We travel a fair bit, and spend lots of time trying to figure out packing hacks, but despite that effort we still overlook some necessary items. Even on a trip like those to Casa Vieja Lodge, where they take care of everything, it’s always possible to wish you had packed more. When we visited in February. Hanna and I both checked a suitcase and brought a carry-on, but I still ended up missing some things.

Casa Vieja Lodge can’t control the weather or the fishing — although both have been exceptional each time we’ve visited — but they’re very conscious to knock it out of the park when it comes to variables they can control.

If you want to get out of a COVID-induced malaise, a trip to Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala is a quick way to jump start your heart.

If you’re traveling to catch a new species, unless you’re exclusively a trophy hunter and you’re willing to blank, go someplace where you’re going to get a lot of bites. That may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often travelers disregard it. They’ll go to a fishery that has “some” smallmouths or “some” muskies and target those lesser fish, rather than either targeting the predominant species or going someplace that actually has numbers. Then they’re surprised that they don’t succeed.