About Us - The Central America Fishing Team

“Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

That pretty much sums up life here at CAF, but we invite you to learn more about the Central America Fishing team and our history.

Central America Fishing FAQs

What Is Central America Fishing?

We are a luxury, full-service sport fishing outfitter that offer the best fishing vacations Central America and South America. In other words, we are a travel agency that specializes in sport fishing vacations. As of 2026, we operate in 11 countries and have over 250 destination and accommodation options to choose from.

We help you plan, book, and execute your entire vacation from start to finish including in-country transportation, domestic flights, private fishing charters, eco and adventure tours, and your accommodations. We can even help with details like private chefs, spa appointments, tee times, and dinner reservations for our guests.

How Much Do You Charge? / What Are Your Fees?

Central America Fishing charges the same direct rates as the operations that we represent and we do not charge any booking fees. We do not inflate or pad our rates, so never charge you more than you would pay if you booked directly. That is true for all the hotels, resorts, villas, fishing lodges, fishing charters, and tour companies that we partner with. Central America Fishing does not charge any booking fees or service fees.

The way we generate our revenue is by earning small commissions from our partners. Let's say a hotel costs $300 a night. If you book directly with the hotel, you'll pay $300 a night. If you book with CAF, you'll still pay $300 a night, but the hotel will give us a small commission for recommending you. By earning commission on the vacations we book, we never need to charge you more than you would pay trying to figure this out on your own.

What Makes CAF Special?

We are a luxury, full-service sport fishing outfitter that offer the best fishing vacations Central America and South America. Another way to say it is that we are a travel agency that specializes in sport fishing vacations.

How Do You Do It?

Central America Fishing has a vast network of trusted transportation companies, local domestic airlines, fishing captains & guides, tour companies, and accommodations that we partner with. These have all been hand-picked and vetted by us on a one-by-one basis. Every fishing operation, fishing boat, hotel, resort, or fishing lodge that we partner with we have personally fished with or visited to make sure they meet our standards for quality, service, and reliability. Not only do we live here in Central America, we receive feedback from our guests on a weekly basis, so we are constantly evaluating which of our providers are making our guests happy or causing issues.

With accommodations and fishing operations in 11 countries, it took decades to develop our trusted network of partners. We are now proud to offer over 250 different destinations & accommodation options.

Why Should I Use CAF and Not Book Directly?

How Do I Know This Is Safe?

Central America Fishing's History

How we got here…

I was born in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in Wisconsin. I grew up fishing the Great Lakes, but my obsession with the ocean started young with family vacations to Florida and visits to Sea World. While studying Spanish at the University of Minnesota, I decided a semester abroad would be the best way for me to really learn the language, so I chose Costa Rica.

Towards the end of my 4-month stay, my parents came down for a visit and I managed to convince my dad to pay for a day of inshore fishing on a local panga. The only English the captain spoke was “Reel, boy! Reel!“, which he screamed at me when we got our first bite. A few minutes later I was holding an exotic fish with a seven-fingered dorsal fin like nothing I had ever seen before. They kept calling it “gallo”, which I soon learned meant roosterfish. Looking back on it, that was the moment it was all over for me: I was all-in with Costa Rica's 'Pura Vida'. Infected by the tropical fever. Obsessed.

Chris & Theresa fishing at Los Suenos, Costa Rica

Central America Fishing owner, Chris, releases a tarpon in Belize

After graduating, I did a year in the corporate world but I quickly realized that wasn’t where I belonged. I couldn’t stop thinking about Costa Rica, so much to my family’s chagrin, I quit my safe corporate job and moved back to Costa Rica full time in 2005 and have been here ever since.

My wife Theresa was born and raised in Michigan. She studied Finance and International Business at Grand Valley State University and also made the decision to study in Costa Rica for a semester to learn Spanish. She immediately fell in love with the local culture, gallo pinto breakfasts, friendly Ticos, and of course being from the Midwest – the warm weather!

Theresa graduated and then volunteered in Honduras for the Peace Corps, but after their coup d’etat in 2009, she decided Costa Rica was a safer place to be so she moved back too. We met shortly after that, and the rest is history!

How it Started…

When I moved to Costa Rica full time in 2005, my first job was at a local travel agency. I had zero sales experience, but loved to travel, so I figured this was a good place to start. It didn't take long for it to "click", and soon what started out as an effort to earn enough money for rent & beer became a full fledged career. Shortly after I became the top travel consultant and that agency grew to one of the largest in the country. A few years into the job, I created a sport fishing division of the company and managed my own team of agents.

At the end of 2013, I decided it was time to spread my wings and start my own company to be able to offer fishing vacations throughout the entire region, not just Costa Rica. From fly fishing the flats in Belize to incredible inshore and offshore fishing in Panama, Central America has so many different fishing venues to explore and species to catch, I knew that our anglers would love fishing these different places as much as I do. Theresa left the large travel agency in 2016 and created Central America Vacation, which is the non-fishing side of our travel agency that caters to 'regular' vacations.

CAF owner, Chris, with Shea & Ryan McIntee from Stoked on Fishing TV Show

Chris and Dakota from Central America Fishing with tuna in Panama

Central America Fishing Today…

In 2013 I set out to create the company that I would love to travel with: unmatched local expertise, insider knowledge, and personalized service from start to finish. We started out offering Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize. In 2016 we added Guatemala and Nicaragua to our offerings. Shortly after that, Honduras. In 2022 we ventured out of Central America for the first time to offer incredible fishing on the Amazon River in Brazil. Today we have over 250 destinations and operations that we partner with in 11 countries, as always with the same direct pricing and no booking fees.

I'm proud to say that we offer the best fishing vacations in Central America. We’ve hosted Fox Sports West #1 rated fishing show six times, Stoked on Fishing, written articles for Florida Sport Fishing Magazine, and we've been featured in Authority Magazine and the Billfish Foundation magazine. We are honored to partner with the venerable Make a Wish Foundation as well as Pack for a Purpose non-profits. We are passionate about conservation and are proud to partner with the IGFA, the Billfish Foundation, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, and King Sailfish Mounts.

Most of all, we are proud to say that 40% of all CAF anglers are repeat or referral guests. That means so much to us because it shows that we are making our guests happy and they want to share the good times and come back for more. We truly love being a part of the travel and sport fishing industries, meeting new people every week, and helping guests create memories of a lifetime. The only thing that surpasses our expertise for fishing and travel in Central America is our passion for it, and we can’t wait you help you experience it for yourself.

The Central America Fishing Team