The Guatemalan Chronicles - Day 3

Read about day one here and day two here.

Setting: 

The Que Vela, Captain Tom's 34-foot super-panga; 40 miles off the Pacific coast of Guatemala

Cast of Characters:

• Captain Tom, Panamax Sailfishing (@panamaxsailfish)
• Jon, iFished.com (@iFished)
• Salty, SoCal Salty (@socalsalty)
• Fish Allen, expat living in Guatemala (@No_Twitter)
• Victor, non-English-speaking deckhand (@No_Twitter_2)
• Me (@mattrevors)
• Pacific sailfish (@Istiophorus platypterus)

You're either bouncing with anticipation (or sick and tired of waiting) to check out what the fishing for sailfish was like, so here's the first day...plus a little treat at the end.

Enjoy.

Sunrise at Marina Pez Vela

Marina Pez Vela in Sailfish HQ in Guatemala

Captain Tom about to board the Que Vela!

Jon, with Captain Tom at the helm

Jon takes the helm for a bit

Dolphins!

My first sailfish, on conventional tackle

What kind of pompous fool tries to catch a jumping sailfish on Instagram?
Me, that's who...

No shots on the fly gear on day one, but at least it looked awesome...

First day's results:

One sailfish each for Jon, Salty, Fish Allen (biggest of the day) and myself, all on conventional gear. Zero shots for me on the fly rod.

I had the first of the day, and therefore the first in Captain Tom's new boat, which was kinda cool!

Oh yeah...the treat at the end....

Here's a vid of Salty hooking (& landing) his first sailfish. Yours truly was holding the Go-Pro...with a lot of coaching from Salty!

There's some awesome footage in there (not really as a result of me...I just held the camera & hoped for the best).

Enjoy!

The Guatemalan Chronicles - Day 2

Click here to read about day 1.

I slept like a log at the hostel. I woke up just before 7, giving almost a solid 10 hours of sleep. Brilliant.

After 30 minutes of wandering around the hostel, trying to find some sort of hot caffeinated beverage, I ended up coffee-less and on the rooftop patio to check out the sights & sounds of Guatemala City. That's when I spied a mini-bus coming down the street with a familiar face in the passenger seat.

It was Jon, he of iFished.com

Of course, I had never met him in real life, but I recognized him from the sailfishing webcast he did with Salty and Captain Tom of Panamax Sailfishing. I quickly grabbed my backpack and rod case and headed downstairs to check out.

The Case of the Missing Salty

After some quick introductions with Jon's family and 'Fish Allen,' we piled into the mini-bus and headed to the airport to pick up Salty.

But he wasn't there.

Fortunately for me (& those around me), at least there was coffee at the airport. So we settled in to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Finally, we called off the waiting to head to the local tackle shop to grab a few items and beg for some internet access to see where Salty was.

At Pesqueros, we also met up with our driver to take us to the coast. Our driver, aka The Puma, was on the job & wrangled Jon some internet access. Salty got hung up in Atlanta due to mechanical issues but was scheduled to arrive shortly.

Back to the airport, with a quick stop for a traditional Guatemalan lunch of McDonald's quarter-pounder with cheese ("Cuarto de Libra con Queso").

Close to 1PM, eight hours after his original arrival time (thanks, Delta Airlines), the elusive Salty walked out of the airport.

Off to the Coast

Salty, Jon, Fish Allen and myself piled our gear & ourselves into The Puma's compact sedan (his van was sick).

The Puma might have the physique more similar to a Latin American Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man, but behind the wheel, his puma-instincts took over. That guy had that P.O.S. car pinned the entire drive to the coast.

A couple of cramped hours later, we were in Puerto San Jose. We checked into our hotel and sampled the national beer, Gallo, at the pool bar (guzzled a few bottles of agua pura, too).

We wandered into the town to grab a few things from the supermarket, eventually meeting up with Captain Tom for a bite to eat.

The town was...interesting. Think of how the Mos Eisley spaceport would be in a developing, Latin American country, and you would have an idea.

However, dinner was pretty damn awesome.

Check out some pics.

Cerveza & agua puras, poolside

Main drag of Puerto San Jose

It was some Saint of Something celebration going on...

Shark jaws

Guatemalan meat fest! 

After feasting from the grill, we called it an early night, for the wakeup call for sailfishing was coming early the next morning.

Note: Salty posted some random tidbits of information about Guatemala; give them a read here.

The Guatemalan Chronicles - Day 1

Departed for Fredericton Airport from my place at 4AM. It was -14°C, i.e., colder than a witch's tit. Check-in went smooth at YFC, as always, and we departed for Toronto about fifteen minutes late...as always.

Tense moments at YYZ; we landed and spent almost a full thirty minutes waiting for a gate. I only had about an hour to make my connection. Add it up: fifteen minutes late for departing + 30 minutes waiting for a gate + 10 minutes of shenanigans of getting off the plane = one sprinting Mat.

But I made the flight to Mexico City. And surprisingly, so did my bag.

After clearing customs in MEX, I had four hours or so to kill until my flight to Guatemala City. I celebrated the 24°C weather by sitting outside for most of that time. Terminal 2 at MEX is pretty damn nice. 

Outside MEX Terminal-2

I also indulged in the traditional Mexican cuisine of "greasy pizza by the slice in the food court" and an ice-cold Coca.

Soon enough it was time to head through security & to board the plane. This part wasn't overly fun. 

As usual, I was traveling with my four-piece rods & reels in my Orvis rod case. It's never been questioned that it's a carry-on; however, sometimes I tell a fib to the airline agents & say it's a clarinet because they never have an issue with a classical musician, but sometimes look funny at an angler. 

I'm headed through security with the rod case and, of course, they need to look at it. They make me take all the rods out of the socks, one at a time, to look at them up close. After a few questions and some more glancing, they let me go through.

BUT...then this Mexican hobbit of a woman in a security uniform runs up to me at the gate, a solid five minutes after the fact, and proceeds to tell me I can't bring my rod case on the plane. I politely tell her she's wrong (this doesn't go over well) and I had carried the same case through security in Cancun last month. No dice. Back to the security checkpoint I go.

The argument escalates when I ask them to either show me their regulations (I can't read Spanish, so not sure where I was heading with that) or to speak to a supervisor, i.e., the person who let me through the first time. They give me zilch. 

So back to the airline counter, where I threw $20 US to the shrink-wrap dude to wrap my rod case up solidly, and I hoped for the best. Back through security and onto the plane...and we're off.

I always seem to snap pictures from the plane. I don't know why, but I do. This trip was no different.

Mexican Marines

Random snow-capped volcano

Clouds

Sunset over the Pacific

Customs & immigration in Guatemala was a piece of cake; they had separate lines for residents and foreigners...and only 7 of us gringo-types were on that flight. A few cursory questions, passport stamped, and I made it to Guatemala!

My bags were quickly picked up (rod case intact, too), and then I was off to my hostel for the night.

Jon & Salty were picking me up early to head to the coast, plus the long day wiped me out. I'm typically a laissez-faire traveler, because I know how anything to do with air travel is more likely than not to get fucked up...but I found the Toronto sprint and the Mexican carry-on argument pretty annoying & tiring.

I was asleep by 9PM. Delightful.

Next up: Day 2, starring a missing Salty and The Puma...

Packing List - Pt. 3

Time/Date: 2115 AST, 10-Dec-11
Location: Fredericton...but not for long

Eight hours, fifteen minutes to departure.

With a little bit of time, planning & creativity, one can easily pack light.

Everything one needs to catch sailfish, largemouth bass, carp, tilapia, and whatever else might swim within range.

(Read Parts 1 and 2 to see the full packing list)

Except 9" trout on small mountain streams, that is...

See, Jon? I think it'll all fit in the cab. :)

Tools of the trade

Next stop: Guatemala & sailfish glory!

Wish me luck!

Packing List - Pt. 2

Time/Date: 1005, 09-Dec-11
Location: F'ton

2 days until departure.

To continue from part 1 of my packing list for Guatemala, this is where that whole 'packing light' thing somehow gets tossed out the window.

I've done fishing trips before (obviously) and I've done 4-6 week work trips before, but this is the first time for flying to another country for a week of a metric shitload of fishing for multiple species.

And I mean multiple species...like sailfish plus a host of other fish that might be around (marlin, mahi-mahi, shark, etc., etc., etc). Possibly some inshore stuff, including roosterfish. Stillwater fishing, with largemouth bass and carp. And also tilapia, which I only heard of because I think I ate some at a Tapas restaurant in Mexico.

I'm still trying to pack light, but shit quickly gets out of hand:

Sailfish rig:

• Temple Forks Outfitters TiCrX 9012-4pc
• Hardy Zane Saltwater 3 reel (not the Titanium one...I'm sick but not insane)
• Cortland's Billfish line (13wt/65'/clear intermediate sink tip)
• 500 metres of 50# gelspun backing

All-purpose Big Gun:

• Redington CPX 9010-4pc
• Redington Delta 9/10 reel
• Rio's WF-10I striper (?) line (clear sink tip)
• >300 metres of 30# gelspun backing

My lightsaber (i.e., don't leave home without it):

• Redington CPX 908-4pc
• Lamson-Waterworks Litespeed 3.5 reel
• Rio's WF-8F saltwater line
• Orvis WF-8I line (clear sink tip) - on spare spool
• >225 metres of 30# gelspun on both spools

The Little Gun:

• Redington Predator 7106-4pc
• Redington Rise 5/6 reel
• Rio's WF-6F smallmouth line
• 150 metres of 20# gelspun backing

The Fly Boxes:

• Saltwater box: Umpqua UPG, filled with everything from Clousers, Deceivers, crabs, Gotchas, rabbit strip flies and anything else that looked fishy.
• Misc box: Umpqua UPG Doublewide, filled with foam & deerhair poppers, freshwater Clousers, salmon bombers, hoppers, streamers, Stimulators and anything else that looked (freshwater) fishy

• Sailfish flies: big, f**k-off poppers in obnoxious colours with 6/0 & 7/0 hooks

Misc Fishing gear:

• Pliers, nippers, hook sharpener, etc...
• Mooseknuckle Lanyard
• Hip pack
• Leaders, etc.
• Buff, sungloves, sunglasses, etc; mentioned in part 1.

As long as I don't end up small stream fishing for trout, I should be covered...

Enjoy some music:

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I hope everything is going super for you, Mrs. Claus, the elves & the reindeer. Hopefully we normal humans haven't f**ked everything up in the North Pole for you due to our greedy ways & our blatant disregard for climate science.

I've been a damn good boy this year, so I was hoping I could get a few presents for Christmas from you. I know the list might look daunting, but Jeebus, man, you can fly around the world in a single night while delivering toys to all the good little boys and girls...and hopefully lumps of coal to arseholes like this.

So, without further ado, here's my Christmas wish list that I hope you bring, Santa:

1. Governments to govern for the people. They will create sustainable policies based on the best scientific and socioeconomic data available, as well as common sense. In this gift, they would also stop playing partisan politics, reduce the amount of influence corporate lobbyists have, and stop preying on the fear & ignorance of the populace to get elected.

2. Businesses, big & small, to incorporate triple bottom line accounting in their business practices. This will give us a better world today, and leave an even better world for future generations. Companies can have profits while helping people and the planet. Look at Patagonia, for an example.

3. The end to the combination of apathy and needless consumption by the people. This doesn't need further discussion. This gift has an accessory called "stop paying attention to bullshit reality TV" that I would really like, too, if you have room in your toy sack.

4. News media to stop broadcasting the news of idiots, i.e., the Kardashians and all these other mindless reality TV shitheads. Bring an impartial broadcast of the current happenings of the day around the globe. Stop stirring up shit. Stop glamourizing shit. And, for the love of (insert chosen deity here) and all that is holy, douchebags aren't news. It shouldn't even be entertaining to people.

5. If you're able to get the first four things on my list, Santa, then truly you are a great and all-powerful Santa. Then you shouldn't have too much trouble to get the elves to slap this together:

Wish List Item #5: Maverick 17 HPX Micro

I know I talked about needless consumption and greed and such, but, you see, Santa, I fish. A lot. And I want to start guiding people, and it would be awesome to have this kick-ass boat to do it. Don't worry, it'll be all catch & release, and I'll incorporate triple bottom line accounting in my business.

So that's it. It's not too much to ask for, is it Santa? I mean, look at how good I was this year.

I promise to keep being a good boy next year, too. When you come visit me on Christmas Eve, I will have a plate of fresh homemade cookies ready for you. Yes, that's right, I've been baking like a pimp lately, so it won't be a problem to whip up a batch of those tasty calorie bombs.

Thanks for everything, Santa; I just know you'll make my Christmas really awesome!

Sincerely,

Mat

PS- Next summer, when you're on vacation, come visit & I'll take you fishing. I'll cut you a real good rate for my guiding fee. Just leave the reindeer at home, though. We have idiot poachers all around this place.

Recycled Fish Stewardship Tip: On Bottled Water

Another stewardship tip from Recycled Fish.

Bottled water presents a hazard to our fish and to you as well. Here are two tips to help you reduce the amount of bottled water that you use.

1. Carry your water with you:
Fill a large water jug from the tap and take it with you. Refill your smaller water bottle from the jug! We fill a five gallon water jug with ice and water and set it in the back seat of the truck. We refill our smaller bottles whenever necessary. If there is water leftover at the end of the day, we set the jug on the counter at home and use it to refill our water glasses.

2. Use a hydration pack: As with the jug, fill your hydration pack from the tap and take it with you. Many packs come in large capacities, up to 100 ounces of water. You can use the large pack to refill your smaller bottle. This is a great option if for a day hike.

How I roll...

Why it is important to you:
Bottled water is costly. A glass of water from the tap costs less than a penny. A 12 ounce bottle of water will cost a dollar or more. Besides not making economic sense, bottled water is not necessarily a healthy alternative.

Generally speaking, bottled water falls under FDA standards and, in some cases, sources for bottled water do not need to meet the same standards as municipal water supplies. EPA standards, for example, require that city tap water can have no confirmed E. coli or fecal coliform bacteria. No such standard is in effect for bottled water. Indeed, stricter FDA standards regarding E. coli for bottled water did not go into effect until December 2nd, 2009.

(Mat's note: In Canada, the regulation of bottled water sold in Canada is shared by Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (link). Local water supplies are inspected every day, whereas bottled-water plants are inspected at three-year intervals. Read a CBC article on bottled water here.)

Why it’s important to the fish:
According to American Rivers, Laurel Hill Creek could soon have its unique character destroyed by excessive water withdrawals. According to the United States Geological Survey, 2 million gallons of water are withdrawn from Laurel Hill Creek every day. This exceeds the calculated daily safe withdrawal level by 600,000 gallons.

As if the current strains on the creek were not enough, there is a proposal on the table to withdraw up to 108,000 gallons per day from Laurel Hill Creek for bottled water! According to Clair Saylor, a life-long streamside resident, “the only way I can monitor the amount of water in the creek is to count the number of stones exposed across the creek. By that measure we’re already in crisis.”

Without water there will be no fish. When large amounts of water are withdrawn from a watershed, as water bottlers often do, the results can be disastrous. We can only tax our rivers and our aquifers so much. When we drink bottled water that is sourced from aquifers and streams, we are taxing the environment for our fish.

By using water from the tap, we help to reduce the strain on our rivers and ultimately on our fish.

-Because our lifestyle runs downstream-

********
Now that I've successfully made you feel guilty (and/or angry), here's an awesome (AWESOME) track from the Black Keys' new album, El Camino, which was released on Tuesday. Buy it. Trust me. Just buy the damn album.

little black submarines // the black keys by sexmusic

Why I'm glad to own an Evinrude Boat Motor

Becky told me about this....it has to be seen to be believed:

 

Yeah. Ok, then...

Packing List - Pt. 1

Time/Date: 1055, 06-Dec-11
Location: F'ton

5 days until departure.

I like to pack light whenever I can. As this trip isn't about working at six or seven thousand feet elevation in Idaho or weddings or anything serious enough for people to judge me (Jon? Joe?), I'm going as light as possible for this one.

Below is part one of my packing list. Part two will be fishing gear-specific & posted later this week.

The clothing & most accessories have been well-tested by me in other parts of the world, so consider the list as Mat's Official Approved Traveling Angler Gear List...whatever that counts for. I've put the brand name + links in brackets, in case you want to research these products further.

Without further ado:

Clothing:

• 1 pair of board shorts (Prana)
• 1 pair of convertible, quick-dry pants (Columbia)
• Long-sleeve sun shirt (Howler Bros)
• Fredericton Outfitters logo'd fishing shirt - gotta represent! (Simms)
• Long-sleeve fishing shirt (Redington)
• Light hoodie (IceBreaker - read my review here)
• Travellin'/workin'/chillin' pants - for the trip to/fro (Carhartt)
• Insulated vest - for leaving & returning to Canada (MEC)
• T-shirts (various)
• Underwear (Ex Officio)
• Socks (IceBreaker, SmartWool)
• Light rain coat (Marmot - this thing is OLD!)

Footwear:

• Light hikers (Merrell)
• Flipflops - to be bought in Guatemala

Accessories:

• Sun mask (Buff)
• Sun gloves (Simms)
• Sunglasses (Costas x2 - read my review here)
• Waterproof pouch (Simms)
• Microfleece sleeping bag liner (REI - no longer made...?)

Electronics:

• Waterproof point & shoot (Pentax W90)
• iPod Touch 64 GB - camera, internet, e-books, music (read about my love for iPod here)

Luggage (checked):

• Backpack (Arc'Teryx - this, too is OLD!)

Luggage (Carry-on):

• Rod case (Orvis)

********

Pop back later this week for part two - my fly gear for Guatemala!

Recycled Fish Stewardship Tip: Conserve Water

As I wrote last week, I'm very happy to be a part of the Recycled Fish team.

And, as promised, here is one of many Stewardship Tips that are available on their website.

THREE TIPS TO CONSERVE WATER
(see the original post here)

We’d all like to install Ultra Low Flow or waterless toilets to conserve water.  It’d be nice to redo our plumbing so that our gray water is recycled into our lawns.  These can be expensive projects and while they’d be nice, the fact is, you can conserve water at little or no cost.  Here are three simple tips to help you conserve.

1. Conserve water in your shower:
Install a low flow or ultra low flow shower head.  This is one of the easiest ways to conserve water in the home.  Most non-conserving shower heads will use 5 to 8 gallons of water per minute.  A low flow shower head uses 2.5 gallons of water per minute, an ultra low flow shower head will use 1.5 or less.

2. Conserve water in your toilet:
Install a displacement device, a tank dam, or an early-close flapper valve.  A displacement device is nothing more than something to take up space in your tank.  Fill a 32 ounce plastic soda bottle with gravel, cap it, and place it in the tank.  Tank dams, pieces of flexible plastic wedged into the tank on either side of the flush valve, reduce the amount of water available per flush by holding a small amount out of use.  An early-close flapper valve is a valve that will shut before all the water in the tank can flow into the bowl.  Early-close flappers often are adjustable, so that you can find a good balance between saving water and having the toilet bowl reliably cleared.

3. Conserve water your yard:
Eliminate all runoff.  Observe your sprinkler and make sure that water does not get on the sidewalk, driveway, or street.  Even the smallest overlap will send gallons of fresh water into the sewer.

Why it is important to the Fish:
By conserving the amount of water that we use, we reduce that amount of water that we discharge from our homes.  Water from showers and toilets is discharged into the sanitary sewer.  In some areas sanitary sewers are are combined with sewers that channel natural runoff.  A series of dams in the sewers prevent sanitary sewage from entering the watershed.  During heavy rains, combined sewers can overflow their dams and discharge raw sewage directly into a stream or river.  Needless to say, raw sewage in a stream can spell disaster for our fish.

Our Lifestyle Runs Downstream