The roosterfish is the reason people come back

Every fishery has one fish the locals measure everything against. Here it's the roosterfish — pez gallo, though the crew mostly call it papagayo.

It's good every month of the year, best in August, and it lives where you'd want it to: along the beaches and points, close to shore, reachable on a four-hour trip. No twelve-hour steam to a seamount. You leave Marina Vallarta and you're fishing.

They're not giants — they're athletes. The fight is all speed and direction changes in shallow water, which is more fun per pound than just about anything else here. And they're almost always released, so the fishery stays what it is.

If you've never caught one, put it at the top of the list. If you have, you already know. Either way, August through the fall is the sweet spot — check the fishing calendar and come then.