Minnesota outdoorsman escaped the cold and went to Casa Vieja Lodge for single anglers week. He scratched the sailfish itch, enjoyed the hospitality and made a bunch of new friends. You can do the same.

We’ve now spent a total of 12 days on the water at Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, and we’ve released over a hundred sailfish, I don’t necessarily know much more about how to locate them. Every day CVL owner David Salazar, needs to work with his team to locate or relocate the billfish. They work collaboratively to narrow things down, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

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.

When I first joined a bass club in 1995, I was in awe of my new friend Lee Byrd. He’d won the Wrangler Angler title (now the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship) to qualify for the 1990 Bassmaster Classic and had also competed in the Red Man All-American.

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.