La Ventana – Chapter One : Jacks and Skippies on Flies

The Rooster -Chapter Two : My Personal Best Rooster on a Fly

Bad Ass Glass and Roosters – Chapter Three

Rooster Madness – Chapter Four :  The last two hours of the trip.

Yoni Thowing the Net – Chapter FIve – Net Man Supreme

The last time we fished La Ventana, my cousin Wayne and I stumbled into what can only be described as a once-in-a-generation dorado bite. Our guide, Yoni Calderone—a local legend in his own right—said it was the best dorado week he’d seen in his 35 years guiding and diving these waters. We had been searching for an alternative to Loreto, and La Ventana delivered beyond expectation.

Last year, Jerry and I tried to rebook the experience. Unfortunately, health issues forced us to delay, pushing our trip three weeks earlier into May instead of June. That seemingly small adjustment meant one thing: prime time for roosterfish. Roosters, however, were uncharted waters for both of us. Sure, we had a few incidental shots two years prior, but this time we were here to target them specifically.

Ask a dozen roosterfish experts about their “prime time” and you’ll get a dozen different answers. But I trust Yoni Cabrone. After six decades of fly fishing with guides all over the world, I can confidently say Yoni is among the best I’ve ever fished with. Not because of Instagram hero shots or how many world records he’s broken, but because of his deep, generational connection to this water and his calm, adaptive presence in challenging conditions. His father was a fisherman, as are his brothers. He’s the only one in the family with a college degree (in hospitality, no less) and dreams of building a fishing and diving resort—a dream he’s steadily making real.

Yoni has worked for Palapas for over 25 years. He’s a seasoned free diver, offshore fisherman, and a spearfishing expert who has taken gamefish of every species that swims these waters. His intimate knowledge of Isla Cerralvo (Jacques Cousteau Island), one of the world’s most biodiverse reefs, is unmatched. Cousteau himself called this region “the world’s aquarium,” and it’s easy to see why.

The Sea of Cortez offers calm seas and rich biodiversity, a stark contrast to the Pacific. The island protects the bay, making it ideal for fly casting. You can fish close to shore for roosters, or run offshore for dorado and tuna. Whether walking beaches or drifting in a panga, it’s a fly caster’s paradise.

Roosterfish, I quickly learned, are not your average quarry. They are moody, aggressive, unpredictable—like dorado one moment and like the pickiest Stillwater trout the next. Instagram might be filled with images of 30-70 lb roosters, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. These fish move in schools into the shallows to feed on sardines, often chummed by netted bait.

During our trip, we chummed not only roosters but also skipjacks, jacks (toros), groupers, and snappers. The dorado hadn’t arrived yet, but we weren’t disappointed. According to Yoni, the position of the thermocline is everything. It brings plankton, then bait, then the predators. Early in the season, the fish tend to be smaller, and it becomes a numbers game. Statistically, we were landing one fish over 15 lbs for every ten smaller ones. Even the five-pounders fought harder than anything I’ve ever hooked on a 10-weight.

Yoni ranks roosterfish as the toughest fighters in the sea, ahead of tuna, dorado, and even jacks. He would know—he’s speared marlin, caught 150 lb tuna, and wrangled nearly every pelagic over 100 lbs. We booked seven days of fishing instead of five because, ironically, flights out of Cabo were twice as expensive on Saturday than Monday. That happy accident gave us more time on the water—and it paid off. The last two hours of the last day were our best.

Every day brought different weather, especially the wind. It could start glassy calm and end in 35 mph gusts fighting against current. Bait availability was just as unpredictable. Sometimes even the bait boats came up empty. Yoni, however, is a master with the cast net, and by week’s end we had a well-oiled system: Yoni on the throw, Jerry filling tanks, me maneuvering the boat. Even the reverse gear was part of the dance, pushing bait back into the net.

You can hire a bait boat for about $400/day, but at $100/day in bait, it only makes sense with four boats sharing. Yoni’s large bait tanks gave us a tactical advantage, letting us stay in the game longer without having to resupply.

Despite my best efforts, I still haven’t cracked the code on roosterfish. They often follow a fly just to turn away. Even live bait can be refused. I tried flash, no flash, pulse discs, different colors, and retrieve speeds. In the end, it often came down to mood and competition. Hungry, competitive fish are easier to fool. The most eye-opening moment came on the last afternoon, when I hooked over 30 roosters in 90 minutes using a fly so chewed up it barely resembled anything.

That’s when I realized it: it’s not about the perfect fly. It’s about timing, hunger, and maybe a little magic.

Big fish can come at any time. One of Yoni’s stories involves a beginner who was uncoiling line and undoing a knot when a 75 lb rooster smashed his fly—still attached to the rod, knot and all. That fish was landed two hours later on 25 lb tippet. The same day, his buddy landed a 35-pounder. Some anglers wait a lifetime for a day like that.

We rebooked for October next year, hoping the thermocline brings in bigger fish as it shallows later in the season.

When the wind got too rough to fly cast, Jerry and I turned to trolling. We caught sierras, jacks, wahoo, and skipjacks for dinner—sashimi, ceviche, and fried fish were nightly highlights. We’d use the bait to hold schools near the boat, making for excellent fly casting opportunities.

The week was full of oddities too: a 20 lb skipjack, a massive needlefish, even a triggerfish hooked while trolling. On the final day, we encountered the easiest-to-catch school of roosters Yoni had ever seen. Jerry called it the best week of fishing he’s ever had. For me, it’s easily in the top tier.

La Ventana is more than a destination—it’s a proving ground for fly anglers, a classroom in the wild, and a gateway to unforgettable memories. We’ll be back