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.
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