Nicho Alvarenga: Never Give Up
Our most recent trip to Casa Vieja Lodge would have been exceptional by the standards of any other fishery, but compared to our first two trips to Guatemala the numbers were off. Yes, our group caught sailfish and mahi and Samantha Sukupcak’s first fish was a blue marlin, but overall the numbers were down. That’s ok, it’s fishing, and we had a fantastic group of traveling partners.
While of course I’d always rather catch more fish than fewer, in some ways I’m glad that we had the slight dip. After all, any decent operation can catch fish when they’re chewing the paint off of any lure you drag behind the boat, but it’s when the going gets tough that you see a lodge’s true mettle.
On our third and final day of fishing, we struggled through the morning. Captain Nicho Alvarenga rotated through several likely areas, and our mates Ludwig and Johnny worked their asses off – changing teasers, adjusting the spread, rigging fresh baits – but we just couldn’t get anything going. Shortly after 10am, Nicho decided to make a long run to an area that promised slightly warmer water – 83-84 degrees versus the 81-82 we’d been fishing. The easy thing to do would have been to stay close. That would leave us more time with the spread in the water, and would also have saved gas. The big diesels suck it down, and in case you haven’t noticed it’s not particularly inexpensive. If we’d stayed close and struck out, it would have been disappointing, but not wholly unreasonable.
Instead, he went all-in on maximizing our chances, and upon our arrival in the new zone he smiled knowingly. A few minutes later, a sail showed up in the spread, chomped on the newly offered baits, and found himself released 10 minutes later. Then another one did the same. All told, we went from zero fish of any kind in the boat, to 10 sailfish released just three hours later. What could have been a bummer of an ending to our trip ended up taking us out on a high note.
Anyone who has fished with a disinterested or discouraged captain or guide knows how painful the experience can be. I know I have – I recall guides who struggled and then itched to get back to the ramp as soon as possible, often long before the appointed time. This was the flip side of that experience – someone who mustered his energy when things were tough and through sheer will flipped the switch. The difference between a poor day on the water and a great day on the water is often razor-thin. That’s why we’ll fish with Captain Nicho and Casa Vieja again. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but it stacks the odds in our favor.
