3 Days at Sailfish Bay Lodge (and a Blue Marlin on Fly!)

The Blue Marlin

The Blue Marlin leadered at the boat!

Fly fishing for billfish is extremely addictive.

After a while you begin to be lulled into a trance by the diesel motor. The rolling ocean gently rocks you as the sun warms your skin. Then it begins. The captain yells, "Vela, Vela, Vela" or in a higher more excited pitch, "Marlin, Marlin, Marlin!" and everyone jumps to their position. The mates tease the fish to within casting distance like a well choreographed dance. The sails turn black and the blue marlin's fins and stripes turn the most brilliant electric blue as they become enraged at the escaping teaser. Then the captain yells, "cast!"and throws the boat into neutral as you are shaken from your trance and thrown into the performance. It is time to shine as you make your cast (cast is sometimes a stretch of a description when it looks more like a flop and has little resemblance to the delicate presentation so often thought of with fly fishing). The boat's forward momentum pulls the line tight as you begin to "jig" strip the 6/0 Cam Sigler tube fly. You watch as the fish turns to face its prey and are surprised at how fast it closed the distance and inhaled the fly. There is no gentle hook set. You bury the hook deep in the corner of the mouth with a few tugs on the fly rod mixed with a rod set that would make most Bassmaster pros cringe (being sure you move the rod in the opposite direction of the fish's travel. The hook set is really you just trying to not have the rod pulled from your hands). The water explodes as the fish goes airborne and you wonder just what you were thinking when you decided you could catch a billfish on the fly.

Huge thanks to the crew of the "Gypsy" and to Sailfish Bay Lodge. You guys are amazing and I can't wait to come back.
http://www.sailfishbay.com

The January fishing report from Sailfish Bay Lodge. We ended our trip with landing 20 sails and one Blue Marlin (Jan 18-20).
REPORT!

Billfish on the Fly

I'm dying to get back there and do this all again.

Guatemala - Blue Marlin on the Fly

Wild Mango Trees!

Shrimp farms. Every place we went had guards armed with shotguns.

Dinner was perfect every night.

Cam Sigler flies

After years of talking about it we decided to pull the trigger and try our hand at sailfish on the fly. We stayed at Sailfish bay lodge and were greated by the friendliest staff that did everything they could do to make us feel at home. The fishing was unusually slow. The first day we raised one sailfish that turned jet black as it attacked Phil's Cam Sigler fly. The strike was head on, which is nearly impossible to get a good hook set on billfish, and the hooks missed their mark twice before the fish vanished off into the blue. The second day I was up to bat and didn't raise a fish. The last day I was up to bat again at least until I had a fish strike the fly. early on we raised a blue marlin that swam under the teasers forever and never showed any interest in the fly but inhaled a bonito thrown to it. Unfortunately the hook broke and never set on the fish. We had a quick visit by another sail on the inside teaser that vanished as quickly as it showed. Phil and I decided that we would switch after lunch and he would try his luck the remainder of the day. As lunch was being cooked a Blue Marlin crashed the teasers. In slow motion my fly hit the water, I popped it and moved my rod tip from side to side and held the most retarded pose as the marlin inhaled the fly. The hook set perfectly in the side of the mouth and the fish tailwalked and porpoised for 100yards before the reel fight began. The fish sounded and I began the longest tug of war of my life. 2..5hrs. Line was gained and line was lost and the same 80ft of flyline was fought over for an hour. The shooting head finally appeared, then the fish glowing electric blue. The deckhand had me back off the rail as he began guiding the line and the fish up. The leader and the yellow line appeared and the deckhand and captain and Phil all cheered and as quickly as it began, it was over and the Blue Marlin swam off. I was left with cramping arms, a sweat soaked shirt and the biggest smile I've ever had on my face. The crew estimated the Blue at 300lbs.