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I apologize for the late report, but my schedule has been crazy since returning from Guatemala last Monday.
We finally got tired of hearing about the great fishing in Guatemala from Ritchie Howell who has been fishing down there for a bunch of years now and decided to join Ritchie for 3 days of sailfishing. Ritchie Howell, Brad Burgess, John Timken, and I met in Houston for the final flight to Guatemala City. One word describes our trip: AMAZING! Everything you read and hear about Guatemala is true!
Friday, Jan. 16th
We arrived at the marina at 6:45am and after Hefe launched Ritchie’s 26 ft panga (which is about 6’ wide) we were off. The bite was good about 15 miles due south, so we decided to head that way. After a short ride in calm Guatemalan seas, we were only able to deploy 1 teaser before the 1at sail crashed it! We quickly switched him off the green turbo/ballyhoo combo and the fight was on! Over the next few hours we managed to raise another 14 sails, drawing 11 bites and releasing 9 before the bite slowed. We managed 1 double and the rest were single bites ending the day going 9/11 on sails. Not bad for our first day in Guatemala. Back at the dock we learned the bite was very good another 10-12 miles south, so we knew where we were heading tomorrow!
Saturday, Jan. 17th
What a difference a day makes! Arriving at marina at 6:45am, we were greeted by a stiff 15-20 knot wind out of the SE. We tucked in behind one the larger boats, but the seas 17 miles off the beach were 4-6 feet……. Decision time! We decided it was too rough to continue and almost to rough to fish a spread effectively from Ritchie’s 26 pagna. We deployed to teasers and ballyhoos from the flatlines. Fishing was slow until we raised our first double 13 miles offshore, but both sails were uninterested in our offerings. but More importantly we now had some life and hope we might be able to scratch a sail or two out to save the day! Ritchie worked the area hard and was rewarded with another double header going 1/2. After a single, double, 2 more single sailfish bites and a few large Dorado in between and we managed to release 6 sailfish. We were pretty beat up from the rough seas, so we decided to pack it in around 2pm. For the day, we ended up raising 11 sails and released 6 out of 8 bites. Back at the bar, we heard the bite was again very good with most boats raising 40-50 sails and releasing up to 25 sails.
Sunday, Jan. 18th
We didn’t want to take a chance on missing the bite that was going on 30 miles offshore, so we decided to charter the 37 ft. Daytona “Canso” from the Casa Vieja Lodge Fleet. Capt. Chico did not disappoint! Brad, Timken, and I ran the cockpit and Chico and Ritchie ran things on the bridge. Arriving at the spot, we deployed 3 teasers and 3 baits, with pitch bait ready to go. We had our 1st double header 20 minutes after we started and then proceeded to go 13 for our first 14 bites and 25 for 27 before Mr. Timken got into the mix and started nailing a few of his own. The bite was consistent all day as we managed to raise 47 sails, drawing 42 bites, and releasing 35 sails including 13 double headers and pulling the hook on 3 of the fish we missed!
All and all we had a great first visit to Guatemala. The fishing was amazing as we released 50 sails out of 62 bites in 2.5 days of fishing (raised over 70 sails to our pattern!) Our accommodations and service at Casa Vieja Lodge we 1st class! The staff really go out of there way to make sure the coffee is hot and the drinks are cold!
Brad or John Will Posts Pictures Shortly
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Originally Posted by Squidnation
