GUATEMALA WEEKLY FISHING REPORT PACIFIC COAST SPORT-FISHING REPORT

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.

Week ending January 27th 2009

This Guatemala fishing report is for the week ending  Week ending January 4th 2009 and is prepared by The Great Marlin Fishing Company operating out of the new Pez Vela Marina . 

The blue water is racing in and bringing bait with it !

It's great !! It's awesome.....it's warm down in Guatemala !!!!

If you called us before Christmas and ask "what are the seas going to be like as you get into high season ?" We would answer truthfully and without exception that there is a 90%+ probability that they are going to be flat calm ,and we will get the water skis out to prove it at 50 miles from the dock....

Well it seems like everything is changing these days - US Presidents, Treasury Secretary's that can't drive TurboTax, pleas by OJ.....even the weather in Guatemala ! The seas offshore are mostly protected by the huge "bay" that is formed from the Baja down to Panama - and then the ridge of volcanoes that sit to the east - all of which combine by the grace of nature to generally provide shelter from the Pacific breeze. We have been - or rather our clients : Huebner, Northcott, McCarthy - experiencing about a day a week for the last couple of weeks when the waves have risen and shown their white caps. By midday we have seen peaks to troughs of 8 feet or more. This is when you are glad that you splurged for the heavy hull of the mighty Bertram, as it cuts through the seas with minimum roll and importantly keeps the baits trailing straight and true. You are also glad that the blue water has come in to about 20 miles from the dock making for a short run to lines in, and a comfortable hike back to the dock.

The fish don't seem to mind in the slightest - we have had some EXCEPTIONAL FISHING - with some boats raising up to 80 billfish in a day; a slow day has had us raising in the teens - but with plenty of good size fighting Blue Marlin mixed in along with lots of big bull Dorado and even some black tuna.

Peter Huebner found the fishing to be so great on his first visit with us last year, that he couldn't wait to bring down his son Eric and friend Roger Eger and his son Riley. Their first day out saw 36 sailfish raised with 21 released - a fine introduction to bluewater sportfishing for the boys.....where can you possibly take them now he asked ??

Mike Northcott came all the way from Blighty (better known as the UK) with his son and party, determined to fish the ocean dry and do the same to our bar in the villa. They about succeeded on their second objective.

The fishing continues to improve and each day becomes more consistent - and with more of the fleet going out each day, locating the pods of sailfish is also becoming quicker and more predictable. If you want to catch a billfish - or even a Blue Marlin - on the fly, now is a GREAT time to come down and give it a go.

The boats are ready, the crews are primed – come down and enjoy the season fishing with www.greatmarlinfishing.com We are booking strongly already for some of the popular dates this season, so don’t wait, give us a call at 1 877 763 0851 or send us an email (below) to check on dates – we would look forward to welcoming you to some of the finest fishing anywhere.

Our Favorite Fishing Quote for the week :

"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing."
~ Babylonian proverb

Les, Carlos, Kevin and Jim
The GreatMarlinfishing Company

Contact us at :

enquiries@greatmarlinfishing.com or to register for our weekly fishing report and other information please click here :
http://www.greatmarlinfishing.com/en/register.html or contact us at greatmarlin@yahoo.com