Brutal

First Day

Catching roosterfish on a fly rod from the beach is one of the ultimate fishing challenges. Roosters are a fish that love to show themselves just out of fly casting range. When you can reach the rooster with your cast, they usually lift their nose at your fly as if they are insulted you would even suggest they eat such a thing. On that rare occasion when they are attracted to your fly, they simply follow it to your knee caps where you strip your entire leader and fly into the rod tip only to watch the spectacular looking fish put on his breaks, turn and disappear back to the sea. It’s torturous, but that’s why I love it.

Today was all about what I just described. Just a reminder, I’m fishing with two great friends, Sam Vigneri from Casper, Wyoming and Grant Hartman, a long time guide here in Baja. If anyone knows roosters it is Grant. Grant has been living in Mexico most of his life and has chased roosters with a fly rod for over thirty years. However, he too just shook his head in frustration today.

It wasn’t like we didn’t have chances. We saw several fish running hard up the beach. Roosters like to hunt for baitfish just along the shelf where beach drops off to deeper water. But today, these fish were very skittish. Most of them retreated to deeper water after getting a glimpse of our fly while the few that followed for a look stayed safe three feet behind the fly and refused to eat it. But this is rooster fishing and tomorrow we will try again. Hopefully weather or tides or just a different day will put these cool fish of Baja in an eating mood.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing web site