Guatemalan Billfishing Adventures - Fish Report - January 2010

The fishing has been red-hot since our Christmas report, and for a variety of reasons January 2010 will be a month to remember for years to come. 'Decisive' had many 30 plus sailfish release days, won both the tournaments it fished and Capt. Brad Philipps released his 20,000th career billfish as a captain. So with 551 releases in the past 25 days on the water it's easy to see why anglers have been kept so happy sharing in the exceptional fishing Guatemala has to offer.

John and Heather Harvey of Richards Bay, South Africa, spent Christmas with us and started fishing on the 27th December, with

7 sailfish releases from 15 bites. Things started picking up the next day with 19 releases from 28 bites, and 19 from 26 the following day.

Fernando Paiz and family fished with us on the 30th and the bite was hot releasing 31 sailfish from 46 bites in a shortened but exciting day.

Steve and Diane Cothron, 'Decisive's' owners were with us at our 'Billfish Inn' to see in the New Year, along with their guests Dan and Stephanie Malin, all of Texas. With 38 releases from 52 bites it was a
great way to see out the Old Year and we saw in the New with 15 from 29 bites.

The Harvey's were back on the water on the 2nd of January and were treated to one of their best days with 30 sailfish releases from 43 bites, then 22 from 28 and 18 from 31 bites on their final day to end a
wonderful trip during which the couple released a total of 115 sailfish and quite a few large dorado.

On the 10th, Joe O'Brien started with us on the fly releasing 7 from 9 while raising 17 fish. Our close friend and neighbor Scott Lund joined Joe on the 11th to release 3 on the fly in a short day.

'Decisive' fished the Jake Jordan International Fly Fishing Challenge on the 12th through the 14th with Scott and Joe as it's anglers. The team released 5 sails on the first day to take a lead they never relinquished. On day two 'Decisive' ran back out west and found the fish snapping. Scott released the first fish of the day, the 20,000th career billfish release for Capt. Brad Philipps, a historic achievement that has only been accomplished by one other person, Capt. Ron Hamlin. The day ended with 15 releases from 22 bites for the duo on the fly to further increase their commanding lead. Day three saw the whole fleet around 'Decisive' but unable to raise the fish the winning team was seeing with 'Team Decisive' releasing another 8 sailfish from 9 bites. The team ended up winning the tournament by twice the number of releases of the second boat, Nick Smith's, 'Old Reliable', with Scott Lund taking a walk-away victory as the first placed angler and Joe O´Brian taking second placed angler, for the clean sweep.

Carlos Arias, Eddie Smith, Dean Vardeman, Larry Williams and Philip Klose, fished aboard the "Decisive' and Wilson Avalos, Wally Darneille, Steve Bauer, and David Pearson aboard the 'Circle hook' on the 15th to release 8 sailfish a piece.

The 21st saw our friends Bobby and Carol Richter of Port Aransas, TX, along with son Brian and girlfriend Rae joining us for 4 days of superb billfishing, to release 36 from 55 on their first day and 41 from 51
the next. Day three saw them on the fly releasing 15 on the bait and 4 on the fly with 2 of those for Bobby to give him his first on the long wand......nice going Bobby. The following day saw Bobby and Carol enjoying Antigua while Brian and Rae had the boat to themselves and both did a wonderful job releasing 4 on fly and 16 on bait. The following day we all played a wonderful round of golf at the spectacular Antigua Golf and Country Club to end a special trip for the Richters.

John and Patsy Hundley, along with their friends Roger and Denise Hatton all of Florida, were with us to experience the superb fishing we were seeing from the 26th through the 28th. Their first day saw 31 releases, 46 releases the next and 31 releases on their final day to total 108, releases in just 3 days of fishing, you just can't beat the consistency of these rich waters.

The 29th saw the start of Hill Dishman's very popular 'No Sanchocho' tournament. With a lot of money and pride on the table all the Guatemalan big guns were in town for the event, with 'Team Decisives' Steve Cothron, Scott Lund and Harvey Steinhagen back to defend their title. With good fishing, 'Decisive' was very steady throughout the
three days, releasing 31 from 45 bites on day one to be only one fish off the lead. Day two saw the team fishing conventional 20lb tackle and ballyhoo in the morning and then switching to a combination of bait
and fly fishing in the afternoon to release 22 sailfish on bait from 32 bites to get within half a fish of the overall lead. Day three saw 'Team Decisive' in an unstoppable top gear with Scott releasing 8 from 8 on the fly while Steve and Harvey contributed another 19 on the bait to take the day and win the overall tournament by the equivalent of 5 fish, and the invite to the IGFA tournament of champions in Cabo next year. Once again the event was an outstanding success with a lot of money raised for the local school, and a good time had by all. Thank you Hill.

With all the bait, blue water and endless sailfish both east, west and offshore of us it's looking like we are going to see the next few months with some bumper days, so take advantage of the few openings we have and come on down to experience what countless others have hailed as the ultimate in Billfishing Adventures.

Until next report, tight lines, circle hooks and healthy releases