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The seas are calm but the fish anything but
You just never know after the new moon shows how exactly the sailfish are going to be feeling. There is common wisdom that over the phase of the full moon (which we just experienced on January 30th) that the fish maraud through the night and incessantly search for prey. This continuous feeding sometimes causes them to be less aggressive during daylight hours – or at least less aggressive than they normally would be when they hunger after a tasty baitfish morsel.
Over the past week the fishing was down from its recent peak, but we were still raising plenty of billfish each day. As the new moon has progressed, so has the fishing – each day has become noticeably more prolific and the sailfish have become more and more aggressive.
While reading up on this theory, I realized that we had swooned into the Gibbous Moon…….so I had to read further. It just seemed like one of those adjectives that had such a lot to offer. The more I read on about moon phases and other parameters that may or may not effect the fishing, the more confused I became and the more I came to realize that there is little science behind the “moon bite theory” – in fact I was reminded of a recent Washington Post definition of a new word :

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.


It may or may be true, but some fishermen hold to its promise – and this week the statistics seem to be supporting the theory.
We welcomed the Snyder party this week for their first visit to Guatemala, and despite some slow going on their first day, they stuck to their long wands and were rewarded by a couple of feisty billfish on the fly. Having broken that potential duck, they have developed considerable expertise in their timing and by their final day had a very good hookup rate and landed seven good sized sailfish on the fly. Another group fishing with us had 18 released on conventional that day by lunchtime, when they stopped counting and turned their attention to more pressing matters such as spotting the sails as they chases the teasers all the way to the stern of the boat.
Latest satellite chart here.

The weather has been warm and stable since we waved good riddance to the two recent cold fronts that washed through, and calm blue water has pushed in to about 30 miles from the shore. The seas are flat all the way out to 50 miles – but who needs to run when the fish are biting close(r) in ??
We haven’t seen many marlin since that weather moved on, but we are hoping with this nice sustained spell of warmer air and clean blue water, we will begin to see a more consistent raise.
The good fishing however (and hopefully !) will continue until the end of April and even into May we have seen a strong and sustained Marlin bite – so in that regard the season here in February is only just starting !
FREE 40 page guide to Guatemala Fishing here.