Fishing Reports
Report for October 2010:
by Capt. Chris Sheeder
The Whitney group from Arizona, had a family reunion at the Casa Vieja Lodge and aboard the Rum Line, Oct. 22nd and 23rd, and the fishing didn't slow down.
Day one we rasied almost 30 sails and the group caught 9 from 22 bites. We also raised a nice Blue Marlin, but as sometimes the case with the sail fishing being so good, the fish was pushed out of the pattern by a group of sails.
Day two started off with a bang catching a triple, then a double. After which we decided to switch from the baits, and try our hand at fly fishing. Before the fly rod and the full pattern even got put out, we had a sailfish biting the teaser. So I decided to slow the boat down and simulate how we would tease a fish in to the fly. "Go ahead...take that spinning rod and put that ballyhoo right there on that first wave" I said. To everyone surprise the sailfish, just before eating the bait, ran off and was replaced by a 500lb Blue! After doing a few high speed donuts around and under the cockpit, she sank into the depths. "It's alright, we"ll get one" I said, biting my bottom lip, punishing myself for slowing the boat down, but get one we did! The rest of the day we messed around with sailfish and the fly, and late in the afternoon we had two more shots at Blues. The first was about 250lbs, but pulled the hook after an amazing 300 yard dash, and the second was a 300 pounder that we caught on 30lb test!
Now that's what I call a family reunion!
* Due to TS Matthew, our first group had to be cancelled on account of the flooding and mudslides between Guatemala City, Antigua and the Lodge. There is still considerable flooding in Pto. San Jose itself - but the good news is the water is starting to recede.
* On 01 Oct, owner Jim Turner who was down surveying the damage in town, managed to sneak away for a few hours with Capt. Jason Brice on the Release - our signature boat. Dirty water was everywhere. The first 20 miles was filled with logs, plastic bags and lots of flotsam and jetsam. The next ten wasn't as bad, but speed had to be reduced to keep from striking various semi-submerged objects. At 40 miles out they began to start seeing some cleaner water - so they dropped the teasers in and starting fishing. About mid-day, the first fish was raised and released on 20. The next two fish were raised, only one bit and it would have been a new world record for 2lb line had it not broken off boatside. So they scored the day 3-2-1.
Report for October 2010:
* 04 & 05 - CCA auction winners Kristin and Anton Kalbli fished from the Release and scored one apiece on conventional 20 and fly. They scored their first day 4-2-2. Second day was spotty, having seen only one large spinner dolphin, prospects didn't look good. Jason's mates raised two sails, one bit and one was released on fly. Score their trip as 6-4-3 (two on fly, one on bait).
* 09 thru 11 - We waited out the storms and lo and behold the sun came out. Dave Pattillo and son Mathew came to fish, after getting washed out for the Father & Son Tournament in May.
First day on the Release with Capt. Brice they got out 37 miles to the clean water and blew a transmission seal on one of the engines. Limping back into port on the single, they caught several nice dorados.
Second day found the pair aboard the Rum Line with Capt. Sheeder out in the same area the Release tried to fish. This day they caught and released 3 sails and had a blue come up into the spread, but had lockjaw.
Third day found them on Rum Line again, while parts were ordered for the Release. Same area - 4 more sails, and a nice 300# blue released. The dorado became fish fingers back at the lodge.
A pretty decent trip. I score it 20 raised sails, 7 sails and 1 blue released.
* Moran-Hepburn party currently aboard the Rum Line - with Capt. Chris Sheeder is seeing gobs of sails.
17 Oct - first day, the sails were all around the boat - raising 21, hooking 8 and releasing 3 on flies.
18 Oct - second day, a repeat of first day again the sails were everywhere, raised 22, hooking 8 and released 3 on flies. Then a blue appeared - hooked and released a 325 pounder on a fly.
Three more days to fish the season is starting to shape up