Casa Vieja Lodge - May 10 reports

[Marlinhunter2]

Guatemala - Casa Vieja Lodge - May fishing report:

* The Jones party arrived in their private jet and their first day (30 Apr) on Finest Kind and Intensity were pretty much a bust. The Mecca party on Rum Line had a similar fishing day. The weather kicked up and the seas got nasty. Rain started on Friday intermittently thru the weekend.

Tho the sky was clear enough to see the volcanoes clearly looking back from the horizon, the anglers did fairly well. The Jones boys fishing the Finest Kind 9-7-4 and a 275 blue and Intensity crew found them 25-22-19 releases.

* Mecca's party on Rum Line 13-7-4 and 2 blue bites

* Mr. Armstrong from Park Valley ski slopes decided he needed a few extra days of practice (11-12) on the Release 16-8-5 and 1 blue bite.

* Now, we have Marlin U visiting with 16 anglers (including Mr. Armstrong) and 5 staff (12-16). First day on the water - Release 6-4-3 and 1 blue bite; Finest Kind 3-1-1; Intensity again finds the fish 14-14-9 and Rum Line 6-4-0 and 1 blue bite.

Seems Intensity is proving to be the hot boat this month! Congrats to Capt. Mike Sheeder and his crew.

[Capt. Ron Hamlin]

From the 13th to the 16th of May, I had the pleasure of fishing Marlin University. My instructor for the 4 days was Peter Wright, who I go back a long way with. Fishing was very slow as the water has been very hot around 89 degrees everyday. Peter did a great job ot teaching the people 10 men and 2 Ladies how to free spool and hook a billfish. As you'll see by our ratio of bites to caught fish. He is a very knowledgeable instructor as are all of the other people involved with teaching. We raised 22 sails in the 4 days had, 19 of which bit and caught 15 we tagged a good portion of these. I'm looking forward to fishing this very professionally done operation again next year.

Capt. Ron Hamlin
Finest Kind

[Capt. Ron Hamlin]

Mr. Armstrong from Park Valley ski slopes decided he needed a few extra days of practice (11-12) on the Release 16-8-5 and 1 blue bite before the Marlin U group arrived.

We had the pleasure of hosting Marlin U with 16 anglers (including Mr. Armstrong) and 5 staff (12-16).

Marlin U report (12-17 May) with instructors Dave Ferrell, Peter Wright, William Holcomb, Pat Dineen and Barbara Lehner.

Anglers: Michael Kress, Orazio Nastase, Iain & Campbell Nicolson (from Africa), Alan Seidel, Don Armstrong, Jay Jacobson, Ray Lorenzo, Marvin Steiding, Antonio Oliva, Jarmo Pohjaniemi, Gary Cole, Dave Moore, Tiffany Griffin, Leigh Johnson and John Tobias

Finest Kind – Capt. Ron Hamlin
Day 1: 11-10-8
Day 2: 6-5-4
Day 3: 5-4-3
Day 4: 0
Totals: 22-19-15

Release – Capt. Nico Melendrez
Day 1: 6-4-3, 1 blue raised, 1 bite
Day 2: 8-8-6
Day 3: 4-4-1, 1 blue raised, 1 bite
Day 4: 2-1-1, 1 blue raised, 1 bite
Totals: 20-17-11, 3 blues raised, 3 bites

Intensity – Capt. Mike Sheeder
Day 1: 14-14-9
Day 2: 15-10-4
Day 3: 6-5-2
Day 4: 4-3-1, 1 blue raised
Totals: 39-32-16, 1 blue raised

Rum Line – Capt. Chris Sheeder
Day 1: 6-4-0, 2 blues raised, 1 bite
Day 2: 1-0-0, 1 blue raised
Day 3: 2-2-2, 2 blues raised, 1 bite
Day 4: 2-2-0
Totals: 11-8-2, 5 blues raised, 2 bites

Grand Totals: 92 raised, 76 bites, 44 sails released and 9 blues raised, 5 bites

[Capt. Ron Hamlin]

Right after Marlin U group left we had the Merson and Adler party. They were winners of the Big 105.9 food drive auction, fishing on Rum Line – Capt. Chris Sheeder
19 May: 2-2-2
20 May: 4-3-2, 1 blue raised
Total: 6 raised, 5 bites, 4 sails released and 1 blue raised

And, at the same time, the Hoyt-Brandt party fishing on Release – Capt. Nico Melendrez
18 May: 1-1-1
19 May: 9-8-5
20 May: 2-2-0
Totals: 12 raised, 11 bites, and 6 sails raised

[Capt. Ron Hamlin]

This morning I received this quote from Marlin U:

“The service provided before, during and after our stay at the Casa Vieja Lodge was outstanding! The staff exceeded the expectations of our students in terms of quality of food, accommodations and customer service. The Casa Vieja Lodge is no ordinary lodge…..its a 5 Star Lodge with impeccable attention to detail and customer service. The staff goes out of their way to meet your every need or request and they deliver the highest level of customer service possible. All details of the trip are handled by their highly professional staff, making this an easy fishing trip to plan. The food quality and presentation matches any upscale restaurant around. The captains and crew on the boats are courteous, highly skilled and have extensive knowledge of the fishing grounds in the area. Casa Vieja Lodge should be your 1st choice when planning a fishing trip to Guatemala!”

Barbara Lehner
Bonnier Corporation
Marlin University