Fish Report 20th Dec

The marlin bite has slowed down here in Guatemala though the sailfish have SNAPPING with an incredible bite that has just kept on going for the past week or more. Once again proving December to be a great month for big numbers.........
Today the 20th Dec we had on board ALLURE anglers Hill Dishman with his two sons Drake and Brett with their friend Greg Laswell on day one of their two day fishing excursion to Guatemala. It was the Drake, Brett and Gregs first time here and what an introduction to this incredible fishery. We returned to the dock having raised 70 sails, we got 55 of those to bite and released 24. It was very consistent action right through the day with more than a little bad luck affecting the ratio, alot of pulled circle hooks midway through the fight had us wondering what was going on......?? Still an awesome day on the water and with alot of practice under the belt we are looking forward to tomorrow and better results.
Dec 17th-19th we welcomed back to Guatemala for their 3rd year fishing here Marc Felton and his dad Ron with their friend and first timer to sailfishing on the fly Dave McIntyre. Dave had heard the stories and was not dissapointed. It was a little rough on day one with seas of 4-6ft in the morning, it did not dampen the sailfish bite though and Ron and Dave released 2 doubles on the fly. The first was in rough seas and the fish really stretched us with one going up sea and the other down sea, it was testing and took a while though due to good angling we released them both. The second double of the day was later in the afternoon in calmer conditions and the fish sticking together this time. Rons fish was a beauty of around 120lbs....we finished the day raising 28, getting 12 to bite the fly and released 7



Mates Alex and Julio with Ron, Marc and Dave pose with Rons big fish before release, one of a double for Ron and Dave.

On the 18th we stopped in short and found a bite that we suck with through the day, we had some incredible bites though a little bad luck, pulling the hooks on several releasing 6 from 14 bites. We pushed further off-shore on the last day and really got into them, though teasing them in seemed to be no problem, getting them to eat the fly did. We raised 49 fish today, getting 18 bites and 10 releases, a great day of flyfishing. The highlight of the day was having a shot at a triple hook-up though we popped the 20lb tippet on one, Marc and Ron got theirs to stick getting a father and son double on the fly. A great trip and we look forward to seeing them next year.

Dec 14th-16th had Guatemalan veteran Fred Herring Jnr introducing his father Fred Snr and friends Randy Allen and Henry Wuertz joining us for 3 days of conventional fishing. The 14th was practice day with the mates helping and teaching the techniques of 'bait n switch', pitching baits rigged with circle hooks to teased up sails. Plenty of shots and learning today with 54 raises 42 bites and 26 releases. Day 2 and the cockpit was all theirs, it was a slow morning though the afternoon bite got hot with 3 doubles a triple and a quadruple at the end of the day. Great fishing by the guys seeing it was their first time (barring Fred Jnr) hooking all their own fish getting 22 from 41 bites and raising a nice fat blue that did not eat the pitch bait. The last day out Henry really wanted a shot at a blue so we chased schools of bonito that were popping up though not really holding and tried live-baiting for several hours in the morning. There were lots of birds and bait through sticking with them proved difficult. Henry caught a nice yellowfin on a group of spinners and we stuck with live-baiting till 1.30 in the afternoon before running to a bite we had been called into off-shore. It was well worth it, the sails were red-hot and we released 19 in an hour and half with a quad and several other multiple hook-ups. We ended up with 21 from 46 bites for the day raising 52. Another great trip for the guys releasing 69 sails.



Father and son double, Fred Herring Snr and Jnr with a couple of nice Guatemalan sails

MARLIN, MARLIN, MARLIN!!......(AND LOTS OF SAILFISH TOO!!)

We have been stuck at the dock the last few days and feeling ill for it too, for all the action that has been going on out there that we have been missing out on......Monday as reported it went off, though the details have just come through. Nat Harris fishing with Capt Haole on the fly had an unbeleivable day releasing an est 350lb blue, the perfect bite resulted in a solid hook-up and Nat pulled all the right moves, near free-spooling the fly reel on the first run. When the fish calmed down he put the heat on and they had the fish boat-side in 25 min. That's a world record fish on the fly, congratulations to the team, incredible stuff! Jim Turner, owner of the Casa Vieja and fleet heard of the bite and flew down to fish with Capt Mike Sheeder on the Intensity, live-baiting all day they released 3 blues and a black, missing another 2 blues.
Things slowed down on the marlin front on the 11th though the sailfish were snapping with boats releasing up to 35 on the baits. The bite was right at the bottom of the pocket at 8 to 10NM.
Today the 12th Dec in the same area fishing baits boats had up to 40 odd bites and 25 releases, marlin were right there at the bottom of the pocket too with boats getting one a peice, Capt Mike on the Itensity released his first marlin on the fly. Congrats to him and the angler Jake Jordan. Capt Brad Phillips on Decisve had a slow morning in the same area so went off shore to where the fish were a few days previous. Spotting a school bonito they pulled up and started live-baiting, inside 3 hours they released 6 blue marlin from 7 bites!!! Incredible stuff with just a solo angler on board. Congratulations to them all. A helluva marlin bite with lots of sailfish and plenty of doardo.
GUATEMALA IS GOING OFF!! We had a day doing maintenance today and then we are out every day from the 14th till Christmas day. The only opening we have this month is from 30th Dec to 1st of January and then a couple of openings later in January as well. Check out the on-line calendar on the site and get in touch with us to experience fishing at its absolute best.........

Fish Report 10th Dec '07

6th Dec we were joined by Jim Gardner and Broughton Cochran for their first trip to Guatemala. We had a great day on the water raising 33 sails 3 blues releasing 10 from 26 bites on the sails and pulling the hook on the one blue of around 350lbs that did bite. The guys were keen to hook their own fish and chose a difficult day to learn with alot of the fish biting, though not 'eating' well it seemed, making the numbers a little askew..........Still it's all part of the learning curve of the bait and switch using circle hooks. There were plenty of dorado around as well for the next few days.
7th Dec and Jim was our solo angler for the day and very keen to have a go on the fly rod, having never cast a fly before, let alone to a billfish he had a great day. We were away from the fleet for the majority of the day, and showing the extent of fish around still had a great day raising 27 fish getting 10 to bite and releasing 5 on the fly. An awesome day for a first timer. There were a couple of red-hot doubles and one triple that were in the numbers raised where you wish you had another angler to cast another fly in the water. In-shore from us the fleet were on a strong bite with the guys on baits releasing up to 29 and a couple of blue marlin to boot. We never realised how good the bite was and joined the fleet late in the afternoon raising 12 fish quickly and releasing 2 from 4 bites.
8th Dec Roughton was back on board with Frank Norton. It was a different day, raising plenty of fish though having a real tough time teasing them into casting distance. We raised 24 and did have 8 very good bites on the fly, there was abit of bad luck for the first timers on the fly with popped tippets and a broken hook, still we released 2 sails and were unlucky not to get the release on a couple more. The boats on baits released up to 23 and today on the western side where we were there were no marlin seen for the first time in days. The Capt Hook went solo over to the east side of the pocket and caught a blue of the teaser in the morning. Seeing no sailfish though hordes of bonito they tried live-baiting for the last 3 hours of the day released another 3 blues.....A helluva day, nice job Ronnie. We weren't out yesterday (9th) and today though the fleet went east chasing the marlin bite that Ronnie had found and the reports are of a fantastic marlin bite that we wish we were a part of. Yesterday more than 14 marlin were released from the fleet of about 7 boats and the same thing today with the best releasing 3 blues and a black. Nearly all the fish are being caught on live bonito around the large schools in the area. Today it was more of the same with 16 marlin released among the fleet. Incredible fishing, alot of sailfish around the same schools as well. We're looking forward to getting out there in the next couple of days and will have more reports.

Fish Report 4th Dec '07

Since the previous weekend the fishing here has held steady and during the last week went off on Wednesday 28th with boats releasing up to 35 sails on the baits and into double figures on the fly. A-Fin-Ity with owner Davis Clapp last week released 100 sails in 5 days of fishing, alot of those days were late starts and back to the dock early once they'd acheived their goals for the day. Friday 30th saw the best bite at around 12-15NM with boats releasing up to 20 sails on the bait and 7 on the fly with still the odd marlin being seen.
On the weekend the marlin made their presence felt with boats raising up to 5 and a good mix of sails and dorado as well with the average boat releasing a dozen or more sails. Sunday the marlin started to bite with all the boats out there getting in on the action and seeing at least a couple of marlin a piece and all the boats bar a couple came in flying a marlin flag or two. Coupled with a good saifish bite, good fishing all round.
Yesterday the 3rd Dec, the fleet went out wide chasing the marlin bite and were not let down with most boats getting into some blue marlin action though the sailfish bite out there was a little slow. Meanwhile, right here at the bottom of the pocket at just 9-12NM Tom Boyce with solo angler Bruno Gilbert on Que Vela! had some great sailfish action raising around 25 and getting 15 bites on the bait. With well over 40 seen tailing and free jumping the sails are there in numbers though a little lazy with all the bait stacked up inside. They seem to be feeding on minnows and were spitting up wads of bait once hooked. The odd blue is still around inshore as well with Spindrift releasing a blue of around 180lb, this fish was also spitting up plenty of bait. With the amount of fish and bait around it all looks good.
Out wide there are groups of spinners and yellowfin tuna in with them, you can expect some dorado action and by all accounts the marlin bite is as good as it gets. Sailfish inshore with the chance of a shot at a blue means world-class fishing all round.
Check out the calendar link at www.rodsandreelssportfishing.com for availability and experience it first hand.

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Craig Johnson's blue caught on 20lb test during the PCCA Tournament

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Shane with his fish caught on 12lb test......

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A couple of nice roosters for brothers Cam Jr and Shane Sigler earlier this year up the beach from the Marina Pez Vela here in Guatemala

Latest Catch Reports - November 2007 - PRESIDENTIAL CHALLENGE IN CENTRAL AMERICA

The 11th annual Guatemalan leg of the Presidential Challenge of Central America just passed through from November 16th-18th. As usual the fishing was good and it all came down to time to decide the winner of this leg with 3 boats finishing on 2900pts. A change in the points system saw a marlin worth 500pts and a sailfish 100pts on the exclusive tournament Berkley 20lb test line.

Most boats were out practice fishing on the Thursday before the tournament kicked off and the marlin still seem to be around in numbers with the Capt Hook releasing 5 blues from 7 bites and the Decisive releasing 2 marlin for the day along with their 4 sails, one of the marlins was a black so made for a grand slam, congratulations to both boats. On Allure we got off to late start leaving Marina Pez Vela around 9.00am and started fishing at around 8 miles off the beach, soon hearing the reports of marlin bites we ran another 10 miles and got amongst the action, we raised 3 blues getting one to bite though missed it, the other fish although being aggressive on the teaser refused the pitched mackerel and the last stayed deeper, checking out a couple of the teasers but not coming up. On the sails we ended with 4 from 6 bites and caught 12 nice dorado for sashimi and fish burgers and plenty of fish to take home for the guys.

Day one of the tournament saw more action with team Allure consisting of Craig Johnson, Hill Dishman and Tommy Tilotta releasing 7 from 12 bites to be right there amongst the top boats at the end of the day with 700pts. The Circle Hook were top boat for the day seeing only 4 fish though 2 of those being blue marlin caught and released and also releasing one sail…….1100pts, nice going Capt Eddie.

Day two saw us in the action early though encountering a little bad luck jumping a couple off and missing a couple of bites. We raised a nice blue aggressive on the teaser, though fading on the bait and near the end of the day we were 3 from 8 when luck took its turn and a perfect sized blue for the 20lb tackle came into the spread with just 20mins till lines out. Craig Johnson did an excellent job and the fish sure put on some fireworks, though with aggressive angling we released the 150lb marlin in 9 minutes. Nice job Craig, we were back in the hunt just 300pts off the top boat with 1500pts.

Day 3 the tables turned and the fish started to bite, with boats releasing up to 15 sails though marlin ruled the day and the Pica Pleitos with just 1000pts at the start of the day released a stripey, a blue and 9 sails getting the slam and to finish in the top 3 with time making the difference. Team A-Fin-Ity finishing first on time, Team Maverick and Pica Pleitos all finishing on 2900 pts. Congratulations to all. On Allure we were right there amongst the bite but I just could not get on to the fish like some of the other boats were. I guess that’s the way it goes. All in all a great tournament and a great time had by all with 263 sails released, 11 blue marlin and one stripey making the numbers between the 15 boats participating.

Since the tournament the bite dropped off a little though the blues are still around and biting and things picked up again on the 22nd (Happy Thanksgiving to all) with boats getting up to 18 bites. Today, the 23rd we took out local Panza Verdes (Antiguans) Sylvia and Louisa Arevelo, Bruce McCowan and his son and grandson from Houston, Brent and Griffin McCowan. We had a great day on the water in perfect conditions and had some great fishing releasing 9 from 14 bites on the sails before pulling lines in at 1.30pm to run in shore to the color change where we picked up 7 dorado. Good fishing to young Griffin who fought the majority of the fish along with Sylvia, excessive Thanksgiving celebrations taking their toll on the others…….

Speaking of tournaments the next big one to come through Guatemala is the 6th Annual ‘No Sancocho Tournament’ to be held January 27, 28 and 29th. This is one of the best tournaments to come through Guatemala and there are 7 boats confirmed to date. Great daily cash prizes and a helluva good time by everyone participating is guaranteed. Teams of 4 anglers rotate on boats daily with the option of fly-fishing to mix it up in the points allocated. There are more boats available and if you’d like to take part in one of the most fun tournaments in Guatemala get a team together and get in touch with us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing………