SAILFISH ATTACK

By Herbert Rosell

March 11, 2006 Iztapa, Guatemala

I first met Bill Blount and his angling companions the evening of the 10th

of March at the Quinta Pez Vela, making their annual pilgrimage to

Guatemala. Mr. Blount is an extremely well traveled angler. That night

everyone at the Quinta Pez Vela was anxious and eager about what the next

few days might bring, especially since the Captain Hook (43' Willis) with

Capt. Ron Hamlin at the helm was on its fifth straight day with over 50

releases. The local and visiting sportfishermen were also reporting

impressive numbers of releases on seasoned gameboats like the Bolita,

Escapade and Chipolopolo

I saw the group again the next morning at the Marina Pez Vela as I walked

by the Captain Hook. Mates Eddie and Sammy were busy in the cockpit

setting up for the day's challenge. I exchanged well wishes with everyone

and boarded the Release (37' Merritt) with Capt. Chris Sheeder. The run to

the fishing grounds was a short 40 minutes in typical 1-2 ft Guatemalan

seas. I watched Capt. Ron lower the Captain Hook's outriggers and teasers

into position. Just a few minutes later the Captain Hook started backing

down on its first sailfish. I was up on the bridge when I heard Ron on the

radio to Tony Haupt aboard the Escapade, "It's a double". Mates Eddie and

Sammy quickly released the sails, re-baited, and smoothly got back in

position in minutes. I can tell you that Eddie and Sammy are as good as

they come.

In between our own releases I could see Ron backing down, release after

release after release. At a quarter to 11 our numbers on the fly were

pretty impressive at 21, but Ron has just released number 43, in just 2 ½

hours of fishing. Around 12:30pm, after a quick gulp of lunch, I heard

Ron say, " I just released number 73." I asked Chris, "Did he say 73???"

Yeap, 73! What a day!!! We had several hours of fishing time left in the 

day, and Ron was well on his way to surpassing his day record of 83!

A couple of hours later we trolled the Captain Hook, and they were hooked

up on a triple. I just couldn't help myself and asked Chris to get an

update on the number. It was "96." Holly Mackerel!!! I knew the

Pacific Day Record was set! It was now building up to World Record. I

have fished in Cancun and Isla Mujeres, locations known for incredible day

numbers on sailfish, but these weren't 30-40 pound sails. These fish

were BIG!!! The average sailfish was well over 70 pounds and were being

caught trolling.

 When the fumes settled the numbers read 188 bites with 124 sails released!

Captain Hamlin, who has over 21,000 career releases, had set the new

Single Day World Record!! Congratulations to Capt. Ron Hamlin. Kudos to

anglers Bill Blount, Bill Brown, Mike Bolwen, Aubry Dauterne and Pete

West, pretty work!!! A most special "couldn't have done it without you"

thanks to mates Eddie and Sammy who set the new single day bait rigging

record of over 200 baits. Did I mention this was Bill's first day fishing

out of 3. The next two days were equally impressive, with 81 releases on

day two and 95 on day three, giving them a grand total of 300 releases in

3 days.

God, Thank You for Guatemala!!!