Fish Report through February 27th

The Jimmy Thompson organized group out of Lafayette, Louisiana has just come through Guatemala fishing 2 days February 26th and 27th on both ALLURE and ADIOS and enjoying a few nights and the SAILFISH OASIS. The group had a great time here, with a steady sailfish bite and even a couple of blue marlin seen in the spread....

George Jordan, Bernard Habetz, Mac Moore, Alex, Albert Habetz and Chad Habetz. MIA Jimmy Thompson and Seb Patout.
A long run to the fish the first day out which was no problem for the crew on ADIOS for the day cruising at 30+knts for a bit more fishing time in the day. Flat seas and blue water meant great fishing conditions and the bite in the afternoon was pretty good. ADIOS with Capt Julio Morales found some spinner dolphin with no tunas though they did catch a nice mahi-mahi of the group and raised a nice blue of around 400lbs, pushing alot of water on the teaser though not eating the pitched mackerel. The rest of the day they had steady action releasing 11 sailfish from 16 bites. On ALLURE we had steady action right through the day though our catch to bite ratio was a bit tough with the fish not seeming to bite aggressively, still the guys on the rods did their job well and released 12 out of 23 bites.
On Saturday 27th ADIOS got off to a flyer, after another long run on flat seas they started east of the fleet and raised 3 sailfish and a blue marlin soon after putting lines in. A great bite on the pitched mackerel saw them hooked to a nice blue of around 300lbs and a sailfish for the double header. They released the sail first and Seb Patout concentrated on the marlin releasing the fish after an hour on the 50lb stand-up. Nice job Seb!! For the rest of the day they caught a few sails releasing 5 from 8 in total.

On ALLURE it was slow to steady though picked up nicely in the afternoon with a couple of triple headers adding to the 15 releases from 21 bites. We changed to the fly for the last hour of the day and raised 4 fish, though getting them to tease was tough and the one that did tease all the way in refused the fly. Worth a try though with all the bait out there it was hard to keep them on the teasers for any amount of time. A great introduction to Guatemala for the group all the same and we hope to see them back here soon!!

10th through 14th February......

From back Stefan Boden, Christian Machate, Jon Theuerkauf and Dominik and Yannick Machate.

Snr Jon 'No Sancocho' Theuaerkauf came down for his 7th annual Guatemalan excursion from Feb 12th through the 14th. Christian Machate and sons Dominik and Yannick came back for their second trip all the way from Switzerland and brought with them good friend Stefan Boden from Hamburg, Germany. It is always good to fish with regulars and they started off well, even though it took us a while to get on to the fish when we finally did the afternoon bite more than made up for the very slow morning. Jon kept up to his form from last year, when he didn't miss a fish, and showed the mates up today as well not missing a fish all day. Great job seeing he is only down once a year! For the day we raised 24 sails and released 14 from 20 bites.

Yannick with his first fish of the trip.
Things kind of slowed down for us the next day. It blew from the east and made the run and first couple of hours fishing hard work, we got into a couple of fish early though with a few blue marlin being seen out wide we went out looking and got off the sail bite. 3 from 7 bites for the day and a nice sized mahi meant going out wide and to the west the next searching for the new 'bite'. Beautiful water and bait meant high expectations, near the end of the day we finally got on to an area and raised 10 sails releasing 3 from 8 bites before having to return early to meet the guys return chopper ride to the City. Christian and Dominick got into the action on the last day trying their hand at bait and switching, they had it down and are ready for next years trip for sure.....

10th of February we welcomed long time local 'Antiguans' Korey and Linnitt Peterson along with Korey's brother Kary and friend Pete Wood, both from Washington State and down for a few weeks R&R in Guatemala. A trip to Guatemala cannot be complete without sampling whats on offer in the "Sailfish Capital of the World"......an often and deservedly repeated quote from Kary during the day. The crew had an awesome time with pretty much consistent action through the day and heating up in the afternoon to finish with a triple hook-up, two in the baits and one on the fly.....We started the day on conventional tackle and just after lunch with 14 releases under the belt we changed to the fly. the afternoon bite heated up and we teased in some red-hot sails that resulted in some incredible bites right behind the boat. The day ended with 18 from 25 bites on the bait and 4 from 7 bites on the fly. A truly memorable day for all on board.....

Korey and Linnett hooked up to a double header...

Pete Wood and his first Pacific sail.....

Kary and a billfish on the fly!!

Korey and one of the bigger fish of the day caught with his first cast of a fly rod to a sailfish....

I'll be featuring some great shots taken from Stefan Boden that the has kindly left with us in the coming weeks. Appreciate the shots Stefan!
The bite out to the west we found looked promising for the short amount of time that we were out there so we are looking forward to the next few days on the fly with Guatemala regular Jim Williams and his crew. There is still some availability in the coming months so get in touch to experience the "Sailfish Capital of the World"!!

NO SANCOCHO through 5th Feb

Last weekend January 29th through 31st saw the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout roll through Guatemala. The event was a great success and the fishing kept up right through the moon phase resulting in 525 sailfish releases from the 10 teams over 3 days of fishing. Great fishing and a great tourny though it was overheard from a few of the mates on the dock that the tournament should be renamed the "Si Sancocho".
Read on for the official tournament breakdown below our last few days report....

Straight after the No Sancocho we welcomed back Butch Barnhill and father and son team Bruce and Robert Shaw to Guatemala from the 1st through 3rd of February.

L-R, Robert and Bruce Shaw, Butch Barnhill.
The fishing kept on after the tournament and we had steady action through the day resulting in 15 releases from 24 bites, a nice "reintroduction" to Guatemala for the guys. Their second day out got off to a great start with steady sailfish action and a few big mahi's bursting into the spread as well, Bruce got himself this beauty and we had a bit of bad luck pulling hooks a few near the boat.

The sailfish were biting funky today resulting in a few more 'sancochos' than normal, still 21 releases from 34 bites meant an action packed day.
With so much sail action over the last couple of days the guys opted to work the edges looking for a blue marlin, we worked up the western edge of the pocket and out wide hunting with no success, inevitably we ended up back with the fleet just 18NM offshore where the sailfish bite was going off. Despite getting into the action late in the day we still managed 12 releases from 18 bites. A great trip for the guys and we look forward to seeing you back here soon!!
On Friday the 5th we spent the day with Mike Callahan, Chris Seabald and Jose Steadman, the bite had slowed a little so we worked the eastern edge looking for the 'bite'. It looked great out there with birds, small bonitos and dolphin everywhere, we had flurries of action including a great blue marlin bite for Jose that we had on for a while before the bad luck struck and the hook pulled. We raised 14 sails for the day and released 7 from 11 bites.
All in all the fishing this year has been great and continues to be right now, we have a couple of days in and are back out again and steady through the month. There are still some openings scattered through the coming months so get in touch for more details. Read on for the official tournament report....

Here is the recap of the 2010 No Sancocho:

Day one started out with high expectations………some heads hurting for the Opening Ceremonies party at Casa Vieja the night before, and those expectations were met with a total of 213 sailfish released on Day One. The seas were calm, the water was blue, and the sailfish were snapping. All day long the radio was abuzz with releases being radioed in to the Committee Boat. It was a dogfight all day between Decisive, Rum Line, and Yo No Cuido but when the dust settled it was Rum Line taking the Day Money with 32 releases, followed by Decisive with 31 releases, and Yo No Cuido (aboard Circle Hook) with 30 releases. Rum Line pocketed $5,800 in day money, Decisive knocked down $1,500, and the Circle Hookers aboard the Allure where able to spot the first whale of the tourney, so they took the $400 whale pot. Chris Sheeder put $400 in his pocket for Top Captain on Day 1, and Brad Philipps won $200 for second place. Here is how it looked after Day 1:



Rum Line 320

Decisive 310

Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300

Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200

Circle Hookers (Allure) 190

Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180

Los Menirosos (Canaso) 170

Club No Minor (Release) 150

Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150

Tenacious (Adios) 130



Day 2 the bite slowed down just a little for everyone. Teams were allowed to fish baits only, which awarded 10 points for a released sailfish until 12:00 noon. At that time, the fly became optional and a sail released on the fly was worth 20 points, with an additional 5 point bonus if the fish was billed and the fly successfully retrieved. It was as close as it could get for Day 2 pot money, however the Circle Hookers made a charge late in the day releasing 4 sails on the fly. When the lines out call came at 3:30 the Circle Hookers had held off Team Decisive and Team Rum Line to take $4,200 worth of day money with a total of 240 points edging Decisive who had 230 points, and Rum Line who had 225 points. Chris “Kiwi” van Leeuwen took home the Top Captain pot, and Philipps took home the second place Top Captain’s money. Team Decisive’s second place finish on Day 2 was worth $2,700. The overall lead saw Team Rum Line holding the top spot, but with a very, very slim 5 point lead over Team Decisive. Yo No Cuido was in 3rd, and Circle Hookers moved up one spot to 4th. Perhaps the biggest shock of the day was at the Gringo vs Guatemalan soccer game at the local school. We handed out clothes and toys to the local kids, and then had a heated soccer match that saw the Gringos tie the Guatemalans 2-2. The first time the Gringos have ever come close in this match. The standings looked like this after Day 2.



Day 1 Day 2 TOTAL

Team Rum Line 320 225 545

Team Decisive 310 230 540

Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300 140 440

Circle Hookers (Allure) 190 240 430

Club No Minor (Release) 150 185 335

Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200 120 320

Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180 120 300

Los Menirosos (Canaso) 170 110 280

Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150 100 250

Tenacious (Adios) 130 30 160



Day 3 many it boiled down to a two team race for the top spot and a two team race for third place. The boats headed out a little further than the previous two days. There was a $600 consolation pot on line today for the bottom 5 teams after Day 2 results. Day 3 teams had the option of fishing the fly, the baits, or a combination of the two. The fishing started out hot and Decisive and Rum Line were constantly calling in releases. It was a see-saw battle between these boats all day. At the 1:30 pm update given by the Committee Boat, amazingly both teams were exactly tied with 805 points. With two hours left, it was anyone’s guess who would win the top prize. Rum Line quickly called in a release to take the lead, but Decisive answered right back with a double…..one released on the baits and one released on the fly. It was a lead that they would not relinquish for the rest of the tourney. Decisive went on to capture the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout, and also picked up some hefty day money. They ended up with 370 points on Day 3, followed by Rum Line with 320 points. Their victory earned them $15,400 for first place in the Calcutta pot, and also an additional $5,800 in day money on Day 3. Rum Line took home $6,600 in Calcutta winnings, and also $1,500 in day money on Day 3. Canaso and Team Los Menirosos finished strong on Day 3 and took the Consolation Pot for $600. Yo No Cuido and the Circle Hookers finished in a dead heat for third. Philipps took home $400 for top captain on Day 3, and Haole pocketed $200 for second place captain on Day 3. For the tournament the ten teams released 525 sailfish on the baits, and 34 on the fly in the three day tourney. Decisive and Rum Line tied for the most releases on the baits with 73. Circle Hookers and Allure had the most releases on the fly with 9. At the award ceremony Sunday night at Casa Vieja….the cherished Rich Smith Memorial “No Sancocho” Game ball was awarded to my friend Antonio Valdez. What a deserving recipient. Also, each team had to contribute $20 per missed bite (sancocho) to the Sancocho Pot, and we were able to raise $5,800 for the local school to help pay for books and supplies to these kids, who would otherwise be left without. Congratulations to Team Rum Line for their second place finish….Jim Turner, Rick Murphy, and Juan Cruz Anon, and also to Captain Chris Sheeder. Congratulations to Team Decisive…..Steve Cothron, Scott Lund, and Harvey Steinhagen and also to the Captain of the Decisive Brad Philipps….Champions of the 2010 No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout.



Final Standings looked like this:



Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 TOTAL

Team Decisive 310 230 370 910
Team Rum Line 320 225 320 865

Circle Hookers (Allure) 190 240 230 660

Yo No Cuido (Circle Hook) 300 140 220 660

Los Mentirosos (Canaso) 170 110 305 585

Four Fat Boys (Intensity) 180 120 260 560

Reel Nasty (Finest Kind) 200 120 210 530

Club No Minor (Release) 150 185 165 500

Team Penguino (Pelagian) 150 100 140 390

Tenacious (Adios) 130 30 40 200