from NJ. The guys were in for 3 days on the fly. With all the bait around getting them to bite the fly was a little tough, we raised over 140 fish in the 3 days and had multiple shots

To the 6th..Fishing

A quick report.....

The fishing has been outstanding. We have been fishing with Guatemalan regular Jim Williams along with Don Smith and Ron Hauck fishing on the fly. A great bite right at the bottom of the pocket yesterday intensified today, the current is pushing in and there is bait galore. It has bee making it difficult, or challenging, for those of us fishing the fly. First day out all the boats on fly raised over 30 fish releasing up to 8. The boats on bait raised up to 54 and released over 30. Yesterday was red hot from the get go, still hard to get them to tease in aggressively with all the bait around, though they did bite better today. Most boats raised over 50, we had 61 up and teased.......just 26 bites. On the fly boats released up to 14 as the bites were not that great with alot coming un-stuck mid fight. On the baits, (conventional) the guys were crushing them releasing up to 47 and raising up to 80 odd sails. Today it continued, we raised 52 fish that teased in (not counting the fish that came up and faded before 'locking' on to a teaser) and had 19 bites on the fly releasing 8. A bit of bad luck saw several store bought tippets popping at the huffnuggle knot, making it a bit frustrating esp seeing the drag's set at a less then 5lb's at the end of the day and still having problems with them. The mates here tie most of what we use with good results and we'll supply them for free if you are thinking of coming down here for fly fishing.
All in all it has been great fishing, and the body of fish is big with boats spread over several miles of water and all experiencing great action. Lot's of big dorados on the mix also.
A better report to come in the next few days.
We do have a few openings later this month from the 15th on. If you're thinking about it, just do it!!
We also have a new go fast 31 Jupiter fully equipped with experienced Capt and very competitively priced with plenty of openings

ALLURE WINS TOP BOAT IN 'NO SANCOCHO'

Jan 27th-29th, Rods and Reels Sportfishing in conjunction with Casa Vieja hosted the 5th annual 'No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout'. This is a great fun tournament with the emphasis placed on having a good time, catching fish.......and having a good time. 2008 produced a record 8 teams consisting of 4 anglers per team from Texas, Florida and New Jersey vying for daily cash pots and the overall Team Campionship trophies and cash prizes. The points system mixed it up awarding 10 pts per sailfish on 20lb test, 25pts for a sail on the fly, 75 pts for a marlin on 50lb test, 100pts for a marlin on 20lb test and 150 pts for a marlin on fly. With the points system leaning toward marlin and a slower than average sailfish bite it really made for an interesting tournament. Teams drew boats every evening at the Casa Vieja.
On day one the majority of the fleet headed out wide to around 40NM + where a slow though steady bite had Team Reel Nasty fishing aboard Escapade leading the way through the morning.

The infamous and previous 2 time No Sancocho Champions 'Reel Nasty' consisting of from left to right Chris Bean, Brad Klein, Jamie Dishman and Mark Fertitta.

A-Fin-Ity chose to stay in-shore at around 12NM with Los Vaqueros on board and they too had steady action through the day. Team Casa Vieja consisting of owner Jim Turner, Cpt 'Haole' Chris Sheeder and from Fox Sports 'Reel Adventures' Kerri Burrus and Mike Barry fishing aboard Spindrift with Capt Nicho turned the tables early in the afternoon though with Mike releasing an est 150lb blue marlin on the 50lb gear to take the lead. Shortly after Craig Johnson from Team Tenacious aboard Allure got into a nice blue of around 375lb on the 50lb pitch bait to be right there with Casa Vieja. Team Casa Vieja and Spindrift held on to take out the $2000.00 daily with a blue and 6 sails totalling 135pts to edge out Tenacious and Allure who ended with a blue and 3 sails on 105pts to collect the $1200.00 second placed daily. Reel Nasty on Escapade released 8 sails for 80pts and Los Vaqueros aboard A-Fin-ity caught 7 for 70pts.



On day two Capt Tony Haupt's Escapade continued to be the hot boat on the sails with Team Los Vaqueros:

consisting of (left to right) Michael and Burke Lane, (Capt Tony Haupt), and Trey Strake and Dean Lane having the best of the sail action.

Lance Stanfil and Brett Crawford of Team Four Fat Boys
Team Four Fat Boys drew Canaso and Capt Jason Brice made the call in the morning and told angler Mike Fox to pitch the ballyhoo on 20lb gear to a marlin on the bridge teaser. Good work by Capt Jason and Mike saw the release of a very nice fish of around 275lb on the 20lb and an instant 100pts.

The sail action for the fleet was fairly slow though Reel Nasty with Cpt Jaunga on A-Fin-Ity stayed on the leader board with 6 sail releases. Four Fat Boys and Canaso took out the top dailies and 100pts with Los Vaqueros and Escapade taking the second placed money with 7 sail releases and 70pts. On Allure Team Penquino made the most of the little action we saw that day releasing 4 from 6 bites. We changed to the fly later in the day for the bonus points though never raised a fish.

Team Penquino (left to right) Ron Costello, Bob Smith, Jim Turner Sr and Ed van Wootenberg.
The end of day 2 had the team standings very tight with, Casa Vieja:175pts, Los Vaqueros:140pts, Reel Nasty:140pts, Four Fat Boys:140pts and Tenacious on 135pts. In the boat standings it was equally tight, Spindrift:155pts, Escapade:150pts, Allure: 145pts, and Canaso on 140pts.
Going in to the 3rd and final day a marlin release from any of the teams left the tournament wide open. On the dock the daily water ballon fight before the boats left the dock had Jim Franklin go arse over the covering board and head first into the drink attempting to dump a bucket of ice-water......On Allure we fished with Team Circle Hookers who were near the bottom of the Team Standings, so we decided to take a gamble and head way down to the west knowing that if we stayed with the fleet the chances of climbing up the leader board were slim. We found some fish in less than an hour and had fairly steady action through the day raising 19 fish and getting 17 to bite. What can only be called bad luck with 2 breaking off, one chewing through the leader and a couple pulling hooks kept things wide open to the end. Los Vaqueros on Canaso had a good run at the end of the day to really challenge Team Casa Vieja on Intensity. No marlin were caught and Los Vaqueros releasing 6 sails for the day were pipped by 5 points by Casa Vieja. Team Circle Hookers and Allure won the dailies with 8 releases and Los Vaqueros and Canaso won second daily money.

Circle Hookers Brad Kangeiser, Drew Donaldson, Hill Dishman and Ken Delery celebrate winning the daily pot.
The overall No Sancocho title going to Team Casa Vieja with 205 pts, followed closely by Los Vaqueros on 200 pts, Reel Nasty on 180pts and Tenacious on 175 pts. In the boat section Allure took it out with 225 pts with Canaso on 200 and Spindrift on 195 pts.
Casa Vieja also took out the first marlin money and Tenacious took out the dorado section with a 48.5 inch bull.

No Sancocho Champions, Team Casa Vieja's Mike Barry, Kerri Burrus, Jim Turner and Chris Sheeder enjoy the moment.
The tournament was an out and out outstanding success with everyone having a helluva good time enjoying the great hospitality of the staff and facilities at Casa Vieja and the local community.
Despite it being the 'No Sancocho', there were more than few 'sancocho's' with $20 going into a pot for every fish missed there was a couple of thousand dollars raised and donated to a local school. There were also bags and bags of clothes donated to the cause by the guys which was much appreciated by the local community.
We're all looking forward to next year and if you want to be a part of this great event get in touch with us here at Rods and Reels.
To the guys who were involved, don't hesitate ot get in touch with us of you feel the need for some practice for next years event..........
Keep an eye on Fox Sports 'Reel Adventures' who documented the event.