Steve Sarley: Crystal Lake man lives dream as fishing lodge owner in Nicaragua

A few weeks ago I wrote about supporting our local tackle shops. I received an email response about the column a short while after it appeared in print. I read the email but was totally surprised that it was signed by a gentleman from the Rio Indio Lodge in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua? Wow. I know the Northwest Herald is a prestigious publication, yet I was still surprised. The Internet really has made the world smaller, hasn't it? I couldn't resist returning the email and asking how and why someone in Central America had read my column that was published in Illinois.

I got a quick response from Jim Veugeler and learned he was not only one of the owners of Rio Indio Lodge but also a former Crystal Lake resident. Veugeler, in addition to being a lodge owner, is the managing partner of Rio Indio Lodge and spends about 50 percent of his time in Central America and the other half in Crystal Lake.

If owning a Central American fishing lodge isn’t interesting enough for you, how about this? Veugeler has two adult children from a previous marriage. He more recently married a lady from Honduras and is now, at the age of 72, the father of twin 6-year-old girls.

Veugeler's story is quite interesting. He worked for Crystal Lake Disposal for 30 years and made the bold decision to get out. He told me, “I was seeing way too many people working up until they turned 75 or older before they stopped working. By that time, they could afford to stop working, but they weren't in the physical condition they needed to be to enjoy their retirement. I hit the age of 50 and I made the bold move. I took a huge risk. I decided that I would try to live my dream.”

Veugeler has fished for almost all of his life. He grew up fishing on Crystal Lake, which was near his family's home. He began to travel when his father would take him on fishing excursions to Wisconsin and “a very special lake” up in Minnesota. He had an uncle who would pack him up and take him with on fishing trips to Utah.

When Veugeler reached adulthood, his range of fishing travels expanded. Like many, he pointed north. Veugeler has fished all over Canada. At one point, Veugeler made the decision to turn around and head south. He fished in the southern United States, Mexico, South America and Central America.

A dedicated fly fisherman at heart, Veugeler found a passion for the mighty bonefish. He even traveled to the South Pacific to do battle with these creatures. After a number of visits to Costa Rica and Honduras, Veugeler found that his primary fishing passion was the pursuit of giant tarpon.

Veugeler began fishing Costa Rica's incredible tarpon fishery back in the day when there was only one fishing resort on the country's East Coast. As the legend of the fishery spread, more lodges were built and more and more fishermen came south to experience its wonders. Veugeler began to find that the tarpon were being fished too heavily and the fishery was experiencing a decline in both size and numbers.

Veugeler was invited on a trip to Nicaragua and was ecstatic to learn that the tarpon fishing in the country was just like it had been in Costa Rica's heyday. The big fish were present in large numbers, and you didn't always have to venture out to the ocean's depths to do battle with them. Large tarpon were present in Nicaragua's in-shore waterways.

Veugeler was a guest at the Rio Indio Lodge. The facility had been built in 2004 by a small group of rich American sportsmen to operate as their own private club. The owners decided to sell out, and Veugeler was in the right place at the right time and was fortunate enough to be able to buy into the operation with a small group of other investors. The new ownership decided to make their purchase in order to turn Rio Indio Lodge into a fishing resort that would be open to the public.

I’ll finish my visit with Veugeler next week and let him tell us all about the wonders of his Rio Indio Lodge in Nicaragua.

FISHING REPORT

Northern Illinois: Dave Kranz from Dave's Bait, Tackle and Taxidermy in Crystal Lake reports: "The trout opener went well with fish being caught on just about anything you used. I am sure all 2,200 were not caught, and we should be able to catch them for the next couple of weeks. I have had good reports of crappie coming into channels on the Fox River and fox Chain. I would use Mini-Mites or small pinkie jigs tipped with a small fathead minnow. The bluegill will hit an ice jig tipped with a wax worm. Try slow rolling a spinnerbait or a Mann's Baby Minus-one for bass."

Call 815-455-2040 for an updated report.

To see the statewide fishing report for Illinois, visit ifishillinois.org/fishing_reports/digest.php.

Wisconsin: Call Wisconsin's Lake Michigan Fishing Hotline at 414-382-7920 to hear the latest fishing information for Lake Michigan and its tributaries.

The Wisconsin inland game fishing season opens May 2.

• Steve Sarley writes about the outdoors for Shaw Media. Write to him at ssarley@shawmedia.com.