GREAT FISHING THROUGH DEC 20th

The great fishing has continued here in Guatemala with everyone coming to fish with us here on ALLURE and ADIOS enjoying great sailfish action, plenty of dorado/mahi-mahi to keep the grill busy and a few marlin in the mix as well.....
Dec 12th Hill Dishman came down a day earlier than the rest of his group for a day on the fly, we got into the sails early though for the most part the sails were very difficult to tease in to the back of the boat, we raised 23 and managed to release 3 for the day. We managed 6 good bites on the fly and put a bait out later in the day which got a couple of bites.

Dec 13th and the rest of the crew came to join Hill for the next 3 days on the water. Celebrating successful finals from Alabama University were Brett Dishman, Doug Centeno, Matthew Ballard, Jeff Bissell, Chas Duvell, Ben Cravens, Allen King and Claiborne Morris Jnr along with his dad Claiborne Morris Snr. The group had a LARGE time down here at the SAILFISH OASIS LODGE and great action over the 3 days of fishing as well with 105 sails released!! As well as good billfish action the boats also got into some good sized mahi's including this beauty for Claiborne Morris....

There were a couple of marlin raised over the 3 days with the group and one missed on the first morning out on Circle Hook. This crew knew how to party both on the boat and back at the lodge with the bar at SAILFISH OASIS getting its first real workout for the season, they all had a great time and were looked after 1st class by manager Nick Poole back at the lodge....

Dec 17th Chris Bean and work mate Frank Oberle came down to celebrate a successful business year with a one day charter on ALLURE and 2 nights at SAILFISH OASIS. From Beaumont, Texas it's an easy jump down to Guatemala and Chris Bean brings the luck with him. He came last year for a one day trip having a great day with 22 releases and this year topped even that. We put lines out at 25NM SW from the marina and had great action from the outset, Frank released his first ever billfish just 4mins after putting lines in the water and action went on from there, great fishing in perfect conditions on the water the guys released 26 sails from 38 bites with a total of 49 sails raised for the day.....By early afternoon the guys decided to hit the poolside bar back at the lodge and we were back at the dock by 3.30.....incredible fishing which also included a nice sized mahi for fresh fillets for dinner.

Frank and Chris on the ride home.
Dec 19th and 20th from Houston, Texas we welcomed for their first trip down to Guatemala Denman Heard and his sons 16yr old Moody, fishing fanatic 14yr old Preston and Moody's good mate Cole Miller. The great bite a couple of days earlier had dropped off for the boats fishing the previous day so we rolled the dice to check out the eastern edge of the pocket. The decision proved to be a good one and we had some great action in the morning with several double headers as well as a sail/mahi double for Cole and Preston with Preston working hard on a tough bull mahi with excellent results....

At the end of the day we had a marlin come up on the bridge teaser slowly that got hot as we teased it in and resulted in a great bite on the pitched mackerel. Moody got himself strapped in the stand-up gear and released a nice blue in the 250lb range


Moody with about to release his first blue marlin.
A great introduction to Guatemala for the guys with 23 sailfish raised for the day and 11 releases from 16 bites throw in a few big mahi's and a blue marlin and to top it off.
The next day out there the water temperature dropped and so did the fishing, we worked the inside of the pocket today where the SST's were a little warmer and had good action releasing 8 sails from 12 bites and some big mahi's. A couple of big fish today with Cole Miller getting this nice one on board for a group shot of the boys.

Good fishing and good times in Guatemala. We have a few days in for Christmas before being back out there on the 27th. Dates are starting to fill up so secure your spot before it's too late...
We hope everyone out there has a great and safe Christmas, from the crew on ALLURE, Chris, Julio and Alex.

NOVEMBER 29th through DECEMBER 2nd

The good fishing has continued here in Guatemala this past week with good numbers of sails in the spread, as well as blue marlin and mahi's. On Monday 29th we welcomed back fishing with us on the fly Carl Lehner, this year he came with his daughter Jessica for 3 days on the long wand.
29th proved a little slow in the morning as we scouted out to the west on the flats looking for the fish, we did find a huge log loaded with bait and mahi mahi so had some fun catching enough for lunch and dinner, with all the bait on the log we tried a little live baiting for about 20mins with little luck. Pushing further off shore we got into some sail action in the afternoon, we raised 11 for the day teasing in 4 to the back of the boat and released 2 from 3 good bites late in the day. At least we knew where to start the next day......

Carl with his first of the trip
30th, with the current pushing east and offshore we ran about 8NM to the east of where we finished off, pushing off-shore we found a nice honey hole that gave us steady action through the day. As with the day before the fish were a little tough to tease all the way in, though the ones that did came in like freight trains and produced great bites on the fly. Jessica got in on the action today after a short lesson by Carl, she did well releasing 2 from 2 bites, the last fish of the day a nice one of around 100lbs+. All in all we raised 23 sails and released 3 from 6 good bites, there were a couple of bill swipes/poor bites as well. Mid afternoon we raised a nice blue of more than 400lbs, the fish teased all the way to the back of the boat and Carl cast the fly, a big fish to attempt on the fly though with fly fishing especially, it's all about the bite.....unfortunately we didn't get the bite on the fly though it did inhale the pitched mackerel. Soon after we raised another blue that came up on the long teaser though did not tease in. All in all a great day.
Dec 1st we stopped on a wad of birds working bonitos, just off the bait we raised a nice blue that pushed up on the long teaser though did not stick around. Trolling off-shore we soon raised another blue on the short bridge teaser, the fish stayed deep though and with Carl ready with the marlin fly we tried to tease it up, no luck, it stayed deep all lighten up, tail and pecks a neon blue, we pitched the mackerel and got a good bite, Carl got strapped into the stand-up gear and released the blue of around 250lbs.

A little slower on the sails today, though we did get some incredible fly and teaser bites from some super aggressive sails, we had a couple of shots at double headers and Jessica again fished well just missing one fish all day, Carl was 100%, from 10 sails raised we released 4 from 5 bites, Jessica again got into another great fish, this one even bigger than the previous day of around 120lbs.

Jessica's big fish takes to the air...

And after a tough scrap we got the big sail in for a photo before releasing it. Nice job Jessica, a helluva fish on the fly!!
At the end of the day we raised a hot 200lb blue marlin, the fish teased in well and Carl cast the marlin fly, the fish stayed under the fly circling it, though not committing and we could not get the bite despite our efforts, after long seconds we decided to pitch the mackerel bait and as soon as the mackerel hit the water we got an aggressive bite just feet off the transom, what a sight. A great way to finish off the trip for Carl and Jessica and we look forward to fishing them again in the near future!
Dec 2nd we hosted a wedding party from Canada and the US down from Antigua for the day. Chris Warus the groom had 5 of his buddies along, Tim Frederides, Howard Heppleman, Mike Conrad, David April and Andrew Kipfer for a morning of fishing before having to be back in Antigua for the wedding rehearsal in the afternoon. We had a great time, albeit short, the guys all got into fish releasing a handful of sails and boating a couple of nice mahi's

The team.
We also raised a blue marlin today, another fat one that swiped its bill at the bait though didn't eat.....
We got Chris back to Antigua in time for his rehearsal and met with them all after Chris and Terry's big day on the 3rd. Antigua did not fail to impress and they all raved about their off-shore experience as well...Guatemala is a great destination without a doubt.
Previous to this we had Chief and Johnny Tauzin and Jay Survant, Jay got some great images on his new camera including this beauty, a big mahi bull, lighten up in full flight...


Jay Survant with the results.....

The fishing is great out there with plenty of sails and a good mix of blues as well, the season is shaping up to be a cracker and we want to make the most of it....you should to. Get in touch with us to secure some dates and be there with us to experience billfishing at its best.

GREAT BITE THROUGH NOV 25th

Things have got off to a great start here in Guatemala, the Joan Vernon organized Presidential Challenge series just rolled through with the 12 boat fleet releasing a record for the PCCA series, 676 sailfish, 7 blue marlin and 1 striped marlin in the 3 days of fishing. That there is incredible numbers and incredible fishing! The bite continued on since the tournament and by all accounts it is looking like a classic Guatemala season is underway. Here is the breakdown of the last 10 days...

Nov 22nd through 25th we fished from Houston, Texas Susan Hunt and Kosta Giannitsopoulus. On the 22nd we ran straight to an area marked the previous day on the run home where huge amounts of birds, shearwaters, had been seen working bait. We found them eventually, birds and bait balls everywhere out there though it was a frustrating start with fish not interested in breaking off the bait and the ones that did not switching to the baits. Things changed for the better in the afternoon with the fish turning on to the teasers and switching over to the pitched ballyhoo baits with aggressive bites. We finished the day with 36 sails raised, 29 bites and 17 releases, throw in 7 mahi-mahi to 25lbs and a great start for Kosta and Susan.
23rd we stopped about 10NM short of the previous day and soon found some bird activity after trying for some grouper first up. The fish turned on again in the afternoon, it was more of the same with large areas of birds working small bait balls, sails were cutting bait on every wad of birds/bait, the action covered a large area, it was an incredible sight....


Wherever the birds were working indicated sails balling and feeding on bait, a drive by marked huge wads of bait deeper down...

When working the birds more often than not we'd get covered up with doubles, triples and quads of sailfish tearing into the spread resulting in plenty of these.....

ANOTHER double for Kosta and Susan....
All in all and incredible day on the water with 63 sails raised, from over 50 bites Kosta and Susan released 28 and boated several good sized mahi. The averages were a little low though the fish were biting and dropping whenever pressure was felt so it was a little tough, though good practice.
Weds 24th while trolling into the area we had our first sail for the day hooked up on our right long trolled ballyhoo, while making the turn a nice blue showed up on the inside bridge teaser being cleared, we got the mackerel back though the fish wnet back and ate the left long on the 30lb test. Kosta got locked into the blue while Susan took care of the sail. The marlin peeled off a bunch of line and stayed deep, never jumping though pulling us steadily offshore. Hooking up at around 9.40 we released the big fish of around 400lbs++ at just after midday. A great effort by Kosta as this was one tough fish, pulling hard and staying deep despite pulling angles and putting as much heat as we could on the 30lb test.

No time to rest, after the release we were straight back in to the sail action, not the same as the day before though still a good steady afternoon with 25 sails raised, and 9 releases from 17 bites.
Thursday the 25th Susan stayed behind and enjoyed the pool and great facilities at Sailfish Oasis while Kosta came out for more catching. The day started identical to the previous, while making the turn on a sail hooked on the right long a blue marlin teased in all the way on the right bridge teaser, we got the mackerel back and got the bite though unfortunately missed the fish. A bit slower today though Kosta on fine form released 10 sails from 13 bites. 19 sailfish raised today and several good mahi-mahi boated. A great trip for susan and Kosta finished off with a couple of nights at the Casa Santa Domingo. While were out to the west pretty much by ourselves a few of the other boats went out to the east, checking out the area out there they came in with reports of large amounts of sails, 3 marlin bites between the 2 boats and large dorado to boot. It's looking good out there and we are looking forward to the next few days....
Nov 24th-28th we fished Hill and Jamie Dishman along with Chief Tauzin for a practice day and then the PCCA. First day of the tournament we were a few miles off the best action though still were well placed with 14 releases from 18 bites. Great fishing by the team missing very few fish, we raised a blue at the end of the day that crashed the teaser though didn't get the bite.
Second day out the guys released 18 from 30 bites, another blue came up in the flat line teaser and teased in though did not switch to the bait....frustrating stuff!!
3rd day of the tourny the guys fished well releasing 27 sails from 37 bites, good averages and a great tournament all round. Congratulations to Capt Haole, Chris Shedder and team Casa Vieja for there back to back PCCA victories.
Previous to the tournament we fished father and son team Chief and his dad Johnny Tauzin along with Jay Survant. We raised a couple of blue marlin, had one chew through the leader, released a few sailfish and caught a bunch of nice big mahi's...

The fishing is still good out there and we have the next few days on the fly, it is looking to be a great season and we are getting steady inquiries so be in quick, contact us now to secure your dates. The SAILFISH OASIS is newly refurbished and is the perfect place to enjoy your time off the water.

September-October 2010

October has seen us come out of what they are calling the wettest rainy season in over 60 years, the last few weeks have been typical dry season days though so the change is finally upon us. Down working in the marina on ALLURE today and the radio was alive with marlin bites for the few boats that were fishing, by mid-day one boat had 5 blue marlin bites. So, with the fine weather boats are getting out and by all accounts we are looking forward to a great few months ahead of us on the back side of El Nino. We are still a week or so from getting ALLURE back in the water after some maintenance and chomping at the bit to get her back out and fishing!
We did fish ADIOS, the 38ft Jupiter a few times over the last month or so and with all the rain there were some excellent current lines to fish, holding bait, mahi-mahi, sailfish and marlin.....

Craig Kelly pitched ballyhoo into the current line on ultra light tackle with some greast results....
Craig Kelly came out all the way from New Zealand to Guatemala for a couple of days and managed to squeeze in a day of fishing right after a couple of days of heavy rain, we found a current line about 25NM out and the mahi bite was pretty much non-stop from there on in. Craig pulled out the light stuff and hooked into a couple of reasonable sized fish on weighted ballyhoo pitched below the current line, also pulling the hook the best mahi of the day of over 30lbs right next to the boat. We ended the day with over 20 mahi mahi boated from a bunch of bites, a small blue crashed the bridge teaser though refused the pitched mackerel and we missed a sail....a bit of bad luck with the bills though a load of fresh fillets for everyone.

Also joining us in September were father and son team Augosto and Rafael Coelho from Argentina. We found a current line a little less distinctive than the previous week though it held fish all the same, after finding an area with mahi's it wasn't long before the rigger bait got pulled out and Augosto was hooked into a nice blue marlin of around 200lbs on 30lb line....

Augosto puts the heat on his fish.
We stuck to the same area getting into a few more mahi mahi......

Augosto and Rafa with their future menu for the BBQ.
It wasn't too long after that another blue bigger then the first of around 250lbs+ crashed the bridge teaser, we got a great bite on the pitched mackerel right up on the first wave though failed to come tight. A sail at the end of the day for Augosto really put the icing on the cake and show his son Rafa a lesson or two in fishing.

Another half day later in the month with Thor Sheffield and Jeremy Scott produced plenty of mahi fillets for all on board just 12NM from the beach and another good day.
As mentioned we are looking forward to a good season that comes at the end of El Nino, traditionally producing big days on the sails and plenty of marlin action as well. We received this report from Nick Smith and Chip Shafer on Old Reliable based here in Guatemala that are right now fishing up in Mag Bay, Mexico for the stripe marlin bite that they fish for on the fly.....

Our first trip to Mag Bay turned out well. We took the 65 foot Bayliss to Baja and Chip set out searching with teasers on Oct 1 and 2. Only raised a few, covering several of the traditional areas. Saturday night he got a report from our fuel source at Puerto Magdalena that a boat saw a lot of stripes off Punta Tosca, the farthest South of the Mag area. He went there the next day and raised 23, so it was enough for me to head west.

I got into Cabo Monday afternoon and a driver took me to Puerto San Carlos, 5 ½ hours away. Got there at eleven pm and arrived at our anchorage after midnight. Next morning ran the thirty some miles to Tosca. Only 3 or 4 “lookers” until about 2 pm when we moved a few miles east. From 2 pm until 6 pm we raised 40 stripes and caught seven. It was looking good.

Next day, 10/6/10, we set a new fly record. Raised 63, had 21 bites, and released 16. Unreal! The rest of the trip stayed real good in that area. Totals for 5 days: 231 raised, 74 bites, 52 releases. That’s our best ever trip with the stripes.

No bait balls, only a little bird action, so it was hard to find and stay on the fish. Also, there were no other boats fishing so no coverage to help out. The fish were more aggressive than past years, giving us bites out of about 1/3 of our raises. That’s double our historical number.

All in all, a really great trip. Hopefully, it bodes well for an excellent season up there after a near wash out in 2009.

Nick"

We are starting to get more bookings and are looking forward to our first trip post ALLURE maintenance Nov 4th. SAILFISH OASIS LODGE is going through a minor refit and will be in top shape for groups of up to 20. Just 5 mins from the Marina Pez Vela it will be hard to beat in all aspects, coupled with ALLURE and ADIOS we are offering the best package in Guatemala. November and December fish well for sails and marlin with December being consistently consistent for big release days, secure some dates before it is too late and we look forward to fishing with you this coming season!

JULY 30th-31st

The SAILFISH OASIS, a great spot to unwind after a big day on the water...

After a small break it was great to get back on the water with a few regulars and a couple of new faces in the group of 8 down for 3 nights and 2 days of fishing aboard ALLURE and ADIOS. We welcomed back for their 4th visit to Guatemala John Codrington, Mike Sledge and Todd Mucha, they brought friends Jeff Jeffers and brothers John and Jim Catalano and then Guatemalan regular Chief Tauzin introduced client Tadd Busch to the fishery here.

Jim and John Catalano
The guys had a small side bet going so it was anglers hooking fish only with no mate assistance. Seeing it was first time for a few of the guys a bit of time was spent going over the finer details of bait and switch and the 'drop back' needed to hook these fish using circle hooks.....Day 1 on ALLURE we had the Catalano brothers fishing with John Codrington and Mike Sledge, about 25NM up the western side of the 'pocket' we started getting into a few fish, the water was clean green though it didn't seem to mind the fish, we raised 14 sails of which 12 bit the baits and they released 6, not too bad averages for the first day out. A big hole behind the right bridge teaser indicated a marlin, though the fish never touched or came back to the teaser... On ADIOS Jeff Jeffers and Tadd Busch were joined by the experienced Chief and Mucha, a back-lash here, a sancocho there and a bit of plane bad luck saw the team release 3 from 10 bites. A few dorado boated between the boats as well today.

The next day the teams switched boats, on ALLURE we went out wide looking for blue water and a good bite. Despite covering some area we never did get into blue water on the west side, we still managed to release 5 sails from 6 bites and boated 15 dorados. The guys on ADIOS also missed very few fish releasing 4 sailfish and boating 7 dorado.

One of the sails takes to the air....

A great weekend for the guys with some pretty good fishing and a great time at the SAILFISH OASIS. Previous to this the blue water had been right in and there were some great days on the sailfish and blue marlin, with a couple of blues raised a day and up to 30 sailfish raises it just proves that this is truly a year round fishery. On our last day out there was a strong SE current and indications are of some nice blue water being pushed in from the SE, and with it I'm sure a new batch of sails and marlin. We are hoping to get out there a few more times this month, the weather has been great on the water with a bit of cloud cover and flat seas. A bit of rain in the evenings cools things down and the days are dry so it is a perfect combination. We can offer some great deals right now so get in touch with us for a mid-summer get away fishing trip.....

THOMPSON GROUP 26th-27th MAY

The Thompson boys arrived in Guatemala May 25th for a couple of days fishing Guatemalan style, they ended up with more on their plates than just the fishing to think about though with Volcan Pacaya erupting and sending enough ash toward Guatemala City to close down the Airport, and then came Tropical Storm Agatha.........
Still it was all good for the crew from Beaumont, Texas. Skylar Thompson came down with son's David, Neil and Heath for a planned 2 day fishing excursion that turned into 3 days due to the unexpected eruption of Pacaya.
On the 26th we started fishing about 16NM from the Marina Pez Vela on the western side of the pocket and felt pretty lonely out there with just one other boat out that day. The day was overcast though no rain and a wind-swell over the top of a SW ground-swell making for a slightly confused sea though nothing too bad so fairly ideal conditions, not too hot and beautiful blue water. Working our way up the side of the pocket we found some fish about 21NM out and fished the area hard all day getting into a good steady bite. The guys did well for first time blue water fisherman and from the 17 sails raised that day they released 10 from 15 bites. A helluva start! Next day had the same sea conditions though there was a lot of rain off-shore, especially to the west where we fished the previous day. Seeing that we started to the east a little at the bottom of the pocket just 9NM off the break wall and after a short time we got into the mahimahi's pretty good, the bite lasted over an hour and the guys boated 25 mahimahi/dorado for the day. After the mahi fest we jumped a blue marlin of around 200+lbs, released 4 sails and then finished the day with a few more mahimahi.

On the way in that afternoon the Volcanoes were clear apart from Pacaya which had a huge dark, bulbous cloud hanging over it, we thought it was a thunder head......little did we know. After dinner that night we found out that Pacaya had blown big time and the Airport had been closed. With a couple of days good fishing under the belt the guys decided to make the most of ill-fortune and fish another day.
We'd been watching a system brewing off the Southern coast of Mexico for the past few days and before leaving that morning we checked again to see that it was slowly moving our way and had a 60% chance of turning into a tropical storm.....
All good out there though as the system was still off-shore, more wind chop over ground swell made seas sloppy with intermittent showers. We started out late and worked the bottom of the pocket hard hoping for another marlin bite, it didn't come and the sailfish bite was slow as well with 2 released form 3 bites, we finished the day with another mahimahi flurry ensuring the guys went home with a soft cooler bag full of fillets on ice.
Tropical Storm Agatha was born out of the system that day and the rain set in hard that Friday evening after fishing. The Thompson boys got out to El Salvador OK the next morning though and made their flight home, albeit a couple of days overdue. Luckily for them as the storm hit hard, dumping as much as 3-4ft of rain in some areas over just a 32 hour period. Thankfully for us here the storm banked west and the rain stopped on Sunday morning, though in that short time the storm caused a huge amount of damage, washing away over 14 bridges, many roads and hundreds of houses in the highlands were swamped in mud. Many lost everything and as of yesterday more than 170 deaths have been confirmed. Everyone is pitching in and helping though it will take some time to recover for many highland towns. We came through it all unscathed at the Sailfish Oasis and are helping where we can, especially in some of the pueblos near Antigua where it sorely needed.
As for the fishing, with reasonably settled weather since the storm some big current lines with logs and trash have developed, meaning plenty of mahi's congregating on them and there the food chain carries on......
We are starting to get inquiries for July and August so contact us for these traditionally drier months and good fishing.

THROUGH MAY 15th

May 13th through the 15th we fished the Brad Sears, Chief Tauzin group of Frank Merendino, Blaise Herbert, and Craig Wieland from Denver, Colorado and Sean Horigan, Joe Guedry, Brent Kirkham, Chief Tuazin and Brad Sears all from Houston, Texas.
The group split between the two boats ALLURE and ADIOS over the 3 days, on ALLURE for the 1st day we had Frank, Blaise, Sean and Craig while Brent, Joe, Brad and Chief went with Capt Julio aboard ADIOS. A short run to the east a little had us in the blue water and into a slow though steady bite for the day..

L-R Frank Merendino, Blaise Herbert, Sean Horigan and Craig Wieland
We ended the day with 11 sails in the spread and 5 released from 10 bites. ADIOS had a little bit of bad luck with a few fish jumping off though still a good day on the water.
14th the crews swapped it around though the action was more or less the same, the only difference being a better hook-up ratio, we released 8 sails from 10 bites today and got inventive with Joe's water-proof camera..

L-R Brent Kirkham, Chief Tauzin, Brad Sears and Joe Guedry with mate "Conejo" just before releasing one of today's sails.
Things were a little tougher the last day out for everyone out there, ADIOS raised a blue of about 200lb on the short teaser that refused the pitch bait, on ALLURE we raised a blue of about 350lb's that came up the middle to the bridge teaser then started jumping through the spread long enough for Blaise to get out the video camera and video the fish jumping through the teasers and around the boat. Getting the fish to eat the pitched mackerel was another story....Both boats ended up releasing 1 from 2 bites to ensure no skunking and a nice dorado for the end of day sushimi...

Capt Julio with Joe Guedry and Brent Kirkham with another great shot before release.
The guys had a great time down here staying at the SAILFISH OASIS being looked after with great food and enjoying the ambiance. We're looking forward to fishing with the crew next year...

The weekend before, May 7th and 8th we welcomed Jamie Dishman back to Guatemala, this time bringing his wife Cindy, daughter Annie and her boyfriend Adam Wheless all here for the first time.

Annie, Adam, Jamie and Cindy enjoying a cocktail at the end of the day.
First day out we followed reports from the previous day of a fairly good marlin bite to the west. We worked the area hard and did raise a blue of around 300lbs on the short left, though it refused the pitch bait. Continuing in the area we managed to release a sail and raised another that teased in hot though missed the bait. The bite from the previous day had all but disappeared, a few boats worked the area hard with little success. With not much going on to the west the following day we headed to the eastern side of the pocket and in deep-water had steady action through the day, including a couple of double headers, one for the girls...

Mother and daughter pose with a couple of nice sails before release.
The guys were not to be outdone and got onto a double of their own, we had 10 bites from the 11 raised and released 5 of them and landed a couple of nice sized dorado. The group had a great time here and finished up their last night in Antigua staying at the wonderful Casa Santa Domingo.

FISH REPORT through end of APRIL '10

L-R Chris Badge, Caleb Wray, Phil Shildts, Alan Rothrock and Jeff Graham.

The Jeff Graham organized group of above came to Guatemala from April 28th through May 1st to celebrate Phil Shildts' bachelor weekend. It included a couple of days fishing aboard ALLURE on the 29th and 30th and finished off climbing Volcan Pacaya checking out the lava flows and a couple of nights in Antigua hitting a few local bars.
To the fishing, the first day out started well releasing a couple of sails fairly early on in the day including Phil's first sail.

Soon after the weather changed as an off-shore squall approached and we ran around the worst of it. Setting out lines in the middle of the pocket it wasn't long before Alan Rothrock was hooked into a nice marlin on the plus side of 350lbs on 20lb test.


Every fish is different and this was one tough SOB, Alan fought the fish hard putting the heat on and we pulled angles on the fish trying to get it up. Conditions weren't the easiest either in rain and a steady 5ft with the odd 6-7ft rolling through making it all a little more interesting. We did get it up jumping on 3 separate occasions, the last time just on 3 hrs into the fight we got close to the fish though she took off down sea and on the last series of jumps got the big tail wrapped in the line. From there on the fight changed and nothing we did could hurt the fish, so with extra drag and angles the line eventually broke after 3 3/4 hrs of hard work. Tough luck Al....We finished the day heading back to where we'd had some action in the morning and released another 2 sails late in the afternoon.
April 30th had far better conditions out there, with a clear day and the wind dropping down from the previous day as well. A slow start though we found an area holding fish further off-shore than the previous day and ended up releasing 6 sails from 11 bites and boating a nice mahimahi for fresh fish tacos and sashimi.

We had a blast fishing with them and the guys were amped with all of them releasing billfish and keen to get back down here.

APRIL 23rd, 24th and 25th

Enjoying the SAILFISH OASIS...
The 'Steve Goodchild Group' consisting of 3 generations of Goodchild's including Steve his dad Leslie and Steve's son John were down along with Jason and Mike Lowrey, Jonny Nobs, Tim Bucanan, Cliff Mountain, Tim Leonard and John Russel for 2 days of fishing and 3 nights at the SAILFISH OASIS. The group split up the first day between ALLURE and ADIOS. Kind of tough for some boats out there today though on ALLURE we got into some action getting 20 sailfish bites and raising a big blue that did not bite. ADIOS didn't do so well on the sails though did raise 2 blue marlin, getting a big fish in the 400lb range to bite though missed it.

John Goodchild
On the second day Hill and Donelle Dishman and Chief Tauzin and girlfriend Amber came to the Lodge to join the group, they fished ADIOS today while the Goodchild group split with half fishing on Circle Hook and half on ALLURE. The fishing slowed a little though on ALLURE we picked up on the bite ratio releasing 10 sails and getting the bite from a nice blue in the 400lb + range, she pulled the hook unfortunately. the guys on Circle Hook released 7 sails and Hill and Chief fishing ADIOS saved best for last with Chief hooking into a nice blue of around 500lb's right at the end of the day. The big fish pulled hard though they got the release after an hour plus fight, add 3 sails and nice day had by all.
On the 25th Hill and Chief were out again and released 5 from 7 bites before heading back to the dock soon after lunch.
All in all the fishing is holding, we are fishing weekends from here on in and expect the marlin bite to stay steady along with good sail-fishing and traditionally the mahi bite picks up as well. The weather the last few days has settled down and we are looking forward to getting out this weekend. Come on down, some great specials to be had in May....

April 10th-14th, 2010

April 10th through 15th it was great to see our friends Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove make the long haul over the Atlantic from the UK once again for 6 days of fishing for billfish on the fly aboard ALLURE. Expectations were high after raising 3 blues the previous day and we ran about 20NM to the east, setting out the teasers near where we had finished the day before. It wasn’t long before we raised a blue on the bridge teaser, the fish acted finiky blasting from the bridge teaser to the flat line teaser though did not commit so we pitched the mackerel bait without getting the bite. The next blue we raised on the long teaser and teased the fish all the way to the back of the boat, Eric made the cast, though we could not get the marlin to eat the fly. For the rest of the day we worked the area hard trying to get another marlin into the spread without luck. The boats fishing baits did better today with live bonitos and rigger baits, several marlins released today though plenty acting funky, coming up on teasers though not committing to pitch baits. The sailfish played the fly game better for us, from the 17 sails raised we got 6 to bite the fly and released 3. A good start for the guys, taking up from where they’d left off last year.

11th….where did they go? The fleet ran back to the east with very little going on for anyone, a couple of blues raised and the sail action was slow too. On ALLURE Eric wasn’t doing so well with a bug from the UK so we called it quits early, not before Steve released a sail on the fly from his second bite to ensure no skunk.

Steve Massenhove
12th….time to try something different and a run to the ledge out to the west paid off with a very steady morning bite. Not long before putting lines in Eric released the 1st sail of the day and from there on in, right on the drop off, we marked bait and had sails in the spread consistently raising 13 before lunch and getting 9 of those to bite. A combination of poor bites and a bit of bad luck had 3 sails released from the 9 bites. The afternoon shut down with 4 more sails in the teasers and just the one biting the fly.
13th….back to the west, lots of bait being marked on the sounder and lots of sails coming up on the teasers though teasing in half way before fading, the ones that did come in either swiped at the fly with their bills or bit poorly. Very tough and frustrating to be fly fishing with the fish like this. A very high water temp wasn’t helping either with the SST around 88’ in the AM and in the early 90’s in the PM. We did manage to get 5 to bite the fly from 21 raised, just the one released with several jumping off or throwing the hooks after poor bites. We raised a blue today too though couldn’t get to the back of the boat in casting range.
14th…..hard to leave 21 raises, to the same spot we worked hard once again. More of the same today with lethargic fish coming into the spread, some teasing in hot though not at all interested in the fly. From the 13 raised we released 2 from 5 bites and were very happy for it with a lot of the boats having a hard time. A combination of huge wads of bait and hot water made things tough for everyone.

Eric Wright
15th…..we went further down the ledge today looking for better fish for the guys last day on the water and found more of the same. Huge balls of bait, sailfish cutting bait on the surface, bonito schools busting bait everywhere, the ocean was alive though to get the fish to play the fly game was a big ask. Of the 13 sailfish raised today just 2 of the fish bit the fly, Eric and Steve nailed both of them to go home with 100% releasing both sails after some great angling, a nice way to finish the trip after some frustration of seeing poor bites, fish pulling hooks or jumping off in the past few days. Still a great trip had by the guys, challenging fishing, though that is part of trying to catch billfish on a fly-rod.
Steve left us a few images of last year’s blue on the fly that he caught, thanks and looking forward to getting one with you next year…....


A lot of fish out there right now with the guys on baits having the best of it, still some marlin around too and things are looking good for the coming weeks with all that bait out there. Some of the fleet went east today getting into sails and a few marlin seen as well meaning good fishing over a large area. We are looking forward to the coming weeks and expect the marlin and sailfish bite to get better, throw in mahi’s and tunas for the all round trip. Don’t forget that this is a year round fishery and the marlin fishing especially gets better through the summer months.