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....