Trip Summary
Final thoughts
This was a very successful trip. We went to catch Sailfish and managed lots of those. Garry also ticked Sailfish and Roosterfish off his list of "never caught before". We were also fortunate enough to catch a very big Marlin. The biggest fish that I have ever caught - although we both shared the work/catch. So we were able to tick Marlin off our lists too. Garry had tried over many years.
Catch Summary
A total of 47 fish as follows: -
- Sailfish: 28 in total, 15 for Garry and 13 for me
- Dorado: 9 in total, 5 for Garry and 4 for me
- Marlin: 1 in total, shared between us
- Roosterfish: 2 in total, 1 each
- Spanish Mackerel: 1 in total for Garry
- Jack: 1 in total for me
- Bonito: 5 in total, 3 for Garry and 2 for me
The Sailfish probably averaged around 80 lb each, the Marlin was estimated at 350 lb and some of Dorado were a good size. That gives a total weight of over 2,600 lb between the 2 of us. Not bad at all!
Whilst these numbers are not on a par with those achievable in the peak season in Guatemala, we would have been over the moon with this number of Sailfish in Madagascar last year.
Guatemala
There really is a contrast between the USA-like Guatemala City and the rest of the country. Guatemala City streets were well maintained and lined with strip malls and large advertising boards. Once beyond the city limits, the roads got much worse and had speed bumps every few hundred metres for most of the 2 - 3 hour journey to the coast. Gone were the nice vehicles seen in the city to be replaced by hoardes of motorcycles, scooters etc. Often with a whole family on board. No helmets and I am sure many of the vehicles weren't road worthy. There were also lots and lots of large trucks - again in the USA style. I am not sure if they really needed to be that big - but what do I know!
The few people that we did interact with were friendly but we didn't get out and explore the country so I can't really vouch for that side of Guatemala.
There were a couple of interesting aspects. One was the volcanoes that were visible from most of the country that we saw. One was Fuego and was active - often belching out clouds of steam, dust etc and visible from our boat: -
The other aspect was the strange coastline that we saw when inshore fishing. Most of the beachside properties were in a bad state of repair and there was a strange set of abandoned buildings that were marooned at sea: -
I wondered if there had been a financial crash that had lead to this. Upon asking Marty he explained that a rogue wave had hit the shore, travelled several miles inland destroying almst everything it touched. It then receeded and took a couple of hundred metres of beach with it - leaving some properties marooned. We wondered if the rogue wave had been caused by one of the 200 or so earthquakes they experience each year due to volcanic activity.
Lastly, and very important for us, Guatemala has a strict catch and release policy for all billfish. The boat crews were onboard with this policy and did everything they could to ensure the fish were released quickly and swam away healthily.
Accommodation
The villa was very well setup for fisherman (lots of photos, trophies, reproduction fish mounts etc). It was also close to the marina - just a few minutes drive. It could host up to 14 guests and we had it to ourselves. The standard of furnishing and cleanliness were superb.
Regarding the staff, the 3 ladies were there from early morning until after the evening meal was done and washed/cleared up. They were very friendly and helpful and prepared some great meals for both breakfast and evening meal. Having my shorts and fishing shirts freshly laundered each day was a nice bonus.
Marcelo (our driver) was always on hand to ferry us to/from the marina and he also handled our airport transfers. He was very friendly and he played some great music from the 80s (my era)!
Our host and owner of The Big Buoys "Marty" was living above the villa and was always on hand to chat, answer questions (about more than just the fishing) and generally make us feel very welcome. We discussed the plan for the day's fishing and reviewed it after we returned.
Another bonus was that he provided sun cream factor 85 - yes, I said 85. I have never seen any that high and it was nice to know that you are protected when focussing on the fishing. I actually missed a bit on one my feet and it burned very quickly. So I know the cream worked well elsewhere.
There was a lovely homely feel that I would recommend wholeheartedly.
Fishing charter
As previously mentioned "Marty" also owned the fishing operation. The 2 boats were well equipped with a variety of rods, reels and even a GoPro on a long pole (great for getting photos of us with a fish alongside the boat). There were plenty of cold drinks although we consumed chilled water more than anything else. A mid-morning snack was provided (often Melon & Pineapple). Lunch was prepared on the boat and consisted of either part of the morning's catch (if we caught Dorado, Spanish Mackerel or Tuna) or pasta/fries with a burger otherwise. I particulary enjoyed the fish tacos that we had one day. They provided really effective thermos drinking bottles that kept our water lovely and chilled even in the direct sunlight of a 37 degree day!
The crew were excellent and usually consisted of the captain and up to 3 deck hands. The deck hands were so quick at reponding to a take, hooking the fish and preventing tangles with the other rods. They were also great at handling and releasing the fish and getting good photos and video. The 2 that stood out were Kevin and Steven - both faster than a cat when the action began and seemed to be able to coordinate many tasks at the same time.
The boats were fast and kept up this speed for up to 2 hours when taking us to the feeding grounds. You can see more about the boats here
Any reader of my previous blogs will know that I suffer sea sickness. This affected my scuba diving holidays as well as my fishing holidays. In the past few years I have kept this under control through the use of Scopoderm patches that you stick on behind your ear. They can help for up to 3 days. However, there seem to be supply issues both online and at high street chemists. I therefore reverted to Stugeron tablets (my previous remedy). I took 2 with breakfast and can happily report that I never suffered during the whole trip despite the motion of the boat.
Booking experience
We booked this trip through SportQuest. The information on their website suggested the actual accommodation and fishing was provided by The Great Sailfishing Company. I researched that company on the internet and found that it's information seemed outdated, it's few YouTube videos were very old and low quality as a result. It had a button on it's website to subscribe to "an extensive guide to tips and information about fishing in Guatemala" - this does not work and always returns a subscription error - unauthorised.
The day before we travelled, we received an email from SportQuest containing a PDF information sheet about the accommodation and fishing. It was actually from The Big Buoys and not The Great Sailfishing Company. Upon talking to Marty (the owner of The Big Buoys) he had never heard of SportQuest.
Our conclusion was that we didn't get any real benefits from booking through SportQuest and would recommend people book directly with Marty.
As previously stated, if it's Sailfish that you are after with a chance of other large billfish (Marlin, Tuna etc) then we would wholeheartedly recommend using The Big Buoys and booking directly.