$ugar Mama’s Ivitational: Volume 1
Our very first Mother’s Day Weekend fishing tournament went off without a hitch—except a couple of Sancocho’s, of course! Just a quick little 2-day tournament for our Moms, chock-full of big excitement.
Day one, we saw three big leads with the Chilero, Finest Kind, and Pica Mas each garnering 720 points. Team Poco Loco was a close second with 700 points on their first day out. And last, but never least, The Hooker rolled up on the end of the day with 580 points.
Finally, on Day 2, Team Finest Kind pushed even farther ahead with an impressive 1320 points, securing their 1st place win. Team Pica Mas saw a cool 1080 points, landing them squarely in their 2nd place spot; and finally, The Hooker, jumping up to 3rd place on the board, saw a cool 980 points for their last day!
Overall, we saw a grand total of 156 sailfish rasies 128 sailfish bites 82 sailfish releases! With 2 zing pow’s, and 46 sailfish Sancocho’s, we were able to raise $1,120 for local schools here in Puerto San Jose!
It was truly a spectacular tournament weekend with all the ladies saying that, between the gorgeous floral bouquets in their rooms, and champagne waiting on their boats each morning, they definitely felt loved and very, very special.
RESULTS:
6th—Chilero 960 pts
5th—Poco Loco 1500 pts
4th—Rum Line 1560 pts
3rd—Hooker 1580 pts
2nd—Pica Mas 1800 pts
1st—Finest Kind 2040 pts
✿ Largest Dorado—Isabel H. (52″!)
✿ Sancocho Queen—Denise Wade (7 Sancochos!)
✿ Top Lady Hook & Hand—Pamela C.
✿ Top IWFA Lady Angler—Krissy Wiborg (600 pts!)
Are you joining us for $ugar Mama’s round 2 next year?? Call ASAP to reserve your spot, we have a feeling this is going to be a popular event…
Of course, THANK YOU & GRACIAS to our Sponsors:
Yeti, Ladies Love Pink, Costa, AFTCO, and The Billfish Foundation
The 84th ILTTA
The IWFA takes the 84th Annual ILTTA Invitational by storm!
We were truly honored to help in hosting the 84TH annual International Light Tackle Tournament Association where 66 anglers from ALL OVER THE WORLD came together to fish on 22 of the best boats in Guatemala—10 of them from our very own Casa Vieja fleet
Representing the IWFA and the United States were six amazingly talented lady anglers, comprised of two teams. Team 1: our Jefa Kristen Salazar, Serena Wilson, Nancy Llacuna, and Team 2: Kelly Kirkpatrick, Camila Ingram, and Valerie Dunn.
In 4 days of fishing, the IWFA teams released an impressive 39 billfish in total. Overall, our IWFA Team #2 secured a 9th-place finish, while IWFA Team #1 came in 15th overall out of the 22 total teams. And out of 22 boats, all 10 of our Casa Vieja vessels landed themselves in the top 15!
Last but not least, a MASSIVE congrats to Camila Ingram, who earned the Top Lady Angler award with 1100 points, as well as to Serena Wilson, who proudly took home second place Top Lady Angler with 800 points.
A big Casa Vieja Lodge thank you to all the ILTTA anglers who chose to stay with us at the Lodge, we’re honored you picked us! And of course, thank you to all of our anglers from Guatemala, USA, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and South Africa; and to everyone who traveled to be here. We can’t wait to see you all again at the 85th ILTTA tournament next year!
If you weren’t able to join us for our Boat Roundup here in Guatemala to honor the life of our beloved Jefe, we’d love if you could make it out to our Miami celebrations! If you have a boat, or can find your way out to Stiltsville/Billy’s Point, we hope to see you there! If you’re unable to make it out, by sea or by land, but would still like to send in your David picture or story, please click HERE, or send an email to amanda@casaviejalodge.com, all photos and submissions will be made into a book for his daughters.
May Fishing Report
Wow, May. Wow!
The Hooker is back in the water and better than ever! After a brief stint in our boatyard for some minor upkeep and repairs, our amazing Hooker is back out at sea! And she has not been disappointing! Plus, with two tournaments back-to-back, we definitely were seeing some competitive numbers this month!
Altogether for May, we saw 1,638 sailfish raises, 1,421 sailfish bites, and 891 sailfish releases!!! As for marlin, we saw 39 raises, 26 bites, and 13 overall releases!
If you’d like to check out how amazing we’re doing so far this year, click over here for the Fishing Counter on our homepage! There you’ll see our total Billfishing Release numbers so far from 2025, plus past years as well!
Below are our fishing highlights (combination of conventional & fly):
- May 1st-6th & 13th-28th,Afinity (39′ Billy Knowles) with Capt. Franz Hoffman, had 123 sailfish raises, 107 sailfish bites, 51 sailfish releases, 3 marlins raised, 1 marlin bites and 1 marlin released; plus 1 tuna, 10 mahi-mahi, 6 grouper, 38 snapper, 1 triggerfish & 1 amberjack!
- May 1st-28th, Chilero (38′ Warren O’Neal) with Capt. Nico Melendrez had 223 raises, 192 bites, 110 sailfish releases, plus 7 marlins raised, 5 marlin bites, 1 marlin releases; plus 7 tuna, 7 mahi-mahi, 20 snappers, 4 groupers, 1 yellowfin & 3 rainbow runners!
- May 1st-28th,Finest Kind (40′ Whiticar)with Capt. Benji Bairez, had 201 raises, 175 bites, 118 sailfish releases, 8 marlins raised, 5 marlin bites, 2 marlins released, 3 tuna & 16 mahi-mahi!
- May 1st-28th,Poco Loco (44′ Nickerson) with Capt. Franz/Capt. Carlos, had 180 raises, 152 bites, 108 sailfish releases, 3 marlin raised, 1 marlin bites, 1 marlin release, 2 tuna & 23 mahi-mahi!
- May 1st-28th, Rum Line (40′ Gamefisherman) with Capt. Terry Brennan, had 195 raises, 173 bites, 95 sailfish releases, 3 marlin raises, 3 marlin bites, 2 marlin releases; plus 1 tuna & 19 mahi-mahi!
- May 2nd-17th, Isla Mas (43′ Merritt) with Capt. Carlos “Caluco,” had 47 raises, 47 bites, 28 sailfish releases, 1 marlin raised, 1 marlin bite, 1 marlin released & 4 mahi-mahi!
- May 2nd-4th & 13th-25th, the Makaira (37′ Rybovich) with Capt. Jeffrey Garcia, had 153 raises, 136 bites, 98 sailfish releases, 4 marlins raised, 4 marlin bites, 3 marlin released, plus 22 mahi-mahi!
- May 2nd-28th,Pica Más (48′ Whiticar)with Capt. Nicho Alvarenga, had 211 raises, 184 bites, 116 sailfish releases, 5 marlin raises, 3 marlin bites, 2 marlin releases, plus 2 tuna & 10 mahi-mahi!
- May 2nd-28th,Release (37′ Merritt) with Capt. Sammy Baires, had 146 raises, 128 bites, 85 sailfish releases, 2 marlin raises, 1 marlin bite, & 15 mahi-mahi!
- May 10th-28thThe Hooker (48′ G&S) with Capt. Jono, had 159 raises, 127 bites, 89 sailfish releases, 3 marlin raises, 2 marlin bites, plus 3 tuna & 19 mahi-mahi!
