Late Season Blues
You just never know in April. Some days the weather is great, the
fishing is close in and the seas are calm – other days you can burn 150
gallons running outside searching for blue water and a consistent bite.
So it has been this month. Early in the month the weather patterns
changed a little and pushed the blue water out as far as 50 miles.
There were little pockets of clean water here and there that when found,
held decent numbers of fish – but if you wanted to be sure of a strong
bite….you had to make the trek.
By the middle of the month, we were getting tired of the fuel bills
– but the fish were still not co-operating and we were running out at
least 40 miles each day. The fishing was good with plenty of hungry
sailfish and lots of bait in the water. Often we were surrounded by
enormous schools of spinning dolphin which are often a sign that the
tuna are about to turn on as well………..but we were focused on the
billfish. Finally after another week of running around searching for a
break closer to shore, we were able to find decent water that was
holding fish at about 18 miles.
As the water had pushed in, it brought with it plenty of debris and
weed that held plenty of bait and of course plenty of dorado. On one
occasion while heading offshore, we were surprised to find huge weed
lines only six miles from the dock……..so of course we had to toss over
the dolphin teasers and see if cerviche was on the menu ! The dorado
were not big, only averaging eight pounds or so – but perfect eating
size – and while we could have filled the boat with them, we limited
ourselves to sufficient for dinner the next couple of nights and
continued offshore.
Now we were finding Sailfish starting about 16 miles and the bite
got stronger as we headed further out. Once we got to about 24 miles, it
was clear that the billfish were very concentrated over some structure
– and while the fishing was consistent in a box about a mile on a
side………….it was barren once you stepped outside. We have been raising
twenty plus sailfish every day for the last couple of weeks and on most
days have managed to raise at least one blue marlin. As we head into
May we are encouraged by the continued strong bite and are looking
forward (hopefully) to some great tuna fishing being put into the mix
over the next few weeks.
The billfishing this season has been pretty consistent(ly good !)
from October until now, and so we are hopeful that the 100% catch and
release policies continue to ensure that Guatemala remains the
preeminent destination for large numbers of sailfish. We are already
booking strongly for next season and are happy to announce that we are
continuing our policy of reservations made now and paid by August 2012
will be confirmed at this seasons pricing regardless of any price/fuel
changes for next season.