2015 CVL Annual Billfish Report
Our fishery here on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala is simply the best in the world, and that is why we love what we do, FISH! The above photo is our Captains and Crews celebrating our spectacular billfish numbers of 2015 with 18,250 raises, 14,627 bites, and 8,260 releases aboard the Casa Vieja Lodge Fleet from January 1- December 31, 2015. And if you look at our fishing report HERE you will see the large majority of these numbers are Jan-May and Oct-Dec… 8 months of fishing!
Where else in the world can you even come close to these numbers, the captains, the crews, the staff, the adrenaline, and of course the releases? The One. The Only. Casa Vieja Lodge.
We want to thank all of our clients that helped us release this many billfish with a vast majority of them tagged for data research with The Billfish Foundation as well! You can always see our daily numbers on our website HERE.
2016 Jake Jordan Invitational Sailfish Fly Challenge RESULTS
- First Place: Team Rum Line– anglers Don Butler and Danny Cline, Captain Chris Sheeder
- Second Place: Team Decisive– anglers Joe O’Brien, Captain Brad Philipps
- Third Place: Team Makaira– anglers Roy Cronacher and Marty Arostequi, Captain Jason Brice
Flying in Style to the Lodge
Casa Vieja Lodge is a quick guided 90-minute drive from the Guatemala City airport. On the way you will enjoy cold beverages, beautiful scenery of volcanoes, sugarcane plantations, and much more! But sometimes when you have an early morning flight out of Guatemala City you may want to get some extra sleep in our comfy beds rather than drive to the airport, and that’s perfectly fine with us as your wish is our command. Instead of being transferred in our luxurious van there is always the option of departing by Helicopter!!
At Casa Vieja Lodge we want to make everyone’s trip memorable and there is nothing like seeing Guatemala from a helicopter. You get to fly next to the puffing volcanoes and enjoy the tropical landscape from a different perspective! Chris Malkin and his 10 year old daughter Amelia who caught her first billfish on this trip, opted to sleep in and ride in style to Guatemala City Airport.
Recently one of our seasoned clients, Mr. Kirk “Senor Dos” Weisman, took the helicopter from Casa Vieja Lodge to the airport and said, “It was a phenomenal way, to end a phenomenal trip! I would do it again in a minute!”
When finalizing your trip to the lodge make sure to ask our staff about taking a helicopter tour or upgrading your transfer to the airport in a helicopter!
Media Makes our World Go Round
We had the honor of having Captain John Brownlee, former Editor in Chief of Marlin andSaltwater Sportsman Magazine, filmed his very first episode of Anglers Journal Television at Casa Vieja Lodge this month! About his experience filming at Casa Vieja Lodge Captain Brownlee said:
“The first episode of Anglers Journal Television is in the can! Directors Dan Grissom, Mike Plante and I spent the week between Christmas and New Years at the spectacular Casa Vieja Lodge on the Pacific coast of Guatemala where lodge owner Capt. David Salazar guided us to dozens of sailfish releases. We first caught them on conventional tackle, and then Elisa Badillo Abascal, wife of Capt. Chris Sheeder, joined me and we caught them using fly rods. We also took a side trip to the ancient city of Antigua. Look for this and other great AJTV episodes beginning in July of this year on the Destination America network!”
On another note Casa Vieja is also glad to finally host BD Outdoors, a complete online magazine with how to articles, gear reviews, fishing reports, and much more.BDOutdoors.com boasts the largest, most-active sportfishing website in the world logging more than 750,000 unique visitors each month and 11 million page views.
BD Outdoors is currently at the lodge filming a unique TV show with hosts Ali Hussainy, Co-Founder of BD Outdoors, and Rush Maltz lifelong Key West Charter Captain. Casa Vieja Lodge is excited to be a part of this new endeavor.
January Highlights
The action is non-stop!! If you are not booked for this fishing season you better get on it! Fishing has been red hot and limited spaces are available the next few months! We have had a lot of anglers requesting try out fly fishing as our daily numbers have been averaging in the 20’s per day/ per boat, which makes ample opportunity to learn! If you don’t want to wait for our newsletter to catch our fishing highlights, you can check out our daily fishing reports on our website HERE!
- From December 29-31st, the Spindrift with Capt. Nico Alvarenga had 63 sailfish raises, 37 bites, and 15 releases!
- From December 29- January 1st, the Makaira with Capt. Jason Brice had 103 sailfish raises, 95 bites, 56 releases, and 1 blue marlin raise!
- From December 31st – January 3rd, the Afinity with Capt. Chico Alvarenga had 101 sailfish raises, 92 bites, and 60 releases. They also had 1 blue marlin raise and 1 blue marlin bite!
- From January 7-10th Casa Vieja Lodge attended the 2016 Dallas Safari ClubConvention! We had a great time seeing previous clients and meeting new ones!
- From January 9-11th, the Intensity with Capt. Mike Sheeder had 81 sailfish raises, 51 bites, 28 releases, and 1 blue marlin raise all on the FLY!
- From January 10-12th, the Rum Line with Capt. Chris Sheeder had 61 sailfish raises, 44 bites, and 32 releases!
- From January 10-13th, the Finest Kind with Capt. David Salazar had 85 sailfish raises, 63 bites, 42 releases, and 2 blue marlin raises!