Last month we told you that the fishing at Casa Vieja Lodge was off the chain in March, and that it was critical to book asap if you wanted to get in on it the same time next year. April was just as good, if not better, and the boats are already filling up for spring of 2025.

March is prime time for sailfish (and other species in Guatemala), with a realistic chance at a 20-50 (or more) fish day. Just be sure to book early if you want to be guaranteed a boat.

On our 2nd trip to Casa Vieja Lodge we fish on The Hooker. It’s a 48 foot G&S, and a fabulous fishing platform, but at the time we didn’t realize that it held a storied legacy. If you think that The Hooker might be for you, but you’re still on the fence, there’s a wide range of media that might put it over the top.

The year flew by, and as we look back we had some amazing adventures to some of our favorite destinations — new and old, fishing and otherwise. Relive them in this brief summary of all of the fun and frequent flyer miles.

Sometimes either by choice or by necessity you may need to go on a bucket list angling trip by yourself. Here are some tips, options and strategies for the solo angler to get a great experience at a reasonable price.

The goal at the start of your trip should be to get one bite, put one fish in the boat, and then build from there. Each additional success adds confidence, releases pressure, and increases your awareness of how to do things correctly.

There’s good reason to travel if you’re a tournament angler, and in this case by “travel” I don’t mean just head to Okeechobee or El Salto or the Cal Delta. I mean something outside of your comfort zone, outside of your area of expertise. It’ll help you gain perspective on the critical lessons that will improve your tournament success.

Join us in Guatemala in November of 2024. You and your group can reserve the Rum Line, Captain Terry Brennan’s 40 foot fish-catching machine. Check out the results from last November.

We’ve been fortunate to fish with many great fishing lodges across the globe. Sometimes, however, it’s hard to recognize just how good something is until you experience a less-stellar operation. Accordingly, it’s worth noting that that we’ve also been to some average and even sub-par operations – and they’ve helped us to appreciate what our favorites do well.

After four trips to Guatemala’s Casa Vieja Lodge, we’ve battled our way through figuring out all of the basics about the experience. It hasn’t been hard, because once you book the trip it’s pretty much a turnkey experience. They’re travel pros and they make it easy for first-timers and veterans alike — but we’ve learned that most people have similar questions.

If you’re as anal and compulsive as I am about scheduling, you probably have some big trips planned for the long term future. I don’t mean the deposits-paid-written-in-ink kind of plan, but rather a general expectation of something to come.

A corporate fishing trip is our kind of work outing. Even if not all of the members of the group have prior fishing experience, by going to a fishery when the angling is expected to be off-the-charts, you’re likely ensuring that their first experience will be a good one – which means they’ll want to go again and again.

Heading back to Casa Vieja this year we weren’t sure we’d get the same kind of air show we experienced in 2020, but true to form each one of our 44 sailfish jumped multiple times. It’s something you have see to believe — and then you need to see it again and again.

We’ve amassed enough material about our trips to Casa Vieja Lodge that we figured it was time to put it all on one page --- so check out our constantly-evolving body of work about one of the happiest places on earth.

Clearly we don’t need a specific reason beyond what we’ve already experienced in Guatemala to make a third trip there. In two three-day trips we’ve caught 37 and 44 sailfish, respectively, and more of the same would justify the effort of getting there. Nevertheless, we’ve only seen and done a small sliver of what the place has to offer.

Part of the reason that we chose Guatemala for our winter getaway was the ease of travel. Of course, in the era of COVID – and in the world of the Robbins family generally – there always seem to be complications.

This year due to an unlikely series of coincidences we ended up on Casa Vieja’s newest boat, a 48-footer named The Hooker. They’d just purchased it a few weeks earlier from Captain Skip Smith and driven it up the coast from Costa Rica.

From the moment you drive through the gates of Casa Vieja Lodge, step out of the van and receive the “Drink of the Day,” you know that the food and libationss are going to be great. That first taste of the amazing local ingredients in your glass are just the “teaser” for everything you’ll be served daily, on land and water.

As our trip to Guatemala approached, several family members urged us to postpone the trip, but in the end we decided that our health and risk tolerance weighed in favor of going ahead as planned. Guatemala has required a recent negative COVID test to enter for several months, but only recently did the CDC require one for reentry into the United States. That meant getting our brains swabbed twice, but 10 seconds of discomfort versus 40-plus sailfish seemed like a fair trade.

During our trip to Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, which exceeded all expectations, Hanna and I caught the billfish bug. Unfortunately, it’s a tad bit more expensive than catching, say, the crappie bug, so we’ll have to choose our future locations surgically.