Mike and Mona, Melba and Ronnie.
On ALLURE from April 7th-9th we had a great time fishing with Mike and Mona Blake from New Orleans and Melba and Ronnie Murphy from Houston, the bite was steady and the drinks were cold equaling 3 great days on the water with plenty of laughs. The 7th was our first day out for a couple of days and it took a little while to get a feel of what was going on out there. Meaning……: we had a slow morning. By 2 PM we had 5 sailfish releases on the board from 7 bites, then, getting into the bite where the majority of the fleet was we started getting into them releasing 13 sails in the last hour and a half of fishing time making up the days total of 18 from 25 bites. Mona and Melba caught 4 double headers in the last hour of fishing today really getting into it with plenty of enthusiasm. The next day blew stiff from the ENE making conditions a little tough for all on board, though we still got into double figures releasing 10 from 19 bites on the sails, Mike boated a nice 35lb yellowfin tuna and Ronnie got into the action boating a nice mahi from the same group of spinner dolphin that we got the tuna off.
The next day the weather settled making perfect conditions for the last day out. Mona and Melba moved up another gear today releasing all 17 sails from 26 bites while Mike and Ronnie yelled instructions from various (seated) positions while supping freshly blended lime margaritas. Another flurry in the afternoon helped the girls release a total of 8 double headers of the 9 we had in 3 days of fishing with Mona’s personal total hitting 23, and 18 to Melba…..nice going girls!!
Melba and Mona with one of the 8 double headers....
Hill Dishman fished the 31’ Jupiter for two days, 7th and 8th releasing 17 sails the first day out and 11 on the 8th, he also raised another blue marlin making it the 4th blue marlin in as many days fishing on Jupiter, the fish teased in close to the boat though didn’t switch to the pitched mackerel.
April 3rd and 4th Steve Goodchild introduced Guatemala’s fishery to Tim Leonard, Greg Lusk, Gerald Lusk, Tom Harfield and Robert Dame, all from Houston. Steve has fished down here several times now and hoped he hadn’t talked it up too much with the guys expecting more than could be delivered……No worries though, on their first day out they fished with Capt Tyson aboard Strike Zone and had a good introduction releasing 6 sails from 8 bites. Aboard ALLURE the next day we went solo out to the west, the moved seemed to pay off as we got into steady action including a quadruple hook up, 3 sailfish and a nice 45lb mahi mahi. We released the sails and then concentrated on getting ‘lunch’ boated.
Gerald Lusk and lunch..
We ended the day with 16 releases from 32 bites. 10-15NM to the east of us the fleet saw some good action also with the boats releasing up to 30 sails, we got into where they were at the end of the day though the bite seemed to have slowed down, the move not paying off for us.
MARCH 29th-APRIL 3rd ON THE FLY
Eric Wright and a big fly caught sail.
Cor blimey…..All the way from London, England, Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove joined us on ALLURE for 6 days of fly fishing. The guys were experienced freshwater fly fishermen though absolute first timers at billfishing, they came out specifically to learn what it took to catch big blue-water fish on the fly. The crew aboard ALLURE had been looking forward to this trip for a while as we hadn’t done many fly charters this year and there is nothing like the thrill and team work involved in getting the bite out of well teased billfish on the fly. Also with a 6 day charter we knew the chances of getting into some good fishing for the guys were better. Cammy Sigler sorted Eric out with a Cam Sigler 14wt fly rod coupled with a Tibor Pacific reel before the trip while Steve used our top quality gear on board, a Cam Sigler 14wt rod coupled with a Billy Pate Bluefin reel. After a briefing on the morning of day one we got off to a flyer with first Eric, then soon after Steve releasing their first sailfish on the fly from their first bites, a perfect start! The day slowed down from there on in with the fish raised very lethargic till later in the afternoon when they turned on again. We ended up with 13 sails raised into the spread, 5 of those biting the fly and releasing 3. Day two we ran further off-shore where the Sheeder brothers had found some good action the previous day to the west, we had steady action all day raising 20 sails, and Eric and Steve continued on their good form, doing everything right and releasing 5 sails from 8 bites. There were some big fish tough fish in the mix today including these two fatties pictured.
We ran back out to the same area for day 3 though it seemed even more difficult for those of us on the fly today, the sails were very tough to tease in. The guys on baits were doing well though most of the fish we saw would peel off half way in or come up and whack the teaser once and disappear. Near the end of the day we had only 1 release so we tried to the west trolling down the edge, with just 20 mins left in the day before having to run in we raised a hot fish for Eric and got a great bite out of it, after getting the fish boatside and removing the fly the teasers were out again, soon after another hot fish came into the spread and this time Steve laid out a good cast, got the bite and struck well for a good hook-set. We released his fish and in extra time had a double of hot fish in the spread, Eric cast and set perfectly against the bite, fish on, meanwhile mate Julio was keeping the second fish hot on the teaser with the boat out of gear while Steve cast the second fly for an instantaneous aggressive bite. With both fish running in different directions it took a while though we ended the day with a double release on the fly. 19 raises 8 bites and 5 releases with 4 of those coming in the last 20 mins of the day.
Day 4 in the hope of finding some good aggressive fish on the teasers we went further to the west, we started the day breaking out the 12 wt fly rod and catching 6 mahi mahi off some flotsam, good fun and good eating. When we got into the sails later in the morning the fish we saw did tease in a little better though the bites were not great and hard to convert into solid hook-ups. 21 sails raised today 11 bites and 4 releases as well as another double for the guys who were becoming more familiar, aware and better as the trip went on. With just a couple of days left we kept up the talk of a couple of goals set at the start of the trip, 10 releases in a day and a blue marlin on the fly. The previous day the guys on baits had an excellent day with some big numbers further to east off the edge, we worked this area hard trying for 10 releases, we raised 31 had 11 bites and the guys did everything right releasing 7. Unfortunately we jumped off one of a double and had some bad luck on another. Either way, a great day on the fly. On our last day out Eric started the day perfectly, with a release from our first bite, we raised another 2 fish missing one on the bite. Later in the morning the fish we had been waiting for came up on our long flat teaser, the blue marlin teased in aggressively and in no time mate Julio had the teased the fish in, the boat was knocked out of gear and Steve cast the fly. The fish turned and came up for a perfect bite from left to right, Steve struck against the bite and it was on. After the initial fireworks and the 20lb tippet still holding together we knew we were in for a chance, Steve had learnt enough and when the fish peeled off deep into the spectra backing the drag was backed off. When things settled down he put the heat on palming the reel and with short pumps unsettling the fish. Still this was one tough customer, we pulled different angles on the fish and it came up 8 times during the fight, 6 of these times jumping and head shaking, amazingly the hooks held and the tippet remained intact, every time we got near the fish on the surface it just pulled away diving deep and into the backing again. With the fish hooked at about 1110 and Steve hitting different stages of exhaustion during the heat of the day he held tough and pumped the fish up for the last time at around 1450 to get it boatside. 3 ½ hours on the end of the rod with a big tough fish is something else and Steve was elated when he finally beat the blue of a good 250++lbs. From a novice to achieving one of (if not the) the pinnacles in blue water flyfishing it was a great way to finish the trip. Eric’s only regret was that he didn’t book 10 days instead of the 6……With 25 sails released from 45 bites on the fly, 1 blue marlin and a few mahi mahi it was a helluva introduction to blue water flyfishing, great job to the guys and we hope to see them back next year.
Eric and Steve with blue marlin release flag on the fly.
27th-28th March Hal Boggs organized a 2 day trip for Glen Mericle and Joe Barnwell, in 2 days of fishing we released 14 sailfish from 24 bites. By the end of the trip they were hooking their own fish and this helped contribute to a few doubles and a triple hook up at the end of the second day. Nice job and a good introduction to pitch baiting to billfish!
23rd-25th March, first day out Heather Rose, and father and daughter team Bill and Rachel Long joined us on ALLURE, it was a bit testing today with another stiff ENE wind making conditions a little tough on everyone in the morning, the girls fished well with 8 from 14 bites and 3 mahi’s. The big disappointment was early in the day with a sailfish hot on the short teaser and another sail coming up on the rigger bait then seeing a nice sized blue marlin crash the flat teaser, with all hands on deck trying to bait sailfish the marlin got a hold of the teaser and disappeared before we could get to the teaser rod…..On day 2 Nate McAllistar and Ashley Erekson joined us, they did everything right releasing 12 sails from 15 bites, we also missed a blue of about 250lbs and landed a nice mahi. On the groups last day out we live baited for a few hours trying for a blue, while pulling a live bonito around a school of spinner dolphin the spinners suddenly panicked and speed off in the opposite direction to where they were coming from. We soon saw why when a group of about 8 false killer whales chased the back corner trying to split the group. We looked on though flipper got away…….this time, still, it was sight to see! We got back to trolling later in the day and released 7 sails from 10 bites, and ironically soon after quitting the live baiting raised a blue on the Joe Yee Super Plunger and got the bite on the pitched mackerel though our bad blue marlin luck continued for this group with the hook pulling……
As April moves on the blue marlin bite should get better and the sails as always consitently biting well. If anyone wants to target blue marlin on conventoinal light or heavy tackle we have all the gear on board. The rainy season starts late May and can mean some off-shore squalls though nothing too bad with most of the rain falling in the late afternoon and evening. Get in touch for further info with Rods and Reels.
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