Page 86 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2018

SPORTS & OUTDOORS fishing trip
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
story and photos by Frank Wilem
truly enjoy blue water fishing in the northern gulf where you can catch great numbers of large tuna, wahoo, and dolphin on a single trip. And the billfish action can be hot as well. We’ve raised double digit numbers of white marlin, blue marlin, and sails on a single trip. But more typically, we feel lucky to even see a couple.
My experience blue water fishing south of the border has been quite the opposite with lots of billfish bites and the occasional meat fish. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is known for having lots of striped marlin. Farther south in Los Suenos, Costa Rica, we’ve released as many as 167 sailfish in one trip and double-digit numbers of marlin fishing Tropic Star, Panama. But for years, I’ve heard tales of catching enormous numbers of billfish at Casa Vieja in Guatemala. So, this year we decided to give it a try.
Generally, our man trip group of 12 books a year or
more in advance to ensure a chance to fish at the peak
of the season. For example, the Spindrift which I was scheduled to fish on had raised 100 sails and released 74 in one day last year!
But our high expectations for this trip took a hit as upon our arrival we learned that the water temperature was around 79 degrees — a full five degrees cooler than normal for the time of year. While this initial report was not encouraging, we were committed.
The crew explained that the cooler water problem was twofold. The number of fish were far fewer and then tended to have a “lazy bite.” Sure enough, the first day we raised double digit numbers of billfish but only managed to hook and release two. The fish would come up in the spread and attack the teasers, or perhaps toy with the bait but just wouldn’t seem to eat. Very frustrating.
On the second day, the boat we were on had been skunked the previous day so the captain elected to go farther offshore in search of fish. Inshore it seemed to be rough but fortunately laid down as we got well offshore and began to fish. However, it turned out that going much farther offshore was not such a great strategy as we saw far fewer fish than the previous day.
Each day we caught plenty of mahi mahi which ended up on the menu that night. I must say, the restaurant turned out gourmet meals that left no one hungry.
86 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2018
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