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Just returned from a holiday in Costa Rica, once we decided we where going there was only one fish I was interested in catching a Rooster. It’s been on my wish list since I was a kid, so I booked an inshore charter before in advance and let them know it was Roosters I wished to fish for. Rather nicely they agreed to pick me up from the beach in front of the hotel, no doubt to save on dock fees but it suited me down to the ground and when I wondered down to the beach after breakfast the Sea Snake was anchored in the bay and the mate came and collected my partner and I in a small rowing boat, after confirming it was a Rooster or bust we headed out to a local mark Monkey Island to catch some lives, we had a few in the bait well but the crew wanted bigger and stronger baits. A few trawls around the small island produced some Jacks heading towards 2 lbs. They looked a little big to me for Rooster, but hey ho the guys should know what they where doing. http://s803.photobucket.com/user/DALEY666/media/CostaRicaJune2013070.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3 So with a refreshed bait tank we headed out to a trawl slowly along a spectacular cliff line. We had already decided that the first bite would be mine. My partner and I always share rods on such trips rather then fish our own rods. The first bite came on a rod baited with a big Jack and the rod bent right over and line poured from the reel, I was convinced it must have been a large Grouper or maybe a Cubera as I had my suspicions that the big Jack baits where to ensure we got some bites on the trip rather then purely to target the Roosters. The fight was odd with the fish kiting all over the place and then all of a sudden it would head down deep, great fun but not at all like a Grouper fight. Once I had bought it close to the boat I could see some blue/silver colour and guessed at a Jack of some description but before I could make my mind up, it was off again in to the depths. The mate Carlos had a huge grin on his face and said just one word ROOSTER, this made my knees turn to jelly and my stomach turn right over and all I could think of was “please don’t come off, please don’t come off” The performance of me bringing it to the boat and it deciding to change direction and head off again went on for about 10 minutes before Carlos grabbed the leader and again in my mind the “please don’t come off” chant started again accompanied now by the thought “even if it does come off it still counts, he touched the leader so it counts” Who was I kidding, there is a world of difference from it dropping off and deliberately releasing it with out bringing it on board. There was no need to worry about Carlos messing up, in no time at all he had bought the fish to the boat and gloved it, unhooked it in the water and swung it up for the grip and grin in what seemed like seconds. A well drilled manoeuvre, no doubt done thousands of times before for clients, in no time at all the fish was back in the water and I retired to the front of the boat to allow Paula access to the rods and so I could tackle the stash of Imperial beer in the cooler box that was screaming out to be drunk. Well it was almost nine in the morning and I was on vacation, I have a rule that no beer is drunk until I have had my first fish, well now it was open season on the Igloo Ice Box. http://s803.photobucket.com/user/DALEY666/media/CostaRicaJune2013003.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5 The next bite came around an hour later and Paula was up, no faffing about with fish going on runs and overly playing them as tends to happen with me. I have lost count of the amount of fish I have lost to Sharks/Cuda from over playing them .When Sea fishing they get hauled to the boat in double quick time by Paula. It was another Rooster but obviously not best pleased at being unceremoniously dragged to the boat decided to spit the bait and hook out. I rather helpfully enquired had anyone touched the leader and they had not, it did not seem to phase Paula and she declared that was fun. I would have been crying if it was me. We had one more bite from a Rooster (My turn again) and now being a self-proclaimed expert in all things Rooster I guided it to the boat for Carlos to deal with. After that things went fairly quiet but Paula had a big Jack and with 2 Roosters boated and as it had reached that mid day slump we called time on the inshore fishing and went off shore to target the plentiful Dorado moving through the area. The Dorado fishing was explosive and they fell to a whole host of methods, lures, jigs, trolled deadbaits, lives, feathers. They would take anything and it was great fun with multiple fish on at the same time, ducking and diving under rods as Mahi Mahi flew through the air. The key was finding anything floating in the water that would attract them, old logs, weed and the most productive of all fish holding features dead turtles. It was rather refreshing that the crew only took a few fish and we released most of our catch and I became an expert at releasing jumping Mahi at around 20 yards from the boat in order to let my lure out again for another quick hook up. The whole thing was so much fun, I booked another charter following the same plan of targeting Rooster in the morning and then moving on to the Dorado sport in the afternoon. We went back to the area that had produced on the first trip but this time we drew a blank but the Captain had another spot in mind but it would be a bit of a steam and so suggested we trawl Ballyhoo behind the boat on the way to see if we could pick up a few bonus fish. We caught a few Dorado on the way but even if we where not to catch at this new spot it was worth the journey, we where at a spectacular rocky headland with waves crashing all around and quiet a swell going and from time to time when the water receded we could make out the tip of a mount in the sea. We where going to fish around this mount. We only had the one bite from a Rooster (to me) but it run me ragged trying to get around the back of the mount to cut me off on the rocks and I am sure it would have if not for the skill of the Captain backing the boat up when necessary. That was the last Rooster of my Costa Rica trip but it put up the best fight making full use of the very deep water around the mount and making numerous runs. Come afternoon we moved offshore again for some hectic Dorado action. http://s803.photobucket.com/user/DALEY666/media/CostaRicaJune2013075.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2 From talking to lots of other anglers while over there, I did not come across anyone who had Rooster despite lots targeting them, most just catching Dorado and Bonito in the afternoons that are plentiful at the moment and the inshore fishing just producing Pargo. So a big thank you to the crew for putting us on the Rooster. We get the glory part of playing the fish but they do the real hard work of finding the fish. Below is a typical fish holding feature with resident birds http://s803.photobucket.com/user/DALEY666/media/CostaRicaJune2013088.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1 So a few days of great sport memorable for the fish we caught including a massive Needle Fish for Paula but also for the amazing back drop of cliffs and Volcanoes. It does not take much of an imagination when you see a line of Pelicans flying across the cliffs to picture them as being pterosaurs from the age of the dinosaurs. The amount of other wildlife we encountered on our fishing trips was staggering 3 types of Dolphins, Bonito blitzes, jumping Mobula Rays, Turtles (live & dead) and a whole host of bird life that shamefully I can not name but Paula could real off. The whole thing was “Pura Vida”