January 21st-27th, 2012 – Casa Vieja Lodge, Guatemala
Final Report:
Everyone had a great time at this year’s event!!! The Marimba Band kicked off the festivities on Monday night right after the rules meeting. Chef Juan prepared an incredible five course dinner followed by his world renowned mouth watering desserts. “There’s is nothing like Casa Vieja’s Guatemalan Hospitality” said Capt. Stu Apte, “truly a first class facility.”
Day 1: We had the Captain Hook with the M*A*S*H team of anglers Dr. Jay Howington and Dr. Gage Ochsner in first place with 4 releases. The Makaira with Jeff Harkavy and Capt. Stu Apte came in second with 3 releases and both the Rum Line with anglers Dr. Mick Kollassa and Bill Little and the Spindrift with anglers Dr. Stephen Christensen and Dr. Michael Kish tied for third with 1 release. Our very own, Capt. Stu Apte released the first sailfish at 9:24am, way to go Stu!!!
Day 2: Darin & Dino Colucci aboard the Intensity started the day by breaking one of their new sage 13wt fly rods, but that did not deter them for coming in first place with 4 releases. The Rum Line came in second with 3 releases followed by the Captain Hook with 1 release.
Day 3: It was Intensity time!!! Darin and Dino did it again!!! Broke another Sage 13wt and came in first place with 3 releases – I hope this isn’t a new fishing ritual, ouch that’s a little to expensive for me!!! The Rum Line followed with 2 releases. This gave the Intensity the boost it needed to finish in first place overall with 7 releases. Darin also came in with top angler honors with 6 releases and caught the last fish of the tournament. Rum Line came in second with 6 releases followed very closely by the Captain Hook for third place with 5 releases.
Looking over all the Captains logs at the end of the tournament we noticed that the vast majority of the gameboats had raised well into the double digits every fishing day. The fish were just “in love” pairing up for their mating ritual, swimming along each other prolonging the normal tug of war we are accustomed to in Guatemala. Sailfish are opportunistic breeders and when the time is right they’re good to go!!! And they were in full swing our tournament week.
We thank Stu and Jeannine for their continued support as we do our great sponsors:
Galvan Fly Reels, Temple Fork Fly Rods, King Sailfish Mounts, Simms, Costa Del Mar, Fins Premium Superlines, Boga Grip, Mason, Ocean Potion and Casa Vieja Lodge.