by
Tony Peña
“Is
it just my imagination or are roosterfish getting harder to catch?”
That was my rhetorical question to Rick Casparian as we kept getting
short strikes and rejected baits from these wary gamesters on the west side of
Cerralvo Island, Baja Sur last July. “Time
to go high tech,” I said as we replaced our 40-pound monofilament trolling
gear, which has worked well on many trips, to thinner-diameter 50-pound spectra
braided line tied direct to 30-pound fluorocarbon leader and 7/0 bronze hooks
sized to the ten-inch live mullet we were slow trolling.
Soon after the switch I proceeded to set the hook firmly on a 60-pound
class roosterfish, releasing it after a spirited battle.
We praised the tackle but wanted more proof that we had a technical
advantage.
The
next day, we loaded ten mullet in the pangas live well and decided to make the
run south across Muertos Bay to El Cardonal.
It’s a good roosterfish beach with sand, pebble and hard shelf areas
that tends to produce lots of small to medium size fish from five to 40 pounds.
We scaled our tackle down further using Shimano Calcutta 400 reels loaded
with 30-pound Power Pro spectra and 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon leaders.
Standing on the bow, it was fun looking for roosters because the clear,
shallow water presented us with a constant show of rays, puffer fish, colorful
corals and aquarium type fish such as Moorish idols and sergeant majors that
beckon you to break out your mask and snorkel.
Finally a dark shadow was spotted off the bow in ten-feet of water.
It moved warily to get out of our path, beating its tail quickly and then
slowing when it reached a comfort zone about 75-feet off our starboard side.
It’s body profile revealed it as a roosterfish even though its telltale
dorsal comb was compressed in its sheath and not visible.
Rather than taking the boat with its trailing baits to the fish, we kept
on course and let the fish decide whether to come to the boat or not.
Roosterfish can be intimidated easily, especially in areas that are
fished hard, so its important to keep from “chasing” fish in the shallows
because they may run for deep water. This
fish did exactly what we wanted. It
swam leisurely from the side of the boat and gradually picked up speed as it
came into the baits.. The mullet
were frantic as the now-excited rooster raised its banded comb high above the
water as it slashed at its prey. Live-baiting
roosterfish reminds me of some techniques used for sailfish.
Once the bait is hit a few times and stunned, release line in freespool
to see if the predator will engulf it quickly and speed off with the meal.
Continuing to troll with the bait too long may have bad consequences such
as the bait getting off the hook, or the predator simply giving up after awhile
leaving the mangled morsel to scavenging triggerfish.
Dropping back the bait the roosterfish hit it hard and raced off at an
angle. The mullet was fairly small
and, unlike some of the large ladyfish (sabalo) we often use in these waters for
trophy-class roosters, you don’t have to wait several minutes to set the hook.
After a count of about five I turned the handle, automatically tripping
the drag, and started cranking until the rod was nicely bent and line was being
pulled from a smooth drag. The lack
of stretch in the spectra line allowed the hook to catch and dig in quickly.
Holding the rod high it rhythmically beat with each tail-swipe of the
rooster as it skirted the beach and then headed for deeper water.
Roosters are strong fish but they usually don’t dive into rocks like a
yellowtail, pargo or amberjack to cut you off.
Steady pressure will win out and unless you have too much line out
cut-offs from rocks or coral are not a major concern.
It’s a good strategy to keep the line at a 60° angle or more when the fish has settled into a
deep fight just to minimize the amount of line out that may come in contact with
bottom structure. Keep talking with
your pangero or skipper to adjust the boat position with each move of the fish
to maintain an optimum line angle. One
note of caution, especially when fighting large roosterfish, don’t put the
boat at 90°
or directly over a fresh fish that’s fighting deep.
That maneuver swings the odds in the fishes favor because it will force
the angler to employ some fancy footwork just to keep the rod tip and line from
contacting the gunwale, side of the boat or outboard props each time the big
fish changes position or makes a fast break to the opposite side of the boat.
Keep some line angle to allow for more reaction time for you or the boat
to be moved into a better position.
The thumping tail beats of this rooster were now getting slower.
Its silver sides flashed under the bright Baja sun as it tired and turned
broadside to the surface. Within a
few minutes we gently grabbed its tail, removed the hook that had wedged in the
corner of its bone-like mouth and released the 35-pound fish in good condition.
Although I have seen 70-pound class roosterfish swimming along this
stretch of coast, this rooster was a good size for the area and got our morning
off to a fast start. “These fish
are hungry. We should do well,” I
said just to keep the optimism high.
Returning to the shallows we set out two more live mullet and soon had a
double hookup with smaller, matched roosters in the 12-pound size.
If you hook half of the roosters you raise that is considered a good
success rate. We were bringing every
fish to the boat for release and getting more enthusiastic with the hook-setting
ability of the spectra and the low visibility of the fluorocarbon leaders that
seemed to encourage more aggressive strikes.
Out of the ten baits we started out with we released a total of nine
roosterfish between 12 and 35 pounds. A
tenth fish in the 30-pound class got cut off from a double hookup when Casparian
and I got tangled on the bow. By
late morning we were out of bait so we headed offshore to
look for billfish and dorado. Later
we spoke with several roosterfish anglers back at Las Arenas Resort who related
their difficulties hooking fish and general poor fishing results.
However unscientific our findings were, we couldn’t help but conclude
that our lighter tackle, non-stretch spectra, fluorocarbon leader and small
profile hooks gave us a significant advantage.
We were able to present a bait and “feel” the fish better when they
were in the trolling spread and mouthing the mullet.
Setting the hook was easier with the abrupt, true contact made possible
with the no-stretch quality of spectra and we could feel each move and
head-shake of the fish as it was transmitted up the line.
It was not only effective but the tackle was fun to use as well.
Technical refinements in tackle can help give anglers an advantage with
roosterfish but it’s also important to understand when, where and how to
pursue this dynamic gamefish to improve your chances of being consistently
successful.
Roosterfish are an Eastern Pacific, inshore species found historically
from Southern California to Peru. One
publication extends their range to British Columbia but that must be based on
fossil evidence or simply exaggerated thinking.
In Baja California, roosterfish are fairly wide ranging to the upper
reaches of both the Sea of Cortez and Pacific coasts.
However, the most reliable roosterfishing takes place in the La Paz to
Los Cabos regions where favorable habitat, forage and sea temperatures allow for
a year round population to exist. John
Ireland, owner of Rancho Leonero Resort and an avid scuba diver, has observed
that roosterfish are found throughout the winter on the East Cape but are
generally found in deeper water. Smaller
fish will hammer the large schools of sardinas found close to beaches at this
time but the big fish are in the doldrums and rarely caught using traditional
tactics.
On December 26, 1998 I was scoring well on small roosters north of Cabo
San Lucas near San Cristobal with pangero Alberto Cota Tamayo when the subject
of trophy-sized fish came up. Tamayo
added some confirmation that large roosterfish over the 50-pound mark tend to
show up in July on the Pacific side of Cabo.
Having fished the Las Arenas Resort area adjacent to Cerralvo Island
during July for the last three years I have had generally good results but most
of the pangeros have favored May as the top month for roosters.
This has been due to the early arrival and early departure of baitfish,
primarily sardinas, that are key to a stable food chain that attracts a wide
variety of predatory gamefish. By
July live bait has been scarce and the commercial bait sellers have had to work
hard for sometimes meager results.
When sardinas are not holding inshore it tends to scatter ladyfish,
cocinero and other carnivorous baitfish from traditional bait-catching areas.
Vegetarian-types such as mullet sometimes are available to fill the void
as we were fortunate to find last year. Without
the right kind of live bait you may as well troll lures for marlin.
The May to August period is generally accepted as big roosterfish time.
The key factor is timing your foray to coincide with a good showing of
baitfish, warm sea temperature and mild weather which varies from year to year.
With these elements in place the roosters won’t be far behind.
Since live bait is so important, make sure you book a resort or panga
fleet that has a reputation of having a stable commercial supply or has pangeros
that are skilled in “making bait” on the fishing grounds.
Favorite baits at Cerralvo Island and Las Arenas are ladyfish, cocinero
(green jack) and sardinas. A good
method to locate sardina schools is to watch for pelicans either actively diving
on fish or just sitting on shore. No
matter, the sardinas won’t be far off. Excellent
baits that are only occasionally available include caballito (bigeye scad), lisa
(mullet) and mulcaté (frigate mackerel). On
the East Cape, mullet, goatfish, graybar grunt and striped grunt (rayadillo) are
common with mullet the top choice. At
Los Cabos, Pacific mackerel, caballito and sardinas are usually available.
Roosterfish are notoriously hard to find even when they are abundant.
Its frustrating for anglers to hear that after they left one area after
trolling for hours the roosters stormed the same beach and the next boat had
phenomenal action. It’s a hit or
miss type of fishery. In June of
1975 I slow-trolled and drift-fished live mullet all day along a five mile
stretch of prime roosterfish beach from Punta Arenas to El Rincon and didn’t
see or raise a fish. After cleaning
my boat back at the Hotel Punta Colorada anchorage I dumped about a dozen
remaining live mullet overboard only to witness a feeding frenzy of huge
roosterfish gobbling down my free offerings with no strings attached.
Another time I was trudging up the hill to the hotel after a slow day of
roosterfishing and I heard Bob Van Wormer, owner of the hotel, yelling at me to
turn around. I did just in time to
see a 70-pound class rooster showering mullet onto dry sand and literally
sliding up on the beach to eat them. If
I didn’t succeed in catching a few roosterfish every now and then I would just
give up entirely.
Even with a roosters propensity to pop up where least expected, there are
some areas worth giving a serious try. These
include the east side of Espiritu Santo Island near Punta Morito north of La
Paz, La Roca near Bahia Rosario east of La Paz, both sides of Cerralvo Island
especially near El Mostrador about halfway up the west side, El Barco (a
beached, rusty freighter) at Bahia Ventana, Las Arenas lighthouse, El Cardonal,
the beaches at Tuna Canyon (south of Punta Pescadero), Boca de la Trinidad near
La Ribera, Punta Arena (south of Punta Colorada), Bahia Los Frailes, Punta
Gorda, San José del Cabo to Punta Palmilla, and the long stretches of beach
north of Cabo Falso near Cabo San Lucas.
When you do hook-up with one of these great fish enjoy the moment with a
quick photo and careful release. There
are much better fish in Baja for the table than roosterfish.
Because they are territorial residents, fairly slow growing, are
sensitive to changing environmental conditions and have a limited population,
roosterfish are very susceptible to overfishing.
If everyone cooperates we will have a sustainable fishery into the
future.
Typical set ups that I use are a Shimano Calcutta 400 and 700 spooled
with 500 yards of 30- and 50-pound Power Pro spectra with a 20-foot section of
topshot leader of either 30-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon or 50-pound P-Line
copolymer. Fluorocarbon is very
abrasive-resistant but somewhat harder than monofilament so I opt for a lighter
strength line to compensate. The
copolymer is smaller in diameter than corresponding mono but softer so I add
relative line strength here. Roosterfish
have very abrasive mouths and its a good idea to use at least a 30-pound class
durable leader material when after large fish that can put up a prolonged fight.
I make all line to line connections using the 100% strong “Tony Peña
Spectra Knot” that will run smoothly through rod guides and level wind reel
mechanisms. Bronze live bait style
hooks or circle hooks in the 1/0 to 9/0 sizes will match most Baja baits.
The circle hooks have proven to be effective and they are very kind to
the fish since they typically lodge in the corner of the mouth for an easy
release. Just remember to keep
winding on the reel until the line not only comes tight but starts coming off
the spool under drag pressure. Don’t
try to set the hook with upward sweeps of the rod with circle hooks or you’ll
simply bounce the hook out of the mouth.
PHONE 619-462-7875
FAX 619-435-6009
E-MAIL: tonypena@rovingagnler.com
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