Guatemala Fishing Recommendations

[sureshot375]

I’ve been kicking around the idea of heading down to Guatemala to catch some sailfish and other pelagics .

Any of the AH crew have firsthand experience with an outfit you liked?

 

[mdwest]

I haven’t fished Guatemala in a long time.. but I’ve got an office in Guatemala City and a few Guatemalan national employees.. I’d be happy to ask them for recommendations if interested..

If you have a spare day, make the trip to Antigua.. beautiful little city with some cool history and cool shops that less than a 2 hour drive from Guatemala City

 

[sureshot375]

I haven’t fished Guatemala in a long time.. but I’ve got an office in Guatemala City and a few Guatemalan national employees.. I’d be happy to ask them for recommendations if interested..

If you have a spare day, make the trip to Antigua.. beautiful little city with some cool history and cool shops that less than a 2 hour drive from Guatemala City

Thanks!!! Sounds like a great source for intel.

I will have to check out Antigua for sure.

 

[Travis Johnson]

Sailfish bay - we fished there years ago , my sister and I caught 25 sails and 13 dorado in 3 days

 

[kpoynter]

Sure,
You have two well known choices and a couple others…
They are all right next to one another
1) Casa Vieja Lodge
2) Pacific Fins
3) Buena Vista Sportfishing Lodge (lesser known)

You fly into Guatemala City and take an arranged shuttle down to the coast or some take Helicopters (I’m sure it’s a bit pricey but you see the Volcanoes etc and it’s cool)

Look at your dates… moon phase etc.
I had one of those incredible 100 sailfish days… when the bite is on you should catch 15-25+ plus some incidental Mahi etc.

The first two are both World Class, well known lodges and operators. You cannot go wrong

 

[Hooknbullet2]

I’ve fished Guatemala and the tournaments down there numerous times with many different outfitters.

The best of the best in my opinion is Jason Brice. I highly recommend him.

https://guatemalafishingcharters.com/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

 

[Pasme]

Went to Sailfish Bay a couple years ago. Best fishing I've ever experienced in 20 some trips to central america. You will see way more "guards" with machine guns than say Costa Rica but we never felt threatened in any way. People were super nice. Boats could have been better but the fishing more than made up for it.

 

[ChooChoo404]

Pick your time carefully. Sails have historically peaked Jan/Feb. There are dead times too.

I was just there and it wasnt good. Wonder if that has anything to do with the what 5km longline we saw with a baited hook every M.

Plus the inshore nets, legal, plus the ilegal ones at the inlets. I tried to call that shit in, no knowledge of it going anywhere.

A couple years ago I went to the market in San Jose and there was sailfish meat and roe in every fish stall. A lot of it.

OTOH last year at about the same time the inshore was absolutely rockin’!

Tunny, jacks out the yingyang, grouper, permit. Mahi dismal, sails worse.

Look at the Casa Vieja reports webpage.

IF truthful, it’s an immensely valuable intel source.

 

[ChooChoo404]

Last words: Go with gringo captains.
In my admittedly limited experience, the Fooking Guatemalans just dont fooking get it, but they think they do and are arrogant about it. Dunning-Kruger with a vengeance.

And I can call em Fooking Guatemalans cause I am one.

Antigua rocks! Allow massive extra transit time into or from town, and mask up, diesel particulates!

 

[Av8or]

Blue Bayou Guatemala, Chris Starrs , great Captains , nice lodge , had a great time and caught a lot of fish . bluebayouguatemala.com

 

[Seavas]

I've been to Pacific Fins. Lodge was nice. Food, bar, and service were excellent. We had bad weather and fishing sucked; only a handful of sails over several days and no marlin. The week before and week after they had good numbers.
Seas were bad while we were there. We did bring back about 25lbs of mahi filets that they packaged and froze for us.
There's several lodges in the same neighborhood and they are usually at DSC Convention. Brad Phillips is THE guy down there but he's usually booked up.

 

[Hooknbullet2]

I've been to Pacific Fins. Lodge was nice. Food, bar, and service were excellent. We had bad weather and fishing sucked; only a handful of sails over several days and no marlin. The week before and week after they had good numbers.
Seas were bad while we were there. We did bring back about 25lbs of mahi filets that they packaged and froze for us.
There's several lodges in the same neighborhood and they are usually at DSC Convention. Brad Phillips is THE guy down there but he's usually booked up.

Have you fished with Brad? I have. I fished a tournament with him.

 

[LivingTheDream]

Have you fished with Brad? I have. I fished a tournament with him.

Well how did you do?