Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures - Fish Report - April 2007

Some are saying the fishing has been a little slow off the Pacific Coast of Central America this year but on the 'Decisive' we have had some really exciting days of billfishing with some great anglers making it here from far and wide to enjoy it with us. We have had several days with over 25 sailfish in the spread this past month, with as many as 51 bites in a day and we have been able to capitalize on the increased numbers of marlin in the area and turned most trips into exceptional adventures. With a total of 15 marlin releases for the month and as many as 7 up in a day, it has been by far the best marlin year Guatemala has ever experienced, and added to the sailfishing it's been a great month.

We started April with Miami friends Henry and Raul Sala's, and Andy Fernández joining us to go 12 from 22 on the sails their first day, with a blue up that would not eat. In the very same spot at 14 miles we released 15 sails from 27 bites the next day with Andy getting his first marlin, a dream 500lb fish that did everything for us and made the trip even more special for the group. The following day we rounded it off with a superb day of sailfishing releasing 23 from 32 bites.

Scott Lund came in to enjoy the fishing and between he and my wife Cindy, the pair releases 5 on the fly and 2 on spinning gear from the 26 sailfish we had up. Scott's wife Kristi joined him on the water the following day, releasing 7 on the fly rod and 2 on spin from the 23 we had in the spread.

The bite stayed good for the 'Decisive's' owner, Steve Cothron, who was joined by longtime friends Bill Easum and Jeff Svajda, for them to release 32 from 51 bites on the sails, and miss a nice blue we should have released. Things slowed the next day with us looking out wider and releasing 5 from 7 sailfish as well a boating 5 nice sushi yellowfin. On the final day, we made up for our earlier miss releasing a 375lb blue for Steve, as well as reelasing 9 sails to see the guys out in style.

Bill stayed on to fish the 9th on fly with great averages releasing 5 on the fly and 1 on spin.

Ken Johns of Sailfish Point Florida, brought down a group of friends, Ted Blount, John Adamiak and Dennis Longstreet to fish with us the 10, 11 and 12th. I was sorry to see that the fishing did not stay as good as it had been the previous week as Ken has always been so good to us, and surely deserved a good run. The boys however saw enough action to keep them busy and a more than great time was had enjoying Cindy's wonderful cooking and our lodges great service and the private ambience it provides. The guys released 3, 4 and then 6 from 14 on their final day with a large blue marlin making a showing but not wanting to play the game.

John Oliver, Jim Owens, John Duckworth and Rex Clark all of Louisiana had the blues show up for them in force. On the 13th we were unlucky when we broke the hook early in the morning on a 500plus blue which we had hooked off the teaser on a pitchbait. We saw 2 more blues that day which would not take the pitch but did release 6 sails to keep everyone very happy. The following day we capitalized on the blues releasing a feisty 300lb'er which gave John a great tussle and his first blue ever. Nice work John!!! Never to be outdone, 'Duck' released a 250lb blue the following day from the 3 blues we had up, one of which was well over 500#.

South African's Mike and Mearl Buyskes, and Johan and Magarite Majoor made the long trek to explore the country and enjoy in the billfishing and the 'Billfish Inn'. They brought with them the marlin luck and on their first day out released 3 blue marlin from the 3 we had up to add to the 4 sailfish they caught to make for an outstanding start and the first time I had ever released 3 marlin in a day off Guatemala. We went back out to the edge the following day and missed the blue that bite but released 5 sails to keep everyone happy. We had booked the group aboard other boats the following 2 days and their marlin run stayed hot with them releasing another 4 blues in amongst numerous sailfish. On their final day, we added another 11 sailfish to their tally to see them off in style. It is a long way to travel but Mike couldn't stop raving about the fishing and the operation in general and how worth it the tripo had had been. For Cindy and I it was a true pleasure to have had such fun loving and enjoyable people to visit with us here.

Some consider Guatemala a sailfish only destination, and boy was Rees Morgan Poag pleasantly surprised when on his first day out he released a 300# and 450# blue on our 50lb standup Alutecnos gear, to add to the sail he caught on the fly to make for an outstanding day of action. In the last 30 minutes of the day we were right in the midst of a wild marlin bite with over 5 of them up to give us high hopes for the next days action. Back on the same numbers on the 19th we raised a blue straight off which would not tease for the fly and then released a 400# on the 50#. Minutes latter Rees cast at a 300# blue which bit but missed the fly but we did catch on the pitched mackerel. We saw another 2 blues latter in the day as well as released a sail on the fly to keep our run going. Rees continued on the 20th with a blue release early to add to another 4 sails on the fly to end a dream trip for him of 5 blue marlin, and 6 sail releases in 3 days. Now that is some fishing!!!