Although I believe that every birthday should be a day to reflect, celebrate, and make some time to do the things that bring you joy, there are a few birthdays that seem to have more “weight” to them. For me this year, I hit the big 30 (and my girl friend hit the big 29) and we decided to add a little extra flare to the birthday travel plans. We landed on Cabo and I selfishly was salivating at the thoughts to throw some line and see what happens.

Having never fly fished in Cabo before, I didn’t fully know what to expect other than the content I have seen online surrounding Roosterfish, Mahi, Jacks, Tuna, Marlin, etc. Although I made sure to book an afternoon from a boat for one day during the week, I was most excited about the chance to find some fish from shore.

Upon arrival at the hotel in Cabo, the water was gorgeous. Deep blue, relatively calm, lots of rocks around – I thought it was going to be easy to hook some snappers, groupers, and other reef species around the rocks. Upon fishing for hours the first two days, my assumption proved to be majorly WRONG…only had some action with a few very (very) small reef fish. With that said, we had our half day charter coming up, so wasn’t horribly concerned about us finding some fish at some point.

For the spirit of full transparency, the half day charter was extremely difficult and a bit of a cluster. The winds in Cabo this week were brutal (especially in the afternoon) and we were met with consistent 25-30 mph gusts and significant waves while on the boat – this obviously limited the number of areas in which we could throw a fly line. In addition to this, with my girlfriend in tow, I knew as soon as we launched that there was no way we would be spending 4+ hours in the conditions. With that said, we were able to get the fish monkey off our back this day by catching the largest Jack Crevalle of my life. There was a school of about 20 fish, and it absolutely hammered a big white baitfish fly made with bucktail/white hackle. Put a crazy bend on the 10-weight, so not complaining!

The day after our charter, I made the decision to abandon the rocky areas I was previously targeting and go scout a public beach that was a further walk away. What a decision that panned out to be as it was like a light switch turned on…

Although the wind was still howling, I immediately saw bait fished being blitzed on 10-feet from the shore, and was hooked up on my first cast with a larger white/chartreuse clouser minnow. New species! Gaffttopsail Pompano – these guys don’t get very large, but put up quite the bend in the 8-weight. I caught about four of these guys (in addition to some smaller Green Jacks and Jack Crevalles) rather quickly, but the weird thing was that the fish I saw blitzing were not pompano…they looked like tuna. Curious as to what was crashing bait, I down sized my fly to a very simple white baitfish pattern, and immediately was hooked up. Skipjack tuna! An unreal fight for their size, and was catching fish after fish for about a 30-minute period. Easily landed over half a dozen.

After the blitz was over, this is when things got interesting. I slowly started my walk back to the hotel and saw a 10-15 pound fish swimming 60 feet off the beach. ROOSTERFISH…seemingly just gliding through the waves. I rushed to get a cast in front of this…strip strips strip…holy cow the fish is following…all the way up to my feet…denied. What a bummer. but it happens. MORE IMPORTANTLY – I found Roosters. Within the next 15-minutes, more fish arrived. A pack of 3 fish and a few more singles. I had a handful of great throws that led to the same result of the roosters chasing it all the way in but not committing. I also had just as many “yikes” throws that the optimist in me still wonders if I would’ve caught one of these bigger roosters had I not been a slacker. After getting humbled by these fish for a couple more hours (and being rather sad that we would be heading back home the next day), I headed back to the hotel to celebrate my girlfriends birthday with some great food and margaritas.

The last morning of the trip is where I was blessed with the perfect ending. I decided to wake up super early and see if the roosters were still along the beach before needing to head to the airport. I had never caught a Roosterfish on the fly before, and really was itching to check this one off my species list. While targeting the larger fish the day before, I noticed that several small baby Roosterfish were zipping around the wave breaks, so I decided to rig up a smaller whit and red deceiver fly and just focus on getting one of these guys. Upon arriving to the beach, I saw a baby rooster zip and zag right by the shore…put a throw into the wave breaks…and finally! Rooster on. Although this Rooster was in no way a giant, it meant everything and put up quite the battle. I made sure to just snap a quick selfie with this fish and get it back in the water quickly so it could grow to be the giant it deserves to be.

What a trip and what a time. I cannot wait to chase Roosters again in the future, as they really are an amazing fish that I’d like to spend the time getting to know better. The moments when the hard work pay off is makes fly fishing so rewarding, and I’ll never forget the memories made this trip for my 30th. My first drink as a 30-year old was a cold margarita with my girlfriend on the beach, and my first fish as a 30-year old was a Rooster on the beach. Can’t beat that.

Tight lines!

Joe