My Favorite Fish of 2020: The Mother of All Catches

Despite the COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions that plagued us in 2020, Hanna and I still got out to fish quite a bit, both at home and afar. I haven’t yet tabulated the total days, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I actually met or exceeded my average number of days on the water over the past five years.

That leaves a lot of fish to consider for the “Favorite” title, culled from excursions that included 18 days on the water at El Salto and 6 in Alaska. Despite that, and perhaps not surprisingly, my favorite fish came from our newest venue, Guatemala. What might be surprising is that I wasn’t the one who caught it – it was my then-soon-to-be 76-year-old mother.

In those prior 75 years she might’ve caught a few fish, perhaps some bluefish on a late-70s charter on the Chesapeake, but despite my obsession from an early age, neither of my parents ever showed any interest in angling. In fact, as a teenager I came home one day to find a Maserati with Montana plates in the driveway and I was convinced that my “real parents” had arrived to reclaim me.

Despite the fact that she cares much more about Nordstrom’s sales than Guatemala’s sails, my parents offered to take me and Hanna to Casa Vieja Lodge to celebrate my 50th. While it would be hard not to have a great time at CVL – the food, service, accommodations and weather are incredible – it’s just not their scene. Nevertheless, they were good sports about it, and since it was the first trip that just the four of us have taken together, that made it more special. Even when it got rough on our third day of fish, they toughed it out against their initial instincts.

Through 37 fish, we had to force them to take a turn on the rod, and despite catching nearly 20 leaping sails myself, my three favorite fish were the ones that my mom and dad reeled in. If the progression of an angler goes from: (1) wanting to catch a fish; to (2) wanting to catch the most fish; to (3) wanting to catch the biggest fish; to (4) wanting to catch the most difficult fish, then it would seem that the fifth step in the progress is wanting to see someone else get joy out of catching a fish. In that sense, even though I wasn’t directly a part of this past year’s favorite fish, it represents an evolution of my game.

No, I did not create two budding addicts. I figure that if they never go again, they’ll be 100 percent fine with that – but I also have 25 years to work on them.