Want to know how we got a Roosterfish? Keep reading
The 35-nautical mile cruise through the open ocean from Panama to the first islands of the Pearl Islands Archipelago goes across three main drops along the way. As you cruise, you will immediately notice you arrive at them as wildlife starts to flourish. Birds, bait balls, and even dolphins.
We weren’t really looking for a Roosterfish, and we just wanted a good monster. On this day we did an early start right at dawn, we were on board our Viking sport yacht with three anglers. They went straight into the inner cabins for a morning nap while the captain steered the vessel at cruising speed. This continued until he suddenly started slowing down since the first drop showed some signs of life, with frigate birds doing circles.
Things start to get interesting
The captain went to trolling speed, and lines were in the water. In less than 5 minutes, boom! The first bite of the day was a decent-sized bonita. While some fishermen ignored them, our crew knew that was a sign of potential tuna. To maximize time, the captain decided to reel in lines and go deeper water up the next drops.
After a few miles, it was evident we were on the next drop. In this case, there were some aggressively swimming dolphins. This meant hunting mode! Normally dolphins approach boats to play but in this case they completely ignored us, this was because they were chasing their prey.
The captain decided to move ahead of the dolphins. He dropped lines, and magic started happening for around two hours. We were getting yellowfin tuna bites; we even had two times rods go at the same time!
When their arms and shoulders started getting sore, clients signaled the captain to stop for a quick rest at the Pearl Islands.
As the captain approached the outer reefs of the islands, he noticed some blue runner bait balls. He suggested a quick 10-minute fish around the structure, and immediately, two lines got hit!
The first fish was a giant trevally. And the second line took a lot of lines, the crew were still confused between a cubera red snapped or some kind of bottom specie monster. But as the fish got closer we could see colors and it was quite whitish and there it was a huge roosterfish.
