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.

Hanna and I love fishing Mexico’s Lake El Salto in May and June, when the water level is typically at its lowest, The bass get schooled up on offshore structure and both the numbers and average size can be mind-blowing. Low water is no guarantee of superior fishing, but the great trips this time of year clearly outweigh the merely good ones. Of course, you’ll want to “make hay while the sun shines.” Here are strategies I’ve developed that I feel give me a leg up.

I don’t need motivation to want to go to El Salto. Hanna and I refer to the Anglers Inn facility there as our second home, and I’ve been fortunate to go enough times that I’ve lost count. Every time I buy my plane tickets the countdown to the next trip starts — and I always have some sort of goals.

While Hanna and I have embarked on this project to make fishing travel our raison d’etre, we recognize that not everyone can or will travel long distances to chase fish. Perhaps it’s your budget, or family obligations or work, or maybe you just don’t want to get on a plane. That’s ok, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t derive great satisfaction with a rod and reel.

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.

Pete and I, along with six of our friends, leave for Panama next Tuesday. We’re finally headed to the legendary Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge. Of course, Pete is a planner and I like to wing it, so until a few days ago I had done no thorough research on this destination. I knew that we’d be chasing yellowfin tuna, but I didn’t know if that was the only game in town.

Despite the fact that just about all of our Panama fishing experiences will be new to me, I am compulsively goal-oriented. I go into every trip hoping to achieve certain things, and this journey is no exception. Here are five things I want to do during our week in Central America.

Because so much of our dream travel takes place overseas, we sometimes may give the impression that we don’t enjoy domestic fishing, or that it’s not “exotic” enough for our tastes. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, one of the highlights of our year is a now-annual trip to Springfield, Missouri.

I have a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) so it’s lucky that Anglers Inn provides the only “Combo” that matters at this stage of my life: Two similar but distinct lakes that both offer great service and great food, but which can fish differently on any given day.

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.

When we talk about fishing tourism in Brazil, most anglers from outside the country soon envision the tucunaré-açu (Amazon peacock bass), a spectacular fish, able to generate merciless attacks on our surface lures, very strong and also extraordinarily beautiful. They’re not the only option.

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.

I’d heard about Grosse Savanne’s bass fishing before I ever visited, notably from people like James Overstreet, who asked bluntly, “Why should I go all the way to Mexico when I can drive four hours down the road to Grosse Savanne and catch 100 bass a day, every day?” I’ve been around the block enough times to know that few things in fishing are ever as promised, but Grosse Savanne lived up to the hype.

While floating down the Chobe River we came across one of the most amazing wildlife sights — you have to see it to believe it. It wasn’t even the most unbelievable part of our three-week trip to Africa.

If you’re traveling to catch a new species, unless you’re exclusively a trophy hunter and you’re willing to blank, go someplace where you’re going to get a lot of bites. That may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often travelers disregard it. They’ll go to a fishery that has “some” smallmouths or “some” muskies and target those lesser fish, rather than either targeting the predominant species or going someplace that actually has numbers. Then they’re surprised that they don’t succeed.

We’re headed to famous Lake El Salto in June of 2021 for an offshore slugfest — and there are rooms available if you want to join us.

Twenty five years ago, when I first went to Alaska, I did not own any Gore-Tex. I might not have even known what it was. This, my friends, is hard for even me to believe. I had some crappy discount hiking shoes, a sieve-like rain jacket. Even if I’d been aware of better gear, I would not have been able to afford it. Despite those deficiencies, over the course of a month with two friends I had the time of my life.

This Thanksgiving Pete and I were supposed to drive to Chicago to cook, eat, relax, eat and eat again on a long overdue visit to see family and friends. We were scheduled to be in Mexico from November 14 to 21, but that wouldn’t give us time to quarantine or get a COVID test, so we made the decision to not make the drive. This will be my fifty-third (!) Thanksgiving and for each and every one I have been thankful to be surrounded by close family and friends.

I figure I’ve been to approximately 25 countries, but my niece, who is almost 15, has likely been to at least as many, probably more. Most of her earliest memories came while living in Tokyo, she spent last summer at Oxford, and she’s made it her goal to visit every country on earth (good luck with North Korea, Yemen and a few others). That may not happen in the post-COVID-19 world, but she’s off to a damn good start.

If you’re flying to an epic fishing trip, in most circumstances you’ll have to check a bag at some point. While TSA does provide some vague guidance allowing for hooks to be in your carry-on luggage, ultimately the US government, foreign governments and individual airlines will interpret the regulations differently. Also, remember that TSA has the final word in America, but when you’re on foreign soil you’re playing by a whole different set of rules.