I love hosting fishing trips to great places because it gives me a front row seat when anglers – experts and novices alike – make their catches of a lifetime. I was fortunate to see a bunch of them in 2024, and here are some of my favorites.

When Jennifer Combs told me her parents had her in a crib on their boat when she was still in diapers, I thought she was kidding. That’s taking fishing a little over the top. On this year’s El Salto trip I finally got to ask her father, Roy Reid — It turns out that it was 100% legit.

Ryan Leiffer is one lucky son and David Leiffer is a heck of a dad. On their father-son trip to Anglers Inn El Salto they made new memories. Not only was the quality of their time together priceless but the quality of their fish was consistently HUGE! 

It warms my heart when I book father and son trips. I have decided to start a series called “Casting Bonds” to interview parent/child angling travelers. Let’s start with Gayle and Kirk Lomax who traveled to Anglers Inn El Salto in April 2024 and had a fabulous trip.

Check out the video of our good friend Paul Fisler catching his PB from the back of MY boat. How does it feel to catch a ten pounder?Let’s hear it from the horse’s mouth. Here’s Paul’s story, in his own words.

We met Marc Shoenfelt in 2010 at Lake Mateos. We kept in touch, but we never got together again until our most recent trip to Lake El Salto. That’s when Marc traveled on his first, but not his last, HPFC traveling adventure. After 13 years of waiting, Marc finally got the opportunity to fish with “the infamous pescado writer Pete Robbins.”

The staff at Anglers Inn makes every trip special but this time they went over the top for us. They had a cake to celebrate our birthdays and we smashed our face into it at the same time and then laughed hysterically. It was also my best trip to El Salto so far from a fishing perspective and I was thrilled to share it with my sister Janet.

On her fourth trip to Anglers Inn, Kristine Rygas and I finally got the chance to catch up on some tea and fish together. I won't bore you with our girly talk, although you might find it tantalizing, but I will share the details of our amazing morning on the water. I was thrilled to get her out of her angling comfort zone with new lures and strategies.

For many serious anglers, exotic fishing travel is primarily about the fishing itself. Yes, we give lip service to the food, culture, scenery and wildlife, but the rest of those factors can’t completely make up for it if you don’t have biting fish. Of course, it helps to have people along with a positive attitude, particularly the person or people with whom you’ll be sharing a boat.

Hanna and I have plenty of friends, and plenty of friends who fish, but few couples where both members of the team are equally devoted to the sport. It’s part of what makes Sam and Mike fun to fish with, and we’re thrilled that they’ll be joining us in Panama in April.

My love of fishing started 16 years ago, in 2004, when I was already well into my thirties. Thank goodness I loved it or I might never have seen Pete on the weekends and this website would have no contributions by yours truly. I think we can all agree that would be a huge loss.

If you don’t plan properly, you’ll never be able to fully enjoy your time away. I’m a list-maker, even when we go away for just a short weekend, but on longer trips it’s even more important to cover everything. I use a list so nothing gets forgotten. Number one, at the top of our list, is to make sure your dogsitter is available at the time you will be away.