Guatemala's Casa Vieja

Our rainy season of mid-July through September coincide with the slower travel period of our typical client, with October through June being prime booking months. The larger sailfish up to 150 pounds are usually taken during the Fall, but for pure volume of 80 – 100 pound fish, December through June tends to be the rule. During this time you'll be tantalized with 20 – 40 bites per day and, on some of those exceptional days, more than 100! Our statistics show 40 plus sailfish release days have been experienced in every month of the year. Fly fisherman take note: feather tossing anglers aboard the RELEASE let go 57 sailfish in one day in 2006 and they did it while conforming to all IGFA rules and regulations. Days with finicky or non-aggressive feeders are few and far between!

Marlin add to the excitement and they generally show up in concentrations for a week or more several times a year. At any time, a run to the far offshore drop can normally put you on yellowfin tuna as well as the average 400 pound blue marlin. As an average, while targeting sailfish every Casa Vieja boat will encounter a marlin every third day during the year. This number can be seriously upped by requesting a strictly marlin venture!

Package Cost:
The cost of the 4 night/3 day Casa Vieja package is $4500 - $7815 per person (single occupancy - dependent upon boat size)

•  Prices vary depending upon total number of anglers fishing.
•  Additional days available, at an additional cost, for those that want to fish or stay longer than 4 nights.

Inclusions:
Your angling package at Casa Vieja includes airport reception and roundtrip airport transfers between Guatemala City and the Lodge; deluxe double occupancy accommodations with breakfast and dinner daily at Casa Vieja Lodge; non-alcoholic beverages; daily lodge-marina transfers; fishing on a choice of game boats with captain and crew; lunches, bottled water and soft drinks on the boat; all trolling, spin and fly tackle; bait, lures and flies.

Our rainy season of mid-July through September coincide with the slower travel period of our typical client, with October through June being prime booking months. The larger sailfish up to 150 pounds are usually taken during the Fall, but for pure volume of 80 – 100 pound fish, December through June tends to be the rule. During this time you'll be tantalized with 20 – 40 bites per day and, on some of those exceptional days, more than 100! Our statistics show 40 plus sailfish release days have been experienced in every month of the year. Fly fisherman take note: feather tossing anglers aboard the RELEASE let go 57 sailfish in one day in 2006 and they did it while conforming to all IGFA rules and regulations. Days with finicky or non-aggressive feeders are few and far between!

Guatemala City is easily reached by flights from Miami (2-hrs), Houston (2.5-hrs), Dallas and Atlanta (3.5-hrs) and Los Angeles (6-hrs). After customs clearance our chauffeured vans stocked with beer, sodas and bottled water will transport you directly to Casa Vieja Lodge on a newly constructed modern highway. The drive brings you down from the mountains passing by several volcanoes, coffee bean and sugar cane plantations to the Pacific coastline in less than

Indulging anglers from around the globe in unequaled comfort is Casa Vieja Lodge, a classically styled sportsman's retreat surrounded by landscaped gardens and tropical foliage providing the ultimate in privacy. The bedrooms with either a King size bed or two Queens featuring luxurious linens and pillows. The bathrooms feature step in showers and spa type bath products.

On the first floor is the Lodge's own air conditioned restaurant featuring the finest cuisine on Guatemala's Pacific coast and a bar equally adept at a dry martini as well as a Mojito. Built over twenty years ago as the private retreat to one of Guatemala's most prominent sporting families, the newly renovated Casa Vieja Lodge is sure to delight

Now, it is not only possible for the average angler to entertain thoughts of fly fishing for sails, but a catch and release is probable at the right destination. And that is at Casa Vieja in the coastal city of San Jose, Guatemala. This area is said to hold one of highest concentrations of sailfish anywhere discovered yet and easily accessible. With numbers like 124 releases on conventional gear and 57 releases with a fly rod from one boat in ONE DAY, one can see why chances are greater of hooking billfish here on a fly than any other place on earth. One of the elements making these kinds of numbers possible is Guatemala's approach to regulating billfish. It is illegal to possess a billfish there. Now, that's the way to do it. It not only takes numbers of fish, but skilled boat captains and crews to find the fish, tease them within casting distance and help an angler bring it boatside for release. You don't have to worry about them understanding how to work with fly fishers. You will be fishing on one of their 37 to 43 foot vessels with a crew knowledgeable of the unique fly fishing techniques.

Angling excitement is watching the fish's bill cut through the water's surface slashing behind a hook-less teaser and seeing the sailfish "light up" as it tries to eat it while crew member reels it to your casting distance behind the boat before yanking it out of the water away from the fish.

Confused, the sailfish now sees your fly hit the water and charges in for the kill. The next few moments are nothing like you've experienced