IT HAS BEGUN!!!! 2017-18 Season underway. Simply put the best billfish fishery in the world.
2nd week of October we were hustling to get boats in the water. The first 6 days on the sails call we had close to 20 marlin in the spread. Numerous tags and releases, one of the best starts in the while. In addition while 20 shot sailfish days were here and there, we also had some of the best mahi mahi fishing. Nothing but BIG bulls in the 30-40 lb range.
Finally we ended the October month with a repeat group from last year. Ex Pro Baseball player and tournament tarpon angler were at the Blue Bayou Lodge filming what will be one of the best fly fishing films out there. Top day 42 sails up, 15 bites on the fly, 8 releases and a very exciting blue marlin hook on the fly that quickly was over as the fly flew free after a few good jumps close to the boat. She felt the burn!
Now we start November. First two days we had pretty sailfishing and even better yellow fin fishing. We hooked up on 100 lb tuna on 30 lb line!!! Smoked the smallest rod which was the rigger bait used mostly for sailfish. Regardless a good fight that ended with plenty of tuna to go around. Enjoy the pictures below, nothing but smiles!!!!
Next stop Tuesday team Sails Call pulls out for our annual run down to El Salvador for an international tournament. Wish us luck.
A great way to wrap up the ''season''. Confirming once again, the sailfishing is a year round thing in Guatemala.
It did take some searching, but day 3 we found some fish for our group from Dallas Texas.
37-28-23 Sailfish at 44 miles.
Sails Call is being pulled for a month of repairs and preping for a very busy season!
Thank you all for a great season!!!
Capt Chris Starrs
HOT BITE ALERT IN GUATEMALA- SAILS & MARLIN
Hola Anglers,
We closed the month with a great group of guys from Houston, Texas. Father and Son group that yielded incredible billfish numbers.
Last 3 days of July, 2017.
Day 1 ''We Found Em'', saw over 52 sailfish in the spread, 44 bites, and 28 releases. As well as 1 nice bull mahi and yellow fin for lunch. Only boat and lodge fishing these days, in fact our offseason has been the busiest and most productive in years.
Day 2 ''Lets pick up where we left off'', we went right back to the spot, they seemed to move inshore a few miles, not as hot as yesterday, but still a very good day none the less. 42 raises, 32 bites, and 15 releases.
Day 3 ''WE WANT A BLUE!'', that's right we left a damn good sailfish bite to get that blue marlin flag. We were baically 180 degrees straight out the first two days 30 miles. Since the blue water looked good on the charts to the east, a known marlin spot, we decided to run there for Day 3. If you wanted marlin, that was the spot. We weren't 40 mins into the troll when our first blue show up, no bite. Few miles more a double header of blue marlin showed up, with a 3rd sailfish on the rigger. The smaller blue didn't eat but the sailfish off the rigger did, and then finally about a 400 lb blue ate the pitch bait!! Both released. Mission acomplished!
4-1-1 Blue Marlin
6-5-2 Sailfish
Stay thirsty Blue Bayou Nation!
Capt Chris Starrs
Bring on the rain (rain or shine they BITE). As expected, bait is piling up inshore, runs are less than 8 miles to the fish and blue water. Wish it was this good all year round. As soon as we hit the bottom of the pocket on day two with some fly anglers we loaded up on NICE tuna. 25-35 lb range. Great on the fly!!!!
Currently 40-00 to the west of the pocket boats are seeing as many as 30 sails in a day!! Offseason?? Guatemala doesn't have one. As usually with floating debris means MARLIN. Most boats are average 3-4 shots in the shallows, while the thicker portion of the sails is just a few miles outside of that. Finally table fare is what this month is all about. If you find the right log, you can seriously load up on mahi. More to come as we get ready to do 9 days of fishing this JULY 1-10, 2017.
Tight Lines
Capt Starrs
HOLA ANGLERS!
The last two groups of May turned out to be great. Last week a group of high school grads had a peak day of 25 sails in the spread, while releasing 1 for 2 blue marlin and lots of mahi throughout the day.
Finally the last few days we wrapped up a group of fly anglers (both first time for billfish), which were also successful on both their first blue marlin on conventional, as well as several sailfish on the fly.
June we are back at it again on the fly as we get ready to go after more marlin and sailfish.
Capt Chris