To own your piece of paradise come to Coldwell Banker Tropicana

Costalegre Real Estate

The roosterfish is far and away the most popular of the inshore fishes in Mexico and Costa Rica. It is truly an exotic game fish and is very popular amongst anglers, who come from all over the world to target them in season. They are a wary fish and can frustrate anglers by being in a specific area one day, and not the next. They fight to the death and do it at the surface, often providing quite a show. An average size fish in peak season would be 30-40 pounds with a 50-60 pounder being large and a 70 pound one exceptional. The IGFA All-Tackle record is currently 114 pounds.

Description: The roosterfish is pretty much unmistakable from any other fish species. Like a lot of jacks and trevallys, the roosterfish is basically grayish blue to green above, with silver sides. That's where the similarities to any of these fish end though. The fish has several thick pronounced dark blue to gray stripes, which start off vertically from the dorsal fin but quickly veer off horizontally towards the tail. It's dorsal fin has seven long comb-like soft, almost velvety spines. It will erect this long unique dorsal fin when excited and retract it into a groove, or sheath along it's back at other times. In many cases the roosterfish will have a dark spot at the base of the pectoral fin, similar to the jack crevalle. Many people think that the roosterfish is a jack family species. According to any marine biologist that I've talked to however, they are not.

Fishing Techniques: It can be caught both by boat and from shore utilizing both bait and lures. A lure caught fish however are both more entertaining as well as being the most sporting of methods. By boat: There are two ways to fish from roosters from a boat, those being by trolling live bait, such as horse-eyed jacks, blue runners, bonito, ladyfish, mullet, among other baits, or by casting lures towards the shoreline. Both ways are fun and can actually be done simultaneously. It is important to remember to troll baits a fair ways back for larger fish, as they can be somewhat boat-shy. Circle hooks should be used when live-baiting. Usually while slow-trolling a live-bait, at least one angler will want to cast top-water lures such as "Klassic Poppers" and "Rangers". Cast them right up onto the beach if possible and retrieve at a medium to fast pace towards the boat. Smaller roosterfish will also hit diving minnow -type lures, "Krocodile Spoons" and even plastic swim baits on occasion but these strikes would usually be made by smaller fish and are infrequent. Surf Fishing: From a boat, the roosterfish is certainly a worthy opponent, but to really test your fishing skills and to truly experience what is "rooster-fishing", you need to get one with both feet on the ground. From the shore top-water lures are pretty much all one would use when targeting roosterfish. When you are retrieving your lure, start out with a medium retrieve, keeping the lure on the surface, but not actually flying out of the water. As a roosterfish comes up on the lure, drop your rod tip a bit, which will keep the lure from getting airborne, and crank a little faster. NEVER SLOW DOWN! It's much better to have your lure hit the beach, then make a shorter cast towards the area you just retrieved through. Fly fishing: Fly fishing for roosterfish is an absolute blast, when the opportunity arises. It is definitely easier to get on fly fishing by boat, especially in smaller pangas or center consoles, where one can get in tighter to the shoreline, as well as having the open space on deck to cast. Trolling flies such as mullet or sardine pattern streamers will work, especially when twitched along while slow trolling. The real fun though is had by casting to them, once having had a second angler or deck hand tease a fish to the boat with a hook-less live-bait or top-water lure. Popper-type flies, at least 2/0 in size, are deadly in these situations. Smaller specimens are fairly easy to get from shore, but larger ones are much more difficult to even hook up, let alone land. This is primarily due to the larger surf, which attracts the bigger fish, but which makes casting from shore almost impossible.

Edibility & Cleaning: Roosterfish are lousy eating in the opinion of most and should all be released.

* The abbreviated text on this page is taken from the upcoming book "Fishing - Mexican Style" by Jeff Klassen, is copyrighted and may not be used for purposes other than personal use without the written permission from the publisher.

If you want to go reel in your own Roosterfish in Barra De Navidad, Melaque or anywhere in the Costalegre Mexico area please check out our Fishing Rates and Packages