TEXAN’S ‘N AUSSIE’S
L-R: Barclay Dixon (AUS), Heather Johnson, Brooks Kelm, Craig Johnson (TEX), Michael Dunlevy and Justin McCallion (AUS)
Jan 7th and 8th we hosted x 2 groups down at the lodge. On the water the crew from Melbourne, Australia crew fished aboard Typhoon and the Houston, Texas crew were aboard Allure II.
Brooks and a birthday release for Heather.
Barclay with 1st Pacific sailfish
Plenty of big mahi’s about, Justin with a big bull.
The Johnson crew were in for Heather’s birthday, we tried hard, working the deeper water for a marlin with no joy in that respect…
The Aussie crew flew in to sample the fishing with fellow mate from Melbourne now by way of Antigua and Sailfish Oasis sales maestro Michael Dunlevy. They had a blast including summiting 3976mtr or 13044ft Volcan Acotenango, surfing and sightseeing.
Over the 2 days of fishing the 2 boats released 11 from 17 bites on sailfish and boated 7 big mahi mahi.
Cool Marina shot from Brooks drone…
DISHMAN / BRIGGS
Cindy Dishman, Bud and Annie Briggs with Jamie Dishman
Jan 5th and 6th good to see the above group back down here in Guate’s again.
Triple header of mahi’s and missed a sailfish at the same time for the quad.
We went 4 from 5 on sailfish, raised 2 blue marlin with the second, a solid 350lb fish, coming in red hot with a head and shoulders tease on the long teaser, awesome switch/bite on the pitched mackerel for Jamie and we had the fish on and jumping for a good 8 mins before the hook pulled. Bit of mala suerte there. Also 5 big mahi’s in the boat.
Dad and daughter
HELLER GROUP
James Little, Bob Lindsay, Tom Heller and Ken Gray
Jan 3rd and 4th for their first trip to Guatemala we hosted the above group from Midland, Texas.
James with a large species….
Over the 2 days of fishing the guys released 12 sailfish from 24 bites and boated a couple of mahi’s.
Tom Heller with his first billfish.
NEISHAM CREW
Libby, Billy and Samantha Neisham
Billy and Libby from NZ have been managing the Lodge from October through the end of December. We got them out on the water for a short half day on Jan 2nd. Daughter Sam released her first sailfish and we teased in a hot blue marlin, fish overswam the pitched mackerel bait on 30lb test, turned and we got a full body out of the water going away bite. Had the fish hooked though then line parted….also a couple of nice mahi’s aboard.
LUNDBERG FAMILY
Nils, Ingeborg and Jan Lundberg
January 1-2-3 all the way from Stockholm, Sweden nice to meet the above family for their first trip to Guatemala. Fishing aboard Capt Hook and mixing it up between conventional tackle and the fly.
Jan with his sailfish caught and released on the fly.
Over their 3 days of fishing they raised 26 sailfish releasing 9 from 16 bites on conventional and 1 from 6 on the fly. Some hard to tease fish out there and difficult to convert bites. They also jumped off a blue marlin off the rigger bait.
Ingeborg released 3 sailfish and enjoyed a bit of ABBA on the boat.
They had a great time down here and enjoyed excellent fishing, nothing beats those close bites on the fly, even if they were hard to hook.
PFEFFER / WALTERS GROUP
Amber, Brenley, Jay and Blake Walters with Deano and Jennifer Pfeffer
Awesome to fish with the above group again from Port O’Conner, Texas, this time bringing twins Brenley and Blake to see in the New Year down in Guatemala fishing 30th and 31st of December and partying in 2018.
Brenley hanging on…
And Blake with a nice one….
Over the last 2 days of 2017 they released 13 sailfish from 17 bites, raised 2 blue marlin with Jennifer releasing the last blue marlin in Guatemala for 1017….
And also got into a few nice mahi’s to boot…
Jen and Amber with a nice pair….
And we had a fine old time that night for the New Years bash…
KIRKLAND GROUP
Casey McDermond and (not so) Fast Freddy
The Kirkland group of Kevin and Kim and son’s along with Brian and Casey were down fishing December 27-28 and the 29th. A bit slow, though plenty of mahi’s boated daily, 8 sails released from 12 bites, a blue marlin raised that did not switch and good times all round..
PEEK GARLINGTON III & IV
Father and son Peek Garington III and Peek Garlington IV
Fishing December 19-20 and 21 for their first trip to Guatemala the above father and son team fished 3 days aboard ALLURE II. Mixing it up on the fly and conventional they released 16 sailfish and 2 blue marlin with Peek III releasing an estimated 300lb blue on the fly, congrats to him on an incredible feat! Also another blue on conventional and Peek IV got his first sail on the fly….
BRAD SEARS & BRIAN GOOD
Brian Good and Brad Sears on the fly…
December 4th and 5th Brian Good from Florida and Brad Sears from Texas teamed up to fish a couple of days with the team aboard Typhoon. Keen as fly fishos they were not disappointed with an awesome trip. First day started slow with 2 from 3 released on the fly. They found fish the second day on the 5th raising 32 sailfish getting 18 bites on the conventional tackle releasing 10 and going 3 from 6 on the fly. Great trip!!
SHINKLE / TAYLOR
Jack and Nick Walter with Brian Shinkle
December 2-3 and 4th we fished with regular Brian this time introducing his nephews from California to the fiery here in Guatemala. A bit tough compared to normal early December fishing with 23 sailfish bites over the 3 days.
We also boated a mahi and on the last day teased in a hot 350lb blue marlin, great bite right off the corner on the pitched mackerel for Brian and and awesome fish to finish off on…
Good times with these guys and Jack and Nick finished off their trip visiting Tikal and Lake Atitlan.
