HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM GUATEMALA........

Donelle and Hill Dishman with Alicia and Capt Kevin Deerman watch the sun go down on another great day in Guatemala......
Everyone who came down had a great Holiday season here in Guatemala with good fishing, food and festivities all around. We hosted a HUGE New Year party at the SAILFISH OASIS which featured world famous (in Antigua) blues band the Blue Dawgs who kept things going by playing right through to the wee hours of the 1st day of 2011. Everyone had a great time. On ALLURE we fished every day from the 27th through to the 3rd, we started with the Relyea group from Houston, Texas:
Dec 27th & 28th Tim Relyea brought down daughters and keen fishermen all 'round Brooke and Morgan. A small cold front had passed through making conditions a little sloppy and the water temperature had also stayed low as from the last time we had fished before Christmas. We started to the east though with SST's a chilly (for Guatemala) 80.6' it was a little tough, Team Relyea made the most of their opportunities though, of the 4 sailfish raised they released 3 from 3 bites and caught several good mahi mahi. At the end of the day Tim did a great job on the 50lb stand-up gear releasing an aggressive blue marlin in the 300lb class that put up a great fight and went ballistic on the surface several times showing why these fish are considered the ultimate in sportfishing.

Brooke Relyea with one of many good sized mahi's for the trip

Morgan with her first Guatemalan sailfish.

Tim with Morgan and Brooke on the way in after releasing 300lb blue marlin.
A little slower today the 28th, we fished the bottom of the pocket where a few marlin were seen in better conditions, we worked hard and both Morgan and Brooke fished well releasing a sailfish each and boating several good mahi mahi. A great trip thoroughly enjoyed by the Relyea's who are looking forward to being back next year...
Dec 29th we ventured to the west with a local charter, the Castanada family joining us for the day aboard ALLURE. With blue and warmer water found to the west, it also showed an improvement in the fishing. The Castanada's fished well releasing 7 sails from 9 bites, 3 big 30lb+ mahi's from the 6 boated and a big blue marlin in the 400lb+ class raised the pulse levels for all on board. The big fish came up on the flat line teaser, we got a good bite on the mackerel pitch bait though unfortunately failed to come tight.....
Dec 30th Chief Tauzin and Amber Crockett flew down from Houston, Texas for a couple days of fishing and to enjoy the New Year festivities at the SAILFISH OASIS. We started back to the west with little success though we did find a good log which gave up 4 big 30lb+ mahi mahi from the 7 boated. We scouted a little too far to the west in the morning encountering green water, though after a move a little off-shore and to the east, we finally got into some blue water and billfish action releasing our first sailfish of the day at 1245. From there on in we had great action raising 14 sails, Chief and Amber fished well releasing 8 from 12 bites and this tough 250lb blue marlin all in the last 2 1/2 hours of the day....
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Hill and Donelle Dishman joined Chief and Amber today the last day of 2010 aboard ALLURE. Again, it was a little slow in the morning though we found the fish about 9NM east of the previous day and had some great action in the afternoon once again. 25 sailfish raised today with 14 releases from 22 bites, the majority of the sails being in the 100lb class. A great way to send off 2010 with ALLURE co-owner Hill Dishman releasing the last billfish of the year....

Hill, Donelle, Amber and Chief pose with the last fish of 2010.
Jan 1st-3rd....What does a sportfishing captain do when he has time off?....He goes fishing.....Capt Kevin Deerman and wife Alicia joined Hill and Donelle for the first 3 days of 2011. It was a late start after the big party for the New Year, everyone was more than a little foggy though they did get on the water about mid-morning. The sailfish seemed a little hung-over as well with the bite slowing down from the previous days, still plenty of big mahi's around to keep the action steady and 4 sails from 8 bites in the short day.
Jan 2nd we started the day with a nice blue marlin in the 400lb range crashing the left bridge teaser, the fish teased in though did not bite the pitched mackerel well, it switched to the right teaser and then peeled off, a smaller blue marlin in the 200lb range came in and acted all finiky under the mackerel before committing to the bite, the circle hook did not find the corner of the jaw unfortunately this time. From here on in Kevin and Hill did not miss a fish going 5 for 5 on the sailfish and at the end of the day Hill had his first shot at a blue marlin for 2011, a great bite on the pitched mackerel ended with the first blue for ALLURE for the year, a feisty fish of around 200+lb's...

On the 3rd a small cold front pushed through making for a slight chop and the water quality had changed drastically over-night as well. The water was patchy at best with clean green to poor, dirty green in some areas. We started the day well though, a nice 400lb blue marlin came up on the left bridge teaser, the mackerel bait was pitched and after teasing the fish in we got a good bite. After coming tight the fish went for it tearing up the ocean with a series of incredible greyhounding jumps. Alicia was strapped into the 50lb stand-up gear and did a great job on this big fish....

The fish really did put on a show and Alicia showed some great skills releasing the big fish after a tough scrap. The rest of the day proved a little slow, though a move to the west found better water quality, catching several big mahis...

Alicia with one of the bigger mahi's
And we did get into some sailfish action with 7 bites although a little bit bad luck on the hook-up ratio had us scratching our heads until it was discovered someone had brought banana bread aboard...... All in all good fishing despite the tougher conditions with the patchy water out there. Things look to be coming together again out there right now with some better water coming in from the west and we are expecting the fishing to pick-up.
There are still a few openings on the ALLURE calendar although we are getting a few more inquiries coming through now that the Holiday season is over, secure a trip now to experience the finest bill-fishing in the world before it is too late. Remember the fishing is great here year round with the marlin bite normally heating up from April through October. We're looking forward to a great year here in Guatemala 2011 and hope you can join us to experience it!!
P.S....click on photos to see full shots.