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The Giant Roosterfish of Baja
- By Brendan Mason
- Published 01/17/2005
- Trip Reports
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Brendan Mason
Brendan Mason is a Canadian born angler who now lives in Seattle, Washington. Brendan has fished all of his life and started a passion for fly in British Columbia where he grew up. His father a search and rescue expert and his mother a teacher, Brendan has the brains and skills to both out think and survive longer than the average Joe Blow. Brendan has fished extensively for trout and salmonids but in recent years has attacked the saltwater with gusto. His travels have taken him to Australia, Mexico, Argentina and beyond. Brendan also has the distinction of catching a 600 lb Mako on fly while fishing San Diego in 2006. You can often find him stalking carp in the shallows of Green Lake in Seattle.
Grant Hartman of Baja Anglers in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico reports this story of a HUGE roosterfish caught from the beach by Dutch fly angler Jos Arets.
Here is the full story from Grant:
Jos Arets from Holland caught a huge roosterfish. My boat broke down that day and Jos graciously gave the day to my other client, and then Jos and I took off on one of my beach trips. We put around 150 miles on my truck that day, only to catch that fish 20 miles from Cabo. We fished hard all day in a 25-mile hour cold north wind. Late in the day Jos caught a 1 lb. roosterfish. Then we really fished hard as BIG roosterfish love to eat small baby roosterfish. A few minutes later Jos missed a fish that was at least a foot and half longer than the one he caught. 80 lbs. plus. Then this monster hit one of my roosterfish no name flies. The fight was around 15 to 20 minutes long.
A very conservative guess on the roosterfish was around 55 lbs, but the fish went 60 inches with 33" around the girth. The formula length X girth squared divided by 800 comes to 81 lbs, but the fish was not that big. Jos weighs 240 lbs. and he looks small with the fish. It was definitely a world record on 16 lb. tippet. Jos released the fish unharmed. I left my scale at home. Go figure. It cost Jos the world record, but he wasn't upset.
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Here is the full story from Grant:
Jos Arets from Holland caught a huge roosterfish. My boat broke down that day and Jos graciously gave the day to my other client, and then Jos and I took off on one of my beach trips. We put around 150 miles on my truck that day, only to catch that fish 20 miles from Cabo. We fished hard all day in a 25-mile hour cold north wind. Late in the day Jos caught a 1 lb. roosterfish. Then we really fished hard as BIG roosterfish love to eat small baby roosterfish. A few minutes later Jos missed a fish that was at least a foot and half longer than the one he caught. 80 lbs. plus. Then this monster hit one of my roosterfish no name flies. The fight was around 15 to 20 minutes long.
A very conservative guess on the roosterfish was around 55 lbs, but the fish went 60 inches with 33" around the girth. The formula length X girth squared divided by 800 comes to 81 lbs, but the fish was not that big. Jos weighs 240 lbs. and he looks small with the fish. It was definitely a world record on 16 lb. tippet. Jos released the fish unharmed. I left my scale at home. Go figure. It cost Jos the world record, but he wasn't upset.