As a longtime member of the fishing media as well as a consultant to several leading fishing lodges, I think that I’m uniquely situated to tell you why you need to bring your pro staff together at a fishing lodge – with or without media. Executed properly, one of these gatherings can jumpstart your media campaigns and build brand knowledge and loyalty that a paycheck alone does not provide.

I actually like my family. They don’t know a Carolina Rig from a Hula Grub, but otherwise they’re good people, with pleasant demeanors and a lot of interesting accomplishments. I wish I could share my passion for with them on a regular basis, but it’s not meant to be. I know not to force the issue. At the same time, on rare occasions I have gone on fishing trips with them, and as far as I can tell we’ve all had a good time.

A corporate fishing trip is our kind of work outing. Even if not all of the members of the group have prior fishing experience, by going to a fishery when the angling is expected to be off-the-charts, you’re likely ensuring that their first experience will be a good one – which means they’ll want to go again and again.

Hanna and I love fishing Mexico’s Lake El Salto in May and June, when the water level is typically at its lowest, The bass get schooled up on offshore structure and both the numbers and average size can be mind-blowing. Low water is no guarantee of superior fishing, but the great trips this time of year clearly outweigh the merely good ones. Of course, you’ll want to “make hay while the sun shines.” Here are strategies I’ve developed that I feel give me a leg up.

You paid the money, you took the time off work, this is YOUR VACATION. That doesn’t mean that you should not respect your guide or outfitter, but it does provide you with a certain amount of leeway.

I don’t need motivation to want to go to El Salto. Hanna and I refer to the Anglers Inn facility there as our second home, and I’ve been fortunate to go enough times that I’ve lost count. Every time I buy my plane tickets the countdown to the next trip starts — and I always have some sort of goals.

Just about a week before leaving for Panama, we both received the first Pfizer shot. While that didn’t guarantee us immunity, it gave us a bit more confidence about venturing out. I could see that being both a positive and a negative, because while the vaccine couldn’t have hurt our immunity, it might give us the bravado to take unnecessary risks.

While Hanna and I have embarked on this project to make fishing travel our raison d’etre, we recognize that not everyone can or will travel long distances to chase fish. Perhaps it’s your budget, or family obligations or work, or maybe you just don’t want to get on a plane. That’s ok, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t derive great satisfaction with a rod and reel.

In the Gulf of Chiriquí where Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge is located, there are as many as fifty species of sportfish to be caught. If you read my blog about goals prior to the trip my five targets were as follows: yellowfin tuna, marlin, roosterfish, blue trevally and wahoo. The tuna were plentiful and the hardest-fighting fish I have ever caught.