Our friend Nat Harris of North Carolina joined us the 1st of the year to fish 4 days with us on the fly rod. It was our official inauguration of our Billfish Inn and we were most happy to be joined by such a discerning and long time friend. Things had slowed a little since the pre-New Years mayhem of 60 release days, but like it always is with fishing in Guatemala, things are never dull. Nat hadn't picked up the fly rod since May of '05 but it didn't take long to get rid of the rusty spots. We released 4 on the first day and 3 on the second and by day three were firing on all cylinders. With the fishing have slowed inshore we turned the 'Decisive' for offshore waters and what a day it turned out to be. At around 11am we had a blue of 250lb's in the spread, we teased the fish in which made a pass under the fly but faded away, with the mackerel ready to pitch, the fish lit up and was all over the bait with Nat making quick work of the feisty marlin on our new 50lb Alutecnos standup tackle.
A couple sailfish later there it was, another blue on the left short, things went along with the script and Nat hooked the little blue in text book fashion and we were in for the speedy show that only a blue marlin can put on, with line just melting from the reel on each blistering series of jumps. A half hour latter, Nat had released the blue and given our new 40' gamefisherman the 'Decisive' the blue marlin baptism of fire, one on the bait, and one on the fly, not bad for a single angler in a single day, and throw in another 4 sailfish from 5 bites on the fly and you have one happy boat. Not to be out done, Nat went an unbeaten 7 from 7 the following day to round off an unreal fly rod trip neither of us will ever forget.

On the 6th, we were joined by long time friend Jake Jordan for his second trip of the season along with Rick Dye, Therese Goodman and son Jamie. We raised 19 sailfish and got 6 of the spooky fish to bite the fly. Rick Dye caught the first fish, then Jamie caught one followed by his Mom Therese catching a 125lb sailfish on fly, ending the day 4 from 6 bites. We again released 6 on the fly on the 7th with things being slow the following day but livening up on the 9th again to release another 6 from 9 bites to finish their trip in style, great averages for new to the fly rod game anglers. Well done guys!!

Until next report, tight lines and healthy releases.

Capt. Brad Philipps
"Decisive"