Fishing through June 12th '11

It has been a while since the last report, though, we have been fishing fairly regularly since the last one and finally time for an up-date. All in all April was below average fishing as far as sailfish went, we had plenty of blue marlin in the spread and great days on the mahi's though all in all not your average April.....I don't think there will be any trend in this, just a seasonal glitch with La Nina and if anything I'm picking next April to be a slammer. In the meantime here is a small breakdown of what has been going on here in Guatemala with trips on ALLURE....
June 10th-12th ALLURE part owner Hill Dishman was back down for his first trip in a couple of months, once again with son Drake, and this time brother Jamie Dishman and good friend Chris Bean. First day out looking, not many boats fishing so time to cover some ground, we got into a sailfish right off the bat though carried on out the eastern edge of the pocket and then across. We raised 4 sails got 3 bites and released 2 on the eastern edge of the pocket before running a couple of miles into some spinner dolphin, a small group loaded with birds and for the last part of the day we slammed the yellow-fin tunas. With triple and quad hook-ups every pass within an hour and half we had boated 26 tunas with the first passes giving up some nice ones in the 30lb+ class.

Another triple hook-up on the tunas
We spent the last hour cleaning fish and live baiting around the spinners, surprisingly with little luck. We were hoping for a marlin bite around such great bird/bait/tuna activity and get Jamie Dishman into his fist marlin. Jamie has been coming down to Guatemala for about the last 10yrs and has experienced some incredible fishing with a few 50+ sailfish release days, plenty of mahi's and tunas and even though we had had a couple of shots at blues in the past with him it was the big one that had eluded him. On Saturday we started on the inside this time working our way up the west side of the pocket, conditions were once again great with flat seas and beautiful blue water about 85'. Little going on inside so we pushed off-shore finding another group of spinners to the west. Once again, plenty of bait and YF tunas and also plenty of skipjack's, we bridled a couple up and fished around the group for a couple of hours hoping for the bite. Nothing going on so we did some tuna fishing boating 13 YF's, a bit smaller off this group though still some reasonable ones like this one for Drake....

We started trolling back in-shore as the tunas were taking us well off the western edge. At about 9NM off the edge we ran back to the drop-off and on the second tack raised the fish we were after. Jamie was the only one of the fishing crew on deck and the fish came in hot on the flat-line teaser, it was text-book stuff, Julio teased the fish in, Jamie dropped the mackerel into position, teaser cleared and a great bite followed. Jamie did everything right, smooth drop back and locked up to come tight to a feisty 150lb blue marlin. The fish had plenty of attitude and pulled hard everytime it got near the boat giving Jamie a good scrap and a sore back to boot on the 50lb stand-up....

On the leader

And boat-side.
Way to go Jamie, the first of many more I'm sure. About 15mins after the release we continued working the edge when a bonito tuna jumped behind our right bridge teaser about 7 feet in the air landing in front of the teaser, seconds later a huge hole and a blue of about 400lbs who had been hot on his tail. The fish dropped back on to our flat line teaser, came in hot and was in the perfect position to switch to the mackerel that Chris Bean had pitched. The teaser cleared though the fish ignored the bait and went straight for the left bridge teaser, we kept the teaser away and again had the bait in the perfect spot for the switch, though that was the end of that. Plenty of adrenaline flowing on deck after that display though as hot as the fish was it did not bite the bait.....

Enjoying cocktails on the ride in...
Sunday 12th hopes were high on getting into some marlin action after the end of the previous day´s activity that we had seen. Further to the west today, more spinners, plenty of logs and bait, we released 3 sails boated 9 mahi's to 20lbs and another 7 YF tunas without even really trying though no luck on the blues....Still an excellent trip for the guys with soft bags full of yellow-fin tuna and mahi-mahi to take home, great fishing and great weather all 3 days...
May 20th and 21st Alex Donalson threw his Bachelor Party with us at SAILFISH OASIS and 2 days of fishing with friends and uncle Drew Donalson, Bobby Woodard, Dr Joe Kenneson, Scott Asher, Patrick O'Fiel, Chris Mc Afee and Jason Rea

Alex Donalson with his first sail of the trip..
The fishing was good for the 2 days out there with plenty of mahi's boated and 43 sails released between the 2 boats as well as a blue that came up on the short teaser though did not bite. The guys had a blast here with great fishing and a great time at the SAILFISH OASIS.

Enjoying drinks back at the dock after another great day on the water...
May 13th and 14th Craig Johnson, Chief Tauzin, and Carl Oliver from Stallion Oilfield Services hosted Paul Dore, Brett Pennigton, Ken Broussaro, Dan Matthews, Clint Yeager and Andy West from Murphy Oil to 2 days of fishing on ALLURE and ADIOS and 3 nights at SAILFISH OASIS.

The guys had a great first up introduction to Guatemala, we started the trip on ALLURE with a blue marlin sailfish double!! The group released 22 sailfish and boated plenty of mahi-mahi to take back home as well. It was good action with the last day out seeing good numbers of sails and some big mahi's.

This is what they had to say about their trip down to Guatemala:
Craig,

I wanted to again take the opportunity to thank you for this past weekend's trip down to Guatemala. It was enjoyed by all and I am pleased to have been party to it.

The hospitality afforded to us by yourself, Chief, Carl, Nick, Kiwi, and the entire staff down there made this trip one to remember!

I look forward to our future encounters as the comradery doesn't get much better!

With kindest personal regards,

Paul

PAUL A. DORE
General Manager, U.S. Onshore Subsurface


JR&Blaire, David&Christina, Erin&Corey
May 6th and 7th We welcomed Corey Survant back down here on his second trip back to Guatemala this season again with his wife Erin and this time good friends David and Christina Harris and JR and Blaire Turnbull. The sailfish bite was a little slow though we had a great teaser bite of a nice blue in the 400lb+ range the fish came back on the flat though did not switch to the pitch bait....soon after we raised another blue on the flat that did not stick around for long, on the sails we released 2 from 3 bites and late in the afternoon got on to a log that was absolutely loaded with as many mahi's as I have seen here. The crew had a blast breaking out the 12lb and 8lb tackle, we ended up with 56 mahi's to 25lbs in a catching frenzy for the last couple of hours of the day. Plenty of fillets to take home!! The next day out we raised 5 sails releasing 3 from 4 bites as well as Christina hooking into a blue of about 200lbs before it threw the hook.

From aft-fwd, Corey, David and JR with one of the sails....
Previous to this Anthony Blair and Billy Herbert were down with Todd Mucha and Chief Tauzin, kind of slow though the guys got into their first Pacific sails while down here, we also got into some nice mahis and watched a 500lb blue marlin chase and eat one of our 10lb mahi's attached to the 20lb class line and 80lb leader, exciting stuff!! They enjoyed every bit of their stay here at the OASIS and aboard ALLURE.
Also way back in mid-April the Phillip Evans/ Will Cravens group was in

The father and son group got into some sails and plenty of mahi action, we also raised a couple of nice blues including one of around 450lbs plus

And some first up sails for the boys.
Right now we are still having for the most part settled weather during the days with some rain in the evenings to cool things off, still plenty of blue water out there and as with this time off year plenty of tunas, mahi's along with a good shot at a blue or 2 or 3 and sailfish are here year round. ALLURE is in the water till mid-late August before we pull her for yearly maintenance. If anyone is interested in coming down we normally have settled weather and good sail bite from early-mid July though August so get in touch and we can put it all together with some good deals available.

Fishing through April 9th.....

Sabrina and Steve Goodchild
March 25th-26th Steve Goodchild took the whole family down to Guatemala for his 55th birthday party. They spent a few days in Antigua before heading down to the coast and fishing with us on Allure

The Goodchild group with Steve and Sabrina, John G, Rahey Myers, Steven Labua, Chelsea and Pascal Spengeman, Amberly G and Schroder Baker and Philip Barker.
First day out we released 5 from 7 bites on the sails and ran into the beach early to try for rooster fish, we released one before heading back to the dock.
26th we started the day on the beach and released 2 roosters including this one for Steve that put up a good scrap pulling hard on the light stuff...

Rahey also got into one of about 15lbs before we headed off shore, a bit slow today with just 2 sailfish releases though a good time had by all.
March 28th-30th we welcomed new-comers to Guatemala George Papas, Bob Ryan, Joe Meyer and Paul De Ridder. Fishing out wide on the edge the guys fished well releasing 7 sails from 10 bites. 29th the request from the crew was for some meat to take hime to we looked off the edge for the spinner dolphin, we found them late in the morning and had a great time boating 17 yellowfin tunas. With enough tuna to take home for everyone we ran back to the edge and released 3 sails from 5 bites and raised a nice blue that crashed the short right teaser though we could not get the bite on the pitched mackerel. 30th we finished the trip as we started with 7 sails released from 10 bites including this big one for the last of the trip, one of a double header...

Paul De Ridder, Bob Ryan, George Papas and Joe Meyer all had a great time down here and are looking forward to returning next year.
April 1st-3rd Hill Dishman was back down with son Drake and good friends Drew Donalson and Dan Wheat. We fished an overnighter in a quest for a swordy. After running out to the edge we came upon the first of several groups of spinner dolphin for the day. We worked them catching small yellowfins...

Drew with a typical sized tuna.
Some big sailfish...

And a nice cow mahi for Drake Dishman...

We ended up trolling down to the west to get in some good water for a night time troll and drift attempt for swordies. The day ended with 20 tunas boated 6 sails from 8 bites and Drakes mahi and another finiky blue marlin that came up around a bunch of spinners though didn't do anything. Not much luck with the swords either with no bites for the night after this sunset..

The next day started slow though we got into some good action on the 3030W corner raising 21 sails and releasing 10 from 16 bites, we also missed the biggest bull mahi so far for the year getting the bite from a big 50lb+++er around another group of spinners. Sunday the 3rd went looking to the east with not too much going on out there coming in with 2 sails from 4 bites.
April 4th-5th for their first trip to Guatemala from Beaumont, Texas we fished father and son team Mark and Zachary Smith, Kenny Locke, Joe Louoi and Harold Bodeaux. You gotta tell it how it is and today was tough, we raised a blue marlin that sat under the pitched mackerel for a long time before swipping the bait with it's bill and then leaving. Soon after we raised a sailfish that did the same thing and that was our day, we headed in early. 5th we left out early heading out wide looking for the guys first sailfish, in the afternoon we got into some reasonable action and there were 5 firsts with everyone catching their first sailfish, 5 from 8 bites for the team....

April 8th and 9th Jack and Martin Pitts came in with Roy and Patti Hefley. Craig Johnson also came in with Steve Goodchild going out wide on ADIOS looking for tunas. A bit slow though we did get into some sail and mahi action with Martin trying his hand on the light stuff pitching 12lb test with success...

Roy went out on ADIOS with Craig and Steve the last day out in great conditions they went wide and found the spinners boating 9 tunas, releasing a couple of sails and getting a couple of marlin up in the spread as well.

They are already planning their next trip back here which pretty much says it all.....Great times in Guatemala!!

Great Fishing through March 22nd

So far we have had a very good start to March '11 with some big bodies of fish moving through and good action for most of our clients. We have had our slowish days in between though that's fishing and for the most part the bite has been great. It is the busy time of year and they say a picture tells a thousand words so here is the last couple of weeks with few words and plenty of pictures.....

Cindy and Jamie Dishman, Joe and Jonni Broussard, Harvey (with Wilson) and Monique Steinhagen, Brenda and Burnice Wilson.
March 4th and 5th we fished the 4 couple group, a couple of Guatemalan old hands in Jamie and Harvey were showing the rest how it was done. Fishing was great, first day out we rasied 40 and had 34 bites!!

Brenda and Burnice Wilson.
Second day out started with a blue marlin crashing the right short teaser, we got the bite on the pitched mackerel though the hook did not find the spot. Further out we got in to the sails again and another great day with 42 sails in the spread, once again 34 bites for the day and 20 releases, add a few mahis and all was good.
March 9th had the Don Suderman group come through, a little slower today, we worked the middle of the pocket and released 6 out of 10 bites.

Claude Seago, Bobby Dean, Chief Tauzin, Mark Rogers and Judd Hansen.
THE HOST Chief Tauzin was back down with the above group this year for 11th and 12th of March. Day one started out with a tsunami warning going out to the Pacific Rim countries....Guatemela included. A late start then after monitoring what happened in Hawaii. Forget the tsunami, it was rough out there with a strong ENE wind making conditions a little tough. Sailfish for everyone though and plenty of mahi's too up to 25lbs.

March 14th and 15th we hosted the Thomas family from Orange Beach County for 2 days of fishing aboard ALLURE. It was their first time in Guatemala and they timed their trip well, flat seas for the most part and the bite was great...

Merrill, Pratt, Web, Carolyn and Dan Thomas with one of the 37 sailfish released for their trip. Their second day out was non-stop with 50 sails raised and 43 bites!! Throw in a few mahi's like this one for Web and all in all a great introduction to the fishery we have here.

They finished their trip with a day in the Spanish colonial city of Antigua and a day trip to Lake Atitlan and had this to say about their stay at SAILFISH OASIS and fishing aboard ALLURE...."Great people, food, accomodations and fishing, 37 sails in 2 days!"
If anyone is planning a trip down here in the future call and try to plan your trip around any dates that Chris Bean may have booked, you'll hit a good bite for sure....Chris was down for his third trip down here since early December and has struck it good now for his last 6 trips over the past couple of years. Chris came down this time with girlfriend Lori Preston for the 16th and 17th, they were joined by friends Kevin and Beth for their last day out. First day out and it wasn't long before Lori was fighting her first sailfish...

Chris got into a few sail releases before boating this nice mahi out of a triple hook-up, 2 sails and the mahi...

They both fished well with Chris' ratio being pretty darn good releasing 21 sails from 30 bites before switching to the fly, the afternoon bite slowed some though we did get 5 bites on the fly releasing 2. 51 sails raised today, incredible bite!!
On the 17th joined by Kevin Hanratty and Beth Tyler despite a slower day we released 10 on the bait before changing to the fly again in the afternoon, 2 on the fly including one for Lori, a great effort!

March 18th and 19th After a couple of days prior to fishing spent golfing at the incredible course La Reunion and checking out Antigua the next big couples group to come through were owners Hill and Donelle Dishman with good friends.......

Stefanie and Todd Mucha, Donelle and Hill Dishman, Melissa and Brad Kangieser, Becky and Tracy Stevens
A bit rough the first day out though we did some whale watching and caught a sailfish and a few mahi's before heading in early, the next day out after a leisurely 1030 start we fished across the pocket and released 5 from 7 bites, including a big girl of about 120lbs. A great trip had by all. "Great crew and hospitality, food is incredible, awesome lodge and boat" Todd Mucha.
March 20th through 22nd all the way from Nebraska we welcomed back old friends Doug Zingula and Hollis Perkins along with Doug's daughter Tanna Danch for her first trip to Guatemala. It has been a few years since we have fished Doug and Hollis though the guys picked up from where they left off missing few fish. The fishing got slow the last couple of days out though we made the most of our opportunities and Tanna got into a few firsts.....

Sailfish....

Big bull mahi...


And a 200+lb blue marlin release from the 2 we raised.
Good fishing Tanna and an enjoyable trip for the Nebraska crew. We look forward to seeing more of you in the years to come!!

Hollis, Tanna and Doug..
"My first trip deep sea fishing, absolutely amazing!! I can't wait to come back and do it again" Tanna Danch.
We are booked pretty solid through April though there is the odd opening and May dates are starting to sell. Get down to experience bill fishing at its best!!

Fishing through end of February 2011

Mark Langford with mate Marvin, Rihl Buckley and Gary Brooks with one of the sails for the trip.
February 11th and 12th we welcomed back Rihl Buckley, this time down with friends Mark Langford, Gary Brooks, David Gardner, Gill Cheesman and Ben Cravens. The sailfish bite was steady to good for the 2 days releasing 13 sailfish with plenty of big dorado in the mix as well as a 250lb+ blue marlin for Ben Cravens.

Feb 13th-14th the "Host" Chief Tauzin was back down with a super sized party group fishing on Allure and Cirlcle Hook, in 2 days of fishing the team of the leader himself, Chief Tauzin along with Clark Jordan, Brad Sawyer, Andre Fuecth, Brent Kirkham, Ashley Shneider, Elissa Kirkam and Bryson Goeres released 31 sailfish with both boats having blue marlin encounters, though no luck this time. Still a great time as always with again plenty of mahi's in the mix too.
February 19th-20th John Lindley was back in Guatemala this time with his wife Cherie, Tom Preston was also back and also with his wife Leslie, along with new-comers to Guatemala Curtis and Sandy Tegeler. Beautiful conditions first day out, though a long run to the fish of about 40nm to the western edge, worth it though with a good bite to sweat the guys hangover out from them....From the 33 sailfish raised the guys did well releasing 19 from 29 bites....Good effort! The ladies decided to spend the second day back at the lodge enjoying a lazy day around the pool, the guys had more hangovers to deal with after celebrating Curtis' 40th birthday and today a cold front came through making conditions a little tougher with 3-4ft seas.....ouch. The bite slowed some and the fish were far more finiky, coming into the spread though not switching to the baits as well, from the 17 sails raised they got 10 bites and released 4.

Tom amd Leslie Preston, Cherie and John Lindley, Curtis and Sandy Tegeler enjoying a few drinks around the poolside bar at SAILFISH OASIS.
TEAM BRAZIL....

February 23rd through 27th SAILFISH OASIS hosted the 16 strong group from Brazil, consisting of, from Rio de Janeiro father and sons Helio and Mateus Marques, Sandro and Joao Lahman, Ciba and Matheus Assad, Paulo and Guilherme Campos along with Antonio Piasi, Elaton Vasconelos, Renato and Michele Simone and Elias Auasis and from Sao Paulo Berel Zata, Marcelo Guerreiro and Thiago Pessoa. The guys were fishing the 4th Brazilian International Billfish Tournament organized by Henry Riggs Miller with 3 anglers per team fishing on 5 boats over 3 days. Fishing started out slowish on day one with most teams running out wide 40+NM. Team 2 of Paulo and Guilherme Campos and Elias Auasis took out the day with 7 releases. On day 2 we found the fish in close at about 15NM in the middle of the pocket, the bite was far better today with Team 1 of Berel Zata, Marcelo Guerreiro and Thiago Pessoa taking out the day with 15 sailfish released and 1 blue marlin. The last day the sails were thick out there, balling up baits along with the mahis there were also whales feeding on the huge bait balls. The last day out belonged to Sandro and Joao Lahman and Renato Simone releasing 18 sails to take out the tournament with 3800 pts, or 38 sailfish, the top individual honors went to Elton Vasconcelos with 1400pts, 11 sailfish and one blue marlin (300pts). A great tournament all round with a record number of releases since it's inception 3 years ago with 136 sailfish released and 4 blue marlin, throw in plenty of big mahi's to 35lb and it was a great tournament. They are planning 2 groups next year one from Sao Paulo and the originals from Rio to do seperate tournaments. All commented on the beautiful surroundings, nice rooms and great food here at the OASIS.

The fleet leaves out on day 2 of the tourny....
The fishing has continued to be great here in Guatemala, we have one weekend date available April 23rd and 24th with bookings pretty solid through March and April. May still has some weekends available as well, tradtionally a good month for the blues and sailfish so secure some dates before they go.

Fishing News through February 7th

Feb 5th-7th.....On the 4th we hosted on ALLURE from Guatemala City Alejandro Matheu, Charles Palehol, Stefan Olivero and Christian Truist. With the local Club Nautico tournament series going on there were no shortage of boats fishing a pretty good bite about 17NM to the SW of the marina. Our crew were keen to mix it up and look at getting some fillets to take home so we went to the SE. Near the eastern edge of the pocket we raised a small blue marlin that did not stick around long enough to see our pitch bait. Soon after we fished a small group of spinner dolphin (porpoise) and caught a good sized yellow fin tuna from 2 bites. We worked back to the bottom east corner of the pocket and had a few sailfish bites before Christian got into a blue on the + side of 250lb's that put on a show and was good sport on the 30lb tackle....

Click on the photo.
From here on in we fished a log that was loaded with bait and the guys had a blast catching plenty of slammer mahi's. They boated 6 between 25lb-40lb and several in the 15-20lb bracket, they also released 6 from 8 bites on the sailfish. Along with the tuna and marlin a great day with plenty of meat to take home! The boats to the west of us had great sailfish action releasing up to 20 sails...ADIOS fished today also with Nicholas Dorian, Jean Louie Trombetta and Greg Baldwin of 3 Amigos fame from the Atlantic side and their South African guests, they also had a great day releasing plenty of sailfish and boating a couple of nice mahi.

Feb 6th and 7th. ALLURE co-owner Craig Johnson came down for a couple of days fishing with son Nicholas and good friend Steve Goodchild from Houston, Texas. The crew were keen for more of the same of the previous day so we went to the east once again despite the good sailfish bite for the fleet. We did get into some sail action early on and the guys were fishing pretty well not missing a beat, further to the east we did find alot of bird and bait activity and got into some mahi's to 15lb, we also raised a small blue though then things slowed down. The radio chatter was going off with the sailfish bite just 9NM away, it got to us (me) in the end and we ran a few miles before trolling into the area. A couple of double headers out of multiple raises made it worth the while and we ran back in to watch the Super Bowl with 14 sailfish releases from 16 bites (19 raised) and a few mahi's....
Feb 7th we were out on ADIOS, Craig's 38ft Jupiter and today we were determined to check out the east for marlin/mahi action and not let the radio influence our decision no matter how good the sailfish bite. It paid off as a call from Jason on Makaira in the afternoon had us on a small log loaded with bonito, mahi and the odd billfish on the inside eastern edge of the pocket in the deep water. We got into a couple of bonito in the 3-4lb range and put them out as livies and it wasn't long before Nick got into a nice blue of a solid 300lb, his first marlin release...

He did a great job on the rod and the fish put on a show for the video though I missed the best shots with my camera....After the release we were back in the hunt for bonito and back to slow trolling the birds/bait and it didn't take long before another great marlin bite though this time the hook didn't stick. From here on in we live baited the small bullet bonito boating 6 big mahi's to 35lbs+, add 5 sailfish from 7 bites from the morning session and it was another great day in Guatemala. Back to the west the sails were still snapping for the fleet with boats raising up to 31 sails, good fishing for everyone!

Craig, Nick and Steve enjoying cocktails at the end of a successful day in Guate.
Jan 28th-29th we fished Steve Lipari, Ron Gann, Brian Chaka, Joe Sgujlia, Alan Adami and Chif Tauzin aboard ALLURE. The sailfish bite was just a few of miles off the breakwall and pretty damn good! We put lines out at just 2.5NM out and had steady action with a pretty good afternoon bite. With a few novice blue water anglers on board they were keen to learn and were thrown in the deep end..... It's a bit of a technique and very different from inshore fishing which Steve, Brian, Joe and Ron were used to, getting aggressive bites just feet from the transom can be exciting stuff though it can sometimes be difficult to control the spool while dropping back.... backlashes and/or burnt thumbs/fingers, 'setting' the hook, can all result in missed shots. Either way this is the best place to learn with all the bites and opportunities you can get despite having 6 anglers on board!! A great day was had by the crew and they did learn a bunch, from the 38 sailfish raised we got 36 bites and released 17, not the best averages though it was a learning experience that showed through the next day...

One that didn't get away....Don Gann got it right on this one and plenty more.
29th the bite slowed somewhat for everyone out there, it was still all 3-4NM from the breakwall and today the guys took the lessons they'd learned from the previous day and fished really well, from 22 sails raised we got 12 releases from 19 bites. Good stuff, nice going and we hope to see you back here fishing like pros soon...

Host's Alan Adami and Chief Tauzin with Ron Gann, Steve Lipari, Joe Segujlia and Brian Chaka.
Jan 25th and 26th it was good to see another couples trip down here to Guatemala with Ali and Jay Survant, Erin and Corey Survant and Neely and Curt Besetny. After spending a great couple of nights in the Spanish Colonial city of Antigua just an hour from the coast the crew got in for 3 nights at SAILFISH OASIS and a couple of days fishing aboard ALLURE. It was a little slow with patchy water out wide and the sails scattered though we had the good time crew on board and that's what we all had.....

Neely with a nice mahi....

Erin with a BIG sail before release...

The good time crew with the last sail if the trip, L-R:Jay and Ali Survant, Neely and Curt Besetny, Erin and Corey Survant.....

.....and a sight for sore eyes on the ride home.....

2011 is shaping up to be a great year, plenty of slammer mahi's in the mix and the blues are hot on their tail, throw in great sailfish bites and this is the place to come. We have had and have coming a few big groups and the SAILFISH OASIS has had nothing but high praises from all, great food and great accommodations in a beautiful setting, what more could you want after a big day on the water....