If you’d like to catch billfish, anywhere in the world, you’ll need to know how to bait and switch. Pitching rigged baits to fish that come up on teasers is perhaps the most common (and effective) technique on the sportfishing landscape.
There are a couple things that are notable about this approach.
- It produces visual bites and is very, very exciting.
- It is tricky and takes a bit of practice to become proficient. In order to master the technique, you need to have lots of shots… A good teacher helps, too.
Check out this compilation of bait and switch videos from our Facebook page.
Why Guatemala, Why Sailfish Oasis
Guatemala is perhaps the best place in the world to learn how to bait and switch. This is a function of how many bites we get and how many fish we raise.
If you were to throw a dart randomly at the calendar next year and plan to fish three days with us, you might expect 40 sailfish bites over three days (you might experience half this number, it might be two and a half times that number, also).
Guatemala is the world’s best volume billfish fishery. The number of sailfish here make it a perfect place to learn how to bait and switch yourself.
To learn to hook fish, there is no substitute for practice, no substitute for bites. In the process of learning to hook fish on circle hooks, you’ll inevitably miss fish.
If you’re fishing in a place where you might only get five or six shots at billfish over a trip, it’s hard to learn. Not only do you not get enough repetition to learn the technique, but there is too much riding on each bite.
This part of Guatemala’s charm. Sure, nobody ever wants to miss a sailfish bite. But when you catch 20 sailfish out of 40 bites, missing a fish or two as part of the process stings quite a bit less than it might in other places.
An Experience for Every Angler
The consistent presence of sailfish and blue marlin produces really a great situation for a variety of clients, experienced offshore fishing and otherwise. Among the clients we host at Sailfish Oasis are:
- People who want to see what offshore fishing is all about.
- People who are experienced fishing offshore, but want to set a personal best or just really enjoy catching lots of sailfish and blue marlin.
- Sportfishing tournament teams. Experienced bluewater anglers who fish with us to fine tune their approach, prepare for tournament season, and generally have a good time.
The great part about this is that Guatemala is ideally situated for each group. On top of that Captain Jono and our crew are well-versed in catering to each group. We can do as much or as little of the cockpit work as you prefer.
Come See Us. We’d Love to Teach You the Fine Art of the Bait & Switch.
For those who are learning to hook fish themselves, the first day and a half usually means the crew being involved—and some hooking and handing with instruction along the way. By the third day, the second and third day, most anglers have a feel for the bait and switch process and will be pitching to and hooking as many of the fish as they like.
Captain Jono is patient and he’s an expert teacher. He really enjoys the process of helping people become better anglers. He’s supportive and not a screamer.
For tournament crews, our mates will help spot fish as they rise. We’ll have boat lunches on point, snacks, and cold beers flowing. In this capacity, our crew will generally help keep the baits rigged but the anglers will often handle most everything else—hooking the fish, manning the teasers, leadering and releasing sails and blue marlin.
When you fish with us, it’s your show. We’re here to help deliver the experience that you’re after. That’s what we mean when we say, the complete Guatemala experience delivered in a way that makes you the star of the show.
Bait and Switch in the First Person
Come fish with us. We’d love to show you the ropes. In the meantime, here’s the bait and switch experience delivered in the first person.
There he is. A dark shadow emerges behind the right flat line.
By the time your eyes pick up the bill protruding from the water, the mates are in action. One on the teaser reel, the other points you to the reel rigged with the ballyhoo that you’ll pitch.
He smiles as you shuffle into the corner of the transom. You toss the ballyhoo into the water and watch it flow back behind the boat.
The reel is in free spool. Your thumb controls the speed of the line as it falls off of the reel. You control the position of the bait as it moves back toward the fish.
You watch the ballyhoo flutter about the surface. Drift it into position, you find a patch of clean water that’s free from aeration of the boat’s wake.
As the bait drifts back into the spread, the mate on the reel snatches the teaser out of the way. It skips across the surface and back into the boat.
You hold the rod tip high, your thumb holding the bait in place. The rigged ballyhoo alternates between swimming and skipping across the surface.
The dark shadow returns, giving way to the beak of a sailfish. Its mouth open, the fish approaches the bait from behind. It’s bill shuffling back and forth, left and right a bit, with the beats of its tail.
You see it as you feel it. Your eyes and hands functioning as one. It’s the bite, the sailfish has taken the bait.
You drop the rod tip, release tension from the reel, dumping it. Line flows from the reel as fluidly as water about rocks in a stream some place in the mountains. Getting to this point—able to allow line to flow from the reel without resistance, without backlashing it—takes some touch and some practice.
“One, two, three, four.” You count to yourself in your head, as you finally feel what Captain Jono has been explaining.
You feel it. The line flowing off of the reel is no longer drifting, but moving with purpose, in a solid direction. The fish has eaten the bait. You throw the reel into gear, smoothly pushing the lever drag to strike.
You begin reeling. Three cranks, four. The rod arches. Your tight.
You stand with your feet slightly wider apart than your shoulders. You deliberately bring the rod tip up… you’re on. Your smile is wide and bright. Awesome.
You look up from the reel to see the sailfish greyhounding away from the boat. It’s 100 yards or so off of the transom, the ocean is calm and blue. A hell of a day for it.
You’ve hooked this one yourself. In all of your concentration, you hadn’t noticed that there’s a second fish on the left bridge teaser.
Your buddy is up. He’s pitching to the fish himself.
Before long you’ll be dancing about the cockpit. This is what it’s about.
