blue bayou - private charters

A friend and myself have planned a 3 day trip at the Blue Bayou Lodge in February 2015. If you would like to join us and share the charter trip, please contact me and we can split the cost for a fishing trip of a lifetime.

I fished with Chris with my whole family on Dec. 28, 2013. The sea's were very calm, the boat was very accommodating for the four of us. Chris picked us up in Antigua, Guatemala early morning and we drove an hour to the coast - where his boat is.. We learned so much from Chris about the country, the culture, the fish species, etc. It was a day I will treasure and it was topped off by Chris finding me a sailfish to cast to late in the day. I would fully recommend Chris and his crew.. top notch all the way. We did not have a chance to stay at the lodge but we are already planning a trip back.. Thanks, Chris!Bill Meyer

Fantastic time with Captain Chris & Crew. They worked hard, and we caught serious sailfish and a dorado. (Got it cooked that night at an Antigua restaurant!) Nothing but sweet things to say about the experience.Chris even wore a Detroit Tiger visor! Seriously, we saw porpoises, sea turtles a huge pod of spinner dolphins that was amazing. Great lunch on board and what can you say about a bunch of sailfish catching air as you catch them! We did a day fish trip. Great value.Go here!

Bravo to Captain Chris Starrs and Blue Bayou for running an outstanding operation. Captain Chris took me and my two sons of a wonderful day of fishing in which we landed 5 sailfish, 2 Mahi Mahi and 1 tuna. The largest sailfish was a spectacular 120 lbs fish! (See the attached picture of one of sails that we caught and released.)Chris is organized, very professional and fun to be around. He was incredibly hospitable. Chris' first mate Yoel (better know in the fishing circles as Hercules) had a sixth sense on how to catch sailfish. Watching them work together was a real pleasure. I can not recommend Captain Chris and Blue Bayou highly enough. We will certainly be back bill fishing with him on our next trip to Guatemala!Phil Gardner

We had a great experience with Capt Chris and his mate on our trip. Chris was very helpful and easy to work with to get our day trip scheduled (many other companies I contacted weren't even willing to offer us a day trip.) Chris was more than happy to help and very accommodating. The trip was awesome, catching 8 sailfish and getting action in the first ten minutes the lines were in the water! Can't say enough good things about Chris and Blue Bayou, we will hopefully go back and do it again someday!! Thanks Chris!

Capt Chris"s cuddy walkaround with twin engines got us out and back to the rather far-out fishing grounds quickly.My girlfriend who has never fished before caught two sailfish and several dorado.The mate was very helpful in teaching her how to handle the equipment.The food was home made and the head sufficient for my partner.We had only planned to fish one day but decided to fish the next day also.We caught the same type of fish including a stripedmarlin.The view of the two volcanoes leaving the shoreline was spectacular,Rick and Anna

Chris and Patti - Thank you so much for a once and a lifetime experience. You are both such great hosts and planners. As only a novice fisherman I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but we had such an enjoyable day and we caught multipleThe sailfish and also some fun mahi-mahi. The crew was professional and safe. Capt. Chris did a great job informing us every step of the way. We will absolutely come back to fish!The excursion recommendations and transportation to Lake Atilan could not have been better. That is easily one of the most beautiful places on earth. Patti and Chris took us on a tour of the city of Antigua that we will never forget. Great wine and excellent recommendations of fantastic food. Antigua is a very walkable and safe place to explore. You can walk up and down the cobble stone streets and find impressive boutique hotels that will surely make you planning another trip to come back. Thanks again Chris & Patti for an experience of a lifetime! You guys are the best!

My wife and I fished two days with Chris last December. Many sails raised and caught on light tackle. I was also lucky enough to land a 300lb Marlin on a 20lb light tackle rod. Several dorados filled out the mix. His boat and equipment were top notch. Chris is from Wisconsin so his english was good unlike many other captians in Guatemala. The mate was knowlegable and capable. The eye broke on the light rod while fighting the marlin. The mate was able to splice the line on to another reel during the fight and we were able to land the fish. Lots of fun and great people. We are going back this december. If you are looking for outstanding fishing without the enomous price of the big sportfishers, this is the place to be.

My wife & I went to Iztapa, Guatemala at the end of January on a shared trip that included another fisherman from the Boston area. We planned to fish with Capt. Chris Starrs through his Blue Bayou operation. To provide a quick little background on Chris:he is an American from Michigan whose wife is Guatemalan. He is living full-time in Guatemala and Blue Bayou is his business. This to me is a huge plus. He was the one that picked us up from the airport (BTW- one of the nicest airports in Central America), he drove us to the marina in the morning, and he was the Captain. Chris’s hospitality was spectacular. He had thought of everything – beers in the van from the airport, yummy meals, comfortable accommodations. He even set-up a day trip to Antigua for my wife with an English-speaking guide. In short, the little extra service you get from an owner was apparent.After arriving Thursday afternoon and fighting through the slog of traffic in Guatemala City we descended to the coast. And when I say descended, I mean it. Guatemala City is a mile high city (elevation is 5,250 ft). The weather in the city was perfect; 70 & low humidity. By the time we got to the coast we were in the upper 80s to 90 and the humidity was up. (The road from the city to the coast is very good, four lanes pretty much the entire route due to the sugar producers.) Coming from the mid-west sunny and warm never felt so good!Chris had rented out a super-sized house for us to stay at in a gated community. The house was open air style in the common areas with a/c in the bedrooms. Extra large pool, veranda and thatch roof made this the perfect place to unwind (i.e. eat & drink) after a day on the water.Fishing:So Iztapa is known for numbers….lots and lots of sails. I think it is important to realize that sometimes the numbers that you see on websites aren’t really what they seem. First off, most of the big boats posting the 25+ numbers are trolling a lot of lines and often are having the mates drop back and hook the fish for their clients. They then hand over the rods to the clients to reel in the fish. To me that is not fishing; that’s winding. Second, once they hook a fish they back down on these sailfish as if Ricky Wallace was driving the boat…again I want to enjoy the fight, not just put the reel in high speed mode and crank like Lance Armstrong to keep the line tight.We fished out of 26’ Pro Sports walk-around with twin 150 ‘Zukes. For those of you that have not fished the Pacific, it is a true pleasure. The seas are usually a large swell, but the period of the waves is so long that you just kinda’ slowly go up & slowly come down. After a short ride out on our first day, the captain puts out his squid daisy chain. I don’t think it was 30 seconds when a sail was up under it. We weren’t ready. Urgh! No fear though - multiple chances to come throughout the day. The next few fish we screwed up as well. Whether it was on conventional tackle (not dropping back fast enough, not dropping back long enough, backlashes, etc.) or not getting the fly out there quick enough when pulling the teasers out of the water, we showed our rookie stripes. (If you are wondering how one screws up dropping back to a sail…think about the first time you went tarpon fishing, and you know that you are supposed to strip set, but the first time a silver king takes your fly you raise the rod like a trout fisherman and then feel like an idiot when the guide yells at you. Trust me, if you haven’t done it in about 10 years there is a learning curve.) The fishing the first day was great. I think we raised closed to 20 fish. Hooked 8 total (1 on fly) landed 5. My wife, who is still in the early phases of the fishing learning curve, put me to shame on the hook-up ratio. She had some bad luck with one fish breaking the leader and another finding a loop in the spool and breaking off. All in all a great first day.We headed back to the casa where a quick dip in the pool was essential for an immediate cool off before cracking open some beers and enjoying dinner. Unlike a “traditional” fishing lodge, we had a more family style experience (which I enjoyed). While we were in Guatemala Chris’ dad had come down for a visit. He came to the coast with us and performed the duties of head chef. The menus were great (ceviche, fresh dorado, shrimp, burgers, pasta, etc.) – and during dinner we all ate together, no waiters, no wait staff, no hurry. A very different feel than other trips I’ve been on, but very enjoyable. (Don’t worry we didn’t have to do dishes…that’s what the maid was for while we were out fishing).The next two days saw slightly slower fishing, but we were still raising fish and catching them. Luckily our ability to come tight improved exponentially as the trip wore on. One cool thing we encountered on our second day was the invasion of the jacks. I’ve caught numerous jack crevalle, but I’ve never come across them while high speed trolling in the open ocean. But that day it happened. These aggressive fish would crash the teasers and the natural baits with fierce abandon. The fish range from small (5lbs) to pushing close to 20lbs. It added some fun variety to the trip; we ended up landing about 8 or 9 and could have caught a lot more if we had wanted to.The weather was perfect, with clear skies everyday, highs around 90 and lows around 70 at night. Each afternoon the wind picked up and put a chop on the water, but it never got very rough. Iztapa has been on my checklist for years (I think ever since I saw show from the old Fins n’ Feathers lodge). But up until now the only way that I was aware of fishing there was through one of the ritzy lodges like Casa Vieja. Don’t get me wrong - staying at place like that has got to be nice, but dropping the kind of coin to go fishing for a few days makes it tough. I’m more about the trip, the fishing, the hands-on experience, and the reward when you get it right. If you are worried about taking your spouse (who may or may not enjoy the fishing) on a trip that doesn’t include a fancy lodge, you needn’t worry. The accommodations included a large pool and comfortable chairs – the only thing missing would have been a cabana boy. Chris and his wife are also planning to open a bed-and-breakfast in Antigua, so if you want to go fishing for a few days while she checks out one of the most-historic Spanish colonial towns in Central America, this is an excellent way to do it. What Chris Starrs has set-up down there, I think, fills the niche that has been missing. A quality fishing experience, with good accommodations, excellent logistics, but without the umbrella drinks, so to speak.