Your Host Resort
You’ll stay in individually decorated bungalows with local textiles and furnishings. Each bungalow is equipped with air-conditioning, comfortable beds for a good nights rest and a private bath with plenty of hot water. Anglers and their guests are welcome to disconnect in the lodge’s resort swimming pool surrounded by manicured lawns and flowering plants or to reconnect with friends and the office via complementary Wi-Fi service. Come dinnertime, you will gather around the bar serving among other things, our signature cocktail “Canaso” and a selection of hors d’oeuvres while swapping fish tales in the open-air rancho.
Dinners are a multi-course affair celebrating the finest in Guatemalan cuisine featuring fresh locally sourced organic ingredients. Sailfish Oasis prides itself in ocean-to-table dining. Signature dishes like dorado ceviche, giant prawns marinated in a ginger and sweet chili sauce, pan-fried dorado topped with toasted almonds in a butter and wine sauce, succulent grilled Caribbean lobster with fresh drawn butter. For the land lubber, USDA prime meats are always available. And if wish, pair your dinner with a carefully selected New Zealand white or South American red wine. Next, you’ll enjoy a delectable dessert and local Antigua coffee and aged rum.
The next morning enjoy a hearty breakfast before fishing. Come lunch time, grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, fruit and chips are customary provisions on board the Intensity. Mahi-mahi and tuna catches can also quickly turn into the perfect ceviche or sashimi snack. In short, our goal is to provide anglers with extraordinary hospitality at the world’s finest billfish destinations.
Oceans Alive with Fish
Sailfishing off Guatemala is phenomenal! But so is the dorado or dolphin fishing, yellowfin tuna, wahoo and marlin. Catching 15 out of 25 odd sailfish plus scores of dorado and tuna is routine. And when the waters are teaming with bait, as is usually the case, the catch rate can climb to three or more times that number. Guatemala holds the single day record of 124 sails released on conventional tackle and 57 on fly. No other fishing destination approaches the billfish numbers found off Guatemala. The reason for Guatemala’s productivity has to do with its mountainous offshore bottom structure and the currents that interact with it, sending oxygenated water or upwellings to the surface. Currents moving east from Mexico and west from Panama collide off Guatemala, creating enormous nutrient-rich eddies that attract and hold baitfish, which in turn attracts gamefish. Everywhere you look there is marine life. Not just sailfish, but whales, spinner dolphin, sea turtles and diving marine birds. Best of all, about 75 percent of the time this marine show happens in flat seas. Calm conditions that make Guatemala the ideal spot for first time fly fishermen wanting to catch billfish or new-to-offshore fishing families seeking an introduction to the sport. In short, anyone who doesn’t like rough sea conditions will find the ocean off the Port of San Jose a pleasure.
Sailfish, blue and black and striped marlin, wahoo, tunas and dorado are caught year round. However the peak billfish season is October through June. The summer months are tops for dorado and inshore species such as roosterfish, Cubera snapper and grouper on light tackle.
Built by DCN, (the Costa Rican-based builder credited with building early Gamefisherman Boats) the 37-foot Intensity is a custom built boat with a wide open cockpit that makes it ideal for up to four anglers and for fly fishermen taking billfish on fly. It’s was formerly owned by Tim Choate of Artmarina – the company that pioneered sportfishing travel to Guatemala – and was the number one requested gameboat at Fin ‘n Feathers Lodge. With Capt. Bud Gramer it caught the first triple header (three fish by three anglers) of sailfish on fly in March of 2001. Among the previous captains are Ross “Flash” Clark and Chris Sheeder, who turned the keys over to his younger brother Mike in 2006.
The Intensity is powered by two Cummins Diamond series 450 hp diesel engines that make her fast (30-plus knots at cruise) and maneuverable. She’s also comfortable and dry. The boat is equipped with state-of-art electronics, communications and all safety equipment and GoPro cameras to catch those breathtaking images for future bragging rights. Ready for battle, the Intensity is equipped with the finest standup conventional tackle including 16- to 20 pound for sailfish and 30- to 50-pound custom outfits for marlin and tuna. Additionally, we offer 20-pound spinning gear for sailfish and dorado and 14- to 16-weight fly fishing tackle for those wanting to experience even more fun with billfish. Or, bring your favorite tackle to fish with. Our mates are some of the world’s best at pitching baits and teasing and releasing billfish. Over the years the Intensity has recorded an average year-round daily release rate of 18 sailfish.
The Intensity is one of a dozen or so sportfishing boats docked at San Jose Marina, the only major marina on Guatemala’s Pacific Coast. It operates year-round.
A Word about Conservation
Guatemala is a leader in billfish conservation, which has played a big part in making this area a favorite destination for offshore fishing enthusiasts the world over. Guatemala was the first country to embrace and enact laws requiring the mandatory use of baited circle hooks in its offshore fishery. It also has a strict no kill billfish policy. Because of these policies, it has been able to sustain its reputation for the most sailfish releases in the Pacific every year since records have been kept. Capt. Sheeder proudly contributes to conservation research by keeping accurate records and data on his average yearly 1,500 to 2,000 billfish releases.