epic trip to Guatemala's Casa Vieja Lodge for jumping sailfish in numbers

During our February 2020 trip to Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, which exceeded all expectations, Hanna and I caught the billfish bug. Unfortunately, it’s a tad bit more expensive than catching, say, the crappie bug, so we’ll have to choose our future locations surgically.

After returning, we explored all sorts of options, from the Galapagos to Madeira. All had their pros and cons, all promised exceptional angling, so we were left with a choice: Do you go back to the known commodity that’s certainly not a sure thing, but the next best thing when it comes to numbers of bites, or do you try something new?

It’s similar to our conundrum when we go to Mexico? While both lakes Picachos and El Salto are exceptional fisheries with few “off” times, invariably one is better than the other at a given moment in time. Do you choose the old favorite, the up-and-comer, or do you split the trip between the two? No matter which you do, you’re taking a slight risk. In the past, we’ve gambled right and gambled wrong, but knowing that we’ll be back in a few months we’re effectively playing with house money.

When it comes to billfishing, the stakes are higher, if nothing else because we don’t have an opportunity to do it quite as often.

We also have friends joining us on this week’s trip. With that in mind, booking a return trip to CVL with them – same lodge, same boat, same captain, same time of year — was a no-brainer. We want our friends to enjoy the same exceptional experience that we had in February. Seeing it through their eyes will be another shot at a “first time,” and if it’s half as good as it was this time, we’ll all go home happy. Then the need for tough decisions (of the first world variety) will arise again, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Sometimes it makes no sense to reinvent a perfectly round wheel. CLICK HERE if you want more info about CVL.