No Sancocho 2025! |
What an incredible No Sancocho weekend, anglers! Nonstop action and fun made for an absolute smashing success of our 11th annual No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout!
After two straight days in first place, Team A-Fin-Ity was knocked out of their top place spot on the third tournament day by Team Release who ultimately took home the top spot!!
Lodge newcomer Margo O. took home Top Lady angler for her first No Sancocho; and after a trying first two days on the water, angler Tyler M. walked away with Largest Dorado! Just goes to show anything can change in just a day out on our beautiful Guatemalan Pacific!
We saw a good amount of Sancochos, both sailfish and Marlin totaling up to 68 sailfish and 7 Marlin Sancochos. Plus 3 zing pows brings our grand Sancocho total to $2,560 in donations. However, thanks to generous donations and matches the grand total of Sancocho donation money comes out to: $8,330!!
This year, our No Sancocho earnings will be going towards two amazing, and incredibly strong young ladies: Sofia and Dulce.
Daughters of two of our mates: Selvin on the Makaira needs help with chemotherapy treatment for his daughter Sofia. And Tony from the Finest Kind is in need of more physical rehabilitation for his daughter Dulce. Between the Sancochos and the extra matched donations we’ve raised this weekend, we’re so happy to say we’ll be able to help these families out with almost $10K for treatments!!
Thank you so much to all of our participating anglers, captains, mates and everyone who made this 11th No Sancocho Sailfish Shootout one for the books!
Who’s joining us for our 12th annual No Sancocho in 2026?? Fishing on November 5th, 6th, & 7th!
RESULTS:
8th—Chilero 100pts
7th—The Hooker 160pts
6th—La Chingona 180pts
5th—Poco Loco 240pts
5th—Rum Line 240pts
4th—Makaira 260pts
3rd—Finest Kind 300pts
2nd—A-Fin-Ity 310pts
1st—Release 340pts
•Largest Dorado—Tyler McCarty (51.5″)
•Sancocho King—Lary Campbell (8 Sancochos!)
•Top Lady Angler—Margo O’Connor (190 pts)
And of course, a huge thank you to all of our incredible sponsors:
YETI, AFTCO, Costa del Mar, Casa del Jade, Cummins & The Billfish Foundation
IWFA 50th !
We were so thrilled to host the IWFA back to the lodge this year for their 50th annual billfish tournament!
The International Women’s Fishing Association, is a worldwide organization made up of, founded by, and designed specifically for female anglers! Established in 1955 in Palm Beach, FL, these ladies have been raising sails, marlin and anything else you can catch on a hook for fifty years officially! And we were so honored they decided to have their 50th annual billfish tournament with us at Casa Vieja Lodge!
This year, we welcomed 28 fabulous lady anglers to the lodge, including our Jefa, Kristen Salazar, for 3 days of nonstop fishing in teams of 4 aboard 7 boats from our fleet! We also saw a large number of IWFA newcomers showing up for the tournament this year, 10 new members came out!
Technically not a day 1, but the first day out was a “fun fishing day” to kick off the tournament. Birthday girl Krissy Wiborg caught her first marlin, a striped! Congrats Krissy, what a great birthday present! We also had some first time bill-fishing for some of our IWFA anglers as well as others catching their first ever Pacific Sailfish!
The first official day grand total was 124 sailfish raises, with one striped marlin release. The boat in first place for day one was The Hooker, with 3600 points. First place angler for day one was Natalia Frost with 1400 points.
The second day saw a little slower, with only 69 sailfish releases, but we also had 2 striped marlin and 1 blue marlin release! The boat in first place for day two was again, The Hooker with 2100 points. First place angler for day two was Serena Wilson with 800 points.
All in all it was an incredible couple of days and new friendships with some astounding women. Our Jefa, Kristen Salazar, won first place with her team, while IWFA newcomer Natalia Frost had a great second day and took home Top Angler overall with 1800 points!
What a wonderful weekend with incredible numbers for the Lodge! We saw some firsts, some personal bests and most importantly: strong camaraderie between fellow lady anglers. We can’t wait to host the IWFA again for more tournaments to come!
If you or someone you think might be interested in the IWFA would like to know more about this incredible group of women, click HERE for more info.
November Fishing Report
Two tournaments in one month, plus a Solo Anglers weekend made for some seriously competitive fishing numbers this month!
Overall this month we saw 1,566 sailfish raises, 1,307 sailfish bites, and 830 sailfish releases! PLUS 147 marlin raises, 109 marlin bites, and 65 marlin releases! Also we had 3 grand slams this month; the Makaira saw 13 tuna in a single day, and the Chilero had an incredible 5 blue marlin releases in just one day!!
We’re really rounding home on this unforgettable year, and we want you to be a part of it with us!
If you’d like to see these incredible numbers for yourself, check out the cool Fishing Counter on our homepage! There you’ll see our total Billfishing Release numbers for 2025, plus the last five years as well! What’s the highest release total you think we can get in 2025??
Below are our fishing highlights (combination of conventional & fly):
- November 1st-22nd, Chilero (38′ Warren O’Neal) with Capt. Nico Melendrez had 228 raises, 165 bites, 77 sailfish releases, plus 18 marlin raise, 12 marlin bites, 9 marlin releases, one stripe+blue marlin grand slam, 3 tuna & 10 mahi-mahi!
- November 1st-22nd, Release (37′ Merritt) with Capt. Sammy Baires, had 240 raises, 219 bites, 143 sailfish releases, 11 marlin raises, 8 marlin bites, 6 marlin releases, plus 8 mahi-mahi!
- November 1st-22nd, Rum Line (40′ Gamefisherman) with Capt. Terry Brennan, had 220 raises, 189 bites, 125 sailfish releases plus 23 marlin raises, 19 marlin bites, 11 marlin releases, plus 4 tuna & 5 mahi-mahi.
- November 2nd & 12th, Pica Más (48′ Whiticar) with Capt. Nicho Alvarenga, had 38 raises, 33 bites & 14 sailfish releases, 2 marlins raised, 2 marlin bites, 1 marlin released, & 4 mahi-mahi!
- November 2nd-22nd, Makaira (37′ Rybovich) with Capt. Jeffrey Garcia, had 310 raises, 291 bites, 201 sailfish releases, 20 marlins raised, 17 marlin bites, 12 marlin released, one stripe+blue marlin grand slam, plus 15 tuna & 24 mahi-mahi!
- November 2nd-20th, Poco Loco (47′ Nickerson) with Capt. Carlos Alvarenga, had 311 raises, 262 bites, 183 sailfish releases, 26 marlins raised, and 18 marlin bites, and 12 marlin releases—one blue marlin on fly!, plus 5 tuna & 14 mahi-mahi!
- November 2nd-21st, La Chingona (43′ Merritt) with Capt. Jose Alvarenga, had 194 raises, 163 bites, 106 sailfish releases, 12 marlins raised, and 10 marlin bites, and 3 marlin releases; plus 2 tuna & 11 mahi-mahi!
- November 2nd-22nd, The Hooker (48′ G&S) with Capt. Jono Arena, had 476 raises, 413 bites, 258 sailfish releases, 24 marlin raises, and 18 marlin bites, and 11 marlin releases, one stripe+blue marlin grand slam, plus 14 tuna & 21 mahi-mahi!
- November 3rd-22nd, Finest Kind (40′ Whiticar) with Capt. Benji Bairez, had 347 raises, 287 bites, 197 sailfish releases, 11 marlins raised, and 8 marlin bites, and 4 marlin releases; plus 1 tuna & 10 mahi-mahi!
- November 6th-22nd, Afinity (39′ Billy Knowles) with Capt. Franz Hoffman, had 253 raises, 211 bites, 135 sailfish releases, 13 marlins raised, and 8 marlin bites, 2 marlin releases & 4 mahi-mahi!
