Guatemala Fishing Report April 28th 2010

Shaking in Guatemala

While the world was occupied with the events hovering over Iceland in the past week, similar events were brewing and burbling once again in Guatemala. The famous ring of fire travels along the Pacific Coast of Guatemala before passing by Iceland – and contains an incredible 452 volcanoes and 75% of the world’s total. Guatemala itself is home to over 30 of these, and between five and eight of them may be active at any one time – about the highest ratio of active to dormant anywhere in the world.
Some of these are constantly erupting and have become well travelled tourist sights (see our page on visiting  the volcanoes at Volcanoes in Guatemala)  ..........but this week saw a new entrant into the count of “most active” with the eruption of the Santiaguito volcano in the western highlands. Since last erupting in 1902, this has been one of the better behaved Guatemala volcanoes – but this week saw a quite violent reminder of its past. The last eruption managed a 6 on the VEI (Volcanic Explosive Index) and as such was classed as “colossal”. This current one is much less, but the cloud of ash reaching as high as 27,000 feet is an indicator of the potential of activity !
This constant seismic activity does not appear to have any significant impact on the fishing in Guatemala – even the large magnitude quake in March had no noticeable effect on the concentrations of billfish – seems like it is only us land dwellers that are effected by such things. The fishing although slower than a month ago,  has remained quite consistent. Decent numbers of sailfish – but a LOT of Blue Marlin showing. Some days our boats have been reporting 3-5 raises of marlin for the day with perhaps one or two hookups. What has been noticeable however is how concentrated the fishing has been – most days the sportfishing fleet has ended up within a couple of miles of each other over concentrations of bait, but outside of that diameter, the pickings have been slim.
Fortunately the captains in Guatemala co-operate well, so though some may be fortunate in finding the fish early in the day, by mid-morning the migration to that area was on for the rest of the fleet and by noon everybody has been on fish.
They have had to rely on good old experience for the last week, as we have experienced (unusually) almost constant cloud cover which has restricted the ability to retrieve decent satellite imagery and its usual clues for where the fish may be concentrated. As long as the radios continue to work we should be ok !
The sailfish have been showing in good numbers throughout the day and have been aggressive with the baits. A different story however on the fly, as the fish have been much less receptive to anything that wasn’t a natural bait. We made the switch last week to only running teasers with natural bait trailing and saw a much improved level of commitment to the baits from the fish – which resulted in better bites on the fly as well.
Other natural baits were on display in Guatemala City this past weekend as the annual beauty pageant was held in the Crowne Plaza. At the final count, Ms Alejandra Barillas was crowned as Miss Guatemala 2010 and will represent the country in the Miss Universe competition.

Guatemala Fishing Report March 23rd  2010

It’s UP and DOWN in Guatemala

If you know how to time it, and the rest of the variables that the “Fishing Gods” refer to when deciding whether to make your fishing trip to Guatemala something to remember, then the past few weeks have served you well. Kim Graham and party came down once again and hit the billfish hard – they reported passing landing their 1000th sailfish in Guatemala, so they are both doing it right and timing it well (and of course keeping count accurately!!).
Sure enough, they turned up again just as the moon was turning and had several fun filled days of pretty much nonstop fishing action with fish in the teasers consistently throughout the day. They also managed to hook and release a good sized marlin – which have been noticeable so far only by their absence this season until very recently.
The “UPs and DOWNs” refer to both the volatility of the fishing, but also to the weather. In conversations with other Captains and visitors, all have commented on the strange weather patterns and currents that have been prolific in most places this year from as far away as Ecuador to Mexico Mazatlan. Whereas we are normally blessed with warm and calm consistent weather patterns from November until May, we have been besieged this year with a series of small cold fronts (not to mention earthquakes !) that have travelled through the region. We have also had our weather influenced by some of the significant storms that have been hanging out in the Gulf of Mexico – and we are 800 miles and at least 2 good sized mountain (volcano) ranges away.
We had one of the “Shared Angler” trips down this past week also, which went well as far as the anglers were concerned – although the first and last fishing days they were faced with a strong 4 foot chop going out with seas that refused to lay down until early in the afternoon. This also coincided with the bite – as when fish were to be found, it happened mostly after lunch – but even then with a cautious bite that lacked aggressiveness and commitment on the part of the sailfish, making it very difficult for the fly anglers in particular to hook up consistently.
The trophy fish for the shared trip clearly went to Rob Sekely who struggled mightily with a Blue Marlin in the 300lb range. Unlike the sails that we had been seeing, this marlin was committed as soon as the belly bait was in the water and the scent permeated sufficiently for him to hunt it down. It is always a thrilling sound when you hear the International 50 zinging out line as the Captain kicks the boat into full throttle to ensure a good hookset. This marlin clearly got the message early on, and it only took one good look at the stern of the boat for it to hurtle off porpoising  in the direction of Mexico. Rob was having none of it, and clamping down with the drag held on and turned the fish. Danillo the mate on the Reel Diver graciously brought over water for Rob, but at the Captain’s direction poured it instead over the reel to try and stop the bearings from melting – and then passed the remainder onto Rob to drink. First things first.

Guatemala Fishing Report March 9th  2010

Boom to Bust

These earthquakes are getting downright unnerving; the recent massive quake in Chile caused some serious concern and scientific commotion here in Guatemala. The region is obviously very active volcanically, and minor earthquakes are quite common.The territory closest to the volcanoes in the highlands is some of the most closely monitored seismically anywhere – partly to try and ensure that changes in activity levels are flagged, but also because there is just so much of it that has become a scientific data-gatherer’s dream.
There were cautionary alerts put out by the US Geological Team post the Chile event that said there was a possibility of a huge tsunami emanating from the centre and pushing out across the Pacific building up speed and energy all the while. You may have read how the Hawaiian coastline was largely evacuated lest the wave came ashore. Being roughly in the path between the epicenter and Hawaii, we thought it prudent to at least move the boats from their moorings and set to sea ….. just in case. Of course the local captains had heard it all before and were slightly bemused by the whole thing, but better safe than sorry.
With some delight, minutes past the appointed hour for this huge wave to pass the latitude of the marina, the radios lit up with the chatter over channel  71 that the boats had been hit by a “massive wave” that was estimated at 1.5 feet. They were grinning when they came back to dock at the triumph of local knowledge over gringo science. Still better safe than sorry.
Since the last cold front pushed through and as reported last week, the fishing has been close to perfect up until a couple of days ago. We went through a period of a couple of weeks where the fish were easily found and consistently aggressive in the bite. It brought to mind the famous Cimino quote “This is the first fishing trip that I have been on that I caught more fish than drank beer”………..not one, but two of our groups came in early on consecutive days having “caught enough fish”. Don’t hear that very often, but it paints a picture of the fishing !
Over the past weekend,, and unfortunately coinciding with Karl Maple and group returning to Guatemala after experiencing those type of days last year – and with similar expectations for this trip – the weather changed and another cold front pushed through. Their first day out were some of the nastiest seas we have seen down here for quite a while. Solid 6 footers with blowing white tops and some rolling up to 10 feet with the current. The fish were holding at about 35 miles, but it was just too far in these kind of seas, and we put lines in at 19 from the dock. It was tough going, and in the end we had to agree that the effort was not worth the reward and we headed in for some inshore fishing instead. It wasn’t much better inshore, and we called it a (weather) day by early afternoon. You have to admire the guys for sticking it out though.
That was the worst of it, and Kyle and team stayed with it for the next couple of days as the fishing improved. By their last day out we were raising fish consistently and they managed a decent report after a tough trip.

LATEST SST CHART

Guatemala Fishing Report March 1st  2010 

 
Clinton coming to Guatemala but not fishing

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is this week embarking on a whipsaw tour through Latin America. Friday sees her arriving in Guatemala for meetings with Central American leaders. We would like her to sample the fishing in Guatemala while she was here, perhaps “Bubba” Clinton could take a brief sojourn to the coast and experience some of the best billfishing in the world !
If you are coming down towards the end of this week, you can expect to encounter extreme security measures; the last time we had American dignitaries in the country la gente were distracted from their nightly fireworks by the sound of a squadron of F16’s hurtling overhead at close to the speed of sound. For a country that boasts no airforce to speak of, this caused something of a stir in the skies above the coffee fields as seemingly the pilots wanted to get up close and personal with some sightseeing from low altitude ! The old slate roofs of Antigua shuddered and shook as the shockwave followed the jets over the old capital

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Click the image above for a more detailed view of the Guatemala fishing satellite image

If the Secretary of State (or her husband) does manage to fit some sailfishing into the itinerary, she will be pleasantly surprised by her timing.
The past week had been relatively slow, but prior to that the bite had remained hot for the best part of two weeks. Average raises over that period were close to twenty per boat per day, but this slowed over the period of the full moon to around ten per day – still world class fishing, but we always hope for better !
This week the fishing has been consistent at about 35 miles, with deep blue water holding a lot of bait and aggressive fish. We are raising twenty plus fish per day, and the flyfishermen are getting plenty of practice with the long wand !
The good fishing however (and hopefully !) will continue until the end of April and even into May we have seen a strong and sustained Marlin bite – so in that regard the season here in February is only just starting !

Guatemala Fishing Report February 17th  2010 

Fishing as the next Olympic Sport ?

OK – I get some of it. Watching the guy with the flaming red hair risk life and limb on a snowboard clearly demonstrates the triumph of skill, practice and confidence over the fear of defying gravity, but I have to admit some of the other wintersports are not quite so entertaining to me and could easily be replaced by the most popular participant sport in the western hemisphere – fishing.
The luge event you have to admire – if you remember back to being out of control on a sled when you were young, imagine what it would be like with your face only a couple of inches from the ice, but now you’re doing 10X the speed ? Talk about adrenalin ! If they have one such race though – do they really need the “skeleton” ??  Face-forward doing ninety miles an hour I’m sure is exciting for the athlete, but it is still just sledding – what about replacing it with ice fishing ?
Same thing for the summer; if the Olympic Committee  managed to get their heads around including “Croquet” in the summer games (1900) or “Tug of War” (1920), surely they could consider sportfishing ? All catch and release of course.
Maybe we should start a new campaign to have winter/summer complementary fishing exhibition sports in the next games. We just need to raise about $20m for lobbying, as of course we would have to fly the whole Olympic Committee to all the best sportfishing locations in the world for a couple of years so that they could convince themselves that 20 million fishermen may not be wrong about it being one of the most technical and exciting sports on the planet. Obviously we should start with Guatemala to ensure that they have a great first experience and all catch fish !!
Testifying to this recently were the Rivers Group who fished with us last week, bringing 91 sailfish to the boat over the course of 3 days. Other groups had similar results, on average raising over 30 billfish per day at about 30 miles from the dock.  All of this happened as we approached the new moon, which is often regarded as one of the best moon phases to chase predatory fish.
Since then, the fishing has slowed down a bit, but even in Guatemala we don’t raise those kind of numbers consistently every day ! Recent days have seen raises of about half that amount – in the 10-15 range – but still plenty of action, and importantly plenty of bait in the water.
There has been a strong current pushing down from Mexico, and the Captain’s have been on the lookout for Striped Marlin – which would be unusual in these waters, as we see mostly Blue Marlin and the odd Black Marlin – but it would certainly make for some exciting action and great photos !
The good fishing however (and hopefully !) will continue until the end of April and even into May we have seen a strong and sustained Marlin bite – so in that regard the season here in February is only just starting !

Guatemala Fishing Report February 3rd  2010   

The seas are calm but the fish anything but

You just never know after the new moon shows how exactly the fish are going to be feeling. There is common wisdom that over the phase of the full moon (which we just experienced on January 30th) that the fish maraud through the night and incessantly search for prey. This continuous feeding sometimes causes them to be less aggressive during daylight hours – or at least less aggressive than they normally would be when they hunger after a tasty baitfish morsel.
Over the past week the fishing was down from its recent peak, but we were still raising plenty of billfish each day. As the new moon has progressed, so has the fishing – each day has become noticeably more prolific and the sailfish have become more and more aggressive.

While reading up on this theory, I realized that we had swooned into the Gibbous Moon…….so I had to read further. It just seemed like one of those adjectives that had such a lot to offer. The more I read on about moon phases and other parameters that may or may not effect the fishing, the more confused I became and the more I came to realize that there is little science behind the “moon bite theory” – in fact I was reminded of a recent Washington Post definition of a new word :

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

It may or may be true, but some fishermen hold to its promise – and this week the statistics seem to be supporting the theory.
We welcomed the Snyder party this week for their first visit to Guatemala, and despite some slow going on their first day, they stuck to their long wands and were rewarded by a couple of feisty billfish on the fly. Having broken that potential duck, they have developed considerable expertise in their timing and by their final day had a very good hookup rate and landed seven good sized sailfish on the fly. Another group fishing with us had 18 released on conventional that day by lunchtime, when they stopped counting and turned their attention to more pressing matters such as spotting the sails as they chases the teasers all the way to the stern of the boat.

The weather has been warm and stable since we waved good riddance to the two recent cold fronts that washed through, and calm blue water has pushed in to about 30 miles from the shore. The seas are flat all the way out to 50 miles – but who needs to run when the fish are biting close(r)  in ??
We haven’t seen many marlin since that weather moved on, but we are hoping with this nice sustained spell of warmer air and clean blue water, we will begin to see a more consistent raise.
The good fishing however (and hopefully !) will continue until the end of April and even into May we have seen a strong and sustained Marlin bite – so in that regard the season here in February is only just starting !

Guatemala Fishing Report January 25th  2010
Timing is Everything

In general, the fishing in Guatemala has been very good and consistent for the last several weeks. What has changed is where the fish are……….one day we are finind blue water at 35 miles, the next it may be as close as 5 miles from the dock. Mostly we are just glad to be able to find it quickly in the morning, and then to set a pattern between the boats to find out where the bait and pelagic are concentrated.

We welcomed back the Graham party for fishing last week – over the course of 5 days they released their fair share…….quote ……….“Had a great trip last week with about 100 releases. A couple of real nice fish. I got one on conventional that the crew guessed in the 150 class and my last fish of the trip was a 2 hour battle on a the fly rod with a 130 plus fish.”
I did check with the Captain, and he did verify that the sail on the fly was at least 130lbs, which even for Guatemala is a very big fish !

Click on the SST graphic for a full size image

Seemingly this group wore the fish out, as they became kind of scarce for a few days – until the Mitchell group showed up with a fine case of hand tied flies that proved just too much for the sailfish to resist. Every day over the course of the next few days, the fishing just got better and better, with the fish becoming more and more aggressive as the new moon progresses. On their final day, they raised 22 sailfish with 12 good bites to the fly and 8 releases – and about a hundred photographs to document the day !

Guatemala Fishing Report January 17th 2010 

Rock’n Roll

First it rocked, then it rolled and finally it really rocked………………
Today there was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in Guatemala just South of the Marin towards El Salvador. All of our boats were out fishing at the time - which is probably about the safest place for them when these things happen - but there are no casualties and little damage reported from the coast.

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Unusually for Guatemala, we had two cold fronts come through in quick succession that built upon each other to produce some pretty significant seas and blasts of cold air. This often has the effect of scattering the concentrations of bait and making the fishing more challenging – but not this time. The billfish stayed focused relatively close to shore on some very rapid temperature breaks and continued to feed despite the inclement weather and waves “up top”. The boats suffered a little in this “rockin’” period, but nothing that a few stainless screws and clamps couldn’t take care of.

All through the week and a half of weather that we experienced, the fishing stayed hot – with 20-30 fish raised the norm throughout. We “rolled” through the groups, welcoming back many familiar faces to the coast and to the great fishing.
Then came the real “rockin” – close on the heels of the disaster in Haiti, and as we are all sensitized to the devastation that earthquakes can bring, we experienced a 5.8 magnitude this morning, centered just offshore and South of the marina towards El Salvador. No casualties or significant damage is reported at this time. Earthquakes of this magnitude are familiar territory in this part of Central America – not quite an everyday occurrence, but frequent enough that even a 5.8 does not set off the alarms.

Super Fishing in Guatemala !!

Guatemala Fishing Report – January 5th 2010

 New Year’s Resolutions

As the old saying goes…………..A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one Year and out the other ……….but this year could just be different. Maybe this is the year to achieve that goal of a 100lb sailfish on the fly or (as one of our respected clients put it so aptly) to take a fishing trip where you catch more fish than you drink beer !

As Mark Twain said – “New Year's Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. “ – but this year could just be different.

The fishing in Guatemala has been steady and consistent since before Xmas, with most of our clients raising easily in excess of 20 billfish per day in glorious conditions. The blue water and importantly the temperature breaks have ranged from 20 miles to as close as 4 miles from the dock, so the fishing and living is easy !

Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits – time for a new habit we think !

Best wishes for 2010 from all of us at Greatsailfishing