Total Sea Fishing Deputy Editor Roger Mortimore’s recent trip to El Salvador in pursuit of hard-fighting rooster fish has got under his skin.
He’s already gone back, this time taking two TSF readers with him and is sending back daily reports of the action – which has already kicked off with lure-caught fish of over 40lb!
Here Roger delivers his first report on the awesome sportfishing the country has to offer.
El Salvador Rooster Hunt. Day One
We (myself and TSF readers Andrew Walker and Andy Garnham) arrived safely in El Salvador a total of 27 hours after leaving home. Our gear was quickly unpacked and rods rigged ready to go, we didn’t want to waste any time in getting our lines in the water.
The alarm clock woke us after just five hours sleep and following a quick coffee we met up with our guide Chia Zeng Juang – the man they call the rooster king!
Our first session was in the surf hurling all kinds of lures out to the horizon, but with unfortunately no action for our efforts. So it was decided that we would head back to base at Puerto Barillas for lunch and coffee before heading out to sea the fish over a wreck known to produce some good rooster fish sport. And it didn’t disappoint.
The action started almost immediately with Nico's lure being grabbed by something pretty big. A 15minute fight ensued that turned out not to be our target species but an impressive 22lb cubera snapper - armed with some awesome teeth!
Then, with the snapper back, finally we hit rooster time. One of Chia's mates hit into a fish that gave him a stunning battle. On the boat the rooster went to 25lb.
After the first fish it dawned on us that the conditions might not actually be quite right for the roosters. We all had several follows but no firm takes. That is until 'Rabbit', another of Chia's mates had his lure smashed by a tail-walking rooster fish that took 20 minutes to land.
It was a beast that weighed in at a massive 42lb. After posing for the photos Chia released it and we watched as she swam slowly away before shooting back to the depths. Hopefully there will be one of those with my name on it over the next week.
