Blue Marlin fishing in Guatemala

The best Blue Marlin fishing tends to be in March/April and again in November/December

Of course there is variation around these generalities – in fact the marlin bite does seem to be improving each year for the last several years – for the most recent season 2008/9, there was hardly a day went by when the fleet did not catch at least one good sized marlin, and typical days most boats would raise at least one marlin.

Often what has raised the most excitement on slow days has been finding debris and getting out the superlight tackle to target dolphin/Mahi for sport and the table. These fish are harvested commercially in the region, but they make excellent sportfish as well.

They are among the fasting growing animals in the world – reaching sexual maturity in as little as 3 months (although 4-5 is normal…………must be a bar joke in there somewhere?), and essentially consume everything and anything that they come across. They put on body mass at an extraordinary rate, reaching the 6lb mark in less than a year and more than tripling in size over the course of the next 12 months. They make great light tackle sport fish, as they will have hatched underneath floating debris or weed, and can be teased out to turn a bite into a feeding frenzy – holding the school close to the back of the boat to facilitate superlight tackle or fly is the way to go.

When you are wondering where they all came from – consider that having reached sexual maturity (at 4-5 months), they typically spawn every 6 weeks and release up to half a million eggs that start to hatch after a couple of days…………and start to feed voraciously ! The corollary of this means that even with the commercial fishing in the area, we are not shy about trying to catch Dorado on the way out to the fishing grounds to make cerviche for a late morning snack – and to save some meat for the table in the evening.

Tuna can also be found in good numbers throughouot the fishing season.

They are usually found – or at least located – under a school of spinner dolphin. The spinning dolphin appear in vast numbers in the area, although declining in recent years due to the effects of longlining.

The “spinners” congregate in huge numbers and put on an ariel show.

It is not clearly understood why they choose to perform such acrobatics, and it is not always the case that there are tuna beneath them – but it is always a spectacle to watch while trolling along in the deep blue water – with the prospect of 20-50lb tuna hitting the lures at any time!

The tuna are also pelagic, roaming the open seas in search of clean water and food – and although not always accompanied by dolphin, this is the easiest and most reliable way to visually target a potentially productive piece of water.