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!