FAY, GROSS & LEDER
January 8-10 nice to see the above trio back in Guatemala after……too many years to remember! Their first trip to Guatemala was way back in 2004, they’ve been back a few times since though this was the first time in a while and great to see them back here, this time staying at the Oasis and fishing aboard Allure II with Capt Jono Nicholas.
Bit of a tough start to 2020 here with several cold fronts blowing through with stiff ENE winds making conditions tough and moving the warmer, blue water offshore. Still a great first day up for the guys doing it all themselves and only missing 3 fish going 7-10 on sailfish for the day as well as mahi for dinner…
The fish did a disappearing act their second day out so a run out wide was called for and it paid off well with big tunas and sailfish in the mix!
Incredible day offshore for the crew with 3 large tuna to 130lb’s boated and 3 sailfish released!!
For their last day out marlin was called for so that’s what they set their sights on and again it paid off for them…..
With 2 blues in the spread Vern got the release on one and for the rest of the day the crew raised 6 sailfish of which they released 3 from 5 bites.
L-R, Capt Jono, Cris Gross, Mike Fay and Vern Leder.
All in all an awesome trip for the guys with great variety and Vern Leder took out the honors with the largest tuna at 130lb and the blue marlin. Good stuff, great to see them back in Guatemala and looking forward to seeing them back down here, hopefully sooner this time around!!
INTENSITY
January 5-7th the infamous Kirk Wiseman was down at the Oasis breaking all the rules and fishing aboard Intensity on the fly. A bit tough out there with the cold fronts roughing up the seas and not making ideal for the fly though they got into sails every day. It’s hard not to have a great time when Kirk is in town……
MARTIN VERCHERE
December 31st & January 1st Martin Verchere and his father from France spent a few nights at the Lodge celebrating New Years eve and a couple of days fishing aboard the 31ft Bertram ‘Piragua’ with Capt Manolo.
2 great days on the water with 21 sailfish released from 35 bites along with 1 blue marlin released from 2 bites!
A great way to see 2020 in for the father & son team….
KIRKLAND GROUP.
L-R: Brian Shook and Chris Quin with Kyler and Kevin Kirkland.
December 27-29th down for their annual trip from Beaumont, Texas the Kirkland crew was in for 3 days post Christmas fishing.
A good steady bite out there their first day on the water getting into the swing of it with 26 sailfish in the spread and 14 releases from 24 bites.
Second day out there we decided to hunt for tuna heading west and off the edge. A lot of birds and bait though no spinner dolphin to be found. We did raised 2 blue marlin, one real nice one that did not bite and Kevin did the job on this one, click on the Untitled link:
As well as releasing 1 from 2 bites on sailfish.
On their last day out Capt Jono was at the helm and fishing the bottom of the pocket at the first 100 fathom drop here at 8nm and beyond. They had a steady day with 4 mahi’s boated, a nice blue marlin pitch baited off the teaser on the 30lb test for 16 year old Kyler Kirkland that put him through his paces. Good effort Kyler releasing this nice blue after close to an hour on the light stuff…
As well as releasing 5 from 7 bites on sailfish. Another trip to remember and congrats to Kyle on his first ever blue marlin…
