The rooster is the fish people fly here for and then let go. It runs the beaches inside the surf line, it eats a live bait like it is angry about something, and it pulls well above its weight. The comb comes up when it charges. It is also poor eating, so every one goes back.
Nothing else in the ocean looks like a roosterfish. Seven long spines in the first dorsal fin that lie flat when the fish is cruising and come up like a fan when it turns on a bait. Watching that comb cut through the back of a wave twenty feet behind your bait is the reason most people book this trip.
They are a coastal gamefish of the tropical eastern Pacific, and the beaches either side of Cabo are as good a place to find one as anywhere. Most of what we hook runs ten to thirty pounds. The big ones are out there. They are not easy and they are not common.
Roosterfish live tight to the sand, often in water you could nearly stand up in. We run the shoreline slowly and look for bait getting pushed, for nervous water, for a shape moving along the edge where the sand drops away. Points, arroyo mouths and rock piles that break the current all get a pass.
This is close to sight fishing. A fair part of the day is spent idling and watching. When we find fish it happens fast, and the angler holding the rod, ready, gets the shot. The one sorting through a bag in the cabin does not.
Warm months. Generally late spring through the fall in this region, strongest when the water is up and bait is thick along the beach. A few are around year round, but the odds shift a lot with water temperature and we will tell you plainly if you have picked a slow month.
Wind matters more than the calendar on any given day. A clean, calm morning on the beach is worth more than a date circled in July. We watch the forecast and pick whichever side of the cape is fishable.
Live bait is the method. Mullet, small jacks, sardines, whatever the beach is holding that week. The first part of most rooster trips goes into making bait, and it is time well spent. A fresh, lively bait swimming naturally will out-fish a tired one every single time.
They will take a popper or a big surface plug, and that is worth doing for the show. Hookup rates on plugs are lower. Roosterfish are good at slashing at a lure and missing it, sometimes three or four times in a row, which is either the best or the worst thing about them depending on your temperament.
We fish them on light to medium spinning gear. Thirty pound class is plenty over open sand. Heavier tackle takes the fun out of it and does not get the fish in any faster.
A roosterfish pulls harder than its weight suggests. The first run is long and low, straight down the beach, and the fish turns that broad body sideways against the current the whole way. Expect several runs, not one. Expect it to look beaten alongside and then take another thirty yards off you.
Roosterfish are poor eating. The flesh is dark, coarse and strong, and almost nobody who tries it asks for a second plate. There is no good argument for killing one.
So we release every roosterfish. Where we can we keep the fish in the water for the photo, support it under the belly if it comes aboard, and take the time to revive it alongside before it swims off. If a fish comes up deeply hooked or worn out, we spend longer on the revival than on the camera. That is not a policy we bend.
The short version of how a trip with Indigo Adventures works. Licences, deposits, boats and what happens to your catch. The full FAQ has the rest.
Read the full FAQ→Indigo Adventures is based in El Pescadero, on the Pacific side of Baja California Sur, a few minutes south of Todos Santos. Boats launch from three points: Punta Lobos beach in Todos Santos, San Jose del Cabo, and the Cabo San Lucas Marina. Which boat runs your trip decides where you meet us.
Custom fishing and spearfishing charters, freediving excursions, whale watching from mid December to April, and kayaking. Every trip is built around your group, your dates and the conditions rather than a fixed timetable, and almost every one goes out private.
Book online on the Book Now page, where availability is live and a 50 percent deposit holds the date. If you would rather we picked the trip, send an enquiry with who is coming, when you are here and what you want out of the day, and we will say which trip fits and which one does not.
No. Everyone fishing in Mexican waters needs a Mexican sportfishing licence, and each angler buys their own. We help you arrange it before the day so nobody is sorting paperwork on the dock. The same licence covers rod and spear.
Rarely. Almost every trip goes out as a private boat for you and your group. If a split makes sense for a small party we will say so when you enquire.
Three on the 24 foot Punta Lobos panga, up to four on La Ruca and La Morita, and up to six on Don Pancho and El Wahoo King. Whale watching numbers run a little higher because nobody is swinging a rod.
Yes. The catch goes home with you. Filleting at the dock, vacuum sealing and freezing are available, and most guests fly home with a cooler. Marlin are mostly released, with judgement on the day.
Yes, on fishing days. The crew rigs and handles the gear and hands you the rod when something eats. Guided spearfishing needs breath-hold experience and runs on a strict buddy system, which is the only legal way to spearfish in Mexico. Water, ice and snacks are normally aboard.
