Filling the bill for Pacific sailfish on the fly
By |
Mon, 5 Jun 2006
Filling the bill for Pacific sailfish on the fly
Outdoors with Paul Bruun
Jackson Hole News and Guide Wednesday, April 27, 2005
"The best thing about Guatemala and her sailfishing is that they never disappoint."
Riding around in the Pacific Ocean and armed only with a fly rod sounds as silly as bringing a knife to a gunfight.
But as a MasterCard promotion might exhort: "American Airlines airfare to Guatemala: $700; 12-weight fly rod outfit: $900; first Pacific sailfish explosion on your fly: Priceless!!!!"
Sure, I've read about fly rod billfishing. On TV it looks neat. But I've skipped that kind of fishing because I know little about it. Spanish isn't my second language and the best places are remote.
The intricacies of billfish on a fly are best understood not by the growing cadre of trout fishermen like myself who fancy themselves as saltwater aficionados after landing a few big jack, a couple of tarpon and possibly a bonefish or two from somewhere warm.
Tangling with a 6- to 9-foot-long billfish is best left to squinty saltwater veterans who've cut their teeth on real tackle and by dragging or pitching ballyhoo, mackerel, flying fish, live blue runner, sardina and pilchards, or artificial Zuker's and Clones in front of the pelagic fish world.
Here "matching the hatch" requires an understanding and blending of tides, boat handling, winds, rigging, currents, water color and temperature with even more intangibles like moon phase, bait presence and native truths.
Costa Rica, Baja, Cozumel, Australia, Senegal, South Africa, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and Guatemala are notable fly rod billfish destinations. Get to Guatemala City between November and April and make the hour-and-a-half ride to the Pacific coast town of San Jose. There you will be in the Yankee Stadium of sailfishing. Biologists agree that the confluence of currents and baitfish buildups over deep water off the Middle American Trench create the finest sailfish grounds anywhere. The government strictly protects sailfish by stipulating none be brought to land by commercial boats of any type.
Pacific sailfish are numerous and usually aggressive when it comes to striking. Sails I've pitched live baits to on 15- and 20-pound spin and casting tackle have reacted more predictably than a fat man in a candy store. Unlike heavyweight marlin and tuna, Pacific sails are novice-manageable on a sturdy 12-weight outfit.
Gary Graham's underwater Guatemala sailfish video pushed me "over the edge" when I saw it at a sports show in January. It was thrilling to see a wolf pack of big sails zooming after trolled or pitched baits and whirling their huge bodies about as deftly as frightened 12-inch baitfish. The speedy sails were both smooth and frantic, similar in appearance to a cheetah chasing down an antelope.
I was hooked!
Billfish trolling in many prominent areas has evolved into the "bait and switch" game, easily adaptable to fly fishing. Numerous fish are necessary for practice and building confidence. The captain, mate and hopefully a calm, experienced Spanish-fluent facilitator do the rigging, locating of fish and teasing them literally into the angler's lap. The angler follows instructions, casts and then hangs on!
Daily trips attract anglers of all types
Departing daily from Pez Vela Marina at Puerto Quetzal outside of San Jose are several dozen compact 25- to 40-foot diesel sportfishing boats capable of comfortably running from 10 to 50 miles to reach the "proper" sailfish water. Fishermen range from button-down corporate types on retreats to holiday- and beer-crazed Aussies, Brits, Yanks, Asians and Germans. Then there's the nutty collection of fly roders conspicuous in brightly colored flappy shirts and eager to see a vanishing act by their 30-pound backing.
None of the above will be disappointed.
There is much to tell about sailfishing and Guatemala, beginning with its rugged countryside that continuously morphs from rain forest and steamy pineapple and sugarcane fields to cool hillsides bathed in white flowering coffee trees. It is a place of pleasant people, Mayan ruins, oppressive poverty, volcanos, earthquakes, mangos, papayas and superb Centenario rum.
But when the excited staccato Spanish on your boat suddenly drowns out the endless VHF radio chatter, better focus on the flowing wake behind the transom. While the captain and mate fly into action clearing the outrigger and rods dragging baited teasers locate the remaining teaser. A great bill from a magnified giant brown-blue shape is madly slicing at the escaping bait that's being speedily reeled by the mate to the boat. The ready angler is positioned in a transom corner, holding the 12-weight outfit and a pink and white popper with twin super sharp 6/0 hooks secured behind a foam popper head that slides loose on the 80-pound mono shock leader.
A moment before this xenon-lit sailfish is scant feet from the transom and the mate yanks the teaser away, the fly and 25 feet of line/leader are dropped in the water. At nearly identical instants, the captain yanks the cruiser into "neutral" and Graham, who has changed from his wisecracking California dude persona into his perfection-demanding Vince Lombardy self, bellows: "Cast! Cast! Cast!"
Since the fly and line are already dragging in the wake, the cast is an easy water haul designed to land across the fading wake, 30 feet behind the boat. Make a few bubbly "ka-chug" strips with the popper-streamer combo and ... what happens next exceeds my meager descriptive ability.
When a large, excited sea creature spots a food-sized morsel that's burbling about the surface, the strike is so explosive and spectacular that being an observer is equal to being the angler. No two billfish strikes are alike and I guarantee you'll remember each and every one.
Sailfish put up mighty fight
Mr. Sailfish occupies all three rings of his own aerial circus for the next 15 to 20 minutes. The angler and his support group are treated to an array of greyhounding, cartwheeling, tailwalking and vertical jumps that are hard to believe, even on film. Amid such big game aquatic bedlam, I regularly wondered what I was doing with just a fly rod.
Did my fly rod for billfish attitude change after Guatemala? You bet. That sailfish nuclear explosion strike is more breathtaking than the Jackson Jaycees' Fourth of July aerial fireworks show.
Meanwhile, floating about the ocean beyond San Jose, there are so many loggerhead turtles that they are almost navigational hazards. Sooty terns and other airborne sea birds use the various sized tortugas as perches. Spinner dolphin, vaulting manta rays, whales, endless acres of feeding bonito and skipjack as well a periodic bait attacks from dolphin fish, marlin and tuna add to the excitement of a Guatemalan sailfish hunt.
