Starting on April 12th we had Carmen, Doug, Jr. and Doug Anderson from Alabama fishing for two days aboard the Circle Hook, with Capt. Eddie. The Anderson’s raised 44 sailfish, had 32 bites and 21 releases plus a they caught a 200 lb. blue marlin on the second day.

On April 16th, Jim Coston came down from Florida with some of his business clients for three days of fishing. One group, fishing aboard the Circle Hook, never believed that it was going to be their best trip ever. Some had fished in Costa Rica before, but never in Guatemala. Our first day we ended up with 42 sailfish raised, 36 bites and caught 30. What a way to get started!!! On the second day we caught 17 out of 23 and raised 32. Day 3 was a bit slow, but we still caught 14 out of 18 and raised 23 and we hooked, but lost, a 300 lb. blue marlin.

On April 19th the Circle Hook fished Rob Wooderson, part of a group of 15 anglers fishing on four boats. What a great trip they had! On the first day, we ended up 40 miles out catching 24 out of 28 sailfish and raising a total of 35. That was a pretty good day, but the second day was even better. Fishing the same area, we caught 35 sailfish out of 42 and raised 46. On the third day we heard from a local boat that some of the fish had moved inshore. Fishing only 10 miles out, we fished there until 1 p.m. and released 8 sailfish out of 12. We raised a 400 lb. blue marlin, but we didn’t get a bite out of him. What a great trip they had!!

Meanwhile, the ring leader of this group, Bob Green, from Louisiana, fished aboard the Captain Hook, with Capt. Ron Hamlin. During their 3 days of fishing they racked up 86 bites out of 103 sails raised. The group released a total of 48 sailfish and 3 of those were on the fly. This was a special trip for Bob as he caught his first sailfish on a fly rod, an event that he will cherish for a lifetime.

On April 26, we had Steve Schmidt, Pacific Fins Partner, and 21 guys down for the first annual Pacific Fins Invitational Tournament. The guys fished competitively for 2 days and had Sunday as a lay day, with some of the guys opting to fish for “fun”. The fun fishing day resulted in several sails and 7 Yellowfin Tuna brought in by the Captain Hook.

Here are the official results of the inaugural, “SOLD OUT”, 2008 Pacific Fins Invitational Tournament:

Two day tournament results:

Circle Hook: 3100
Captain Hook: 3000
Allure: 2600
Fishy Business: 2600
Hooked Up: 2500

The teams earned 100 points for each sailfish and 500 points for each caught marlin.

Tournament Highlights:

On Saturday, the fishing was fast and furious. Circle Hook and Fishy Business raced out to leads with 26 and 24 releases respectively. Allure had 15 releases and 1 blue marlin. The boat Hooked Up had 18 releases. Captain Hook had 7 releases and 1 big blue marlin (well over 600 pounds). The Captain Hook was at a disadvantage on scoring because of the marlin fight that lasted 2 hours, plus another 45 minutes trying to revive the fish (which they eventually did).

Fishing slowed a bit on Monday. Capt. Eddie aboard the Circle Hook only had one fish on day two but it was a blue marlin. Ron Hamlin was way behind on Monday but found the fish at 1 pm. He had 38 raises and 33 bites Monday. The next high boat had only 8 raises on Monday.

The Rules on Monday were strictly IGFA. With novice anglers on board, Ron Hamlin came up 1 fish short after a furious comeback. The tie-breaker would have been the largest weighed Tuna, Wahoo, or Dolphin, and Captain Hook had a 38 lb. dolphin (dorado) on board.

In the end, the fishing was great, the barbeques were fabulous and camaraderie at the bar each night was priceless. Most of this group had never fished in Guatemala, and they came away in awe, saying they can’t wait to get back!

If you would like to arrange for a private tournament or just treat your best customers to the trip of a lifetime, give us a call and inquire about booking the entire Resort. We do offer group discounts for 10 or more people.

The Marlin are starting to show up in good numbers and our summer special is just around the corner. Come on down from June-September for our summer special, a tremendous 40% off or take advantage of our KIDS FISH FREE offer! You can find out more information on our web site at www.pacificfins.com or call Pacific Fins USA at (888) 700-3467.