Where And How To Catch Roosterfish

As a travelling fisherman many people ask me “what is your favourite fish to catch?” For me, it’s a pretty hard question to answer as I love many forms of fishing. It’s hard to beat the explosive power and jumps of a blue marlin, the insane top-water bites of the yellowfin tuna, and the rugged gear-breaking fight of the kingfish and giant trevally.

However, there is one other fish that always creeps into my “top ten cool fish to catch” list. It’s a fish that has brought big smiles to mine and many other faces; a fish that takes amazing surface bites and makes blistering runs on the surface; a fish that can jump like a black marlin and dig down deep like a kingfish; and, to top off all these great attributes, it has to be one of the most stunning looking fish on this planet.

Sami's first roosterfish in Costa Rica.

But the big problem is there are not many places on this planet to catch them. The even bigger problem is that once you have seen how they chase bait around on the surface and spectacularly bite, you are going to be hooked and want more and more!

Roosterfish, of course, is the species I am referring to. They can be found from the West Coast of Peru right up to the Baja Peninsula, Mexico. They love to hang out in reef areas, bays and beaches that hold lots of bait and in some areas can be seen rounding bait fish up, easily noticeable with their soft dorsal combs sticking out of the water (these combs give roosterfish their name). The roosterfish’s flamboyant colours and fancy dorsal gear match the energetic and colourful surroundings of their Central American home.

Roosterfish are now rated very high on most travelling anglers’ wish or bucket list, and why wouldn’t they be? It’s a fish that can be targeted in many ways. The most common method is livebaiting but they are also suckers for top-water lures, saltwater flies and jigs. Travelling fisherman do not need a big budget to get out and target them. In Central America they can be targeted right off the beach with lures or out of affordable pangas (Spanish for ‘small boat’), of which there are hundreds.Roosterfish do not have teeth, having a similar mouth structure to the yellowtail kingfish, but their bite is a little clumsier than the kingfish’s. While slow trolling livebaits, the first indicator of their presence is the livebait racing to the surface, which is typically followed by a rooster in hot pursuit. The bite can take some time as the roosterfish often flick the bait out of the water before finally smashing it. An exhilarating first run just under the surface usually comes next. Once landed, most anglers opt to release these truly amazing looking creatures. I personally have never eaten roosterfish as it is rumoured to not be the greatest source of protein.

Roosterfish are not great eating and are mostly released.

This year Bea and I have had some memorable sessions targeting the mighty roosterfish from Panama all the way up to Mexico. We have caught them on top-water gear but most have been hooked on slow-trolled live baits. Our average size has been around 10-15 kilos with a lot of fish up to and just over 35 kilos.

One roosterfish catch that will never leave my mind happened back in 2011. Josh Worthington, my first mate at the time, and I shot out on the tender for a late afternoon fish targeting roosters on top-water gear, not far from the Costa Rican marina we were parked up in at the time. Josh was slightly under-gunned, fishing with a lightweight soft-bait rod and Shimano Stradic 3000 that he brought over from NZ and a very small top-water lure. He got the bite, of course, and what followed was a real mission. The fish dragged us over 1.5 nautical miles offshore and by the time we boated the fish for a photo, the sun had gone down. To this day I am not sure how Josh landed that fish – it didn’t look likely, but with some skilful angling and team work we got there in the end. We were happy boys that night and we still talk about that fish today. Needless to say, he never took that soft-bait rod rooster fishing again!

After an epic fight on light tackle, Josh Worthington finally landed this beast of a roosterfish.

In the last three years more and more of our clients have requested to target the roosterfish. We have even altered our regular personally guided trips to Costa Rica and Cabo San Lucas so anglers now have the opportunity to not only catch billfish but also add roosterfish to their hit list. June 2020 will see our first dedicated roosterfish trip take place on the East Cape of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico. We have caught hundreds of these amazing fish over the years but just writing this article has me excited about the latest fishing adventure we have planned. Tropical conditions, blue waters, white sand beaches, simple and affordable accommodation, tacos, margaritas, small boats full of livebait and, of course, the enigmatic and truly stunning roosterfish – what more could you want in a fishing adventure?