Guatemala: Casa Vieja Lodge July 2019 Trip Report

Yellow Dog client Peter S. just returned from a trip at Guatemala’s Casa Vieja Lodge. This is perhaps the most famous lodge in the world for bluewater sportfishing. And for this Yellow Dog client, the lodge lived-up to that top billing. To sum it up, Peter said “these folks are great and the fishing is awesome.” Peter traveled with the goal of catching a sailfish on a fly rod—and he knew it was a challenge.

He accomplished his goal…and then some. He landed eight total sailfish. Three were around 150-pounds, and, having his cake and eating it too, he also caught a 250-pound blue marlin and a roosterfish. The marlin was landed after a three-hour battle on 20-pound tippet. All fish were released and three were hand released as shown in the pictures below. Several more fish were hooked, but, the captains at Casa Vieja use 20-pound tippet to ensure a fish can be broken-off if necessary to protect the life of a hooked fish.

Peter mentioned the lodge record from last year—eighteen sailfish on the fly in a single day by one angler. That was during their prime season of December through February. Peter’s visit occurred during Casa Vieja’s shoulder season. Peter nearly went into the record books when he hooked a 450-pound marlin that was 11 feet long, but the fish eventually earned its freedom and broke-off before coming to hand. “It’s crazy seeing an 11-foot long fish hit your fly,” Peter said. “If I had landed that one it would have been a record for the lodge, but might have required six hours to land.”
 
While running to the fishing grounds and during fishing, Peter enjoyed listening to his own playlist—but he suggests downloading your songs before leaving the states. The captains provided comfortable seating on the well-outfitted Contenders; even a deck cushion and bean bags were available for the runs to and from the dock to the fishing areas.

Few places exist on earth were fly fishing for sailfish occurs with the level of consistency as it does at Guatemala’s Casa Vieja Lodge. As Peter says, “there are some amazingly un-messed up places on the earth where thousands of these creatures live. It’s inspiring.” We think so, too. Peter, thanks for sharing your report from a great trip to Guatemala with Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures.