While Salazar’s fishing skills can’t be questioned, what really amazed me was his passion for the sport. He’s seen thousands of billfish come to the boat, and yet he was every bit as excited for each additional one as we were. He’s an exceptional teacher, and coached us through the bait-and-switch with remarkable patience.

On our recent trip to Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, we fished on the Finest Kind, a gorgeous 40’ Whitcar captained by Nicho Alvarenga. Each day the captain had us either at the top or near it in terms of the number of fish landed, and that’s a credit to his skill and understanding of the waters. But he wasn’t the only person who helped us to 37 sailfish in three days, including 23 on the first day on the water. Our mates Daniel and Tony were also critical to the process.