Although the main attraction for anglers in Guatemala is the huge numbers of aggressive Pacific Sailfish that are present all year round – there are also good opportunities for many other species of gamefish in the calm blue waters off the coast.
Inshore waters offer the prospect of the much sough after Roosterfish. Although the immediate coastline does not provide ideal conditions for fishing for these gamefish, they can be found usually trolling around areas of strong current within a few miles of the Pez Vela marina.

Typically Roosterfish are pursued with either livebait or soft imitations cast around hard structure or rock formations. As we don’t have any significant outcroppings or high reef for bait to concentrate close to shore, we resort to trolling either ballyhoo or rapala lures and aim to cover more ground.

This results in lower reported catch rates than other locales – but the Roosters are around, and can be caught – it does offer a less expensive option for a charter day or “rest day” (or half day), with a chance of bagging another trophy. Like most other members of the Jack family, it is not considered to be a good eating fish.

Another exciting and productive way to fish the inshore waters of Guatemala is to “chase the shrimp boats”. Typically there are four or five shrimpers working within a few miles of the harbor, and the local captains will be happy to contact them to find out when they are lifting their nets – as when they do this, the nets are always followed by large schools of competitive and aggressive fish – predominantly amberjacks.

If you are looking for nonstop fishing action either on conventional or the fly – that will leave you with a very sore arm at the end of the day – then this is a great and very economical alternative for a full of half day fishing.
Inshore fishing for either roosterfish or jacks is often done from pangas or small open fishermen/centre console boats that are less capable of making the run offshore in search of the larger pelagic fish.

While the peak season for offshore and bluewater fishing in Guatemala is February and March, this is mainly because these are the months when cabin fever reaches its apex in North America and Canada – and so when most groups feel most driven to escape the cold and come down to the (sub)tropics for a respite from the bitter cold.

The main sailfish season runs from November until about May, as this is when the consistently calm seas and moderate currents allow huge schools of baitfish to congregate and concentrate in the “pocket” offshore between six and twenty-five miles.

The “shoulders” of this season – so November/December and again in March/April tend to be when we see the best and most consistent marlin bite (predominantly Blue marlin, but also catching blacks at times). 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.