Fishing With Chris

There are alot of people with alot of questions about catching Roosterfish (Pez Gallo), I’m going to put some of what i have learned down here in hopes that it’ll benefit others. The techniques I will discuss are only a few of the methods that have worked for me and by no means the only ways to catch Roosterfish.

I’ll start right off with saying that in my opinion, casting lures can be great excersize and a fun way to “fish for Roosterfish”, but live bait is crucial for anybody who wants to “catch Roosterfish”. Yes, under the right circumstances you will catch Roosterfish on plugs, but I’m talking about catching big fish and I’m talking about catching lots of fish!

The types of bait available at the time determine the type of water I’ll fish. One of the widest used Roosterfish baits here in Quepos are refered to by many names…lookdowns, moonfish, palametos and palogallo are the most common and when I have a well full of lookdowns I imediately head for deep water and structure. Lookdowns are a favorite bait of big Roosterfish and their resemblance to a giant silver dollar creates a “billboard”, an unmistakeable profile that the Roosterfish can see from a long distance and find near impossible to refuse.

I’ll rig the baits on a circle 6/0-8/0, depending on bait size, using a rubberband bridle throuth the top of the eye sockets.The rig is simple, an egg sinker sliding on the mainline above a snap swivel to the 6 foot of 55 lb. mono leader. I’ll set out 3 or 4 baits ranging from a 2 ounce egg to 8 or 10 ounces depending on the depth and currents. Roosterfish are used to seeing the lookdowns in deep water near the bottom so often the “deep” rod is the most productive, but also requires the most work as you may be trolling in water as deep as 150 feet that suddenly comes to a jagged 20 feet and your heavy sinker will get lodged in the rock or fray your line if you do not retrieve the line before going over the submerged rock. In my boat I am almost always the person fishing the “deep” rod because I have a constant view of the bottom on the machine and therefore can see when I need to retrieve line or when I need to get deeper to be near the bottom. As the amount of lead on each rod decreases, the bait is fished furthur back, thus the deepest baits closest to the boat and the shallowest baits furthest from the boat.

We’ll fish with the reels in freespool and the spool thumbed in anticipation for the strike and I’ll slow troll by just “bumping” the boat in and out of gear in areas where the bottom is deep with high rocky spots. The island chains around Quepos and Manuel Antonio and the continuations of subsurface rock structure that extend furthur from shore create the perfect habitat for Roosterfish and the “lookdowns” are as good of a bait as you will find for fishing here.

The strikes vary with the way the fish are feeding at the time, but usually they are unmistakeable as the Roosterfish have a tendancy to hit like a train. You must freespool the line when he does hit as they often will grab the bait and turn to run before getting the bait all the way into its mouth. The size of bait and the size of the Roosterfish determine how long to let the fish eat before engaging the drag or bail. Once you do lock up, point the rod at the fish and start reeling until the line comes tight and then reel some more as you put a bend into the rod and lean on the fish to really set the hook. Some roosterfish act like they don’t realize that there is something wrong and let you get alot of line in at first and sometimes will even let you reel them to within a few yards of the boat before getting mad and beginning their battle and this is when you’ll see the first of the many displays of brut power yet to come during the battle. Large Roosterfish like to stay deep and go head to head in an all out tug-of-war that has made even veteran anglers cringe with pain. Smaller to midsize Roosterfish will often jump early in the fight.

Roosterfish will literaly give everything they have in the fight for freedom and the larger fish often require some special attention during the release. Once landed, photo the fish and get him back into the water as quickly as possible. Most of the time smaller fish will dart from your hands while larger fish, especially coming from deep water will be filled with air and are just too weak to swim to a depth where they can decompress on their own and will require more help with “burping” before they can easily swim back to the deep water to recover from the fight.

Check out some photos of Roosterfish my clients have caught here Roosterfish Photos and check back for the next post which will cover using Threadfin Herring for Roosterfish and fishing the beaches for Roosterfish.

-Chris