Cruising through 10,000 ft after takeoff from Los Cabos airport there is time to reflect on some of the toughest sightfishing I have ever experienced. Just some 6 hours ago we sighted and cast to the last Roosterfish of our trip . A fish of around 35lbs flashed in on a small school of mullet that were holed up in the corner of the beach just north of the small fishing resort of Rancho Leonero. We sat on the mullet school for 20 minutes hoping for the shot that lasted all of 3 seconds. It was all last chance fishing before catching the Alaskan Airlines tourist shuttle home and that was done only after some serious thoughts of staying down just a little longer. You see not only had we experienced some of the toughest fishing on the planet but had now become so obsessed and addicted to it that not much else seems to matter anymore, where is RFA when you need them?

Supposing that one day on presenting myself to a Rooster Fish Anonymous meeting I have to explain how the addiction began.... Roosters had been on my mind ever since my first trip to Cabo San Lucas 5 years ago when first fishing with Grant Hartman of Baja Anglers and friends Greg Bethune, Steve Starling and my permanent fishing partner Kate. It was there when I realized first hand how hard it was to get Roosters to take a fly or as the Mexican captains call it “Moscha” (artificial). The fishing on that occasion was done by teasing the fish out of the surf line with live bait and or poppers , classic bait and switch stuff. Subsequent trips to Baja saw us catch them by casting to working schools along the Pacific side when opportunities presented themselves. However there was one photo that was inspirational. That photo was of Brian O’Keefe and it was hanging on Kaufmanns Fly store wall in Seattle. Brian was holding up a good sized Rooster fish that he had caught from a East Cape beach on fly. That inspired some research and some interesting conversation with persons that had fished the East Cape area of Baja. Eventually we had garnered enough information on the places, accommodations and fishing options to say,”lets give it a go”. Thats how it begun we went searching for the Roosters of the Tropic of Cancer. (I would like to the opportunity to blame Dave Carlson, Brian O’Keefe , gentleman I met here at Kaufmanns Seattle who lives in Los Barriles, East Cape, and of course my mate Grant Hartman for giving me this addiction)

Our first stop as always was in Cabo San Lucas to see our very good friends Grant and Gisel Hartman and check into our favorite hotel, the Finistera. On this visit we had the "outlaws" with us, Pete and Elizabeth Van Gytenbeek, as well as a new player to Mexico albeit a seasoned fishing companion Brad Oakey( Brad being one week away from getting married and heading to live in Germany for a few years). As mentioned earlier last chance fishing. Our plan was to fish for billfish,Dorado, tunas etc with Grant for a day or two and then head up to the East Cape and stay in three different locations to get a feel for the area and fishing. We had invited the Hartmans to come and hang out and fish with us for a couple of days long before jumping the plane. Thankfully they did because Grant had been holding out on us about the East Cape Fishery and as it turns out totally nuts about flyfishing from the beach for Pez Gallo (Roosterfish). Only a week before takeoff he had sent me a photo of one of his Roosters on fly from this area . "Mongrel!" I had thought when looking at the picture.."bloody nice fish, take me to the airport , quickly."

Fishing out of Cabo was fairly uneventful for big fish and we endured one day of pretty ordinary weather and another day that was flatter than a shit carters hat(old Aussie saying). Still we had shots at Sailfish, Dorado, sharks, Skipjack and Yellowfin Tuna. The tuna were great fun and I managed to get my first little jellybean on fly and followed it up the next day with a nice 6 kg or so fish on a 9 weight. We did encounter some bigger fin and lost one or two of them by breaking light tippet. It may be worth pointing out in this story that the American Tuna fleet that has been kicked out of the Hawaiian Islands so I am told are now actively fishing the Baja. Purse seining ships equipped with helicopters and and the most modern equipment were fishing right on Los Cabos front door. Flyfishing the beautiful waters surrounded by dolphins and other wonderful marine species while you can see the bastards rape the ocean is not really enjoyable and in fact distracting. What chance have we got whilst these practices continue???

Having hired a Jeep form Advantage Rent A Car near Los Cabos International Airport we were free to explore and after sending the outlaws back to Seattle we headed off to our first stop Hotel Palmas De Cortez on the East Cape. We arrived just as many did for the 4th annual Bisbee tournament. Having been involved in the gamefishing scene for some time and being thrust back into the melee of macho sportsfisherman whom scoff at the long rods was not fun. We saw more than enough Guy Harvey shirts to know he must have made a small fortune. People in the sports and gamefishing scene obviously need to identify themselves as such just as flyfishermen do in the clothes they wear. To be perfectly frank most fly guys look pretty dorky and the game guys pretty wanky. If you like both fly fishing and gamefishing I guess you cross dress and look like a dorky wanker. It helps by the way when dealing with a lot of those BIg Game fishermen to be able to say you have caught a billfish on fly and of course having caught the odd marlin or two in Australia . It really bruises a few egos when you call 250lb fish “rats”. The worst part is - Yep - they still kill them down there! On the first day of the tourney we saw a 240lb Blue that did not even qualify and another of 340lb killed and weighed without a whimper. $300,000 in prize money changes the game in my opinion from fair catch and release practices to greedy kill-them-all, let god sort it out attitude. Strange for a hotel that actively promotes "catch & release" practices to be the headlining sponsor for this kill tournament.

Anyway back to our task at hand - we arranged a panga for a days fishing.
Funny situation down the East Cape when entering the booking office to arrange your charter. Its seems to me that the “boat captains “ whom are in charge of organizing all the vessels working out of the individual lodges are far more concerned about your lunch than actually what you require in a vessels and captain. The first question was “what sort of boat do you want?” not what type of fish or style of fishing and second “do you want fried chicken or beef sandwiches, how many cokes and waters?” "Hang on mate, what we want a good flyfishing guide not a frigging lunch menu" were my first thoughts. I did not let those thoughts become words however and ordered 4 coke lights, 2 bottles of water and the fried chicken. We guess that the assumptive selling is a by-product of the American booking agents who pump sports and game fisherman through their offices at a alarming rate. The other factor is the amount of days per year that are fished by the crews and lodge fleets. It must become just another day and just another gringo to the tourist weary guides. What is worse than the whole booking process is the "Machismo factor". By that I mean flyfishing is not considered “fishing” in the same way that trolling live bait is. I will state now that fly fishing is not highly regarded on the Baja and found the normal approach somewhat lazy and not innovative. Say "flyfishing" to your captain in the morning and he will immediately look for the bait guys and live sardines. Thats another $20 or more from your wallet and a easy way out for him. Pulling up on a known haunt for Roosters and other species and throwing a handful of sardines overboard is not a proactive way of getting a fish to take your fly and actually I think that in the case of Roosters counter productive. The fish get so focused on the live bait that getting them to eat anything artificial no matter how well you match the hatch nearly impossible. The only fish we saw taken with a fly rod for the week were enticed with a rubber fly while throwing live chum around the bait holding pens . The fly was realistic and had all the built in action that plastics can provide. Still its not quite like using a hand tied feathered fly in my book nor are poppers (I must admit to using poppers on occasion however there are still some feathers and or flash added).
All in all a day or two fishing the pangas and or cruiser is still fun. The guide/captain with his network of friends , fleet captains and bait panga guys will know where the fish are, be wealthy with information and look after you. Basically its just great being out there and is not to be missed and is much much easier than flyfishing from the shore. The guides want you to catch fish just as much as you do and all I am saying above is that they are just not quite dialed into flyfishing as much as other operations we have fished on the Baja. This was my experience and I am sure someone will tell me of a good flyfishing operations and captains on the East Cape.

Brad and I did manage to catch a few snapper,ladyfish and other species on the fly from the panga but once again the three little dink roosters we saw for the day refused our offerings. The fried chicken was nice and we had plenty to hydrate with at least. We decided in the pool bar that night to explore the shores and look for Roosters on the beaches. Next morning we loaded the jeep and headed off to see the places we had heard about and also find the spots we had seen fish the previous day form the panga. One thing you quickly find out on the East Cape is that its hard to find your way around those rough corrugated roads and thats compounded further by the lack of any decent map of the area. One guide to fishing the Baja was not very accurate and caused enough confusion and frustration at one point to start a minor mutiny in he dusty hot open jeep. Not good!! Its one thing to find your way in a boat and we recognized Hotel Rancho Leonero and Punta Colorado from the panga without problem but finding access to the beaches surrounding them a different proposition. Once you find them you then need to find the fish and only when you first step foot on the those huge lengths of coastline do you finally discover what a major task it is. We spent two days just getting dialed in to the area and sighting only a few fish. Combine the scouting travel with some pretty strong winds and a overcast day or two and your time starts getting sucked dry. Having looked from Palmas De Cortez to Punta Colorado over those days however was invaluable in our fishing efforts and we found some great locations where our energies remained focused for the rest of the trip.

Our next days where based from Punta Colorado which is billed as the “Rooster Fish Capital of the World”. Pretty accurate description in our opinion and we scoured the beaches from nearly as far as Cabo Plumo to the hotel looking for the hotspots. A lot of beach and coastline in that area and getting to and from locations by road is the only way as beach driving is prohibited. A word of warning here we did run into the military down around Buena Vista who where protecting the turtle eggs and nests from poachers and 4xWD’s They brandished machine guns while traveling the beach on ATV’s which in my opinion should also be stopped from traveling the beach not so much for the turtles sake but as they scare the fish. On several occasion we saw fish that were traveling the beach zoom off into the distance when a ATV or panga drove by. (Stealth is everything in this sightfishing from the beach game.) There also was a navy presence up off Punta Colorado watching the beaches so be warned - don't drive the beaches! We saw plenty of evidence of turtles laying eggs on the beaches; lots of nests, tracks and even some hatched eggs scattered on the sand. One afternoon whilst fishing with Grant one turtle even started up the beach right in front of us to dig her nest.

If you read anything about Punta Colorado in print you will see it said your most likely to see more Roosters directly in front of the lighthouse than anywhere else. A true statement and one we had heard from most people we had spoke to. Catching fish from this area is a different proposition and requires your luck to be combined with real skill to be successful. There are folks who have caught fish blind casting shooting heads etc here but I am not sure what size fish. Little fish say up to 35lb may not be so hard when the fish are schooling and on the chew but the big singles cruising or surfing the swells close to the beach are another story. Just who has caught one of these big fish on fly remains a mystery to me and when I say big fish I mean fish over 50lb or more. I saw a few good fish on this trip and actually casted to one that I conservatively estimated to be over the 60lb mark without success. The folks fishing the area from Kayaks with live mullet that day caught and weighed one fish of 7Olbs and caught a few other good ones. Grant Hartman who has done a fair bit of fishing over that way told me about one of his partners in crime whom apparently caught two of these larger critters on a fly. There must be a few blokes whom have managed to catch a large Rooster sightcasting flys from the beach. We may never know just who but be assured you could probably count them all on one hand.

One afternoon the Roosters began swimming circles out past the breakers and it was obvious it was part of mating cycle and Grant explained how the larger female fish attracted the smaller males. It was something to behold watching the spectacle of big fish in the breakers and I imagined that this ritual probably continued under the light of the upcoming full moon and indeed I saw this activity the following morning on a beach further North... Occasionally fish broke off and surfed down with the wind swell along the beach giving brief unproductive fly presentation opportunities. Casting directly in the face of 20 + knot afternoon sea breezes with a 12 weight rod and large fly is similar to rubbing you arse against a brick, you get nowhere. The chance is still there though if a fish comes in close enough and sees the fly. Many other species are available from the beach; ladyfish ,yellowfin croaker, needlefish, jack crevalle, pargo (snapper), pompano and other visitor that will keep you on your toes. Most of these species will eat the bigger flys but are more suited to clousers and smaller fare. We did catch several of the other species on this trip that ate the large deceivers and I was lucky enough to sight fish a large Barred Pargo (snapper) on a still, hot Mexican morning. That fish ripped a fair bit of string off before slugging it out in the shallows. At least that gave Kate time to run the 3/4 of miles to take a photo. She still is the best catch of my life.

After dropping Brad back at the airport to go and get married (I advised him that being married is a bit like driving a car with the hand brake on and he still had time to run) Kate and I spent the next days working the beaches and had a day catching Ladyfish (and the unavoidably aggressive needlefish) hand over fist out of a panga. Mostly though from sun up to sun down we walked the beaches in 90 +degree heat an strong sunshine searching for Roosters. Incidentally this style of fishing is also great exercise and it helped me drop a few excess beer pounds. The average amount of fish seen was about 6 or 7 per day with probably 3 to 4 good shots and maybe one realistic follow or grab. The fish seem to patrol the beaches at a rather fast pace and are opportunistic in their behavior often suprising their prey in a quick burst of energy. We saw this on a couple of occasion while staking out bait schools. Sighting fish as they move down the beach is the best chance. If you can lead the fish and get his attention he will stick that comb up in the air and be all over your fly like a F-18 pilot in a dogfight. Sometimes they nose right up on the fly almost like they are smelling it and they possibly are? There where definite places where we saw more fish than others and we theorize that they follow contour lines along the beach. Most definitely they patrol certain rock formations which are favored ambush spots.

During this trip we all had our chances, follows, grabs and refusals which can be a little tough on you under the brutal heat. My personal biggest disappointment was on the second last day when walking a productive little scallop in the beach early in the morning. I came across two big fish slowly finning along, one of the most opportune moments you can get in any sightfishing situation and even more so with roosters. Two fish means competition and thats exactly what occurred when presenting the fly. After dropping it in front of them the first twitch sparked reaction and the fish shouldered each other to the fly. Both combs were up and one fish rushed and grabbed the fly. Strip striking as both fish continued to swim towards me arguing about who owned breakfast, I kept the pressure on until they turned and started running seawards. The line started zinging out thru the guides and while trying to keep control of the flyline loops ripping off the reel my feelings were of complete joy until I felt that sudden slackness that brings back the heavy heart of one of those disappointing childhood experiences we have all had. Even after another 4 shots that morning the bitter bite of failure would not leave and I still carry a little of that hurt home on this plane... Its surely is not a game for anyone with thin skin, emotional instability or is not fit enough to endure the rigors of the walking and running the beaches. You will have to run along at times to get ahead of the fish false casting as you go and do this with a stripping basket and all your gear including water bottles etc. It most definitely not a game for people whom like to be constantly catching fish although you can catch ladyfish and other species to your hearts content when targeting them. However in doing so you will be disrupting your Rooster chances. If your into pure sightfishing for fish that are in the very hard to nearly impossible to catch bracket and are more into the hunting type mode of fishing, are not afraid of fairly extreme conditions, you are gunna be seeing me at the RFA meetings and the East Cape beaches around the Tropic of Cancer trying to catch one.

10 or so Rooster Fishing Tips learnt the hard way.

1.Stealth, Stealth, Stealth..(baby elephants need not apply)

2. Stay low, stay out of sight , camouflage yourself - blend with your surroundings

3.Short fast presentation are the order of the day. clear intermediate lines,quad tips or wet tips worked well for us.

4.Flies have to be as realistic as possible and work properly when stripped , fouled flies won't work, neither will blunt hooks. Fishing over the sand requires you to touch up your hooks frequently.

5. Line management and line control are critical, a good stripping basket of some kind will help you with your first presentation. Of course something will always seem to wrong at the critical time.

6. Be aware of your surroundings , steep sand banks and driftwood behind you can totally stuff your casting and you sometimes forget when you are focused on sighting the fish.

7.Work as a team staying at least 100 feet apart if you cant get a good shot give you partner a heads up that the fish is coming.

8. If you see or “feel” what looks like a likely spot such as a nervous bait school stake it out for or while and maybe try a few blind casts

9.Dont give up because of the wind 10 and 12 weight rods are most useful but be careful when casting you may have to travel some distance to have a hook removed from your body

10.Take plenty of water and learn how to cast a 12 weight like its a 8 weight

Roosterfish Facts

Roosterfish , = Pez Gallo in Spanish and Nematistius Pectoralis is the scientific name.

Occurs in waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California to Peru. Mexico and Costa Rica offer the best locations for the fly angler. Roosters are a inshore species and inhabit the sandy surf beaches in their distribution range. Their diets consists mostly of small fish predation. Roosterfish have a limited range of movement of around 300 miles.

The largest fish currently on record with the IGFA on fly is 46lb on 16lb test. This fish was caught at La Ribera by Thomas Boyd. Grant Hartman currently holds the most Roosterfish records on fly.
The current all tackle record is a fish of 114lb taken in La Paz in 1960