Teaser setup for sailfish at Casa Vieja Lodge

It’s not often both Pete and I don’t know something about something, haven’t tried something, researched something, obsessed over something, or been challenged by something.

Pete had caught more bass before I met him, than the total number of times I have changed my mind. I knew that I couldn’t catch up to his head start there, but there were other places where we were more equal.

In August 2015 Pete and I traveled west and tried our hands at fly fishing. We both had minimal experience in that field. When Pete was 10 he got a fly rod but he only used it a few times and he said he didn’t know what he was doing.

Our instructor said bass fishermen make the worst students. I think we were pretty fast learners, but the biggest difference was that we needed to re-learn how to hookset. Our lesson took place at Triple Creek Ranches pool and what we needed to remember was “armpit armpit armpit.” In other words, when you got a bite, lift your arm to the sky rather than rearing back.

Game day: Our guide Steve Grant told us that rule number one was don’t dangle the fly in front of (or hook) his dog Pako. Pete took the back of the raft, I had the seat next to Pako.

A few misses, tons of hook ups, a new love for another way of fishing and we both learned how to do it together, at the same time.

And Pako came through our adventure with no snags.

Steve Grant Triple Creek Ranch Bitterroot River fly fishing

In February 2020, Pete and I fished at Casa Vieja Lodge. We let the mates hook most of the sailfish and we reeled them in. Still, we felt pretty accomplished. We had so much fun we decided to return in February of 2021.

After we had reeled in several sailfish Captain David Salazar asked why we weren’t hooking our own fish.

Hook our own fish, was that an option?

Pete and I (and our friends Lee and Emily) were absolutely up for that. That’s what fishing is all about, figuring things out and doing the work. I wanted to do it, but I was also sure that the “bait and switch” wasn’t as easy as the mates made it look. After a brief lesson, my turn on the pitch rod was up. As we waited for a sailfish to rise all I could think about was: “Left long teaser, right short teaser, right rigger, left pitch rod….” Over and over in my head. It reminded me of chanting, “Armpit, armpit, armpit,” under my breath 6 years earlier. Once he eats, you feel a THUNK, let him have it, let the line out, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, until five and lock the reel and gently raise the rod.

Gently lift up on the rod? No hookset? How do you tell a bass fisherman not to swing like Roland Martin or Denny Brauer? With billfish the circle hook does the job and hooks them for you. When they grab the bait, you let them take the line into their mouths and once you close the bail that is when the circle hook slides into the soft tissue at the corner of the mouth and gets hooked.

Also, make sure you hold your thumb on the line, but when the fish hits you have to let the thumb go, without backlashing. Make sure you do all this correctly or you will burn your thumb something fierce.

What you need to picture is the complete organized chaos that happens once the Captain sees the fish rise and yells its position in the water. The mates are reeling in all the rigged lines that are at this point “in the way,” I’m of course freaking out, right – left – pitch rod – rigger rod – AHHHHHHH.

If it’s on the rigger rod most likely you just pick the rod out of the gunnel rod holder, make sure you feel that the fish is on, undo the bail, count your five Mississippis, close the bail and reel in your fish.

The trickier and more challenging situation – the one that gets your heart pumping – occurs if the fish rises on either the right or left, short or long teasers. In that case, you need to pick up the corresponding pitch rod, undo the bail and let the line out just next to the teaser so that he grabs your bait, with hook, rather than the hookless teaser he’s chasing.

Once you feel the THUNK, let the line out, count your five Mississppis, close the bail and slightly lift up. If all goes right, you’ll hear the most important words of the day: FISH ON!!!

Pete and I both caught a lot of fish on this trip, lost some too, but he was so proud of me on my first hook up he bogarted the picture!!!! That’s my fish, NOT his.

When your husband steals the sailfish that you caught at Casa Vieja Lodge Guatemala

I’m looking forward to finding out all sorts of other fishing skills that BOTH Pete and I don’t know and learning them together. There are so many more species to catch and techniques to try.

Shoot us a message at fishmore@halfpastfirstcast.com if you want some info on how to try the “bait and switch” in Guatemala yourself – or if you want to double your pleasure by doing it on a fly rod.