Fish Report through June 8th, '09

George Haddock's first blue marlin of around 300lb's.

June 26th-28th and Pacific Fins hosted a father and son group from North Carolina consisting of 8 dads and 12 boys who had just graduated from high school. An end of an era, and what a way to celebrate it than a billfishing trip to Guatemala and 3 days of friendly 'competitive' fishing. With 5 boats going out with the group it meant that at least we could get a bit of coverage and find a reasonable bite amongst the boats. On ALLURE day one we hosted father and son John and Darren Ash along with Ladd Hamrick and Matt Houchins. We fished a little away from the fleet today getting some bites inshore and to the west of the other guys and sticking to it, 16 sails raised today and 14 good bites, we had some problems getting the hooks to stick though and released 5 out of the 14 bites and boated 20 mahi mahi to 15lbs. Good light tackle fun. The other boats fishing together were on to a bit better action though a fairly similar number of bites accross the fleet with a Perla Del Mar getting the best ratio and bites releasing 16 from 18 bites, congratulations on a great day!
Day 2 Matt Houchins stuck with us and was joined by George Haddock and father and son team Jack and Jim Carrol. The blue water had moved a good 10NM to the west and it took a little time ot find it though we were the first in it and had a sail bite soon after. Working the area hard produced steady action through the day with 6 sails released from 9 bites and 14 mahi mahi. Perla Del Mar again headed out the day with 7 releases.
Day 3 Matt Houchins and George Haddock stuck with the team on ALLURE and were joined by friends Michael Watterson and Andrew Leggett. The blue water had moved today 12NM further to the west and we were 41NM from the marina when the water was good enough to put the teasers in the water. Close to the edge we headed offshore working 500 through to 1200ft of water trolling to the west, we released a sail soon after lines in and the second fish of the day was the one we were lookng for, a nice fat blue in the 300lb class came up hot on the Joe Yee Super Plunger and switched to the pitched mackeral perfectly. Solidly hooked the blue jumped more than any seen this year and didn't stop, pulling hard as well. George Haddock did a great job on the 50lb stand-up gear though and got the release after a hard workout. The guys ended up top of the comp with 3 sails released today, 1 blue and 10 mahi mahi. Good fishing all round for the group with over 60 sails released and 2 blue marlin along with plenty of mahi's.



May 4th-6th Brad Sears hosted customers Jeromiah Jones, Miller Vaughan, Sean Harigan and Craig Wieland for 3 days of offshore fishing aboard ALLURE. Finding the blue water just 10NM offshore we put them out at the bottom of the 'pocket' and trolled east along the eatern edge working the edge hard trying to find bait and bills. After lunch we'd raised 2 sails that would not switch to the baits and things were looking grim. With just and hour and half left we found some sailfish up the edge and had good action raising 9 sails and releasing 4 from 6 bites to save the day including this double:

L-R Craig Wieland, Jeromiah Jones, Brad Sears, Sean Harigan and Miller Vughan.
Small mahi's were everywhere and we boated 14 today.
A late start on the 5th and we concentrated our efforts at the bottom of the pocket and up the west side hoping for a marlin, again, plenty of small mahi's around and a fairly steady bite through the day with 5 from 7 bites though no marlin seen.
June 6th the blue water was pushing in closer everyday and with it the bite seemed to get better, we only fished a half day today with the guys opting to see Antigua in the afternoon. We had a good morning working the bottom of the pocket 10NM out releasing 6 sails from 8 bites and boating 5 mahis' to boot. A great trip with good fishing and excellent weather with the only issue being a bit of wind on the last morning. We hope to see more of this crew down here next season!

June 8th we hosted Jean Louis Trombetta from Antigua and Bob Stevenson of 'El Pescador' Fishing Lodge fame in Belize. The guys are planning flats fishing expeditions out of the Rio Dulce, Guatemala for bonefish, permitt and tarpon aboard a mothership fishing the untouched keys toward Honduras and plan to offer the incredible billfishing we have here on the Pacific side to clients as well. We left the dock at 1000 and returned at 1400 fishing the deep water out front and to the west, the water colour was good and in this short time of fishing we raised 3 sails on the teasers getting 2 bites and Bob released his Pacific sailfish on the fly.



We can offer some very good summer specials and the fishing here is Guatemala is great year round so make the most of the deals and check it out. Contact us here at Rods and Reels for more info.

FISHING through MAY 16th, '09

Between May 2nd till now the fishing has been up and down with the sails biting one day and tough to find the next. There has been a huge body of school sized mahi's move in though and with them blue marlin hot on their tails. We have seen some incredible sights with hundreds of small mahi's fleeing feeding blues, the surface alive with jumping mahi-mahi. As a result there have been plenty of blue marlin seen in the spread out there though some finiky fish with all the bait around. If it was fillet's you were after it was like a supermarket out there and boats could load up with mahi-mahi without scatching the surface of what was available...



Jack Pitt was aboard with friends Dale and Christine Love for 2 days of fishing on the weekend May 15th and 16th. Plenty of blue water out there though a little slow, before lunch we raised just 2 sails that weren't interested in the baits. After lunch out on the edge we found some bait and an area that looked promising. Soon after we had a double up in the spread, a sailfish on the short teaser and a fiesty blue on the flat line teaser, keeping him off the Hot Breakfast teaser was tough and he switched to the pitched mackeral in no time. Meanwhile on the right short we got a bite out of the sail as well though missed him, Dale Love was on the rod with the blue and after a tough fight got the release on the 50lb stand-up gear. Congratulations Dale on his first ever billfish, a blue marlin of around 250lbs!! In the same area Christine and Jack released their first sailfish later in the afternoon. Congratulations to them both.
The next day Christine spent in Antigua while Jack and Dale were aboard the 31ft Jupiter for the day. It was tough for everyone out there....we raised a sailfish and had a mahi bite though caught neither despite covering a large area. It doesn't happen often, though sometimes it can happen.....The dreaded skunking. Still a great first time had in Guatemala by this group and we are looking forward to their return.



May 10th-11th. Father and son group Hill and Brett Dishman, Chris and Alan King, Clay and Claibourne Morris all joined us for a couple of days aboard ALLURE. For the 2 days of fishing we were the only boat in the fleet out there which can make things tough finding the fish. On the 10th we got into them fairly early and everyone got into the action with some great fishing as well with 7 releases from 9 bites on the sails, we also boated a dozen mahi mahi to about 15lbs and as we were clearing lines at the end of the day a blue marlin in the 200-250lb class came in and ate a couple of baits, unfortunately we missed him both times.
Going back to the same area on the 11th and fishing it hard we came up empty though shortly after lunch about 9NM to the east in the deep water we found some life with free-jumpers and bait marked on the sounder. Soon after we were into them and in the late afternoon released another 7 sailfish from 11 bites, again the last fish of the day was a blue marlin that Brett had solidly hooked up to. Some bad luck saw the line break as we were chasing him down..... Add 7 mahi's to the mix and it was an action filled day with the high energy crew having a great time, back on land as well.....


L-R Alan King, Brett Dishman, Chris King, Hill Dishman, Claiborne and Clay Morris at the end of the day.

May 8th and 9th, The first father and son team of the week, Jamie and Jim Dishman along with good friends Clint and Sam Droody were back in Guatemala. First time for the sons though Jamie is an old hand and it was great to see Clint back in Guate. First day out we were west of all the schooly mahi's trying to find the sails, a bit slow though with 3 releases from 5 bites and 3 mahi-mahi to around 15lbs. The next day out to the east we were in amongst the school sized dorado, for a few parts of the day we were in them thick catching them on the light tackle with top waters, alot of fun and good sport. No marlin in the spread though we raised 5 sails and caught 3 out of 4 bites. On the dorado we boated 47 up to 20lb size, the guys going home with a soft cooler bag full of fillets on ice. Nice going, nothing better than fresh mahi!


Jim and Jamie Dishman, Clint and Sam Droody with a small Pacific sail.

May 3rd and 4th John and Joanne Kolius were down for 2 days of fishing and 4 nights on the coast after winning the highest bid in the Houston Big Game Club fund raising auction. The trip was donated by ALLURE owners Craig Johnson and Hill Dishman for one day aboard ALLURE and all accomodations with the 2nd day of fishing donated by JW 'Bones' on MOJO. Inside the first hour fishing aboard ALLURE we had 2 blues up in the spread, the first a big fish that came up on the flat, and moved through the spread though did not eat the pitched mackeral. The second bit though pulled the hook shortly after showing her size. For the rest of the day we released 2 sails from 5 bites. The next day on MOJO their luck changed with John hooking a nice blue in the 300lb class on the pitched mackeral bait while Joanne did the rod work and scored her first blue marlin release, congratulations Joanne!! They raised another blue that did not bite and released one sail for the rest of the day. On ALLURE we raised 2 blues that didn't bite, released one sail and had some incredible mahi action with around 58 mahi's to 30lbs. There were hundreds of dorados under a floating piece of flexi drainage pipe out there and several times today the surface was alive with hundreds of them greyhounding away from feeding marlin.

On the 2nd we had from Guatemala City Luis Snr, Luis Jnr, Ana Maria and Nicky for one day. With the interest being mainly in taking home food we went looking for mahi-mahi. The first fish in the spread was a blue marlin of around 350lbs, a nice one that came under the rigger bait, switched to the other side and finally refused the pitched maceral bait. Frustrating! For the rest of the day the crew wore themsleves out boating 32 mahi mahi and they were back at the dock by 3PM with a large bag of fillets to take home.

Over this period there were alot of marlin seen and caught by the fleet, they are still out there even though the last few days were on the slow side. Weather is no problem with the majority of the days being clear with the chance of rain early and late. Typically here in Guatemala we have a season called the Canicula in July through August and September of very settled weather and a great opportunity to try for blue marlin, sailfish, at very competitive prices, the waters a alive with mahi-mahi and the tunas are out wide as well, good fishing all round!!! We are out again next week so more reports to follow. Contact Rods and Reels for any info required.

Fishing, April 15th-18th

El Jefe Craig Johnson flew in on the 15th and met us in the afternoon for a late departure on ALLURE with Richard Bowman. With the fishing out on the edge we didn't get lines in till after 4PM though made the most of the last 2 hours of the day releasing 4 out of 7 sailfish and boating a nice mahi-mahi. We tried some night time trolling for swordies with no luck though it was good to get the lines in on the change of light 40NM out. Dissapointingly the morning bite was slow with just a handful of releases, though we found some fish further up the edge at around 1100 and released 15 sails in the last 2 hours of fishing before heading back to the dock. Craig was on great form missing just one fish all day helping the great numbers of 21 sails released from 27 bites and a definite hot-spot to return to the following day.
Hill Dishman joined Craig the next day for another great day on the water. There were sails cutting the surface and feeding on bait everywhere, with all the bait around it actually made things a little tougher getting the fish to bite agressively though we still did well releasing 17 from 32 bites.
17th-18th Shawn Steffen, Mike Linden, Dave Ramage, Sam Linden, Greg Heller and Brad Sears joined us on ALLURE and the Jupiter for a couple of days of fishing. Things changed out there today with the fish pushing off-shore with the current and going off the bite. We made the most of what was on offer working away from the fleet to the east and releasing 9 from 12 bites. The Jupiter had a good day as well going 3 from 6 bites.



With the current pushing off and the bite slowing we headed east on the 18th looking for a new bite. Today was tough for us on ALLURE releasing 3 from 5 bites and boating a couple of nice mahi's. Hill Dishman on the Jupiter fishing with Mike and Sam Linden were the top boat of the fleet today finding some fish on the side of the pocket and making the most of their day releasing 11 from 15 bites, great day!!
More reports in the next few days with all the weekends in May booked we are hoping to get into some good fishing. The rainy season typically produces good marlin fishing, sailfish are here year round and the yellow fin tuna and mahi-mahi bite normally picks up as well. If you have nay questions get in touch with us, we have some great special rates and the rainy season here in Guatemala is not bad with most days clear. If you have any goals, marlin on the fly or light tackle??? We'll do our best to get you on 'em!!!


Thanks for the great shots Dan Wheat, taken aboard ALLURE.

Fish Report through April 9th '09

The bite mid March through early April has been great here in Guatemala with the boats fishing baits late in the month and the first few days of April having big days releasing up to 50+ sails in a day and averaging around 30. The boats fishing the fly were having some good days too though the fish were very tough to tease all the way to the back of the boat, with the amount of bait out there the fish were just not as aggressive as you’d like to see them when casting the fly. Still, it has been good fishing all ‘round since the last report and this looks likely to continue through the rest of April.

Mike and Mona, Melba and Ronnie.
On ALLURE from April 7th-9th we had a great time fishing with Mike and Mona Blake from New Orleans and Melba and Ronnie Murphy from Houston, the bite was steady and the drinks were cold equaling 3 great days on the water with plenty of laughs. The 7th was our first day out for a couple of days and it took a little while to get a feel of what was going on out there. Meaning……: we had a slow morning. By 2 PM we had 5 sailfish releases on the board from 7 bites, then, getting into the bite where the majority of the fleet was we started getting into them releasing 13 sails in the last hour and a half of fishing time making up the days total of 18 from 25 bites. Mona and Melba caught 4 double headers in the last hour of fishing today really getting into it with plenty of enthusiasm. The next day blew stiff from the ENE making conditions a little tough for all on board, though we still got into double figures releasing 10 from 19 bites on the sails, Mike boated a nice 35lb yellowfin tuna and Ronnie got into the action boating a nice mahi from the same group of spinner dolphin that we got the tuna off.

The next day the weather settled making perfect conditions for the last day out. Mona and Melba moved up another gear today releasing all 17 sails from 26 bites while Mike and Ronnie yelled instructions from various (seated) positions while supping freshly blended lime margaritas. Another flurry in the afternoon helped the girls release a total of 8 double headers of the 9 we had in 3 days of fishing with Mona’s personal total hitting 23, and 18 to Melba…..nice going girls!!

Melba and Mona with one of the 8 double headers....

Hill Dishman fished the 31’ Jupiter for two days, 7th and 8th releasing 17 sails the first day out and 11 on the 8th, he also raised another blue marlin making it the 4th blue marlin in as many days fishing on Jupiter, the fish teased in close to the boat though didn’t switch to the pitched mackerel.

April 3rd and 4th Steve Goodchild introduced Guatemala’s fishery to Tim Leonard, Greg Lusk, Gerald Lusk, Tom Harfield and Robert Dame, all from Houston. Steve has fished down here several times now and hoped he hadn’t talked it up too much with the guys expecting more than could be delivered……No worries though, on their first day out they fished with Capt Tyson aboard Strike Zone and had a good introduction releasing 6 sails from 8 bites. Aboard ALLURE the next day we went solo out to the west, the moved seemed to pay off as we got into steady action including a quadruple hook up, 3 sailfish and a nice 45lb mahi mahi. We released the sails and then concentrated on getting ‘lunch’ boated.

Gerald Lusk and lunch..
We ended the day with 16 releases from 32 bites. 10-15NM to the east of us the fleet saw some good action also with the boats releasing up to 30 sails, we got into where they were at the end of the day though the bite seemed to have slowed down, the move not paying off for us.

MARCH 29th-APRIL 3rd ON THE FLY

Eric Wright and a big fly caught sail.
Cor blimey…..All the way from London, England, Eric Wright and Steve Massenhove joined us on ALLURE for 6 days of fly fishing. The guys were experienced freshwater fly fishermen though absolute first timers at billfishing, they came out specifically to learn what it took to catch big blue-water fish on the fly. The crew aboard ALLURE had been looking forward to this trip for a while as we hadn’t done many fly charters this year and there is nothing like the thrill and team work involved in getting the bite out of well teased billfish on the fly. Also with a 6 day charter we knew the chances of getting into some good fishing for the guys were better. Cammy Sigler sorted Eric out with a Cam Sigler 14wt fly rod coupled with a Tibor Pacific reel before the trip while Steve used our top quality gear on board, a Cam Sigler 14wt rod coupled with a Billy Pate Bluefin reel. After a briefing on the morning of day one we got off to a flyer with first Eric, then soon after Steve releasing their first sailfish on the fly from their first bites, a perfect start! The day slowed down from there on in with the fish raised very lethargic till later in the afternoon when they turned on again. We ended up with 13 sails raised into the spread, 5 of those biting the fly and releasing 3. Day two we ran further off-shore where the Sheeder brothers had found some good action the previous day to the west, we had steady action all day raising 20 sails, and Eric and Steve continued on their good form, doing everything right and releasing 5 sails from 8 bites. There were some big fish tough fish in the mix today including these two fatties pictured.

We ran back out to the same area for day 3 though it seemed even more difficult for those of us on the fly today, the sails were very tough to tease in. The guys on baits were doing well though most of the fish we saw would peel off half way in or come up and whack the teaser once and disappear. Near the end of the day we had only 1 release so we tried to the west trolling down the edge, with just 20 mins left in the day before having to run in we raised a hot fish for Eric and got a great bite out of it, after getting the fish boatside and removing the fly the teasers were out again, soon after another hot fish came into the spread and this time Steve laid out a good cast, got the bite and struck well for a good hook-set. We released his fish and in extra time had a double of hot fish in the spread, Eric cast and set perfectly against the bite, fish on, meanwhile mate Julio was keeping the second fish hot on the teaser with the boat out of gear while Steve cast the second fly for an instantaneous aggressive bite. With both fish running in different directions it took a while though we ended the day with a double release on the fly. 19 raises 8 bites and 5 releases with 4 of those coming in the last 20 mins of the day.
Day 4 in the hope of finding some good aggressive fish on the teasers we went further to the west, we started the day breaking out the 12 wt fly rod and catching 6 mahi mahi off some flotsam, good fun and good eating. When we got into the sails later in the morning the fish we saw did tease in a little better though the bites were not great and hard to convert into solid hook-ups. 21 sails raised today 11 bites and 4 releases as well as another double for the guys who were becoming more familiar, aware and better as the trip went on. With just a couple of days left we kept up the talk of a couple of goals set at the start of the trip, 10 releases in a day and a blue marlin on the fly. The previous day the guys on baits had an excellent day with some big numbers further to east off the edge, we worked this area hard trying for 10 releases, we raised 31 had 11 bites and the guys did everything right releasing 7. Unfortunately we jumped off one of a double and had some bad luck on another. Either way, a great day on the fly. On our last day out Eric started the day perfectly, with a release from our first bite, we raised another 2 fish missing one on the bite. Later in the morning the fish we had been waiting for came up on our long flat teaser, the blue marlin teased in aggressively and in no time mate Julio had the teased the fish in, the boat was knocked out of gear and Steve cast the fly. The fish turned and came up for a perfect bite from left to right, Steve struck against the bite and it was on. After the initial fireworks and the 20lb tippet still holding together we knew we were in for a chance, Steve had learnt enough and when the fish peeled off deep into the spectra backing the drag was backed off. When things settled down he put the heat on palming the reel and with short pumps unsettling the fish. Still this was one tough customer, we pulled different angles on the fish and it came up 8 times during the fight, 6 of these times jumping and head shaking, amazingly the hooks held and the tippet remained intact, every time we got near the fish on the surface it just pulled away diving deep and into the backing again. With the fish hooked at about 1110 and Steve hitting different stages of exhaustion during the heat of the day he held tough and pumped the fish up for the last time at around 1450 to get it boatside. 3 ½ hours on the end of the rod with a big tough fish is something else and Steve was elated when he finally beat the blue of a good 250++lbs. From a novice to achieving one of (if not the) the pinnacles in blue water flyfishing it was a great way to finish the trip. Eric’s only regret was that he didn’t book 10 days instead of the 6……With 25 sails released from 45 bites on the fly, 1 blue marlin and a few mahi mahi it was a helluva introduction to blue water flyfishing, great job to the guys and we hope to see them back next year.

Eric and Steve with blue marlin release flag on the fly.

27th-28th March Hal Boggs organized a 2 day trip for Glen Mericle and Joe Barnwell, in 2 days of fishing we released 14 sailfish from 24 bites. By the end of the trip they were hooking their own fish and this helped contribute to a few doubles and a triple hook up at the end of the second day. Nice job and a good introduction to pitch baiting to billfish!

23rd-25th March, first day out Heather Rose, and father and daughter team Bill and Rachel Long joined us on ALLURE, it was a bit testing today with another stiff ENE wind making conditions a little tough on everyone in the morning, the girls fished well with 8 from 14 bites and 3 mahi’s. The big disappointment was early in the day with a sailfish hot on the short teaser and another sail coming up on the rigger bait then seeing a nice sized blue marlin crash the flat teaser, with all hands on deck trying to bait sailfish the marlin got a hold of the teaser and disappeared before we could get to the teaser rod…..On day 2 Nate McAllistar and Ashley Erekson joined us, they did everything right releasing 12 sails from 15 bites, we also missed a blue of about 250lbs and landed a nice mahi. On the groups last day out we live baited for a few hours trying for a blue, while pulling a live bonito around a school of spinner dolphin the spinners suddenly panicked and speed off in the opposite direction to where they were coming from. We soon saw why when a group of about 8 false killer whales chased the back corner trying to split the group. We looked on though flipper got away…….this time, still, it was sight to see! We got back to trolling later in the day and released 7 sails from 10 bites, and ironically soon after quitting the live baiting raised a blue on the Joe Yee Super Plunger and got the bite on the pitched mackerel though our bad blue marlin luck continued for this group with the hook pulling……

As April moves on the blue marlin bite should get better and the sails as always consitently biting well. If anyone wants to target blue marlin on conventoinal light or heavy tackle we have all the gear on board. The rainy season starts late May and can mean some off-shore squalls though nothing too bad with most of the rain falling in the late afternoon and evening. Get in touch for further info with Rods and Reels.

SPRING BREAK, MARCH '09

Pat and Dan with Clay and Julio

March 16th-17th Dan Wheat took along son Pat and his friend Clay Raven, both 17yr old seniors to start off their last High School Spring Break with 2 days of fishing on ALLURE here in Guatemala. They timed their trip well with great weather, blue water and plenty of billfish action keeping adrenaline levels high for the majority. Neither of the boys had caught billfish before though at the end of day one they were angling like pros with 15 sailfish releases from 25 bites and a nice 30lb mahi mahi.

Dan got in on the action as well and was a true natural at pitching baits to the fish off the teasers and came tight on them all. Things slowed a little for us on day 2, we found the fish further up the ledge and had good action in the morning though it slowed down in the afternoon, still a good day missing few fish with 9 releases from 11 bites and another nice mahi in the 25lb range. The highlight of the trip came in the last 10 minutes when we raised a nice blue on the short teaser, an aggressive bite on the pitched mackeral saw Pat Wheat hooked to a solid 320lb+ blue marlin.


The fish went ballistic and put on a spectacular show before going deep, great work on the rod by Pat had the fish up in 20 mins and released. Great job and congratualtions on first sails and marlin to Pat and Clay. Dan's only regret with the trip was that he booked only 2 days instead of 3......

JOHNSON GROUP SPRING BREAK '09

L-R Kathy Johnson, Denver Harrison, Bailey Crenshaw, Mimi Edge, Lauren Marple, Hastings Cockard (with marlin flag) Heather, Hayley, Madeleine and Audrey Johnson.

17th-19th. El Jefe, Craig Johnson flew into Guatemala with wife Kathy and daughters Heather, Hayley, Audrey and Madeleine. Heather invited a few of her college friends to spend their Spring Break in Guatemala for 3 days of off-shore fishing and every night beer drinking down at the Sailfish Lodge and Casa Vieja. Apart from the partying the group had a great time here catching plenty of....

Mahi mahi

Sailfish.

And the perfect sized blue marlin for Hastings.

Though, it was kinda hard to concentrate on the fishing.........
I think everyone here on the dock hopes they choose Guatemala for Spring Break 2010!

19th March, Hill Dishman and Terrell Meaux came in a day before their group arrived and took the 31' Jupiter down to the west to check out the fishing, they did well with 7 from 9 releases on the sails and beauty 350lb blue marlin on the 30lb tackle for Hill, at over 10 to 1 on the line class that's a helluva a catch.
The next day John Codrington, Todd Mucha and Jim Nance came into town and joined Hill and Terrell aboard ALLURE for the day, we raised 18 sails, got 15 to bite and released 10. On the 21st the group was complete with Mike and Steve Sledge, Tim Witt and Keith Tennison joining the crew. The group were in Guate to celebrate John's last weekend before getting married with a few days of fishing. The group split between ALLURE and Jupiter and on Saturday 21st we went 14 from 19 bites, great numbers from the guys, we also had a blue marlin up that didn't bite, on the Jupiter they did get a blue marlin bite though missed it. On the last day out Sledge was true to his word and didn't miss a fish all day adding to the good numbers 9 from 11 bites. The Jupiter was hot with a 3rd blue marlin bite in as many days though unfortunatley it didn't stick, they also got into the sails with 7 from 12 and several mahi mahi in the mix over the 3 days of fishing.

Steve, Todd, John, Hill, Terrell, Mike and Jim.
The guys finished off their trip going to Antigua for their last night here in Guatemala and dinner at Nokiate followed by a big night out at the legendary Cafe No Se, trying out the assortments of tequilas and mezcals......ouch.

The fishing has been steady with plenty of marlin in the mix and things are looking good for the coming week. There is still availability in April and May and we'd love to get out there, contact Rods and Reels for a customized package, great specials to be had May through November.

Fish Report to March 15th

Matthew Jeter and his first billfish.

5th-6th March had Chief Tuazin back in the Guatemala this time with Matthew Jeter both from Houston. After a 12NM run we put out the spread and inside 15min we had a small blue marlin hot on the small Pakula flat line teaser. Acting on instinct Chief pitched the ballyhoo bait back, he was politely told to remove it as it was a marlin, not a sail, while the mackerel on the 50lb gear was pitched. All a little late though the marlin crushed the ballyhoo with a great bite and all was good as we watched him come tight, it was the perfect size for the 30lb gear at around 150lb’s. We lost use of an engine while on the fish so it took a little longer to get the release though Chief did well on the rod and had the fish boatside after around 35mins. After that it was back to the marina where the guys transferred to the Jupiter for the rest of the day. They raised 3 sails in the afternoon and caught a mahi. The next day on the Jupiter raised 7, and released 3 from 5 bites and boated a couple of mahi mahi.. Mike Jeeter had a great first time down here in Guatemala plans to get back here soon.

D. Scott Wise and son Harry from New York on an early Spring Break hooked up with Steve ‘Doc’ Sanford from Vermont and Townsend Hilliard from Houston for 3 days of fishing on ALLURE from the 9th through 11th for their first trip to Guatemala. For the first day we looked for blue water and found it about 30NM to the west and gave the guys a great introduction to Guatemala raising 11 sails in the first hour and half of fishing! We ended the day with 25 sailfish in the spread and 13 releases from 23 bites.

Harry Wise fighting one of his many saifish...


.....and the results.

Here today gone tomorrow seems to be the theme for most of the season so far and it was today, we trolled back to where we’d had the best action the day before to find the best bite was 15NM back to the east. 7 releases today from 15 bites. With marlin on the mind we concentrated our efforts on the last day on the western edge and bottom of the pocket, it was kind of tough for the whole fleet today with little action though we did get into a couple of nice mahi mahi and released 3 from 5 bites on the sails. The guys finished off their trip in style staying at the El Convento in Antigua for the last two nights and enjoyed a full day visiting the Azotea Coffee Farm and a walking tour of the town.

From Alabama we had Dr’s Lee Franklin, Tom Canthon and Chris Duggar along with Hospital Boss Don Henderson from the 13th through 15th of March. Lee and Tom are Guatemalan veterans though it was Don and Chris’ first offshore experience here. Also our first time east in sometime today and we got called into some action off-shore of where we started late in the morning to find a reasonable sailfish bite. 15 raised and 8 releases from 11 bites had the guys back in the swing of things. With the satellite report showing a nice temperature break way out the west we decided to go that way for day 2. The reports from most of the fleet indicated a slow bite so we trolled our way down the west along the edge. Early in the day a small marlin in the 150lb range came into the spread, it refused the pitched mackerel though dropped back and ate the trolled ballyhoo, we came tight on the fish though unfortunately pulled the hook. Around lunch time further down the edge we raised a nice blue in the 300-350lb range on the short teaser. The fish stayed in the spread for sometime and we got a couple of nice bites on the mackerel though missed it…….ouch. In extra time at the end of the day the 3rd blue marlin for the day was red hot on the same teaser, a great bite resulted in a solid hook-up and Don Henderson’s first blue marlin of around 220lb’s put on a great show before getting the release and heading home.

Don's marlin....

We also released 4 sails from the 5 sails that did bite for the day. The guys started their last day out with 9 mahi’s to about 12lb’s ensuring fresh mahi sandwiches for lunch and sashimi at the end of the day. To the east a bite was found and we ran into it later in the day, plenty of free jumpers indicated a lot of fish in the area though it was tough getting them into the spread, a triple from a quad was the highlight of the 7 releases from 10 bite for the day. Great fishing Dr’s!! See you back here next year…….

Settled weather, blue water, it's all looking good out there. The marlin bite traditionally gets better from late March on and we have some openings so get in touch to get into it. The bite is picking up, today we went 15 from 25 and there were several blues seen......

Fish Report to March 1st '09

As mentioned in the last report things were on the change with blue water moving in from the west, though still a little cooler and off-color out wide. Because of this we ran out to the west most days looking for an incoming bite. This week we started with Edward Barnhill and his good friend Paul Proffitt on the Feb 24th to Feb 26th and after a long run to the west we found some good water, still a little slow with 3 releases from 5 bites and 4 mahi's. The boats fishing out front today had a pretty good marlin bite with 5 raised amongst 4 boats and a couple caught. Still with what we saw to the west we persisted and went back though a little more in-shore. First fish in the spread today was blue of around 200-250lb's, we got the bite on the mackeral though the fish got bill wrapped and pulled off on the first jump.....that hurt. For the rest of the day we raised 8 sails had 7 bites and released 4. Out front here the marlin bite continued with 3 being released, 2 to the Circle Hook and Capt Eddie, nice going as he got the 2 yesterday as well!! He was in the zone for sure, congrats to Eddie and his anglers.
Still things were looking better and better to the west so we stayed out that way and on our last day with Edward and Paul things turned on a little more. In beautifull blue 84'+ water we raised 17 sails today getting 8 from 14 bites. There were some finiky fish out there though most of the boats raised a fair amount of fish and things were looking better every day with lots of bait at around 50ft-75ft on the sounder and a few jumpers around.

Feb 27th to March 1st, owner Hill Dishman hosted good friends Robert Blevins, Bill Fisher and Haig Wright from Alabama.

L-R, Haig Wright, Hill Dishman, Robert Blevins and Bill Fisher, these guys know how to party AND fish and had a blast for the 3 days aboard ALLURE.
Back 30NM to the west we had a slow start to the day with our first fish being released at 1130 with a double of sails, the next fish in the spread was an est 120+lb blue that went from teaser to teaser though refused the pitched mackeral. For the day we released 7 from 11 bites on the sails and had another blue in the 250lb-300lb class bite the trolled rigger bait though unfortunatley pulled off after showing it's size with a greyhounding jump. Add 4 nice sized mahi's to the days total and a great day!
The next day we left the fleet and went solo 40NM down to the west though not more than 20NM off the beach. We had steady action all day covering a large area as we trolled back to the east. 30 sailfish raised today, 26 bites and great averages with 19 releases.
Our last day out with the Alabama boys and after trolling the deep water in the pocket looking for a marlin we headed back to where some sails were being seen just 20NM from the Marina to where the fleet was fishing, we got into them a little late though still had a great day with 17 raised 14 bites and 10 releases.

The good life....Robert, Hill and Haig enjoying Cuba Libres on the way home.

By all accounts it looks as though March could turn on big time as the weather settles and the blue water pushes back in. We are booked fairly solid fishing most days this month though there are a few openings in April and into May, both great months and traditionally more marlin are seen as well. Get in touch with us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing for more info on personalised packages...

Fish Report to 20th Feb

A big body of cooler green water moved into Guatemala and it has been hard work though through it all there has still been some reasonable fishing with plenty of marlin in the mix. Mahi's have been thick and the sails have been finiky though they are still around and as this is written the warmer blue water is moving in and things look as though are on the change.


John Buckley with his first billfish.

On the 14th and 15th we had Dr Rihl Buckley and his son John along with friends and another father and son team Ken and Andrew Ruddy all from Houston Texas. There was a pretty good marlin bite the day before to the east so we concentrated our efforts there. It was hard work with the best water being a clean green and under 81'. Plenty of big mahi-mahi kept the action going through the day with 11 being landed to over 30lb's. We also raised 4 sails getting 3 to bite and releasing 2. One blue charged the short teaser though faded before the bait could be pitched and came back on the rigger bait pushing water though didn't eat. A few blues were caught today and plenty were seen.

Andrew Ruddy and Dr Rihi Buckley with a couple of nice bull mahi's.

The following day proved better for the guys fishing on the 31' Jupiter, they released a nice blue of around 300lb's, 2 sailfish and a couple of mahi's to boot.

15th and 16th we welcomed back on ALLURE Jon Theaukauf, he has been fishing with us here for the past 5 years in Guatemala and this time with friends from Switzerland Christian Machalf and sons Dominic and Yanic. Jon was on form hooking all the fish for his friends and even hooking a triple and passing the rods on which was pretty work. We ended day one with 14 sails raised and releasing 8 from 9 bites, the last fish of the day breaking the line. Plenty of mahi's today as well with 10 to around the 27lb mark. Nice work by Dominic and and Yanic who are 12 and 9 respectively and fished extremely well. 12NM to the east of us today there was reasonable marlin bite going on with Bill O'Keefe and grandsons Matthew and Jay on Fishy Business releasing a small stripey and a nice 350lb black marlin though missed out on the slam by a sail. Unlucky though congrats in a helluva day.
The next day started off with a blue marlin hot on the short teaser that we got to bite though unfortunately missed. We had an early day back at the dock though Jon kept up good form on the sails going 3 from 3 bites and plenty of big mahi's.

17th and 18th, all the way from Utah we welcomed back Andy and Mitch Johnson, Dean and Mary Hope Mortenson and Chris. A long run off-shore looking for good water paid off as it was tough fishing for the majority of the fleet. We got everyone into some fish with 5 from 7 bites on the sails and 4 big mahi-mahi. The next day a long way to the west things were slow, though some whale watching with 4 humpbacks broke up the day. Fishing wise we did OK with mahi's to 25lb's and 2 from 4 bites on the sailfish. Hard work though we had a great time with this very enthusiastic group. Looking forward to seeing you guys back!

20th and 21st Craig and Kathy Johnson were joined by Mike and Julie O'Brien. With the best water being just off-shore, about a 4 mile wide stretch of blue water just a fewmiles off the beach we worked it hard for a couple of bites. The next day on the 31'Jupiter we went off-shore getting into Mikes first sailfish and nice 30lb+ mahi-mahi.
Mike and Alex with Mikes first sailfish...
As mentioned, things are on the up out there with still plenty of marlin bites and the sailfish are moving back in with the warmer, bluer water. More reports next week.....

Fish Report to Feb 8th

During the 'No Sancocho' no marlin were released though several were raised during the tournament none did bite. This changed the day after with marlin releases in amongst a very good sailfish bite in a nice blue band of water from just 5NM to 15NM off the beach.
On ALLURE we started back out on the water on Feb 3rd with the Jim Williams organized group consisting of Jim himself, and Don Smith from Wisconsin along with their good friend Ron Hauck from NJ. We were on the long wand for the next 3 days which is always an adrenaline blast teasing in fish to the back of the boat to cast the fly and watch the action just feet from the transom. Jim and crew are Guatemalan regulars and this was their 3rd year with us here on ALLURE.
On day one we got into a good bite just 10NM off the breakwall and raised 31 fish into the spread, of the 31 raised 14 did bite the fly though some of the bites were not very aggressive, still it was a great way to start the trip with 6 releases. The following day it took a little while to get onto the fish though the ones we did see were excellent for the fly, we raised 14 had 7 bites and returned with excellent averages and 5 releases.
On our last day out a stiff NE'ster kicked in and made conditions tough on the fly, we looked off-shore without much luck before heading into a bite we found to the west of the fleet just 11NM from the Marina Pez Vela. In this area we raised 30 sailfish though teasing them in was difficult, and getting them to bite was tough as well. We did get 5 releases for the day from 15 bites. A great time was had as it always is with these guys. The boats out there fishing baits over these past few days did well with averages of 25 and up to 30 a piece. Sometimes that can be the difference though just seeing the bite on the fly makes up for that!!


7th and 8th we were back on the baits with now a real regular down here in Guatemala Chief Tauzin back down after the competing in the 'No Sancocho' and Whitt Broussard who also can't get enough of what we have on offer here with his second trip to Guatemala this season.
The previous 4 days had blown quite hard from the NNE and stirred things up with the cooler water being lifted to the surface as the winds never let up. On our first day out the winds had died down though there had been big changes in the water quality and temperature. The best water on offer was just 6-10NM off the beach so we worked it hard all day and ended with 7 raises, 5 bites and 4 releases. It was tough going for the whole fleet with much of the same and the boats that did venture out experiencing cooler, greener water.
On the 8th we invited Cam Sigler Jnr aboard for the day and ran far to the west looking for better water and ended up 50NM from home, the move was worth it though with the first hook-up of the day being a feisty blue marlin of about 120lbs. The fish was hot and all over the flat line teaser, Chief pitched the ballyhoo on the 30lb gear and got a tremendous going away bite. He's learnt alot here in the last few trips to Guatemala and it showed as he controlled the spool well and the bite resulted in a solid hook-up. The fish was a tough one and it took some time to get the release as the last series of jumps got him tail wrapped. We got him boatside quick enough to revive him though and he swam away strong which was a relief to see.



Chief and Mate Alex reviving the small blue before release.
The rest of the day saw great action with mostly multiples coming into the spread, we raised 12 sails and released 7 from 10 bites before changing to the fly for the last hour of the day. Cammy Sigler gave Chief some quick instructions and a practice cast couldn't even be attempted before we had a double of sails on the teasers. Chief's first cast of a fly rod ended up with a great hook set and release, thanks for the expert help Cam!. We raised another 3 sails and got 2 more bites, pulling the hooks one one while attempting the double on the fly.

The one man show.....Chief Tuazin with a nice sail on the fly.

NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT 31st Jan-1st Feb

January 31st-February 1st Casa Vieja hosted what is fast becoming Guatemala's premier tournament, the 'NO SANCOCHO SAILFISH SHOOTOUT', organized by Tournament Director Hill Dishman and Craig Johnson. This year we had a record 11 teams in the event and there was some big money on the line as the Calcutta pot reached $21,300 after bidding on the opening night. Daily money pots totalled $17,600 including $3000 for top daily team, $1400 to second placed team and other pots like the 'whale pot' $400 to the first team to spot a whale (won at 0715 on the first day). Biggest dorado, the consolation pot which went to the winner of the bottom placed 5 teams on the last day and various other payouts. The best rule of the tournament is $20 paid for every sancocho (bites missed) by anglers which is then donated to a local school here in Puerto San Jose. Despite this being the 'No Sancocho' there were in fact 262 'Sancochos' resulting in $5240 raised for this great cause. That's 262 misses from the 434 sailfish released on baits/conventional tackle and 34 on the fly in the 3 day tournament.
With the breakdown being 10pts for every sail released on bait, 25pts on fly (optional at midday on day 2) 50pts for a marlin on 50lb, 75pts for marlin on 20lb and 100pts for a marlin on fly it can really throw the tournament wide open to the teams sober enough to actually fish well.
To the fishing, and overall it was good with bodies of fish scattered from far and wide to right in close 6-9NM off the beach as well. The fleet was spread out and on day one Team Four Fat Boys were hot with Lance Stanfill, Mike Fox, Cliff Price and John Gallio fishing aboard Fishy Business doing little wrong taking out the daily with 21 releases. 3 teams tied for 2nd, Circle Hookers, Reel Nasty and Team Penguino all with 16 releases.

Hill Dishman presents a target at the end of the day.

On day 2 the fleet was spread between where Four Fat Boys had there luck inshore and 27NM to the east which proved the better bite. The deciding factor today was mixing it up on the fly for the extra points which is what Team Decisive cosisting of Steve Cothron, Scott Lund and Harvey Steinhagen III did most effectively with 16 releases on the bait and 5 on fly. This gave them 285 pts and the overall lead with 375 pts, closely followed by Reel Nasty's Brad Kline, Jamie Dishman, Chris Bean and Mark Feritta fishing aboard Intensity with 20 releases and 360pts overall. Four Fat Boys on Fishy Business had 14 releases for the day giving them 3rd spot overall with 350pts and Hill Dishmans Circle Hookers team of Brad Cargieser, Houston Jouhnson and Drew Donaldson were still in the hunt on Allure with 18 releases for the day and 4th spot overall with 340pts. 2nd day money was split between Reel Nasty and Yo No Cuido aboard Finest Kind with 20 releases a piece.

Team Tenacious keep their eyes peeled for the next billfish to come into the spread...and another sancocho?

Day 3 and Team Decisive really had it to themselves, with the fishing spotty to hard for most of the fleet Decisive was by far the hot boat with 375pts closely followed by Club No Minors Todd Johnson, Fred Herring, Brad Miller and Scott McShane on board Release who ended the day with 325pts. They were in the running for the consolation pot being near the bottom of the leader board to storm into second overall with the calcutta and second day money from their 9 releases on the fly (from 10 bites!!!) and 10 on the bait. As was mentioned Team Decisive had the hot hand with 25 releases on the bait and 5 on fly to take it with 750pts overall and taking home over $22,000 in winnings from the calcutta and dailies. Reel Nasty finished in 3rd and Circle Hookers followed with 4th spot.
The big emphasis in this tournament is to have a great time, enjoy good company and great fishing. This was definitely the case with probably too good a time adding to the ever growing total of sancochos, the school thanks you guys for that extra shot of tequila, one more rum and one more backlash........
There is big interest in next years tournament and with more teams involved the prize money is going to get bigger. The facilities at Casa Vieja are second to none here in Guatemala, all the boats are first class and the billfishing is the best in the world. If anyone has interest in getting a team together for next years event please contact us here at Rods and Reels Sportfishing and we'll organize the rest.

No Sancocho Winners, Team Decisive, L-R Scott Lund, Harvey Steinhagen, Cpt Brad Phillips and Steve Cothron